Raphael Gebeyehu could be considered handsome by virtually any standard. Six feet four inches tall, lean and muscular, with light brown skin, thick dark hair styled into a neat Afro, and rugged features, the man carried himself like an authentic African prince, which wasn't far from the truth. Born in the City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and raised in the City of Calgary, Alberta, this fine son of the Ethiopian Diaspora grabs everything that life has to offer...
When Raphael first arrived in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, to study civil engineering at the University of Ottawa, he didn't much care for the Canadian Capital. Ottawa seemed quite bland and boring, full of people whom he found to be dull, passive-aggressive, and quite annoying in their quiet smugness. In Raphael's adopted hometown of Calgary, at least, people knew how to have some fun.
In the City of Ottawa, people seemed to live for work, rather than work to live. Dull government town, Raphael thought, from the moment he walked out of the Ottawa International Airport the first time he flew in from Calgary, Alberta. This town had obviously never met a rule it didn't like, and for a handsome, carefree rebel like Raphael, this simply wouldn't do...
Raphael decided to make the best of his situation, he'd make Ottawa work for him any which way he could. After all, Raphael hadn't gotten into the University of Calgary, his dream school, but the University of Ottawa in distant Ontario had actually accepted him with a full academic scholarship offer. Raphael eventually got used to his new school, and made some friends. Among them a couple that runs a truly lovely little bakery.
Raphael had been coming to Argun's Bakery for a long time. The old-fashioned bakery, located at the edge of Vanier, the most storied and turbulent neighborhood in all of metropolitan Ottawa, Ontario, was something else. Argun's Bakery simply packed the best goodies in its industry. When it came to bread and cakes, and baked goods in general, Raphael didn't care to go to places like Walmart or Loblaw's, preferring the old-fashioned bakeries similar to those found in his homeland of Ethiopia.
"Welcome back, habibi," said Sultana Nuradilov, and the six-foot-tall, plump, raven-haired, forty-something Eastern European woman smiled warmly at one of her bakery's regular clients. Raphael smiled at Sultana, and took the delicious pita that she made, and thanked her. Sultana and her husband Ramzan had been running Argun's Bakery for decades, having opened it a year after they moved to Ottawa from their hometown of Argun, Chechen Republic.
"Thank you, Sultana, your pita is simply the best," Raphael replied, and he brought the pita close to his face, inhaling its fresh, delicious scent. Sultana looked at Raphael and licked her lips, then exchanged a smile with her husband Ramzan, who nodded understandingly. Ramzan, who sat at a quiet corner of the bakery, going over the books, got up and came to the counter.
"Salaam, Raphael, nice to see you again," Ramzan said, and the rotund little man, who usually looked short at five-foot-nine next to his much taller wife Sultana, gently nodded. Thoughtfully Ramzan stroked his dark beard, which was now speckled with gray. Raphael smiled at Ramzan and they shook hands, and then Raphael went to sit at his usual table, to wait for the next OC Transpo bus which would be coming in about fifteen minutes. Raphael had class at the University of Ottawa within an hour, so the brother from Calgary had places to be.
"You look handsome as ever, Raphael, I like your shirt," Sultana said, and when Raphael looked up from his plate, and gazed upon her, she flashed him a decidedly suggestive smile. Raphael hesitated, for he knew the come-hither look when a woman ( or anyone, really ) flashed it his way. Raphael looked at Sultana's husband Ramzan, not believing what the lovely lady was actually doing.
"Sultana you're right, Raphael must drive the ladies crazy at his school," Ramzan concurred, and then, amazingly, he winked at Raphael. The young man looked at the husband and wife pair that ran Argun's Bakery, and understanding dawned on him. I can't believe I'm thinking this but these two look like they're coming onto me, Raphael thought, astonished.
"Sultana, Ramzan, thank you for your kind words," Raphael said hesitantly, and the couple exchanged a smile, then looked at him expectantly. By then, Raphael knew that the jig was up. The brother from Ethiopia was only twenty one years old, but he knew what the deal was. Raphael was used to people looking at him, both female and male, due to his good looks, masculine demeanor, and deep, passionate voice.
Raphael had been with a lot of ladies, and a few fellas, and considered himself somewhere between hetero-flexible or bisexual, with a preference for women. In the Horn of Africa, where Raphael was born, men who liked men, and men who liked both men and women, kept their business private. He couldn't believe how weird the Canadians were, with their pride parades in the city streets. He didn't have a problem with them, it just wasn't his cup of tea.
"So handsome," Sultana echoed, with another nod and smile from her husband Ramzan, and Raphael returned that decidedly come-hither smile. It would seem that Ramzan and Sultana, Chechen Muslim immigrants, lifelong bakers and hard-working married couple, were coming onto him. The Ethiopian hunk didn't know whether to be flattered or shocked, at the moment he felt a little of both.
