"Victoria," Daniel replied.

Nathan barely held himself back from gaping at what he said. Didn't Daniel's mother say this woman would not come today? All of a sudden Nathan started to get panicked.

"Nathan, this is Victoria. Victoria, this is Nathan, my boyfriend." Daniel calmly introduced them to each other as though nothing was wrong.

"Hi," Nathan smiled nervously. Victoria stared back at him, silent and unmoving. The silence was so awkward and stifling as she eyed him like prey, the eerie smile still painted on her lips.

"It must have been some time since you two last met. Come, let us have a pleasant talk over tea," Marie spoke excitedly, seemingly oblivious to the cold atmosphere.

"Sure, I am starving," Daniel replied. Before Nathan could react, Daniel had grabbed his hand and led him away.

"Daniel?" Nathan whispered, confused.

"Do you have any preference?" Daniel asked.

"For what?" Nathan raised an eyebrow incredulously.

"Tea."

"You are joking right?"

Daniel led him into the dining room and chose two seats right next to Sarah, who sat near the end of the table. Nathan sat between her and Daniel, and across from them was Mia, Richard, and another guy Nathan had not known yet. Marie and Victoria came in a few moments later, Marie cheerfully talking to the girl despite Victoria looking a little distracted.

An older woman walked in after that, followed by a handsome man in a suit. The man helped her sit at the head of the table. This older woman was most likely Daniel's grandmother. The man's suit looked too expensive for him to be a mere caretaker, and judging by how he sat calmly right next to her, he was probably a family member.

After everyone had sat down, Nathan could finally count that there were eighteen people in total including him. The old lady addressed them with a smile.

"Good morning, everyone," she looked at everyone kindly. The fine lines at the corner of her eyes crinkled as she gave them a small smile. Then she led them through a short prayer before the meal, before allowing them to start eating.

At her word, everyone began picking up their tea cups and cakes. Conversations started to flow easily.

"I will have the jin jun mei," Daniel told the maid. She nodded and gave him a different tea. Nathan did not know anything about tea, so he blissfully settled on having whatever everyone else was having, which turned out to be a black tea. The chiffon cake he tasted first was very good, soft, and not too sweet. Clearly, either Daniel's mother or her chefs were very skilled.

"Is it good?" Daniel asked. Nathan nodded with his mouth full, feeling a little embarrassed. Daniel laughed.

Nathan tried really hard to ignore Victoria, who stared at them from the other end of the table. In the end, he gave in to pressure and leaned in close to Daniel, whispering.

"She is staring at us," Nathan whispered in panic.

Daniel paused and pulled back to consider Nathan's worried expression. Then he leaned in only to whisper two words back, "I know."

His voice was low and husky, and he spoke so close that his breath tickled Nathan's ear, but Nathan had no time to be distracted.

"We have to do something," Nathan continued to whisper furiously. They needed to do something, anything, to keep Victoria's suspicions away from them. They did not even look like a real couple. Daniel did not seem to be worried at all, which was probably because Daniel was not taking this seriously. But this job involved Nathan's livelihood! This was the only job he could finally land in a while and he did not want to fail.

"What do you want to do about it?" Daniel smiled, looking amused to see that Nathan was seemingly worried. Nathan had to hold himself back from hitting his face.

"Daniel-"

"Can you lovebirds stop with the PDA?" Richard interjected from across the table all of a sudden.

Nathan was speechless. What PDA?

"Mind your own business, Dick." Daniel clicked his tongue.

"We are at your grandmother's dining table, Westminster."

Nathan wanted to roll his eyes at the two bickering men. This was not the right time. He felt Victoria's suspicious stare boring a hole into his head and that alone made him feel more nervous than he already was.

"So this must be Daniel's boyfriend, huh?" the guy next to Richard suddenly spoke up teasingly. "Are you gonna introduce me, Daniel?"

"Nathan, this is Michael, Mia's older brother," said Daniel, giving a brief introduction.

"Hello," Nathan greeted back with a smile.

"Are you guys really dating?" Michael asked curiously.

Nathan was instantly alarmed. Was that a sound of doubt he heard? Was their cover going to be blown? Was he about to lose his job?

