Day 2: Hot Moves

For our first time out the house this season, four lucky gentlemen will get to spend the whole day with Andrea. And here's what she has planned for these men.

"Here we are!" Andrea cheerfully tweets. "I asked you guys to dress fancy because this place has a dress code. I hope you guys like Italian."

"Italian's good," Aaron says.

"It would be a nice change from eating shellfish a lot," Tyne states.

"I'm starving. Not really picky here, so this should be fine," Min Kyu says.

"Well, I used to date this Italian girl. Does that count?" Darnell jokes.

"We have a reservation under 'SimBC For Love or Money'," Andrea states.

"Ah, yes, I'll show you to your table, ma'am."

"This way, boys!"

"Oh, these all look so good!" Andrea raves. "You guys just go ahead and order whatever. It's on the show. And also a round of cappuccinos because it's really early."

"Hey, I'm back from the bathroom. Did I miss anything?" Darnell asks.

"Darnell! I was just waiting for you," Andrea says. "I'm sure you all got to know each other a bit yesterday, but I just want a round of names again, as well as something about yourself, just to get off to a good start."

"I'll start. What's up, everyone? Name's Darnell Nixon."

"Darnell, everyone in this restaurant knows who you are," Min Kyu lightheartedly chides.

"Well, let's all pretend you don't know me. Maybe the TV doesn't show everything about me, eh? Anyway, I grew up in the Branks district of San Myshuno with my mom and sister. And just in case you read that on Wikipedia, I had an imaginary friend named Billy the Tiger when I was a kid. Let's see you look that up on the internet!"

"I'm Tyne Forkmann. I work as a line cook at The Happy Lobster. In my spare time, I like to fish. Sometimes we get to take home excess ingredients, so you can imagine how often I eat seafood. That's why I'm ordering something different today."

"I'm Min Kyu Tak. I'm a second generation immigrant, and dancing is my passion. I've been doing it since I was in school, and now I work as a dance teacher. I'd say I'm pretty awesome at it, if I do say so myself."

"Here's everyone's orders. Buon appetito!"

"Okay, so before we eat, I'm Aaron Newman. I'm from Bridgeport, and I'm a biology student. I like botany in particular, and I want to specialize in plants and agriculture. I'll be starting my senior year once the summer is over."

"That was great to hear, everyone," Andrea says. "Now, it's time to dig in!"

Damn, that breakfast looks excellent. I'm getting hungry just looking at it! Everyone's just there enjoying their meal.

"So, Andrea," Darnell begins. "What about you? I know we got to speak to you yesterday, but shouldn't you get a turn too?"

"Oh, that's right! She almost got away with not doing that introduction thing," Min Kyu joins in.

"Alright, you guys got me. I'm Andrea Merchant, but I'm actually a chef. I'm an only child, but I do have a bunch of cousins who were basically the closest thing I had to siblings. Jan, Mike, Sarah, Darren, Ella, I hope you're enjoying the show right now!"

"Wait, those cameras are filming a TV show right now? I get to be on TV? MOM! DAD! I told you I'd make it someday!"

Jeez. Some people, am I right?

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I have a bunch of cousins, and they'll probably watch this once it airs. But enough about me. It's time to pay the bill, and start the second part of our date," Andrea announces.

"Let's get back to the car. We'll be going to a place where I can get to know each of you a little bit better. Sound good?"

And here we are in Windenburg, folks.

"This is it..."

"...The Von Haunt Estate. The producers were able to secure filming permits, so the camera crew can follow us wherever we go. I want to get the chance to talk to each one of you in private. Oh, and you can do pretty much whatever as long as it doesn't break the rules, so enjoy!"

"Not to be imposing, but I was hoping we could talk first?" Min Kyu asks.

"Are you finally going to show me some of your moves? I bet you're always on fire on the dance floor."

"Oh, I am, but this tux is kinda hard to move in. And now's not really a good place. It'll all come in due time, but it'll be worth it," he winks.

"So, when did you find out that you enjoy dancing?" Andrea asks.

"I was probably 5. My parents would sometimes put on MTV, and I'd dance along. Well, this was back when MTV still showed music videos. Anyway, they noticed I had a good sense of rhythm, so they asked me if I wanted to join some kids' workshops."

