After work, Lest had once again invited his associate to his house. Vishnal appeared to be a little more nervous than yesterday, Lest wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. "If you don't need a rest, we can get started right away."

"I'm eager sir. I'll do my best!"

Lest just offered a smile and took him into the kitchen. "I've got a wide variety of ingredients, so we can try multiple angles if we need to."

"Do you have the ingredients to make curry rice?"

"I don't think we should start with curry rice, that's a little bit complicated. We'll start small and work our way up."

"Ah, good thinking sir."

"Let's try grilling some fish first, that's fairly simple but can be messed up easily if you're not paying attention. Here's a salmon and a sour drop, I'll walk you through the process."

Vishnal touched the back of his neck nervously. "I had a similar experience during my butler training sir, it never turns out well."

"Well the difference here is I'm going to be walking through it. You want to do your best to impress me right?"

"That's a very good point."

"Great, let's begin, scale the fish and place it in the pan."

"Right."

"Turn it to medium heat, drizzle some water and salt in so it doesn't burn."

"On it."

"Flip it after a few minutes so it cooks evenly."

"I see."

Lest continued walking his secretary through the process, overseeing the whole process. Everything appeared to be in order, the dish looked fine enough. Vishnal glanced at his boss, looking nervous. "Will you try it sir?"

"I would be honoured." At that, Lest grabbed a fork and took a piece. Once it touched his tongue he knew it was a mistake, but somehow he summoned up the strength to swallow. His expression alerted Vishnal immediately to how he felt about the dish, and his enthusiasm was killed.

"That bad sir?"

"It's, well, it looked okay. The taste though, I don't know how you managed to make it so off the mark while following the rules."

Vishnal pouted, looking despondent. "That bad huh."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so blunt. But this was a pretty tragic failure."

He said nothing in response, but he looked like he might cry.

"Err, we don't have to give up though, the night is young, we could try something easier."

"If you're willing sir, I will try again!" The despondence from a moment ago had been completely erased and replaced with the fiery determination he was known for.

Several attempts later, Lest had settled on having Vishnal make onigiri. By now he was willing to concede that if Vishnal couldn't make it, they might as well give up on this hopeless cause. To his surprise, somehow, onigiri was made. It was late and Lest was more than happy to receive the meagre meal, since it was made with tenacity by the object of his affections. Despite it being a success though, Vishnal didn't seem all that proud of his accomplishment. That wasn't going to stop Lest from celebrating.

They sat at the table, Lest placed a rose in a vase and lit a candle to accentuate the perfectly made onigiri in front of them. Vishnal couldn't tell if this was done to make fun of him or not, but it seemed genuine enough. Lest took the onigiri in his hand and raised it, with a glowing smile on his face. "Congratulations on your first successful dish. I am glad I was here to witness this momentous occasion."

"I'm glad I could share it with you." Vishnal said lamely. He was still uncertain if he was being teased, but he'd appreciate his boss's praise regardless if his accomplishment warranted it or not.

"Oh yeah, before we eat, let me whip up a drink to go with it." He stood and made his way back into the kitchen. Some shuffling could be heard, then the sound of the mixer, and Lest returned. He placed a glass by his associate and returned to his seat. "Cheers!"

They took a sip, Vishnal appeared to be impressed. "What drink is this sir?"

"Prelude to love." Lest answered without thinking. Once the words left his mouth he wondered if it would create an uneasy atmosphere between them. "If you ever progress in your cooking skills, I'll show you how to make it."

"I would like that." They both fell silent after that, sipping their drink and eating their supper.

Lest tried his hardest to not gawk at his underling. Really, he was being ridiculous in acting like a kid with his first crush, but right now he didn't know how to supress his feelings. Vishnal didn't seem to notice the occasional glance being thrown his way anyway, and instead seemed intensely focussed on determining the ingredients in Lest's drink just by taste alone. Adorable for sure, and also very diligent of him.

They finished and an awkward silence fell over them. Vishnal had taken so long to complete one dish and night had fallen. It would be easy to just ask him to stay again, but he didn't know if he should be so direct. "Thanks for the food. We should do this again some time."

"Certainly. I would be honoured."

"So would I. But we are going to have to work on your technique so it's not past midnight when we finish supper."

Vishnal let out a yawn that did not go unnoticed. Lest just chuckled in response.

"Well, it's late now. You can stay if you want."

"Really sir?"

"You've done it before, it's not that big a deal right?"

"That's true, I guess I'll get ready then, thank you."

It took all of Lest's willpower to not make a joke about their date ending in a sleepover, mainly because he felt it would make Vishnal uncomfortable. He already knew Leon would be making snide comments tomorrow and was partially interested in how Vishnal would react. Instead he just kept his thoughts to himself and said a humble, "good night." Though, he didn't head to bed right away. He just entered his room and ran a hand through his hair in moderate frustration. Had Vishnal been anyone else, he just might have confessed his feelings at some point during the date. The disunity in his mind was driving him crazy, but he had yet to find a satisfying solution to the troubles he was currently facing.