I went into the pantry and grabbed the pancake mix, taking it to the kitchen. I broke some eggs and was adding a little baking soda into the mix when the container was grabbed from me. I turned to see Danielle glaring at the container. Okay, what was going on with her now?

"Aren't you just meant to add just water to the mix, since it's pre-prepared?"

I collected the container from her. "That's what the instruction says, but adding eggs and a little baking soda can make it taste better."

She glanced at me in obvious disbelief. "Really? How would you know that?"

I shook my head. "Because I've tried it before and it was better. I remember telling you I knew how to cook."

She glanced at me and then turned her attention to the mixed batter, and I took that as my hint to continue what I was doing. I added the soda and covered it with foil paper. "Now we wait for about ten minutes." I set a timer for that and sat at the table.

She nodded and sat down. "Aside from pancakes, what else do you cook? Since you have a housekeeper, I assumed you would keep out of the kitchen."

I smiled. "Yet the opposite is the case. Growing up, I had to learn to cook." I didn't want to think about those times that I'd learned by putting things together because nothing was ever enough, and I didn't want to make any hint, so I left it at that. "Cooking when the housekeeper wasn't around was how I learned. How about you? Why don't you know how to cook?" I asked back.

She sighed and thought for a moment. "I was never interested, and I don't mind buying from outside or microwaving frozen foods. Every time I attempted to cook, it never came out the way I wanted it to, so I got frustrated and stopped trying."

It took me a moment to realize I was actually having a mature conversation with my wife. Had Heaven come down? "How is your mother now?" I asked her, and she flinched.

"Oh, she's…fine… The last time I spoke to her." She stuttered and I narrowed my eyes. What had brought about that? I decided to ignore it.

"How about your business? Is it going well?" She asked me, and the timer I'd set went off.

I glanced at her and went to the batter I'd made. "You should know. You're my secretary, aren't you?"

She laughed nervously, and I started noticing things I'd missed before. She was sweating, and she looked even more nervous than before.

"Of course. I meant something else." She said, not looking at me.

She didn't say anything else, and I refocused my attention on the pancake. I mixed it again and put a frying pan with oil on the fire. As the pan heated up, Danielle moved closer to me.

"Let me make it."

"Alright." I agreed and gave her the bowl and turned my back to rinse my hand when suddenly the fire alarm started blaring.

I turned to the scene and quickly turned the gas off and removed the pan. That couldn't have been up to ten seconds.

I burst into laughter. "Was this what you meant by nothing working out like you wanted?"

She shrugged but didn't look like she had panicked at all, probably used to it. "All I did was put the batter in the pan. What happened?"

I could guess what had happened. The oil had gotten too hot. But it was still funny.

"I guess it's the universe telling you cooking is not for you."

She rolled her eyes. "It's your fault. Why didn't you use a non-stick pan?"

Eleni ran into the kitchen. "What happened? Was there a fire?"

Danielle rolled her eyes. "I tried making pancakes."

Eleni sized up the situation, and guessing what had happened, burst into laughter. "You set forth the fire alarm just to make pancakes? Even I can make that much."

Danielle shrugged. "Fine. I'm giving up and going inside."

Eleni laughed and followed her out of the kitchen, and I washed the pan and started making the pancake.

**************************************************************************

We entered the very familiar restaurant, and my eyes narrowed when Danielle's friend lifted his hands, gesturing us over. The man got on my every nerve. There was something about him, I still hadn't been able to pinpoint, that really rubbed me the wrong way, but I needed to sell this farce of a double date.

After preparing pancakes and eating, Danielle and Eleni had done more chatting than eating, and the burden I'd held concerning my friend had lessened. It was better that she got along with Danielle as much as possible. After the meal had ended, Eleni had brought out the wonderful idea of us playing board games, and neither of them had been willing to take my excuse of not having any to use to get some work done. I'd had to go out and buy as many as I could find. I'd bought a chessboard, Scrabble, puzzles, and cards, and contrary to my belief, we'd played every single one of them. As the day had gone by smoothly, I'd noticed that the bubble of nervous energy Danielle had been in since morning still hadn't left, and before I could decide whether to ask her about it or ignore it, she had come out and asked that we go for this double date. Sure, she had used her friend's girlfriend as an excuse, but I was still of the belief it was something much bigger. Why else would she have looked nervous all day?

