A friend by affiliation

Noah had just been getting ready to grab some lunch when Olivia decided to make her appearance. Though Noah was far from excited to see her, and he had a question or two regarding the way she was introducing herself to his staff, he knew he would have to deal with her at some point today. Since it was something that he could not avoid, he preferred to get it over with sooner rather than later. Otherwise he would be dreading the moment the entire day. Now he could just get it on with and make the most of the rest of his day without the shadow of her visit gleaming over it.

After the cheerful "Knock, knock!" Olivia had made her way into his office and Noah greeted her with something that resembled a smile. "Olivia, what brings you by here?" Although Noah's question wasn't very welcoming, Olivia was happy to ignore it all in order to spend some time with the man she had set her sights on. "Oh what else could drag me away to this part of town other than the chance to look into my friend's day? I just wanted to see how you are doing and try to share a meal with you while we have a chat. You are always so busy, so this seemed like the only way that I could spend some time with you." With her fake laugh ready and waiting, she added, "After all, a man has got to eat, right?" After which she began to laugh, hoping that Noah would do the same. But he couldn't muster up much more than a short lasting, soundless, exhaled laughter along with an ingenuine smile.

"I see. I didn't realize we were such good friends that you would consider visiting me at work just to have a talk. Even Laila hasn't checked up on me as often as you have." Olivia began walking closer to Noah and as she did, she said, "Don't be silly. Of course we are good friends. Laila is my best friend. Therefor you as her husband have to be at least a good friend of mine. If not by yourself than at the very least a friend by affiliation. And just because Laila is being a bad wife, that does not mean that I should be a bad friend. So, since I had made a wonderful lunch and it was far too much for me to eat by myself, I figured, why don't I share some with my good friend Noah. I hopped in the car and brought all of it along, so that we could have some together. I checked with your assistant and he told me you don't have any lunch appointments and he also let me know that you haven't had lunch yet. So, what do you say? Care to share a meal with a friend?"

Noah who was still trying to make Olivia slip up or give up, said, "Aren't I visiting your home tomorrow? We could have had a talk and shared a meal then, right? There was no need for you to come all the way over here, right?"

Without waiting for Noah's approval, Olivia walked to the table in Noah's office and began setting out the food as she said, "Of course I know that you are visiting my house tomorrow and I am very much looking forward to that. But if we are going to be true friends, we also need to spend some time with just the two of us. Having your wife there, will make me feel self-conscious and will create a certain barrier between us. Causing there to be topics we can't discuss or things we cannot say. A lunch can be the perfect start of a better and stronger relationship between the two of us." Once she had finished placing everything on the table, she posed as if she was the assistant at a magic show, revealing the grand trick, and said, "Ta-da!".

Noah, seeing there was no avoiding this, reluctantly got up from his chair and made it over to the coffee table to start the meal he wanted no part of. Though he had no desire to share any meal, not even a lunch, with Olivia, he had to admit that the meal she had prepared looked great. Though he was sure that none of the dishes had been prepared by her, she did come prepared. Everything on the table were things or contained things that were his favourites. Even if they hadn't been, she had brought along so much, that no matter your preferences, there had to be at least one dish there that you would like.

After taking his seat, deciding that if it was indeed something he could not avoid, he might as well make the most of it, he started digging in while asking Olivia some uncomfortable questions. "I am glad that you decided to surprise me like this. The lunch looks wonderful. You must indeed be a friend to have picked out all of my favourites. But I do have to ask, what did my assistant mean when he said that you told him you were 'practically my wife'?"