DEFINING DINNER

In the large dining room in Bloom's mansion, Nancy Bloom is seated on her father's right hand, her hair thrown in a messy bun and her face filled with a bright smile as she listens to her father's stories and laughed heartily at his jokes not having a care in the world. Martha who was seated opposite Nancy could only fake a smile and pretend to be happy.

She was all too familiar with this scene, she has had many dinners in the Bloom's mansion in the past and she was not a stranger to Allman's jokes and heartfelt stories when he was with his daughter. It was one of the numerous things she was secretly jealous of Nancy about.

As a girl who came from a single parent where her father didn't want her mother or want anything to do with her, the Blooms unknowingly made her covet a good relationship with her father. One that she knew she could never have, so all she could do in the past was pretend to be happy for the father and daughter.

But today, she wasn't jealous of them or excited to hear Mr. Allman's stories, today when she looked at her friend and her father, she saw betrayers. People who didn't let her be with the one she loved. Even though she didn't know the full story yet, she was sure the Blooms were keeping Richmond in the relationship with Nancy somehow, I mean which relationship doesn't change after so many years, how can he still love Nancy after so many years? What was so great about her?

Martha thought these things while putting on a fake smile and giving off a fake giggle which the Blooms thought was due to their discussion. Her phone suddenly beeped and she looked at it and saw Richmond's number. The one person whose number she didn't delete after so many years with the hope that he would still call and come back to her.

Her lips curled into a genuine smile and she looked up at Nancy and then Allman to be sure she wasn't discovered before opening the message;

"9 am at Rosa's diner tomorrow morning. I would explain everything, why I had no choice but to leave you. Please come, Martha, I want to make this right."

She looked at it thoughtfully and nods satisfactorily then looked at Nancy who met her gaze and gave her a genuine smile, one that she reciprocated with a fake one.

.....................................................................

While Martha was acting out her award-winning pretense act at the Bloom's mansion, Evelyn and Sharon walked into the Noosa's mansion in another part of the city quietly.

While Sharon was expecting Evelyn to go straight to the dining room to face Steve with all they had discussed in the office earlier Evelyn headed for the stairs,

"Where are you going?" Sharon asked with surprise.

"My room." Evelyn replied as if she didn't remember a word of the conversation she had with her mother at the office.

"But your dad....."

"Mom," Evelyn began with an irritated attitude, "I can't stand dad and you know that he can't stand me either. Why don't you go and have a good night sleep or probably have dinner with him since you love it so much, I'll ask him about his health at the company tomorrow." Evelyn said and turned to climb the stairs leaving her shocked mother standing at the foot of the stairs when a maid hurried to them.

"Miss Evelyn, Madam, Sir Steve has been waiting for both of you in the dining hall for the past thirty minutes." the maid hurriedly said.

"What?" Sharon asked, then immediately headed for the dining room.

She had been so sure that her daughter would help her talk some sense to her husband and find out what exactly was going on, she didn't expect that her daughter would postpone it for her own convenience, she was just like her father. Both of them did not care for any other person but themselves and she was not going to be like them. Sharon thought to herself as she walked into the dining room.

Evelyn watched her mother hurry to the dining room, she didn't like her mother very much. She felt her mother was too soft and weak hence why their father treated her the way he did. Contrary to what Steve thought, Evelyn had actually become rebellious because she didn't want to be like her mother or end up like her.

She stared at her mother's retreating figure for a while before turning to go to her room, as she was about to.

"Miss Evelyn, Sir Steve said I must not return to the dining room without you." The maid said again.

Evelyn looked at her with irritation. "Then go get something to do," she said, then she turned to climb the stairs again but the maid fell to her knees.

"Please show me mercy Miss Evelyn, if I do not come to the dining room with you, I would lose my job."

Evelyn scoffed, "Go and tell my father that, that kind of threat has no effect on me. I don't care if you lose your job, I don't even care if you live or die" Evelyn said angrily.

"He said he would also strip you of your position in the company if you don't show up for the dinner." The maid bowed her head and spoke hurriedly.

"What!"

Now, this caught Evelyn's attention as she clenched her jaws, her father knew more than anyone that she cared about Noosa Inc. and had dreams of becoming its CEO one day. Even though he had refused to acknowledge her hard work, he didn't have the right to threaten her with her position in the company every chance he got. She had worked her butt off to get herself in the position she was at now.

Evelyn stared at the maid whom she felt like slapping for some time before she threw her bag to her, "Take this to my room." with that she stormed towards the dining room.

As she entered she saw her father seating at the head of the table smiling sweetly at her mother, who had a confused expression on her face but she didn't care, neither did she care that the evening meal hasn't been served even though it was already at night.

"What on earth do you mean you would strip me from my position in the company dad? Is there nothing you can achieve without issuing a threat?" Evelyn asked him angrily as she walked towards him.

Steve looked at his twenty-six-year-old daughter who had done nothing but be at loggerheads with him all her life and smiled. She was beautiful, how come he didn't know he had raised such a beautiful daughter, men must be dying to ask her out.

"Why won't I threaten you when you dare to take on your father's bad habits and have turned yourself into a workaholic," Steve said calmly shocking Evelyn and Sharon. They both share a glance.

The Steve they knew wasn't someone who could be spoken to like that, he would never answer in such a gentle manner, even Sharon had held her breath when Evelyn spoke so rudely as she guessed her husband who had been sweet all day would change the next minute. He and Evelyn had very similar characters after all and that was the main reason their family never ate a successful dinner together in the past because the father and daughter can't stand each other.

