We're going to need more than five minutes

Have you ever died before?

(Caution: major spoilers for the end of WWK season 2!)

For the third time, she checked all of her cooking utensils that she had either laid out somewhere in front of her around the stove or prepared in one of the drawers while the small camera crew was getting set up in her kitchen. She had to admit that she was nervous. Today she would do a virtual cooking session with her good friend Ludo Lefebvre, a divine French chef who led one of her favorite restaurants in Hollywood, ‚Petit Trois'. They'd be cooking steak aux poivres, steak in pepper sauce, and not just any steak! She'd get her hands on two sublime Wagyu fillet steaks, around $80 each, and she felt intimidated to say the least. She did NOT want to ruin these precious pieces of meat. And most of all, she did not want to be late.

Tonight, she'd be serving Jordane once he'd come home – to her home, that was – after work, she herself had had a day off today. Initially she had promised this feast to Trish, but her friend had instantly shown the utmost understanding that given the latest developments in her love life, she would rather want to surprise her lover with this dish. The only problem was, if her plan was to work, they were on an extremely tight schedule.

„And just again for me to understand", she asked the production assistant one more time, „As soon as we're done cooking, you'll wrap up and leave?"

The young woman adjusted her headphones and looked up from her notes. „Oh yeah, absolutely. For sure you'll want to eat what you've cooked in peace, right? And we wouldn't want the food to get too cold. Just give us about five minutes and we'll be out of here."

„Okay, great", she smiled with relief, „Not that I want to kick you out, you know, but, I'm cooking this for someone... and he'll be here at 7pm sharp. It's supposed to be a surprise."

The lady just winked understandingly at her and smiled. „Don't worry, you'll be alone by then."

In the end, aside from some technical difficulties with the audio and a minor, fire-related incident which looked much scarier on camera than it actually was, all went well, and at 7pm sharp, she had put the table in her backyard and prepared the two perfectly cooked steaks with pepper sauce, salad and vinaigrette, along with an apple tart with salted caramel for dessert. The camera crew was gone, so all that missing was...

The doorbell rang, right on time, and her heart was beating a little faster as she went to open the door. Lola was already there, sniffing, barking, wagging her tail. By now she had become almost as big of a fan of Jordane as her mommy already was.

She opened the door, smiled at him and greeted him with a long, deep kiss, then she noticed the surprise on his face.

„Wow... what's with the apron, Martha Stewart?"

She looked herself down and only now realized that she was still wearing it. She took it off, laughing. „Sorry about that behind the scenes scoop. But actually, I was cooking! I made you dinner."

He blinked at her a few times. „You... what? You made me dinner?"

She nodded. „Uh-uh. Well, us, of course, not just you. Why is that so surprising? But, come on, sit down, otherwise the food gets cold!"

He was still too perplexed to respond when he sat down outside at the table in the backyard and watched her serve dinner like the perfect little housewife. Finally, she explained: „I had this virtual cooking session with a dear friend of mine, Ludo. He's a French chef, and he's absolutely incredible! His restaurant is one of my favorites, gosh, it's so good! I'll have to take you there sometime. Anyhow, we've had this planned for a while, it's a dinner for two, and now with you in the picture, well... after I failed the pancakes so miserably last weekend, I thought this would be a nice gesture to make up for it."