A brief moment of silence passed, as Zoro stared in confusion and Nami felt quite pleased with the reaction he was giving her. A good start, she thought, remembering all the previous dates when she had insisted she was indeed the girl they were supposed to meet and they would look at her like she was a mad woman.

Some of them might need an extra push from her to kill the deal, but judging by the befuddled look on his face, Roronoa Zoro was most likely an easy cut. If everything went as planned, she might even be able to get out of here before the entree was served.

Just as Nami was beginning to feel really lucky, Zoro spoke:" Okay."

"Okay?" Okay what? Nami's smile faltered.

"I thought it 's gonna be a window table, but okay." the green-haired young man murmured and pulled the chair for himself.

"Nice to meet you, Ms Nefeltari. " He sat down and gave her a nod, voice as unenthusiastic as could be.

Now it was Nami's turn to stare in confusion. Is he serious? Anyone with a functional pair of eyes could tell she looked A LOT different than Vivi. Why wasn't he giving her the " you're crazy so no thanks I don't wanna date you" look already?

What kind of game is he playing?

"...Hmm, anyways," It took Nami a good three seconds to collect herself. Get it together,girl. You've got a job to do. She reminded herself inwardly while flashing her trademark sugary smile at him again. "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Roronoa."

"Shall we order?" Zoro flipped open the menu and started reading, barely sparing a look at her direction. "I'm starving."

Nami felt a slight sting to her ego. Usually, men could NOT take their eyes off her. But this green-haired straight-faced man in front of her...he was something else. He didn't seem impressed by her good looks in the least. Heck, he didn't even bother to point out the obvious fact that she was NOT Nefeltari Vivi!

"You know, you are not like the rest of them." She commented,deciding to coax some reaction out of him.

"The rest of whom?" He asked absently, eyes still glued to the menu.

"The rest of my dates." She made sure to stress the word dates. " They all said I look nothing like my Omiai photo."

"Is that so? I didn't notice." He said in a matter-of-fact fashion.

Okay, that's it. He is either blind, or he's messing with me. " For one thing, I have short hair...now. And orange." Nami didn't realize her words were uttered through gritted teeth at this point.

To this Zoro gave a shrug." Girls change their looks all the time. I have a baby sister. When you live with someone with 16 walk-in closets, you learn after a while."

"Oh yeah?" Nami couldn't help but straighten up behind the table, " Did your baby sister also teach you that girls can change their cup size freely?" She knew the topic was highly inappropriate, but come on! She has an I cup! A man's gotta notice that!

A subtle blush appeared on Zoro's cheeks as he looked away, clearing his throat before he could offer some sort of answer. "Uh...no. No she didn't."

He had to admit, this conversation was starting to make him feel really uncomfortable...and confused, more than anything. Why all of a sudden was she talking about her underwear sizing? Were girls nowadays all so ...oversharing? And moreover, why did she sound so upset?

Had he said something that offended her? He doubted it, 'cause he barely said two words since sitting down. Ah, this Omiai thing is so exhausting.Now he just wanted to stuff his face with some food and called it a night.

"Anyway, I'm ready to order, Ms Nefeltari. Shall we? " Zoro waved down the waiter. After ordering himself a center cut beef tenderloin and a cold beer, he looked at Nami expectantly. Talking is a no-go, now let's move on to eating, he thought to himself.

Nami's hands gripped the edge of the table subconsciously. Although maintaining the lowest threshold of politeness, this man looked like he could not wait to get rid of her , but...but it was her job! Her plan was to behave badly on purpose, so that he would want nothing to do with her after tonight. And it was working... a little too well without her even trying!

"I'd like a Caesar salad, and that'll be it." She told the waiter unenthusiastically, earning an incredulous look from Zoro. Great, he must think she was one of those fit maniac girls that never ate now. And men hated them.

For some unknown reason, she found herself doing a surprisingly good job at repelling him, and she was NOT happy about it, at all.

Ten minutes later, when their respective dishes were served, Nami heard her stomach give an unpleasant growl. She realized, in inmense embarrasment that she hadn't eaten anything since this morning. She had been running from one part-time job to another, barely having time to stop to take a sip of water, let alone to eat.

Well, when you had a loved one hooked on tubes and machines, this was the kind of life you were supposed to live. She thought about Bellmere. Her heart sank and she lowered her eyes, allowing herself only a brief moment of vulnerability.

When she lifted her head again, she found herself looking into a pair of penetrating eyes. For the first time since they met, she saw something that could be categorized as "emotion" on Roronoa Zoro's face. It was concern mixed with something else, almost like...he suddenly found her interesting now.

