Gabe entered his apartment and found Ari on the sofa with his laptop on his lap.
"Why don't you tell me how things went while you make me an early lunch?" Ari said without lifting his head from the screen, as if it were his own home.
Gabe chuckled and approached him. "I thought you heard everything, after all, you turned up the radio."
Ari looked up and smiled at him. "I thought it wouldn’t ruin the romantic atmosphere."

"And I thought to myself you heard everything through the phone," Gabe said skeptically.
Ari responded with a feigned offended tone: "What reason do I have to spy on my friends?"

"Well, it’s hard for me to believe you helped me access the system, track him down, break into his car, and didn’t listen to the conversation," Gabe said, and Ari closed his laptop.
"You know me so well," Ari said. "What are you making me to eat?"
Gabe laughed and walked to his kitchen. As the head chef of his own kitchen, Gabe always had to be well-stocked with the best ingredients. His friends knew that on days when he wasn't at his restaurant, they could come over to his place and he'd make whatever they wanted. Not that he wouldn't do it at the restaurant, but at Gabe's home, there was a more intimate atmosphere than in a busy restaurant kitchen filled with customers.
Ari sat on one of the chairs next to the island in Gabe's kitchen and leaned on the counter with his elbows, watching Gabe pull ingredients from the pantry and fridge. Ari always said that watching Gabe cook was like watching a live cooking show.
Sometimes, to mess with Gabe, Ari would set the kitchen timer and tell him that he had one hour to prepare a full meal, including dessert.
This time, Ari was in full interrogation mode.
"So what does he look like? Tall? Like this?" Ari gestured vaguely.
"The few photos I found do not show much. He is definitely someone who does not like being photographed. You know he does not even have an account on any social media platform."
Gabe looked at him as he tied his apron and asked,
"Do you really want me to tell you everything?"
Ari nodded.
Gabe swallowed and said,
"I could not really check his height since we were both sitting in the car. But he was handsome. From what I saw, his build was athletic... and he had gentle eyes..."
"What kind of description is that?" Ari interrupted.
"Is he hot or not? Did you feel fireworks when you met him for the first time?"
Gabe added ingredients to a bowl and started mixing.
"It does not really matter," Gabe sighed. "He has a girlfriend."
"Is that why you came up with that ridiculous idea about his sperm?" Ari asked. Gabe blushed and started stirring the mixture more vigorously.
"Do not remind me. I think that was the fastest I have ever thought in my life. When he told me he already had someone... I felt my dream slipping away. That was the first thing that came to my mind."
Ari watched as Gabe pulled pieces of chicken out of the fridge and placed them into the mixture.
"You are making crispy chicken? Yummy."
"Whatever you do, just do not tell my parents," Gabe told Ari.
"Tell them their precious son is asking strangers for their sperm? I do not think so. That will somehow come back to me," Ari replied, half-joking.
"And how exactly?" Gabe asked as he started heating a deep pot of oil.
Ari looked at him and said,
"If I tell your parents you asked your match—well, you know what—then I would have to admit I hacked into a system that is supposed to be highly secure and confidential, which they would report to my dad. And he would be very angry, because it does not look good if the son of one of the shareholders does whatever he wants."
Ari spoke so fast he did not even stop to breathe.
"Let us agree to keep this secret," Ari said to Gabe.
Gabe stepped closer and held out his pinky in a childish gesture.
"You want me to pinky swear?" Ari asked in disbelief, and Gabe nodded.
Ari wrapped his pinky around Gabe’s, and the two of them promised not to tell either of their parents about it.
Gabe went back to cooking. Some of the chicken was already done, and he transferred it to a strainer.
Ari could not resist—he grabbed a piece, quickly passing it from hand to hand and blowing on it to cool it down.
“He said he had a mate. You think we made a mistake?” Gabe asked, glancing over at Ari.
Ari raised an eyebrow. “I do not make mistakes,” he said through his teeth. “I checked the Program, and he is your mate.”
Gabe sighed. “You think it’s possible he has two matches?”
“I told you, I looked at our profiles. Each of us only has one match. That is how the Program works. Multiple matches go against the whole point.”
Gabe stirred the mixture in the bowl, then narrowed his eyes. “Wait. When you say ‘our profiles’… you mean—”
“Yes,” Ari said without hesitation. “I looked up all four of us. You, me, Dani, and Rafi.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You expect me to believe you had access to something like that and did not look up everyone from our high school?”
Ari gave him a fake innocent look. “Come on. Of course I did.”
“Wait! Did you find your match?!” Gabe whispered.
Ari blushed. “We are not here to talk about me. We are here to make a plan for you to procreate,” he said quickly, trying to change the subject.
“Right now, I have one mission—help you get what you want. I am calling it Project Baby,” he added, making dramatic hand gestures.

Gabe laughed. “You might want to slow down a bit. We are not even past stage one.”
“Look at me,” Ari said. Gabe’s green eyes locked with Ari’s light blue ones. Ari placed a hand on Gabe’s shoulder.

“I will make it my mission to help your dreams come true. There is nothing I would not do for any of you.”
Gabe’s eyes started to water, and Ari gently squeezed his shoulder.
“Hey! Do not burn my food!” Ari ordered, making Gabe laugh as he turned back to his task.