We went to the table where the couple was seated, and the lady stood up and hugged Danielle.

"You came? I thought you weren't going to." She commented, and it looked like a burden had been dropped from her shoulder.

Danielle hugged her back. "Of course. We were freer than normal today, so I was able to convince Jonathan to give this a trial."

She smiled at Lucas, then turned back to the lady. "Lillian, this is my husband, Jonathan." Then she turned to me. "Jonathan, this is my friend, Lillian. Lucas, you know Jonathan. Jonathan, my best friend, Lucas." The man smiled at that introduction, and he stood up and shook my hand.

"I never thought we would be meeting like this ever again. Nice to meet you again." Danielle shook her head, an action I saw Lillian didn't miss, but instead of her being curious or suspicious, she simply looked down and hugged herself, an action I found very odd.

"Sit down. We took the pleasure of ordering for you two. Danielle, I ordered a steak for you since I know how much you love it, and I got a lobster for you, Jonathan. I didn't really know what your taste was like, but I hope this restaurant will be able to meet your exotic taste."

I laughed. He was trying to get a rise out of me, thinking I would get jealous. Our relationship wasn't like that, so he didn't have to worry much. "Of course. That's fine with me." I looked around the restaurant, and my eyes went to the empty table that was at a corner of the restaurant. After I'd proposed my offer of marriage to Danielle, this was the same restaurant we'd come to discuss our agreement, and it suited me just fine. I had wondered when I first came in if it was a coincidence or not.

The waiter came to serve our food, and we started eating, filling the uncomfortable silence with the sounds of knives and forks hitting the plate.

"Lillian, you're good, right? I thought something was wrong when you called me this morning." Danielle commented, and I noticed Lillian flinch.

"Of course, everything is fine. Maybe it sounded like that because I had just woken up." She replied, with a glance at Lucas, who had dropped his fork and was staring at her.

"Did she sound weird? What happened?" He asked Danielle, and she shrugged. From the expression on her face, it was certain she was trying to get a read on the woman.

"Not really. Maybe it was just because she had just woken up. How about you two? Lillian, you mentioned you were moving out soon. Have you guys gotten a new place yet?"

My eyes went to Lucas rather than Lillian, curious about his reaction, and I knew I'd hit a jackpot when he smirked and turned to Lillian again. Danielle had definitely just shared something that was told to her in confidence.

"We're still looking for a new place, but we've agreed that we'll just stay in our current place for one more year."

Danielle took a sip of wine from the glass in front of her. "That will be better. Your current place is amazing, and you're still paying below the market price, right?"

Lucas nodded and turned to me. "Well, I'm sure it won't be as amazing as yours is. After all, I didn't have anybody to support me financially, and no amount of scandal can make me as much money as it did you. But if you have any tips, though, we're friends now, right? Don't hesitate to let me know."

I narrowed my eyes and glanced at Danielle, who was also staring at me. "Unfortunately, I don't even understand what you mean, and I'm sorry, I don't make friends as easily as that. We'll need to meet an additional twenty-three times before I can consider it." I replied with a fake smile.

He shrugged. "Oh well, that wasn't what I heard. But that makes sense, though, you won't really want people by your side when you intentionally made sure that position could accommodate only you. Isn't that right, Danielle?"

I tensed. "What are you talking about?" The women were staring at us, their food abandoned now, but I couldn't bear to even glance at Danielle. I knew she had been looking into me and my family, but what did she share with this man?

He smiled, a smile of victory. "Oh, don't play dumb. Everyone here knows the story. An insecure son, wanting to take the full share for himself…" He smiled wider. "...Does something to make sure his brother is out of the picture, and then uses pity and compassion to make a name for himself in the business world. Doesn't that sound like a really entertaining story?"

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