"Are you sure you don't want to order something else?" He raised en eyebrow, looking disapprovingly at her delicate(small) bowl of salad.

Heat rose on Nami's cheeks. "No, I'm fine." Yes, she knew a growling stomach wasn't the most attractive thing on a first date, but she also didn't want to order lavishly at this upscale restaurant, just in case he would want to split the bill.

Her money needed to go to where it really counted, like school, or Bellmere's hospital bill.

"Here," Zoro suddenly spoke. The next second Nami was surprised to find that half of his steak had been miraculously transferred into her plate.

"Have some of mine. " He said, one hand still holding the fork. "Look, let's be honest, Ms Nefeltari. You are not insterested in me; I'm not interested in you. We are not getting married after tonight. So why not quit pretending and just enjoy the food? I know I'm going to." on that note he took a big swag of the beer, and then started attacking the food in his plate.

Staring red-faced, Nami almost wished the restaurant's floor would crack open and swallow her in. So he thought she was pretending to behave ladylike just to impress him?! What an egotistical jerk! Just because he was rich and good-looking didn't mean he could...wait! Who said anything about good-looking? She did NOT find him attractive in the slightest degree!

"Ah screw it, I'm ordering lobster." She threw down the napkin in a huff, and gave him a defiant look, " And you are paying."

"Okay."Zoro gave a shrug.

A small smirk played across the corner of his lips as he watched Nami gnaw down the steak like a hungry wolf. Not that he would admit it to anybody, but he was actually beginning to enjoy this night. When provoked, Nefeltari Vivi was almost...fun.

He waved down the waiter for her to order more food, and told her to go big or go home.

She went BIG. And he couldn't wait to see the look on his old man's face when he got the bill from Sanji. Sitting opposite each other, they devoured their respective plate of food without a care in the world, occasionally exchanging a look or two. Maybe it was because of the cold beer he had been chugging down non-stop, Zoro soon found himself lightheaded and in an unusually good mood. He was almost in the place to initiate another conversation with the orange-haired girl when the phone in his pocket started ringing.

Oh right, Usopp. He totally forgot about him. Sending an apological look her way, he took the phone to the hallway.

As always, Usopp's high-pitched voice blasted his eardrum:" Hey bro! I'm soooo sorry I'm late, hopefully you didn't suffer too much. So tell me about her! Is she like plastic-doll-level boring? ..."

Zoro listened absently, occasionally replying with a simple "um" or "yea". For a moment he even considered hanging up on Usopp.

Maybe he didn't really want to cut the dinner short; maybe he should stay a little bit longer, just out of common courtesy; maybe ...

He paused. Across the hallway and the dinning crowd ,his eyes squinted at the table she was sitting at- correction, the table she had sat at. Because now he was merely looking at an empty table.

She was gone.

Again, correction, she was leaving.

She was heading for the door, which considering they had been sitting nearby, she did not have a long way to go.

Shoving the phone back into his pocket, Zoro strode across the hallway, in the hope of catching the girl before she actually exited the restaurant. But she was moving fast. He saw her orange head bobbing through the glass door.

"Oi-" He stopped mid-utterance and folded over, sharp stomach pain and queasy feelings attacking him simultaneously.

"Curly-brow! You son of a-!" Zoro cursed under his breath as he watched her disappear into the cool breezy night, then he reluctantly hurried his way to the men's room.

Handiwork of Sanji's. He was poisoned after all.

Author's Note:

I know, I know, It's been forever. But this time I actually have a good excuse.

As some of you guys might already know, I had been cooking a bun in the oven for the most part of year 2016. And have been taking care of that bun (Loaf of bread? Butterball? Errrr...pastry? Seriously, how do you guys do this? *confused* ) ever since it's out of the oven.

So in short, I've been exhausted, sleep-deprived, and can often smell baby poop from my fingers. And lemme tell you something kids, Postpartum Depression was NOT fun.

Given the situation, it's a miracle I am finally able to whip out something for the fandom, right?

On a more serious note, I want to thank you all wonderful gals who's been super supportive during my time of difficulty. Anonymous Being, Jessica Alyea... your words of encouragement have pulled me through that challenging period that we call "the 4th trimester".

Last but not least, a huge thanks to my dearest hubby fmdevil, for being the best partner a girl can ask for, a great Daddy to the baby girl we have together, and for being supportive, loving and kind since the day we met.

As always, R & R will be highly appreciated. Hooray!

Minami