"Hey, Kenneth."

"Morgen."

"You must be Dayé," Morgen said, turning to greet Monday.

"Hi, you can call me on Monday."

"Nice to meet you, Monday," Morgan said and turned back to yell, "Honey, your idol is here."

All looked down to the corridor as Gina came to the door. She tried to keep calm, but her face shone with the lucent specks of excitement.

"Hi, I'm Gina. You can call me Lisbeth if you like. Everyone calls me Lisbeth." She paused and tried to sink in the scene, "I can't believe you're here. Can I hug you?"

Monday threw a glance at Kenneth, who just smiled.

"Eh, Yes, I guess," Monday answered.

Lisbeth gave Monday a great hug. There was no doubt Monday was welcome there.

"Come in, oh my. I'm so happy to see you. I kept hounding Morgen to tell Kenneth to come here with you. Did I say I'm glad you're here?"

"Yes, honey, I think Monday knows that now.

Lisbeth didn't even allow Monday to settle that she was already showing her bookshelves.

"Wow, you have them all. It's incredible. You even brought the new editions," Monday said while admiring Lisbeth's library.

"You don't know how dear your books are to me. I started reading them a little before Morgen, and I began to date. Back then, I kept dreaming of meeting the one. I mean, my one and only. I had so many failures, but your stories kept that hope alive. Then Morgen came along, but your books helped me walk through my darkest times of doubts."

Gina spoke to the point that she didn't even realize how overwhelmed Monday was. The author heard such testimonies at conventions, but they never ceased to touch her.

"Well, that's a great start between them," Kenneth said as she watched Lisbeth do a walk-through of her shelves.

The man felt a sense of pride, though it wasn't he who stood in the limelight. Kenneth liked to think he was with one of the best tuna sandwich makers.

"Yeah, Lisbeth was so looking forward to their encounter," Morgen said, staring in the woman's direction.

"Where are your boys?" Kenneth asked.

"They're out with their nana. Eh, Kenneth, I forgot to tell you-."

Morgen's words got swallowed by the doorbell. Lisbeth threw a hard-boiled glare at her husband before going to open.

"Ah, Kenneth," everyone heard thirty seconds later

"John, Alice, Matthew," Kenneth exclaimed with a sardonic smile before saying, "I guess this is what you forgot to tell me," through gritted teeth.

"Sorry," Morgen replied.

They watched as the other guests entered.

Kenneth hurried to slide a word to Monday before the voices drowned in the noise, "I didn't know."

Monday smiled, "I know."

It was evident from the triple ripples forming a W wave on Kenneth's forehead that the man was cross.

"It's alright, Kenneth."

"Ah, you must be the infamous one," one of the guests said, breaking in on the couple's exchange.

"Infamous?" Monday repeated

The adjective wasn't a positive one in Monday's mind.

"Don't get me wrong, I mean it in the sense you are a singularity. You managed to tame the scorpion's stinger. By the way, I'm Brigitte, one of Kenneth's close friends."

Kenneth wished to laugh. He didn't know how Brigitte came to the conclusion they were close.

Like most people in the room, Brigitte worked with Kenneth from time to time. The agent had known him for many years, but saying they were close was exaggerated.

"Well, I guess everyone is here," Morgen said while he tried to avoid his wife's menacing stare.

Lisbeth had long waited to meet Monday, and she didn't appreciate how her husband accepted to have all these people as add-ons.

Morgen had tried to explain, but Lisbeth didn't want to hear about how he declined invitations by saying he was having Kenneth and his girlfriend for brunch and that everyone decided to patch themselves to the event.

Kenneth was a mystery for many who thought he would never derogate from his happy alone stance. All wished to see the woman who made the orator stray from his beliefs.

They all imagined she would be someone of great wisdom and talent of some sort. Also, she'd be a brunette with bright eyes. Her eyes were bright but not of the color most expected.

"Dayé Yeni, I can't believe it. Miles Stuart from Bloom&Beck, you sent us one of your manuscripts a few years ago."

"Yeah, I remember; you sent it back with a word saying it didn't correspond to the publishing house."

"What a mistake." Miles touched his chest, "I swear, everyone regrets it. I don't know how many weeks it kept going up and down that top one hundred rank."

"Thirty."

"How amazing, and now you're with Kenneth. You really don't appear when one expects you."

Monday didn't know whether it was a compliment or something else. Thus, she decided to smile.

"Let's move to the veranda," Morgen announced.

Everyone followed the instructions. Kenneth had Monday on his left and Rendall on his right. While Monday had Lisbeth on her right and Brigitte sitting across from her. There were nine in all, with Miles, Alice, Matthew, and Morgen.

"Oh, Lisbeth, what a feast. Did you prepare everything yourself?"

Lisbeth had prepared what one could consider as a buffet on one side of the room with drinks and garnished the dining table with all types of canopy, toasts, cold meats, and salads of all sorts.

"Yes."

"Wow, you never cease to amaze me. I don't know how you do with your boys and all."

"It's just organization."

Morgen wondered if he should intervene and ask everyone to introduce themselves or let conversations run independently. He finally decided to let things be.

"I didn't listen to everything Miles said, but I understood you're an author?" Alice said.

"Yes."

"Her name is Dayé Yeni," Miles added.

"Is it your real name or your pen name?" Alice asked.

"It's the pen. My name is Monday."

Matthew laughed, "You did a good thing picking a pen name."

Monday was about to bounce back by saying, "What's wrong with Monday?" when she heard the question from beside her.