"That's really early," Andrea remarks. "I didn't even realize that I wanted to be a chef until I was maybe 17."

"I guess some people are just lucky enough to discover their passion and talents at a young age. I'd say 17 is still pretty early. My dad thought of quitting his job in his 40's and started a new career then. It was hard starting all the way from the bottom, but at least he was happy."

"That's great! It's never too late for someone to find happiness."

"I guess that's true. It was hard at first. Had to cut a few corners. But soon he was able to make more money and things got a bit stable again."

Meanwhile, we have our little botanist enjoying a little quiet time outside.

"Mind if I join?" Andrea asks.

"You're always welcome to join me, Andrea," Aaron responds.

"I have to admit that I'm not very good at chess. I've played a bit before, but I lose a lot of times," Andrea admits.

"Nah, it's fine. I play chess quite a bit, but I can go easy if you want."

"Look! Is that a weird bug?" Andrea points.

"Andrea, I don't see anything. It's just a bunch of vines hanging on the wall."

"You're right. My bad. I must be seeing things today."

"Anyway," Aaron begins. "I think this is a fantastic choice of location. The fresh-cut grass smells nice, and you got all these chess boards strewn around outside where there are a lot of trees and flowers."

"I take it you like being outside."

"I love it! That's part of the reason why I took up biology in the first place. Honestly, it saddens me to see how many forests are getting cut down each year. I've seen pictures of Bridgeport before the massive rise in development, and it looked much more beautiful before."

"I can see you're really passionate about nature. We had enough trees in the suburb where I grew up, but I'm sure a lot trees had to be cleared to make way for homes. I never really put much thought into it until now, though..."

"I think Andrea and I got on really well at the Von Haunt Estate. Of course, she thinks I didn't see her switch the pieces around, but I just let her think I was ignorant of it all."

Here's Tyne all alone right now. Wonder what's he thinking?

"Tyne! I've been looking all over for you!"

"Oh, sorry. I was just looking at these ponds. Doesn't look like you can fish in them, though. Hey, let's take a seat over there."

"I don't think they rent out fishing rods here, so I guess there's no fishing."

"I can take you somewhere we can fish if we go on another date. How's that sound?"

"Well, I don't know. How do I make sure there will be another date?"

"I can't really promise anything, but I did ask you to join me today for a reason," Andrea states.

"Really?"

"I feel like we had this connection yesterday, and I wanted to explore it some more. So let's talk. You say you're a line cook at The Happy Lobster, right?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm mostly in charge of soup and appetizers. Speaking of soup, the pumpkin soup I had earlier was excellent. Well, you're a chef and all, so we can trust your judgment on restaurants."

"You can say that. I try a lot of places out, and I'm pretty meticulous with these things. I've had my fair share of terrible restaurants. I always let them know what I think on Yelp, and I never ate at those places ever again."

"Andrea's a pretty nice girl, and I had a great time at the estate. She also told me this really corny joke about monkeys. I think I didn't do too well disguising how I didn't enjoy it. I hope she wasn't offended."

Here we have our last man of the day in a familiar setting.

"You know, Aaron and I were just here earlier," Andrea says, interrupting Darnell's deep concentration.

"Wha? Oh, yeah, I saw. I was out exploring the gardens, and I thought of playing a bit once I was done."

"You know, I didn't figure you to be the type who plays chess, to be honest."

"What? Just because I'm an athlete I can't play chess?"

"I dunno. You just don't give off that vibe."

"Ma'am, I think it's time for you to know Darnell the person, and not Darnell the basketball player guy you see on the glowing box," Darnell says with a mock serious tone.

"That's fair. So what's Darnell like outside the court and the cameras? You said earlier that you grew up in the Branks?"

"It's funny you should mention that. We didn't really have much growing up. Hell, we didn't have cable. That's why my sister and me would pass the time playing chess or something. All while momma was too busy working three jobs."

"Oh, that sounds rough. And I was just teasing with the chess comment earlier. I hope I didn't offend you."

"Nah. There are other things in life to get offended about."

As Andrea finishes her game with Darnell, she comes across Aaron.

"Oh, hey, Andrea!" Aaron greets. "I just wanted to see I had a great time today. I hope we'll get to talk more this week."

"Same here, Aaron. Today was really great."

