"Dad?" Zaria called for Theodore's attention for the umpteenth time.

He snapped out of his daze. "Ah, yes the sugar. Here you go." He seemed to have heard her ask for him to pass her the sugar so he passed it over to her. She took it but looked at him worriedly.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes." He was perfectly fine, maybe a little crazy. He had to be bordering on insanity to randomly think about the day he met his ex-wife.

____

The following day, he was even more convinced that he should add an appointment with a shrink to his calendar. Not only did he take an insane amount of time to prepare for the dinner, but he also styled his hair differently and splashed the cologne he rarely used.

When he left his room, he bumped into Zaria who was carrying a small bag. "Are you going somewhere?" He asked her.

"I'm having a sleepover with Xim." She smiled. "But if you need me. I can call her over instead."

"No, It's alright. Have fun." He urged her.

She looked at how dressed up he was and couldn't help being curious. "Are you going out too?"

He nodded and recalled something. "Actually, I need you for a moment."

Following his words, she was dragged to his dressing room to help him choose a tie, tie clip, and watch. He also asked her to compare the outfit he was wearing to the ones he has swapped out and was ready to change if she had a better choice for him.

Those who didn't know would think he was going on a date. Since when was he so flustered about what he wore?

"Are you meeting someone?" She teasingly asked.

"Yes." He nodded with a serious expression, probably not realizing that she was teasing him.

"Good luck." She winked.

He finally realized what she meant and shooed her away. "You naughty thing."

Lucy had already made a reservation. When he arrived at L'Hôtel Luxe La Rive, he was shown into the private booth that she had reserved. She arrived a few minutes later.

"Did you wait for too long?" She asked as she took a seat opposite him.

"I just arrived." His eyes lingered on her for a moment—it was hard not to. She looked beautiful in the emerald dress she was wearing, which was neither baggy nor too tight fitting. Her nails had been done to be the exact shade as her dress. If he didn't know that she was a woman who liked dressing up once in a while, he might have thought that she had dressed up for him.

In truth, he had not dressed up for her either. He just didn't want her to look down on him and think he was doing worse off than he was before she left.

"What would you like to order? It's my treat." She spoke while putting her phone away.

"How can I let a woman treat me? I will treat." He protested.

"It's an apology dinner. It will not make as much sense if I'm not the one paying for it." She smiled gently.

He was not in the mood to argue with her. "Whatever makes you smile."

L'Hotel Luxe La Rive was known for having menus that served at least ten countries' specialties, but they both chose French and ordered steak frites—an odd coincidence.

"I thought you would want a heap of blueberry sauce on yours." Teased Theodore, making her eyes squint.

"Very funny, Mr. Williams. You should grab a strawberry yoghurt to drink and use a crazy straw." She struck back.

"I will drink one of those insane smoothies you used to make. Especially the one that went wrong." He chuckled. "What did you do again? Right. You added mint and celery to what was supposed to be a tasty strawberry smoothie."

"Urgh." She groaned and they both laughed.

The atmosphere had been lightened so she thought it was the best time to break the news, before it became tense again. "I called you here to tell you something I've been putting off.

Well, I still wanted to put it off to be honest, but it will simply show up at your doorstep."

"What are you talking about?" He couldn't make out what she was saying.

"Your child." She dropped the bomb in two words. The speech she had prepared earlier had long fled her head and she could only hit the nail on the head.

He was confused. His child? "Zaria?"

"No. Your son." She fiddled with her fork, the unease starting to creep in.

He burst into laughter. "What drugs are you hooked on, Lucy?*

"Currently, none. In the future, none either. I'm simply stating a fact." She didn't look like she was kidding.

"And the said fact is my son?" He found her amusing. "Since when did I have a… wait." Realization hit him like thunder.

"Yes, Theodore." She knew that he had made a guess. "Whatever it is you are thinking, you are right." She watched his expression transit from amusement to shock and disbelief. Her lips clenched into a line. "I shouldn't have hidden him from you."

"How could you!" It was a whisper of shock. His voice was hoarse and it was apparent that the news had hurt him. "Where is he?"

"You can meet him when you are ready." She stated.

He pulled at his hair in frustration. "I so badly want to strangle you right now. I want to f*cking kill you!"

___

Soon after Zaria arrived at Ximena's apartment, the latter brought the food she had spent most of the evening cooking.

"What's going on with you?" Zaria asked as they ate.

"Everything is fine." Ximena forced a smile and took a sip of juice to mask the fakeness of her smile.

However, Zaria wasn't taking her crap. "Yes, yes. My best friend Ximena decided to call me for a sleepover on a Tuesday simply because she was bored and it had nothing to do with work being hectic or anything. Like anyone would believe you." She rolled her eyes.

Ximena burst into laughter. "I feel better already, knowing that you care for me." She was not lying about it. Zaria must have a magical charm that made her feel like everything was alright even when it wasn't.

"So, will you tell me what's wrong?" Zaria pressed.

Knowing that she would not get away without answering, she nodded. "I will, but can we eat first? We can talk in my room."

They were almost done so it didn't take long. A few minutes later, they sat on the carpeted floor of Ximena's room while holding pillows as the latter finally opened up. "I met Liam."

Zaria was caught in between amusement and curiosity. "Is it crazy that I knew he had something to do with this?"

"It's not. He is a total creep." Ximena wanted to punch him just thinking about it. "Anyway, I didn't end up collaborating with him. He gave this insane laugh and I thought it was ridiculous until I realized just what an asshole he is. He…"

"Xim," Zaria didn't like where this was heading.

"He freaking had all the potential partners reject me!"

"What the heck!" Zaria exploded.

"I totally didn't expect him to stoop that low. If he thinks he will get me to beg him, then he has something else coming for him."

While she was still rambling, she caught sight of Zaria grabbing her phone and seemed to scroll through something in anger—probably her contact list.

"What are you doing?" She grabbed Zaria's phone.

"Giving him a piece of my mind. How dare he! Give my phone back." She was on the verge of detonating. She would make that man regret ever messing with her friend.

Ximena simply smiled and continued holding onto Zaria's phone.

"Come on, give me my phone." She held a hand out while trying to calm her anger.

"Calm down, will you?" Ximena coaxed. "I have a nice plan in store for him."

"Uh…" Knowing Ximena, the so-called nice plan was a thousand times worse than the earful of insults that she was going to offer.

Ximena smiled evilly. "I will make him beg to be let off and when I'm done with him, he will never mess with me—not me or any other woman."