Reina walked to the side entrance of the house and exited through it. Valerie followed and then almost let out an audible gasp when she saw the huge hill, she was to climb in order to reach the other house. With her condition, every step she took that was elevated caused her to loose more and more of her breath. Reina who was clearly healthy was already at the side door of Dr. Griffin’s house, while Valerie was beginning to grasp her chest unable to catch her breath. When Reina turned to see Valerie farther behind her as it was dark, she couldn’t tell she was having trouble breathing, but thought it was weird that rather than follow behind her she seemed to be wandering. She went inside and told John to go check on her.

            John came out of the house finding Valerie almost to the side door, she was still clutching her chest and when she was finally on level ground she, focused began to try to control her breathing.

            “Either you are extremely out of shape or there is something wrong with you,” John said half joking half serious.

            “Let’s go with that,” Valerie repeated the phrase she said earlier in response to Roy’s question.

            “If you’re sick, are you at least being seen by a doctor?”

            “I was in Japan, I’ll have to find a new one here,” she said, trying to get John off her back. “By the way, my family doesn’t know yet, and I’ll tell them, when I’m ready.”

            “Sure, sure. Have you caught your breath? Ready to go inside?”

            “Yes, yes. Let’s go,” Valerie waved him on.

            Entering the Griffin’s house Valerie could see the walls adorned with many picture frames. Most of them were of John and his accomplishments. Valerie followed John to the dinning room where the table had been extravagantly set for a large meal. There she found her father and sister siting to the left of where Dr. Griffin was seated at the head of the table. She took a seat as the youngest to the left of her older sister.

            “Valerie! It’s good to finally see you after all these years!” Dr. Griffin practically yelled.

            “Hi, yes, it’s good to see you too. And you too Dad,” she added after not having seen him for so long. Her father had aged remarkably well, remaining attractive with a full head of hair and moderately fit.

            “How was your flight?” Dr. Griffin asked.

            “It was fine, long, but fine.”

            “I sent John to pick you up. He took his friends I hope they weren’t bothersome,” he lamented.

            “No, it was fine. The more the merrier as they say.”

            “Let’s eat and then we can talk more about the elephant in the room.”

            Valerie looked at the food in front of her. She had a diet that limited salt intake and avoided red meat, despite how much she loved those foods. From the table she gathered small servings of turkey and larger servings of cooked vegetables. As usual, the food was amazing because Dr. Griffin was a gourmand and although she wanted the wine, especially wine Dr. Griffin was serving, she drank only water.

            When everyone had finished their meals and their plates were cleared. Desert was served, luckily for Valerie it was a sorbet and something she could allow herself to eat although only every once and awhile.

            “While you are eating dessert, I’d like to revisit the bet that I made with my friend greatest competitor and friend Dr. King.” Dr. Griffin said trying to hide the excitement in his voice. “Long ago we had a bet that whoever was the first to become successful or well-known among our children would firstly prove one family more successful than the other, and second would get the other family’s child’s hand in marriage.”

            “It is clear that our Valerie, and thus my family is the winner of the bet,” Valerie’s Dad, exclaimed proudly.          

            “So, will you Valerie be taking John to be your marriage partner?” Dr. Griffin asked directly.

            “No,” Valerie replied defiantly.

            “No? Well, that’s you’re prerogative as the winner. But I would like to see you two try and get along. How about since you bought a house near the medical school, he lives with you as a roommate and if nothing happens between you two, then Will and I will drop the marriage thing.”

            “Dad! That’s asking too much,” John exclaimed, having been tired of his Dad’s charades since becoming a young adult.

            “What? I only want to make sure Valerie isn’t making the wrong decision. I mean she’s unmarried, isn’t in a relationship either, and is completely devoted to her research. We should try to help her out.”

            Valerie was amused by how scheming Dr. Griffin was. Everyone knew that he wasn’t worried for her and only concerned about John.

            ‘John, must have trouble with romantic relationships,’ Valerie assumed.  

            The only way to through was to play along.

            “All right. He can live with me if you agree to leave our relationships alone after the school year, when nothing between us inevitably happens,” Valerie countered.

            “Okay, I can work with that. All we are asking is that you try,” Dr. Griffin replied.

            John sat in his seat with an obvious distaste for the situation he was thrust into. But when he thought about it, he realized that Valerie was covering for them and gave him an out with his father, at least in terms of forcing him to get married. To Valerie’s surprise the dinner ended with that, no one had asked her about her research or how Japan or Singapore were and it made her feel neglected. But this was how these two families were. Valerie couldn’t tolerate her position in her family and how it made her feel, so she left seeking her own glory outside of her father, outside of her father’s competitive relationship with Dr. Griffin. She had something to prove and she achieved greater accomplishments than that of her father, but despite that when she returned home, she only re-filled the space she had left, nothing had changed.