My Universe-Cupcake Guru-Version 2

                                    

                                          
Good Lord, this was infuriating.
                          
Marília stared at the computer screen, reading the words for what must have been the hundredth time.
                          
'Gently sweet, almost like sugar, with a little bit of cinnamon hinted near the end of the bite.'
                          
She laughed quietly. The words must have been permanently burned into her eyes by now, she'd been staring at them for so long.
                          
This was proving to be quite a bit harder than she thought it would be. She obviously couldn't use a Tiger Cherry to make the flavor, it was extremely rare and only found in small parts of India.
                          
Extremely rare indeed. Marília had never even heard of a Kesembi, by either of it's names.
                          
She shook her head to clear it, realizing she had zoned out while staring at her computer screen. Maybe if she took a short break from this challenge, she could figure it out better when she came back.
                          
Minimizing the tab with the description of the Tiger Cherry, Marília pulled up a website used for finding out the meanings and backgrounds of different names.
                          
She slid the notepad closer to her so she could see it better, and quickly typed the name she had been given into the search bar.
                          
A-K-S-E-L-I
                          
Marília hit search, half wondering if the name would even come up.
                          
There was one hit.
                          
"Finnish form of the name Axel." She murmured aloud. "Huh."
                          
The name 'Axel' had a link on it, so she clicked that, wondering what the name itself actually meant.
                          
"Medieval Danish form of Absalom." Even the man's name was sending her on a wild goose chase. Marília clicked on the highlighted name 'Absalom'.
                          
After a few moments, the page loaded. Marília skimmed the page, looking for a meaning behind the name.
                          
"My father is peace." She read. "Cool."
                          
She had always been obsessed with names. Her own was a variant of the name Maria, Portuguese in origin, just like her.
                          
"Alright, Akseli, you've given me quite the challenge." She murmured, reopening the tab with the website about the Kesembis. "I'm definitely up to the challenge."
                          
Four hours later, she was still feeling quite frustrated. Nothing was tasting like she imagined these fruits to taste.
                          
Marília checked the time. It was nearly midnight. She'd been at this for hours. She sighed and closed her computer, beginning to clean up her kitchen.
                          
"You have three days." She reminded herself. "You can do this. He thinks he's smart, giving you something that you can't actually taste, but you can do it."
                          
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When Akseli walked through the door of Born and Bread a few days later, Marília was ready for him. She had a tray in the back, with three small cupcakes sitting on it. Her reasoning was that since she had never tasted it, she should get more than one chance. She was sure one of them would come close.
                          
"Good morning Marília." He smiled.
                          
She smiled back. His pronunciation of her name had been better this time.
                          
"Morning, Akseli."
                          
"Feeling confident?" He asked.
                          
Marília shrugged. "It's a lot harder to create a flavor when you've never tasted it, but I think I might have gotten it."
                          
"Well, let's find out." Akseli said with a grin.
                          
Marília went into the back, grabbing the plate with the three cupcakes.
                          
"I figured I can have more than one chance, since I've never actually tasted the fruit." She said by way of explanation as she took the cupcakes out to him.
                          
Akseli laughed. "Just means more cupcakes for me, doesn't it?"
                          
Marília placed the plate in front of him and he picked up the first cupcake. She stayed quiet as he sampled each cake, trying to get a reaction from his expressions.
                          
This quiet Finnish boy's poker face was exceptionally good.
                          
And exceptionally irritating.
                          
"Well?" Marília asked curiously when he was done sampling. "Did I get it?"
                          
"These cupcakes are exceptional..." Akseli told her.
                          
"Thank you. But you didn't answer my question."
                          
He laughed. Marília liked his laugh. It was soft and gentle, and matched the persona that she got from him. However, it was at odds with the fiery competitive spirit she'd seen.
                          
"While the cupcakes are fantastic, Miss Marília, you missed the mark on the flavor." Akseli told her.
                          
Marília sighed in frustration. "What was I missing? It was so hard to even find the website in the first place, and there's no other place that I could find information on the fruit, I-"
                          
"Hey, hey, don't beat yourself up about it." Akseli told her softly. After a moment, he offered an apologetic smile. "I sort of set you up to fail with that one..."
                          
She frowned at him. "What do you mean?"
                          
Akseli shrugged. "The fruit... it doesn't exist. I just wanted to test how good you really are."
                          
Marília glared at him and he looked down.
                          
"I guess, you did prove my claim wrong." She finally conceded, letting a small smile cross her face as well.
                          
"I did?" 
                          
"I advertised as being able to recreate anything, didn't I?" Marília smiled. "I guess 'everything' doesn't count fake fruits."
                          
Akseli laughed lightly. "I guess."