"It's just sounds elementary. It doesn't have that wow effect like Dayé, that's all, Kenneth. I'm Mattew, by the way. Kenneth, Morgen, and have been friends for how long?"

"Twenty years," Morgen supplied.

"You know the speech Kenneth does about the tuna sandwiches. Well, I was with him."

"Really?" Monday said, leaning forward. This was the kind of information she accepted the brunch for. She wanted to know more about her beau, and there wasn't a better way.

"Yeah, we were drunk as fuck," Matthew replied with the most predominant British accents Monday ever heard. "Like we spent most of the morning trying to find our shoes buried in the sand. Kenneth was crawling, yelling shoes, where are you as if they would answer."

"Aren't you tired of telling this story?" Kenneth asked. He, too, saw his American accent drop.

"Nope, I've got to break down that image you've created. People, especially Monday, I'm sorry, can I call you Monday?"

Monday nodded.

"She has to know what a silly git you are."

This was it, the moment where Kenneth's freckles began a flash mob on his face.

Monday grinned in Kenneth's direction and placed a hand on his thigh. The man smiled back. It was okay. This episode was part of the game where he let Monday roam in his garden. The revelation wasn't much, but Matthew loved to talk, and Kenneth wished he wouldn't spill all the beans at once.

Brigitte observed the couple and how Kenneth served Monday her drink. He kept whispering things in her ear that made the author smile. Gosh, how Brigitte hated the way Monday radiated happiness. She isn't even selling books nowadays; she shouldn't be beaming, the agent thought.

True, Monday's book sales had dramatically dropped. Her thriller only trended because everyone knew Dagma had worked on it. She had and was nothing, yet Monday was on cloud nine. All this because Kenneth chose her.

"So, Monday, how long have you two been together?" Brigitte asked.

"Eh," Monday looked at Kenneth.

They had never fixed the date of the official start. They had their one-night stand, correction, multiple-night stands. Then there was the cigarette gate where both signed off and after they met at the Berlin book fair in March.

"Nine months," Kenneth said before taking a fork of his salmon and avocado toast.

Monday stared at him with stupefaction. She couldn't believe the man kept the count.

"What? Did you think I was enjoying the ride without counting the bus stops," Kenneth asked when he saw Monday's and everyone's gaze upon him.

Rendall laughed, "I'm amazed. I mean, this man is incapable of keeping a relationship."

"So am I. Alice said before gazing at Brigitte, "You'll definitely be making some New Yorkie women jealous, Monday. Kenneth is one of the most prized bachelors."

"I'm glad I've got myself a prize, then."

Again, there was that accomplice smile between them. One could tag the couple's faces with a honeymoon phase stamp. Brigitte hated it; she remembered the night she and Kenneth once got drunk, and she had suggested that they marry each other if they were both single at forty. The man had nodded, and the evening had ended with a kiss.

Kenneth forgot the promise as well as the kiss. He convinced everyone he'd never settle, and here he was, loved up like never to the most banal woman Brigitte had ever met.

"Wow, I'm impressed as well. Please tell us where you met?" Lisbeth asked before Brigitte could throw out another question.

"I can answer that; we met at the London book fair.

"Really, but the place is a labyrinth. How did you even find each other?" Alice asked.

"Did you bump into each other or something?" Lisbeth added.

"Eh, not exactly," Monday replied after swallowing her fork of pancakes. "He criticized my books."

Kenneth turned to Lisabeth, "Actually, it's thanks to you. We probably would have never met if you hadn't asked me to get a signature.

Monday thought about it for a second. Kenneth was already someone before the fair. The author had done a few fairs where the man was present, but she never imagined she would sit around a table and brunch with him and his friends a few years later. Monday didn't even acknowledge his existence.

Lisbeth beamed, "No, tell me you're joking."

"No, I'm not. It's all thanks to you, a tuna sandwich, and a few drinks."

One could interpret his words multiple ways, but most understood that more things went down at that fair than book sales and talks.

"You said Kenneth criticized your book. What did he say? "Rendall asked.

"Do you want some syrup?" Lisbeth said, cutting in.

"Yes, please, Monday answered before replying," he said I wrote tuna fish sandwiches."

"Oh, I see," Matthew said, "you must be talented. Kenneth still raves about those sandwiches we ate."

"You write cliché stories, if not to say fast-food," Brigitte interjected, " one can also define sandwich stories as popular amateur books that readers consume fast and forget."

"Brigitte," Alice murmured.

"What? It's true; she writes the stories we all hate. The type that could be written by a sixth grader and that caters to college students or bored homemakers who spend their lives in sweatpants. I mean, you don't write real books. How long does a first draft take you three to six months?"

"What are you talking about? Personally, I love cliché stories. I never get bored of them. Monday's books aren't that cliché. That's why it was difficult for us at B&B to integrate her stories into our catalog. Monday's books always have this little twist.

"Excuse me, not Brigitte, but I don't feel like a bored housewife. I'm very accomplished. I'm not saying this because she's here, but they're true feel-good books that you should try sometimes, Brigitte," Lisbeth said.

Brigitte turned to Kenneth, "Kenneth, be honest. We've talked about these amateur authors thousands of times; don't tell me you agree with them."

"Well," Kenneth looked straight at Brigitte, "I've read a few of Monday's books andㅡ."

All opened their ears to hear Kenneth's words.

Phew,

Chapters where multiple characters must speak are the hardest for me to write. They also tend to be longer because you want everyone to have their say.

I hope it all made sense.

Gosh, there always has to be a spoilsport. It's ridiculous how women can be mean to each other sometimes.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Take care!