Chapter 59 - Third Wheel

After a few minutes, Daniel reached his house, he was excited thinking that he and Rachel would get some alone time to spend. He properly arranged things in the living room and placed them in their proper place, he then went to the bathroom in his room to take a shower. He wanted to look fresh and pleasing to the eyes. Later he was standing in front of the cupboard thinking what to wear. At Last he took a stand neck sky blue shirt and paired it with black jeans. He dressed up and checked himself out in the mirror and was satisfied with himself. Just then he heard the doorbell ring and happily went to the living room and excitedly opened the door. He was excited as he was expecting Rachel but what he saw was disappointment. Jimmy was cheerfully standing at the door entrance, he was grinning from one ear to another then pushed Daniel away from his way and happily entered the house.

"Is this the way you treat your elder brother?" Daniel was annoyed to see Jimmy here and was even more pissed with his attitude. He tried to control his sour feelings and asked "why this sudden visit?"

"Actually I wanted to surprise you with my presence and wanted to see the expression on your face when I'll share one amazing good news with you, so I personally came here instead of calling you"

Daniel felt emotional that he means so much to his brother, what he didn't know was Jim just sugarcoated his words and actually came here to meet and hang out with Rachel.

"So what's that amazing good news?" Daniel excitedly asked although he knew what it was.

Jimmy explained the events of the day in detail till the point he gave the presentation to the Tanakas. He skipped the part where he called Rachel. "Then the Tanakas who were supposed to decide their partner later after a lot of deliberation and analysis, directly made the offer to me and we got the project, the contract has been signed too." Jimmy waited for Daniel's reaction and just as he expected Daniel was really surprised and hugged Jimmy and congratulated him, he was overwhelmed with happiness.

"I am so proud of you Jimmy, how did it strike you that Tanakas are into courteousness and not into money?"

"Okay, so the twist in the tale is I felt this by reading more about them and Rachel confirmed my theory, she had some idea about them, the rest of the suggestions were given by her which I followed."

"Rachel?" This is something that Daniel really didn't expect.

"Yes, I called her for her opinion then she said these are the few things she would have done if she were in my stead, so she asked me to research a bit on Japanese mannerisms and traditions on the internet and I found how family and ethics are their top priority in life and Rachel suggested I should have grandpa with me to make them believe how much I respect the elderly person in our family, so, I blackmailed grandpa to come and put my acting skills to good use."

"Jimmy, you rascal, you cheat, you despised them."

"That's how business works."

"Jimmy" Daniel glared at him.

"Okay okay I'll convert this lie into truth and I will be more well behaved with grandpa, mom and dad, happy?"

"What about me, why can't you be well behaved with me too?"

"Because you are my Danny and I can be however I want with you" Jimmy cheekily smiled.

"Anyway did you thank Rachel as her advice really worked."

"Yes I did, I obviously wanted to treat her as she had helped me, so I thought to meet her personally to thank her but she told me she made plans with you for today. So I decided to come here, this way I can meet her as well as I can meet you and tell you the news personally" Jimmy happily explained everything to Daniel.

"Wait, so if Rachel was not coming here, you wouldn't have come here too?"

"Obviously, I mainly came here to meet her." Jimmy answered not realizing the trap he is going to fall into.

"And then you have shared this good news with me on the phone."

"Yes" Jimmy replied and realized what he just did.

"Wow, you despicable freak, you just told me you personally came here to tell me the news but you actually came here to meet Rachel."

"Haha my lie has been caught, sorry bro." Jimmy was shameless so he didn't feel bad and still smiled.

"So you knew Rachel was coming here?"

"Yeah of course, I asked her for her plans today and she told me she is meeting you, so I too came here"

"So Rachel knows you are coming here?" Daniel asked in a low and serious tone.

"Yes, I told her I'll be joining too."

"You stupid asshole, don't you understand that we made a plan to meet each other and she only wanted to meet me and I too was eagerly waiting to meet her and you invited yourself to be the third wheel."

"Oh fuck it did not strike me bro, I am so sorry as I was excited to meet her and then you too, I thought this was a better idea. Please forgive me, I'll sort it out and would come up with a plan so that you and Rachel can meet more frequently, ok? Take that as my compensation for today, okay?" he winked at Daniel.

"What plan?"

"You will see for yourself." Jimmy smiled confidently but he was nervous and started to think of some excuse for bringing them closer, if he doesn't come up with something his brother would kill him.

"By the way bro you do remember your promise right?" Jimmy again asked as a way to distract him.

"What promise?" Daniel pretended to be unaware of what Jimmy was asking although he knew what it was.

"Jack Nolan. Does that name ring a bell in your mind and remind you of something?" Jimmy asked anxiously.

"Umm, who Jack Nolan?" Daniel continued pretending.

"Bro, your best friend, you remember you told me you will introduce me to Jack Nolan if I crack a project based on my capabilities" 

"Yeah so what?"

"Danny I'll kill you if you continue acting."

"What acting?"

"Danny dude pleaseee." Jimmy almost cried.

"Yes I did promise but where the hell did you crack the entire project, you just got a contract and that too by deceiving people, you presented dad's plan and used Rachel's advice to impress them, do something on your own and then I'll introduce you to Jack."

"Woah look at you calling Mr. Nolan so casually and what the hell are all these conditions?"

"Jimmy, I don't want you to be known as someone who failed at managing business and therefore went for acting as a career but rather I want you to be known as someone who in spite of being so amazing at business still chose to follow his passion and entered the field of acting."

"But why?"

"I don't want people pointing fingers at my brother and making fun of him when it is all not true, I know how capable you are Jimmy, if you were really as useless as grandpa and others think then I would have never insisted on you to prove yourself first, I know others' opinion of you is absolutely wrong and I can't have people looking down on my brother so I insisted you to successfully complete a task and I am sure you will."

"Ok Danny, to be honest I don't think I am as capable as you think I am, I too have the same opinion about myself as grandpa and others have."

"That's the problem, you yourself don't know how amazing you are, but I know, I have seen you since the day you were born, I know my baby brother better than he knows himself, so trust my vision."

"Okay, thanks Danny for having so much faith in me" Jimmy hugged Daniel as he got a bit emotional and his will to successfully implement the project got strengthened.

Just then the Doorbell rang, Jimmy looked at Daniel smiling cheekily, "Don't you dare" warning Jimmy, Daniel went to open the door. He controlled the excitement and anxiety he felt and opened the door with a humble look.

Rachel was standing there with a light smile but she looked a bit tired, she was dressed up in a light blue shirt tucked in black pants, holding the suit's jacket in one hand and hair tied in a long ponytail. She looked like a professional and this was Daniel's first time seeing her in an office attire, he thought she looked even more beautiful in formal wear, he had a weird fantasy to see her in a business meeting and wanted to know how she deals with her employees, he shook his head brushing all these thoughts away, he charmingly smiled at her and welcomed her inside.