At seven, precisely the doorbell rang and John strolled into the apartment.

John blinked in surprise “Sophie! You look stunning!”

“Thank you,” she replied.  “Please sit down – dinner is ready”.

She served him the pie, with the potatoes, peas and carrots and poured him a glass of wine.

“You really shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble,” he said, whilst tucking into his pie. “Aren’t you having any?”

“No pie for me I’m on a diet. I’ll stick with my salad! I really enjoyed cooking this meal for you. After all it is a special occasion”

“Is it?” he replied.

“Yes – but eat up first, then we’ll talk”.

He looked somewhat baffled, but carried on eating anyway.  After he had finished his meal, Sophie cleared the plates from the table and fetched the desserts from the fridge.

She placed the profiteroles in front of him and selected a low fat yoghurt for herself.

“I believe you had something to tell me.  Something I’ve been waiting to hear for a long time…” Sophie said softly.

John paused between spoonfuls of profiterole.  “I’m not sure what you mean?”

She waved her hand to prompt him to carry on eating

“There comes a time in a girls life, when she longs to hear certain words from her partner, and I’m no exception”

He coughed as he almost choked on a spoonful of cream. “You want me to marry you????”

Sophie stared at him intently “No – you moron.  I want you to tell me about the brunette you have been seeing for the past 6 weeks”

John looked mortified. His mouth gaped open and as he attempted to speak, yet nothing came out.

“I invited you here this evening to let you know that I found out – and that I was finishing our relationship” Sophie continued.

The doorbell rang again.

“But, how did you find out?  If you knew why did you go to all the trouble of cooking this meal?”

Sophie stood and opened the door – outside were her three best friends.

“John I would like you to leave now – I don’t want to see or hear from you ever again.  Do you understand?”

John slowly stood up and left the table – he walked through the front door, past all the withering looks from her friends and skulked out through the main doors of the apartment block.

“Well done Sophie – we didn’t think you’d have the strength to do that!” her friends congratulated her.  “We just don’t understand why you went to all the trouble of cooking for him?”

Sophie smiled. “Well I couldn’t send him away with an empty stomach could I?  Also it was a variation of his favourite meal…”

Smiling, she walked over to her bin and fished out an empty can of dog meat and a wrapper for laxative chocolate.