Stoop so low

At Noah and Laila's mansion the date between Steve and Maria was still just getting started. As they scooped food from one dish and another, Steve kept singing his praises. Though he did wonder why they were sitting in the kitchen instead of the dining room since they had the house to themselves for today's dinner. The only way to find an answer to a question, is by asking. So, that is exactly what Steve did with the question that was in his mind. "Not that I mind in any way, not at all, but I was wondering, why are we eating in the kitchen?"

But luckily Maria didn't mind at all and in fact had an answer ready and waiting for that question. She had purposely chosen the kitchen for their dinner instead of the dining room because it was only the two of them and they were on a date. With the kitchen being so far back in the house, the odds of Laila and Noah walking in on them, overhearing something or witnessing anything were very small. Though she was sure that Laila would do her best to not interrupt their first official date as their biggest supporter, Maria didn't want to risk it. If there was a way for her to increase her chance of success, she would do it. Especially something that required so little effort. An added bonus was that by organizing their dinner in the kitchen, the odds of her being found by Steve before everything was done, was minimalized as well.

After Steve got his answer and their plates had been filled to the brim, they began to enjoy the fruits of Maria's hard labour. While Steve and Maria were digging in, Noah and Laila were still in the middle of enjoying their show of Olivia's cooking.

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Over at Olivia's house, they were in the middle of the process of making dinner. The show that Noah and Laila had been looking forwards to was still in full swing. So far they had watched as Olivia spent almost fifteen minutes cutting a single onion while being surprised at how much they made someone's eyes sting. During this entire time Laila and Noah had to hold back their laughter and made sarcastic remarks at Olivia. Pretending they were just as clueless as she was, just like the lie they had told to get Olivia to cook in the first place.

Laila made remarks like, "Who knew onions would sting so much? It makes you wonder why every cookbook and chef insists on putting it in almost every savoury dish." To which Noah responded by saying, "I know right? Seeing this, I am glad you and I have left the cooking to the experts and of course our close friends". Followed by a wink in Olivia's direction to let her know that he was referring to her. All Olivia could do in response to their remarks and questions was laugh awkwardly as she continued cutting through her tears.

After the onion had been diced, Olivia looked to her left at all the other vegetables and herbs she still had to cut and she felt like dropping to the floor and crying even more then and there. She questioned her actions up to that point that had lead to her being in a kitchen cooking a meal right now. Asking herself, what kind of crazy situation she had put herself into? Though she had feared things going like this, she certainly hadn't expected it. After all, she was THE Olivia Smith. She could do anything that she put her mind to, right? So, why were things not going the way she had planned them to.

Olivia was fully disappointed that things had come to this and did not feel that she deserved the situation she was in at all. Growing up rich, she had never even had to lift a single plate from one side of the table to another. Now, because of one little lie, she was forced to degrade herself like this. To think that she was not only forced to cook for Noah but also for that damn Laila!

She never imagined that she would one day stoop so low that she would end up on the same level as someone from the working class. She never thought that she would ever be reduced to someone who does manual labour. Much less that she would struggle doing something that people she considered far beneath her, were able to do everyday. With each cut she cursed Laila and asked why Noah had chosen a dish with so many different ingredients.

She knew that if she didn't have an earpiece in to have her chef talk her through the process of preparing this dish, she would have long since given up. Initially she thought it would be a piece of cake if she knew what she was supposed to do. So, having someone walk her through each step, she thought that there would be no other outcome than success. But when push came to shove she already felt herself becoming nervous and less sure of it being an easy task. And now that she was actually in the kitchen and struggling with even the smallest thing, she began to wonder if she could even pull it off. If she knew it would be this much work, she would never have bragged about being able to cook. But who knew that cooking a meal could be so difficult, right?