"Have a seat Eve, and eat dinner with your old man." Steve said to his speechless daughter.

Evelyn glanced at her mother before sitting down grudgingly and dinner was served.

A few minutes after they began to eat, Steve looked from his wife who was eating silently to his daughter who was also focused on her dinner, he knew that the first night would be like this, in fact, he expected worse but he had decided that he would work harder on his family and make it a happy one again.

"So, I called Jude today." Steve said suddenly and Sharon choked on the glass of red wine she was sipping, while Evelyn's fork stopped midway to her mouth, Steve immediately patted his wife's back.

"Are you okay?" he asked her and she nodded as she glanced at the silent Evelyn.

"What did you talk about?" Sharon asked when she regained her composure.

"Oh, nothing much. I asked about his well-being and I told him that I fully supported his decision if he really wanted to be a photographer." Steve said, unconscious of the shock on Sharon and Evelyn's faces, "I also said I would support his career in any way so he should not hesitate to ask for my help." Steve said smiling as looked at them.

Even though he didn't tell them he had apologized for being an absentee father to his son, he was happy with how the conversation turned out with his son.

"Since Jude said specifically that he had no plans of taking over the family business, I have decided to name Evelyn my successor," Steve said with another smile looking at Evelyn.

The two women almost choked on their food again.

"Dad, are you sick?" Evelyn asked immediately clanging her fork on the ceramic plate while her father gave her a surprised look.

"What do you mean?"

"What disease did the doctor say you have? Cancer? How long do you have left?" Evelyn bombarded her confused father with questions while Sharon held her breath and stared at her husband waiting for the heartbreaking news.

"I don't have cancer Eve, not that I know of. Why would you think I have cancer?" Steve asked with confusion in his eyes.

He had thought that Evelyn would be happy to hear that she was taking over the company. Even though he knew his daughter's love for the family business and her hard work, he had always prevented her from taking up higher positions because of her affinity to crimes and scandals. Now that he knew his daughter was like that because of him, he had decided not to deprive her of what she love and shoulder the responsibility of the consequences of her actions because they are the result of his incompetence as a father and husband.

"You're acting weird dad." Evelyn replied and Steve busted into laughter, but she ignored him and continued, "What disease do you have then dad or is it the company? Are we about to lose the company? Evelyn asked boldly.

She has been working at Noosa Inc. for the past three years, Noosa Inc. was her life and everything she loved but her father has refused her many times, even when all the board of directors wanted her to be the vice president, her father had refused blatantly if he was planning to hand over the company to her now that something was wrong with it, she didn't know if she could forgive him.

"My darlings, I am so sorry," Steve said suddenly as he stretched out his hands and took each of their hands into his own, the two women shared another glance before looking at Steve.

"Is the company really in trouble?" Sharon asked with moist eyes as she looked at her husband.

This was the first time her husband has ever apologized to her, if he was saying this because he was sad of the mess that had happened to the company, how could she not forgive and support him? He had abandoned her for many years to take care of that company and raise it to what it was today, if he lost it, it would really break her heart.

"No." Steve said shaking his head solemnly, "There is nothing wrong with the company or my health. I am apologizing for being such a terrible father." he looked at the confused Evelyn, "and husband." he said and looked at Sharon, whose tears fell.

"I realized just now that I have never given much attention to my family, I have neglected my wife and the two amazing children she has borne me. I know I have lost a lot of time, I know I have ruined and created a lot of bad memories but I want to change them. I want to try and make them right." Steve said as he let go of Evelyn's hand and held his wife's hand with two of his own.

"I am so sorry Sharon. I am so sorry for abandoning you and making you and our children feel so unloved. I love you and I love the children you have borne me. Every harsh thing I ever said in the past I didn't mean any of them, I promise, I didn't. Give me another chance my love. Give me a chance to be the man of your dreams." Steve said as he wiped away her tears with the pad of his thumb.

Sharon nods laughing as more tears fell, she was so happy. She had only dreamt of this scene in her dreams. She had never thought this could ever happen, Steve has never said these words to her in all their thirty years of marriage and now she was sure he meant it, he meant every word.

Steve continued wiping her tears and kissed her knuckle while Evelyn stared at them trying to figure out what was wrong with her father. Last she remembered, he went for a business meeting, so what exactly happened there? If it wasn't a terminal illness then what?

"What happened Dad? Why are you like this? Why did you suddenly start seeing mom?" Evelyn asked, even though she felt a little relieved to see her mother happy, she wasn't soft-hearted like her to believe her father's words at a go.

Steve smiled at his daughter then let go of his wife's hand to resume his dinner.

"I met Allman Bloom." he announced as he ate and the two women looked at him in confusion

"Dad...."

"And he told me the story of his wife, Jane Bloom." Steve said cutting his daughter off.

"He used to be like me you know? Until he lost his wife in a terrible situation." Steve said sadly as he remembered the look on Allman's face when he had told him the story, then he looked up at his wife and daughter who were staring at him intensely, "I don't want the same thing to happen to either of you." he said as he gave a weak smile.

Sharon busted into tears again and stood up to go and hug him, while Evelyn stared at him as she couldn't help but wonder, does this mean the rivalry between the two families has ended? Maybe for her father but certainly not for her, she still had a debt to repay.

........................

While the two families ate their dinner late that night, an unknown person snuck into Richmond's office in Bloom's company and quietly began to search the office, after searching for a while, he placed cameras in different hidden locations before leaving quietly.