"I knew you planned to set me up with Mabel," Donny remarked as I opened my door wearing my pajamas and a measuring tape around my neck. "I just didn't expect she'd be the first one."

"Right, come in," I yawned and let Donny enter my apartment and dragged him to the kitchen as I fetched a red wine and two glasses. "Did you drive Mabel to her apartment?"

"Yes, it's late," he answered. It's already two in the morning and our first blind date just ended. "I'm sorry for stopping by this late; I should have called you first but I just dropped your best friend safely from her apartment and I want to know how your date went."

I poured the red wine into our glasses and handed the other one to him. "Date went well with Jonathan; he's fun to be around and I learned that the I in his alias is for his last name—Ibanez—and that his second name is Jacques. You set me up with a rich man on our first blind date. I didn't expect that; I honestly thought you'd set me up with one of your friends."

"I'm friends with Jonathan," Donny answered, sipping his wine. "I think he'll be the only friend of mine I can set you up with because Vesper is with Vivienne and Aurelia is with Cressida."

"How did you become friends with Jonathan?" I inquired; I only see Donny hanging out with either me or with Vesper and Aurelia but never with other people. I have never seen Jonathan in my life, let alone with Donny.

"He's a regular in the restaurant," he answered. "Also, his family owns a villa that my family and I stayed at for the majority of our summer vacation. It's just a vibrant place and that's how we became friends."

"He did mention owning a villa," I say. "Villa de Ibanez, was it?"

"That's the one."

"He's a nice guy," I continued, reliving the night like my life depends on it. "We talked and laughed and even got desserts. He's a great listener and talker as well; he listened intensively about my passion for having my own clothing line and even gave me some advice on how to run a business, which is incredibly helpful. He even urges me to start designing clothes, to which I started to design tonight."

"Ah, that explains the measuring tape on your neck," he says. "I'm glad you had a great night."

"How about you?" I ask. "How's your date with Mabel?"

"It was fun; we both laughed when we first saw each other. It really was your doing, written all over it," he tells. "We just spent the night catching up like old friends and laughing about how we did see this coming."

In my defense, they are perfect for each other, hence why I set them up on a blind date but I see in the glimpse of Donny's eyes that he did have fun but the date is more on the friendly side rather than more than friends.

"Did you two plan to have a second date?" I ask, hopeful as I sip my wine.

His eyes pierced into me, stayed there for a second and looked away, shaking his head. "No, we thought it would be best if we just remained friends; the date we had really just felt like two friends hanging out after not seeing each other for years."

"But it's just the very first night," I try to rationalize. "First date even, don't you want to give it a try? Perhaps, after the second date, it will be okay. I mean, some first dates aren't great, right?"

"Maybe you're right," he shrugged, sipping the wine. "But for me, the first date is important; it's where you formulate your first impression and know that person—probably not the whole who they truly are as a person, but somehow a glimpse of what kind of person they are. You'll also feel the vibe you both have—the actions and feelings towards each other and whether or not you can see this as going somewhere or you're just wasting time."

"So, you don't see you and Mabel's date going somewhere then?" I questioned, sipping my wine, peering at him intensively.

"No, sorry."

"It's fine; I can't force you if you really don't see it going somewhere."

Mabel and Donny rarely hang out; they weren't close friends, just like I am to Donny's friends—Vesper and Aurelia—but we know each other's existence and there were times that Mabel and I hung out with Donny and his friends. They are fun and great people and what happened today will be their core memory and can be laughed at next time they see each other.

"How about you, Cyrielle?" Donny asks. "Do you see you and Jonathan going somewhere considering your date went well?"

"Honestly, no," I answered, truthfully. "He's a great guy and we had fun on our date. We actually set another date for next week but it's not like a second date is more into business meetings; he's really helping me in starting my business. He assured me that everything will be okay even now that I still have a dilemma about my sudden career path at this ripe age of twenty-five."

"I guess our first date isn't just meant for us," he tells, pouring the bottle of wine into his glass.

"I guess so."

This is the very first night after our first date in years, a date that we set up for each other and somehow it didn't work out. Maybe there are things in life that don't work out on the first try and maybe one of the concrete examples of it is this first date we had with Jonathan and Mabel.

Donny stayed for three hours as I continued designing my clothes and taking pictures to send to Jonathan, as I promised him I would send him my progress.