Page 30 of Infernal Affairs

I straighten automatically.

“Of course. I digitized everything, just like you wanted.”

Clover throws a paper towel at me.

“Show-off.”

Then her expression softens into something unmistakably maternal.

“What's got your aura all fizzy? This isn't your first date.”

“Enoch's coming over for dinner,” I admit, already blushing. “I want to impress him, but I also want to...I don't know...not make a fool of myself.”

Clover laughs, warm as honey.

“Trust me, sweetling. Every time that man walks through this door, his eyes find you first. All you have to do is be your marvelous self.”

She pauses, then grins.

“If you really want to push his buttons, though...wear something with sunflowers. He thinks they're adorable. And maybe let your hair out of that tragic bun.”

It occurs to me how little I actually know about what Enoch wants.

The only time he's ever commented on my hair was to say, rather thoughtfully, That color doesn't exist in hell.

I took it as a compliment.

It could very well have been a warning.

“I keep feeling like tonight is some kind of test,” I confess quietly. “And I don't know the right answers.”

Zelda tilts her head.

“What if it is? Don't we all test each other a little in the beginning?”

I want to disagree, but she's probably right.

“Except in this case, if I fail, he could literally vanish into a puff of sulfur and existential dread.”

“Or,” Clover says, “he could sweep you off your feet and take you on a week's vacation to the Astral Plane.”

“There are pastries there?”

She grins.

“Only the best. The croissants float.”

Zelda leans forward again, no longer teasing.

“What scares you most?”

I pick at a bit of dried dough stuck to my palm.

“I think...” I hesitate. “I'm afraid I'm not enough. Or maybe I'm too much. That he'll get bored. Or overwhelmed. Or that I'll disappoint him the same way I always disappoint myself.”

For once, Zelda doesn't joke.

“You're a handful, Daisy.”