The next day in the Dunphy house.
"Hello, Daru." Claire picked up the call, and in a rush, Alex and Haley came running.
"Hello, good morning," came the reply.
Claire looked at them and rolled her eyes.
"Good morning." She turned her back towards them and spoke to Daru.
"Claire, I'm calling because I won't be coming today."
"Oh, why? Is everything alright?" Claire asked.
"Yeah, it's just that I am going with Jay to his club."
"Oh," Claire was a bit shocked, "he never took me there."
"Do you want to come?" Daru's voice sounded like he was high up on a tightrope.
"No, no, it's alright. I was just saying. And I have other things planned today. Ha ha," Claire laughed at the end in hopes it would sound better.
It didn't.
"Okay... and about today's yoga, you girls can do the warm-up and light stretches I showed you."
"Yeah, yeah, we'll do that..." Claire said as she got a lifeline out of the awkward conversation.
"Alright then, bye."
"Yes, bye," Claire replied and kept the phone back, then turned to address the girls, "Alright, I guess it's just..." No one was there, just the empty hall. "...us."
"We are almost there," said Jay, "Daru, if you feel uncomfortable, you can talk to me, okay?"
Daru smiled towards Jay, "Alright," he didn't say anything else.
Then, into a big iron gate, Jay pulled up to the valet and handed a key.
Both Daru and Jay walked up towards the open door.
As they walked in, Daru saw 'lots of old people.'
It was not that there were not men and women of his age, but in proportion to old, it was like China's population.
'I just hope they are not all comi...'
While Jay might have thought that it would be uncomfortable for Daru at the beginning, it didn't take long for him to know that he was worrying for no reason.
It didn't take long for Daru to start mingling with the folks there.
Jay introduced him to some of his friends and relaxed as Daru worked the crowd.
'He really has experience dealing with people,' thought Jay.
After a while, Daru joined Jay as they roamed the club.
"You are a natural," Jay said, looking at Daru with a drink in his hand.
"Nothing like that," Daru replied with a light smile as Jay and Daru walked.
It would have been all good like such, if not for them overhearing something from a room.
"Eric, what do you say about that guy Jay has brought with him? He seems to have good connections with some big people. Do you think Jay is using him to expand his business?"
"Huh, as if the cuck would ever be able to do it. All he is for getting used. I tell you, even when you bring a big opportunity, he will not take it."
"Haha, you still on that?"
"Nah, I am glad he didn't follow through with that deal. I finally left him after that," while Jay looked as if his innards were squeezed, Eric's voice took a sleazy tone, "The only regret I have is I couldn't meet his wife, Didi, that often after that."
"Ha ha, you bastard, you were on her the whole time behind his back, and you curse him."
Listening to Eric and his associates laughing beyond the door, Jay's grip tightened around the glass, his knuckles, and then his hand paled under the pressure. If he had his youthful strength, the glass would have shattered with the intensity of his anger.
'Or the glass might just be of very good quality.' Thought Daru.
"This fuckers…" pissed Jay walks with aggression towards the door.
Daru stops before Jay could do anything here.
He convinced him that this was not the way to take revenge "tit for tat."
After taking in some deep breaths, Jay calmed down and knew that he didn't really want to make a scene here in the club that most of his days he spends.
"Huh, how am I going to make him feel the same thing, he has a gold digger for a wife and knows it. No point in looking for her."
"First things first, we need information," Jay looked at Daru as he continued, "and I know just the right guy."
He knows that Luke works here. And from his vague memory of the show, he remembers him to have a good network of connections in this place. [AN: same here, I don't reference anything to check my meta-knowledge, I just go with what feels right.]
After settling Jay at a bar table and ordering him some drinks to keep him company, Daru walked around looking for Luke.
While walking around, he came around a room from which an old Gilf (BOWALA) came out.
She had a particular expression he recognized.
"Ha…" Daru chuckled to himself and continued looking around.
And it was then that he was shocked to see someone come out of the same room.
Luke, who was adjusting his collar while tapping a bulge in his pockets, "that definitely looks like a waste of cash."
Daru was not new to whoring himself for money, but he was not expecting Luke to be doing it.
"All good for me, now I can make him work extra hard."
AN: you don't have to say it; I know how forced this is.