This Crazy Rich Boy

"I can't believe you've cooked all these in so short a time, Ma'am," Gabriel says as he sits down by the table.

David, Claire's dad, shrugs, like "culinary marvels" like this is just normal in their house. "Wait till you see what happens on special days."

Carol laughs. "It's nothing, really. It's just the simplest dishes I could whip up using what I have here in the kitchen."

From Carol's perspective, what she did is really "nothing." The one-pot beef took less than ten minutes to make. The secret is chopping the beef into small pieces so that everything cooks in about five minutes.

Meanwhile, the sheet-pan sausage and veggies dish also makes use of the same broccoli, and then some. She chopped everything in one go, and merely portioned which goes to which dish. The sausages were leftovers from last Sunday, and preparing them in this way makes the illusion of plenty.

But perhaps the center of attention and the dish that got Gabriel's eye is the lemon garlic salmon and asparagus. It looks pretty, and the straightforward presentation in its metal tray is striking—it elevates the stature of a farmhand's dish into something you'd find in the best restaurants in the city.

All in all, the cooking took Carol a little more than half an hour. And the secret behind it all, of course, is Carol's acute sense of taste and smell. Her palate is such that she could turn even the simplest dishes into a marvel of flavors—and fortunately, it's a trait that she has passed on to her daughter, Claire.

"All the veggies are what we grow in the backyard and in the farm, from the garlic, to the asparagus, to the broccoli," Carol says, as she puts in the center of the table a steaming tray of cooked rice.

"So," David says, "Dig in, guys. Carol's food waits for no man." He smiles with meaning; Claire's dad seems more relaxed now, although he'd still give Gabriel that occasional glance.

Gabriel is about to dig in but Claire gets ahead of him, swooping into the pan of sausage and veggies, then ladling them carefully into Gabriel's plate. But then she realizes the error. "Oh, Gab, sorry, I forgot to ask you if you'd like this. I just went ahead and…"

Gabriel laughs. "Dear, I love everything. Thank you. The food smells ambrosial, you know. I haven't eaten home-cooked food in such a long time. The last was, I think, your eggs benedict."

"So she has served you her 'killer eggs', then," Carol says, nodding. "Then she must really like you."

Claire's face turns beet-red at that. "Mom!"

But Carol merely smiles. She watches him enthusiastically partake of her cooking. Gabriel seems a nice young man, although he seems of a different league. At this point, both Carol and David have no idea of who Gabriel is, but given the warm hospitality of people in the countryside, they'd receive him as one of their own, no matter what. And their daughter seems very fond of him—maybe she's telling the truth about this man being her fiancée. She'll attend to that later—there are many unresolved feelings regarding that, and she's sure her husband, David, will have a lengthy discussion about what their daughter seems up to. But for now, let them enjoy the food. "So how is it?"

Gabriel is chewing on a hefty morsel of rice and beef, and couldn't open his mouth to talk, so he just nods.

Good table manners, Carol notes. Who is this guy?

"The food is excellent, Ma'am," Gabriel finally manages to say, after wiping his mouth with a napkin. He smiles. "I can't believe such deceptively simple looking dishes could taste so wonderfully."

"Thank you," Carol says, glancing at her husband. We always try our best here."

Claire's dad obviously could not contain his curiosity any longer. As soon as he sees Gabriel reach for the glass of water, David blurts out, "Can you guys enlighten us again poor parents of our eldest child why you arrive here, in the middle of the night, and declaring that you're engaged?"

Gabriel almost snorts out the water at the question. He glances at Claire, as if looking for clues about how to go about this properly. He makes a deep breath. He remembers what he did at the press conference a few days ago, how he solved the dilemma about telling the truth. He winks at Claire, who "gets" it.

"Actually, Sir, Ma'am, I admit, how Claire and I got together may be a bit unusual—"

"—That would be an understatement!" David interjects.

"Uhh, yes, sir, that's true." Gabriel smiles. "And there are no two ways about it. A month ago, I first met Claire. She walked into my office looking for a job. I think it was for an executive ȧssistant role. But when I saw her, I thought she would fit better as my 'fake fiancée.' You see, at that time, I was in a different frame of mind. My girlfriend and former fiancée of ten years cheated on me, and I was nursing a vengeful heart. So I thought perhaps Claire could help me get back on the cheating ex."

"You used my daughter in a revenge plot?" David's eyes could pop out of their sockets. "How could you?"

"Sorry," he says, his voice softer now. "I admit it all. It was never right, no matter how you look at it. But…" He gazes at Claire, who nods reassuringly. "But I made up for it. I proposed to her, I did something I had never done before. I chased her in the rain and gave her the sincerest proposal I could think of."

"How romantic," Claire's mom mutters. "

"What movie is this?" Claire's dad says, never bothering to hide his sarcasm. "Did you actually wait for the rain before you could propose? Other people would do that in some fancy restaurant, you know."

"Or while one was milking the cow," Claire's mom says, throwing David a meaningful look. "Stop that, David. Let the kids be."

David rolls his eyes. "The kids are thinking about making their own kids now. Jesus, Carol, where did all the years go?"

Carol smiles wanly. "Let's talk about that some other time, honey. For now, maybe Claire and Gabriel need to rest. But are you done with the dinner now?"

"Oh, not yet, Ma'am," Gabriel says, reaching over for the salmon. "I think I'd just have a bite of this wonderful fish before I could honestly say I'm done with this amazing dinner."