''I didn't have the time to name her,'' Diana felt embarrassed at how absurd her excuse sounded.
The expression on Ivy's face told her that she did not buy it. And both the men seemed to be smart enough to catch her lie but if they were curious, they were not showing it on their faces. Especially Maxim.
''Why don't we name her now?" Ivy asked.
Diana nodded. It seemed only right, ''How about we call her Baby?"
'Clang'
Ivy dropped her fork once again.
Maxim: "…"
Logan: "…"
''Uh… How about Angel? She is angelic so let's call her angel,'' Diana said with full enthusiasm.
''Dee, she will hold grudges against you when she grows up,'' Ivy mumbled.
Diana turned her face to the side like a wilted flower, ''But I really love calling her angel…'' she mumbled.
''Angelica is derived from angelic,'' Maxim said casually as he sipped the juice.
''Woah…'' Ivy looked like she was starstruck, ''I love that.''
Logan, the wood, nodded once.
Diana looked at the baby who was now playing with the spoon, ''Angelica, it is then. I love it,'' her face lit up, ''This way, her nickname will be angel.''
The baby giggled in sync with the situation.
The more Diana thought about it, the happier she felt. She poked Maxim's forearm, ''Omo, I love you. You are the best!" she pinched his hand in excitement.
Logan straightened up. Ivy held her breath.
Maxim's movements paused for a split second before he placed the glass down.
Nothing unusual happened.
Logan relaxed in his seat.
Ivy let out a relieved sigh, ''Then, this calls for a celebration. We have wine and Michelin star chef kind of food made by me! Yay!"
''Yes yes,'' Diana smiled, leaning back on her chair.
''But you aren't eating my signature dish for the night,'' Ivy complained.
''Well,'' Diana looked at the plate of prawns but just as she was about to respond, someone placed peeled prawns on her plate.
Diana glanced at Maxim who removed the transparent gloves from his hands, ''Thanks,'' she said to him before turning to look at Ivy, "Actually, I am bad at these. I ended up getting pricked once when I was young,'' she said, feeling rather embarrassed about it, ''Then, my sister or caretaker used to do it for me but I felt awkward about letting them do it so it became a habit to skip most of the seafood like prawns or crabs.''
Ivy's mouth formed a 'O', ''You had a caretaker when you were young? And you have a sister? That sounds… coming straight from a rich lady's mouth.''
Diana stiffened. It wasn't strange for Ivy to assume that she was poor. It has been two weeks but the woman kept seeing her in two repeated worn-out dresses. At the mention of shoes, she only had sliders that she threw at her during their first meeting. She did not own anything. And this must be the longest time she had survived without 5-star hotels, shopping, or tasting expensive wines.
Diana turned to look at Maxim, ''I didn't expect you to remember this,'' her voice was slightly strained, ''Moreover, you don't need to do this for me given that we are not friends anymore, according to what you say,'' It was strange.
He was acting so cold all the time, making her feel like they could not go back to how they were but the moment she felt like giving up on her plan to patch up with him, he went ahead and did things like this that conflicted her.
He wasn't being fair, was he?
''Friends?!" While Logan's expression did not change, as usual, Ivy could barely contain her excitement. She seemed to be shaking by the revelation, ''You both were friends? How? When? How was it like being friends with Sir?''
''We went to the same school and uni,'' Diana did not dodge the question.
''Then, how was sir like when he was a student? Did he get scolded by teachers?" Ivy asked in an almost conspiratorial whisper again.
She thought no one would hear her but Diana noticed Maxim's lips twitching slightly. She laughed, ''No. On the contrary, he was the model student.''
''Model student?"
''The kind of students who set examples, you know?" Diana shrugged, ''He was the best at everything he did and that made others jealous.''
''What about you then? Were you a model student too?" Ivy asked.
''I was… you can say, I was a normal student struggling for grades,'' Diana joked, ''Not a genius.''
''Poor you...''
''Liar,'' Maxim nonchalantly said as he continued eating. If they did not see his face, nobody would know that he just stated his point in this conversation.
''Hey, what did I lie about? I wasn't a genius like you, alright? I had to pull so many all-nighters just so I could get decent marks in mathematics,'' Diana almost whined. She was not that bad but when compared to Maxim, she would be like a firefly sitting beside the moon.
It was not her low confidence but the man was a genius. He could solve questions from senior years when he was young and it shocked her why he skipped the grade only once. With his capabilities, she would not have been shocked if he graduated at 16 or 17 instead of when he was 20.
''You were not bad,'' Maxim said.
''Not bad? Then why was I second almost all the time?" Diana felt a headache just talking about it, ''You got perfect scores every time. So, while I was not bad compared to others, I was quite bad compared to you.''
''It's because of you. Your grades have nothing to do with me,'' Maxim said.
''Huh? What the heck does that mean?"
Logan smartly excused himself from the dining table.
Ivy carefully approached them and took Angel from Diana's arms.
Diana glared at her.