"Oh, yes," Nathan replied hastily, his voice was a little louder than he intended. "Yes. Yes. We are dating. Daniel and I are seeing each other. We are in love. Daniel and I are very much in love with each other. I mean, that is why we are dating." His voice went a little higher near the end.

Michael blinked. Nathan's heart rushed in his chest.

There was a pause as Michael seemed to have not anticipated getting such a long answer to his simple question, then he burst into a peal of laughter.

"You sure sound enthusiastic," he laughed, shaking his head in amusement.

"Hahaha," Nathan laughed weirdly, trying to seem convincing. In an extra effort, he slung an arm over Daniel's shoulders, because people who were dating often had physical contact. Usually. "Yes, I am enthusiastic about our relationship."

Michael laughed again. Nathan really did not get what was so funny. "Well, good for you guys."

As Michael looked away to add some honey to his tea, Nathan turned his head to look at Daniel, who looked like he was doing his best to hold back a big smile.

"You are laughing at me," Nathan deadpanned.

"I'm not," Daniel lied. He was not even hiding his smile anymore, it looked good on him.

Nathan narrowed his eyes on him. "You most definitely are."

There he was, doing his best to convince Daniel's entire family, friends, and a dog that they were dating. And Daniel himself did not even take this seriously!

Nathan rolled his eyes and took back the arm he slung over Daniel's shoulders.

After everyone had had a few cakes, they started wandering around. Some were still chatting over the dining table, while Daniel and Nathan went out to the patio to play around with Marshmallow.

Marshmallow's personality was calm and tempered. She did not jump around too much, merely happy to walk around and be petted by them.

Sarah and another girl who Nathan later would know was Charlotte followed them out.

"What were you doing back there?" Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Trying to be buddy-buddy with Daniel?"

"What do you mean by what I was doing?" Nathan asked.

"I thought you said you could act," Sarah clicked her tongue. "You really can not believe people you meet at job interviews, huh?"

Nathan frowned at her, looking offended. He really thought he did okay for a beginner, it was an impromptu act without any script. He was about to protest when the door slid open and a woman approached them.

"Daniel?" the woman called. She looked so much like a prettier, girl version of Daniel that Nathan immediately guessed this was his sister. "I need to talk to you for a second. Can you come with me?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

In the end, Daniel followed her back inside. Diana did not say anything until they were upstairs in her room. Once they were in, she locked the door. Daniel wondered why they needed to be so secretive.

"Can I borrow money from you?"

Daniel laughed. "Why would you need to borrow money from me, you..." His words died off as he looked at Diana's anxious expression. "Is something wrong?"

Diana didn't speak. Daniel frowned, "Are you in some kind of trouble? Should we tell mom and dad?"

"No, no. Do not tell mom and dad. I will solve this on my own."

"Borrowing my money doesn't seem like solving it on your own," Daniel raised an eyebrow. It was not a big deal for him to give her money, but Daniel wondered what kind of problem was so big that Diana couldn't afford it with her own money.

"I will pay you back."

"It is not a matter of you paying me back," Daniel sighed. "Do not I deserve to know what you're planning to use this money on?" If his sister was in a serious problem, they would need to tell their parents, no matter how reluctant Diana was. But for now, Daniel would just see how bad the problem actually was.

Diana paced around anxiously for a while, then sat down on her bed. "Alright, fine. But promise you wouldn't tell mom."

Daniel nodded.

"My friend is sick. He does not have the money for his lung surgery so I promised I would lend him some, but Jared would not let me." Diana sighed. Jared was her boyfriend of five years, and although according to Diana he treated her well, he was also occasionally jealous and never liked Diana's male friends.

"It is your money, why should Jared tell you what to do with it?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"He will bitch about it for weeks, Daniel. Please, I just need five thousand from you."

"Fine," Daniel rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone and transferred the money to her account. "What kind of lung problem does your friend have?" he asked out of curiosity.

"I do not know, you know I don't get all that biology crap," Diana dismissed him. "Thank you, I will be sure to pay you back by next month."

"It is alright. Do not worry about it."

It turned out to be a small matter. Diana really did not need to drag him out for this. Daniel went back downstairs to find Sarah, Charlotte, and Marshmallow.

"Where is Nathan?" he asked.