"I gotta say: the kid's got guts. He just decided to hug Andrea, not giving a damn that I was right in front of them. He had his eyes on the prize and went for it. I can respect that.

I guess that was the moment when it really came to me that this is a competition. Of course, I'm not going to go down without a fight. Well, not an actual fight with the other guys...you know what I mean."

"So what did you guys talk about?" Min Kyu asks.

"Oh, just wondering about when our next date would be," Tyne replies.

"You're already talking about the second date?"

"Hey, you gotta plan ahead, you know?"

After wrapping things up, everyone's back home.

Looks like the others are happy to see Andrea back in the house.

And she's off to the kitchen for a surprise.

"Whatcha making?" Darnell asks.

"I want to start with something simple, so I'm making grilled cheese right now."

"That's cool. I'm in the mood for some ice cream, so I hope you don't mind me messing around with this thing."

"Go ahead."

Min Kyu decides to do his own thing and grill some fruit.

Bad idea, man. Maybe you should've left things to the pros. Can't blame you for trying, though.

Good thing we have someone with presence of mind in the premises.

While Min Kyu tries to save himself and what's left of his tux by jumping in the water.

"Man, I can't believe I blew it. Andrea and I had a good thing going, so I hope the fire doesn't change the way she feels about me. I should probably just stick to whatever she makes for us.

I also ruined my tux, but production says they'll replace it free-of-charge. Same goes for the grill. That was nice of them."

Milo decides to join in too. And the fire is out in no time.

It didn't spare the grill, though. Production will just have it replaced by tomorrow. No sweat.

"What's up, Andrea?" Daniel greets.

"You alright?" he asks her.

"Well if it isn't our hero of the day! I'm good, just a little shaken. I mean, we have fires sometimes in the kitchen, but the sprinklers usually put those out quickly. I hope Min Kyu's okay, though."

"He'll be fine. He's just getting showered and changed."

"After that fire, I should be qualified to do double duty as both a cop and a fireman!" Daniel laughs to himself. "Imagine how women would feel about someone who's both those things."

A few others decide to join in, while Darnell finishes up and leaves.

"Min Kyu's just getting some burn treatments applied by production," Aaron states. "Nothing too serious. He'll be alright."

"Thank the Watcher," Andrea says.

"I guess he won't be allowed the near the stove this week," Tyne jokes.

Dax looks like a pretty chill guy. Here he is doing yoga. Maybe it's to calm himself after that fiery incident.

"Yo, Andrea," Darnell says as she enters the room. "Wanna help me take out these suckers?"

"Happy to."

Leroy's out here doing yoga too. It feels like the men prefer yoga a lot more than last season's women. Now we know who'll end up with the shapelier butts, folks.

"Hey, Andrea," Min Kyu dejectedly says. "As you can see I'm just eating ice cream right now, something that has a zero chance of going up in flames."

"Aww, don't beat yourself up over it," Andrea reassures him. "I've started a fire when I was studying to be a chef too. It happens to the best of us."

"Yeah, what matters is that you're okay," Daniel says.

"Heh, did you see that earlier?" Milo says. "I totally helped out with the fire."

"Yeah, I saw. Thanks for that, by the way," Tyne replies.

"As a chef, I've handled quite a few kitchen fires, so the incident the other day wasn't really new to me."

"But anyway, I came here to talk to you about the date earlier. Where'd you guys go?"

"Andrea took us to this Italian restaurant for breakfast, then we roamed the Von Haunt Estate and talked for a while."

"Oh, I would've loved to be there. I hope I get to go on a date soon. Did she say anything about that?"

"Well, I asked her, but she says she can't promise anything about second dates."

"Don't worry too much about it," Daniel joins in. "I'm sure we'll get ours soon enough."

"Ugh, my head is reeling in," Min Kyu complains.

"Don't push yourself too much," Andrea says. "Maybe you should sleep it off. Hopefully you'll feel better tomorrow. Speaking of which, I should get to bed too. Another busy day's ahead of me tomorrow. Night, Min Kyu."

"Good night, Andrea."

And it looks like that's it for Andrea today.

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What does Andrea have planned for tomorrow? Will the other men get a chance to talk to her before the elimination? Find out in the next episode of For Love or Money!

Just as a little extra, I saw Mortimer and Bella playing on separate chess tables when I got here. I just thought it was funny.