Chapter 336: Under Obligation

I chose what I chose, and I did what I did. 

I ate dessert, a chocolate cake, as per request, shaped into a bountiful, beautiful heart, that Irene would insist until her last dying breath, cheeks brightly flushed, she had absolutely no hand in any of it whatsoever.

I gave a rather generous tip, and a little extra more for expenses to our personal waiter of the night for a service most splendid, thanking him in secret for his absolute for his swift efficiency in delivering a surprise cake on such very short notice.

I made for the exit, on Irene's insistence as she settled the rest of the bill, shutting me down instantly before I could even suggest the prospect of splitting, and on the way over, I walked past the bar…

He wasn't there.

All in all, it was an evening well enjoyed, an evening uninterrupted… and now the night was young, and the pitch-black sky up above twinkling vast and empty. So here's the question…

How do we go about filling up that vast emptiness? 

"So, I've been explicitly reaffirmed the cake we had is not part of the meal course I picked," Irene's voice chimed in, swinging out the front door of the restaurant already six feet deep in speculation.

I tried hard to come off as invested as she was, but really I was more interested in getting out of the cold of the sidewalk. The valet with her car should be whirling around any second now.

"And according to our waiter, it's simply a professional courtesy - on the house, complimentary," She paused, slowly eyeing me dead in the eye. "Allegedly..."

"Ooo, allegedly," I breathed out a misty air, literally, and figuratively, "That - That's a word, alright. Good word." 

She kept that suspicious leer for as long as she was able before the cold embrace of the night came to nip away at her exposed body, and after that she was far too busy keeping away the chill to allege anything else.

Now, I was freezing just as much myself… but then again, I'm not the one here that was wearing just a dress. I took off my coat, placed it around her shoulders - and that act right there as opposed to earning me thanks, netted me quips instead.

"Just couldn't resist, could you?" She said, while clinging onto the coat tighter all the same. "You see a girl, cold, freezing... just breaks your big loving heart, doesn't it?" 

"Feel free to hand it back, I'll take it off your hands gladly," I said, rubbing my palms vigorously enough to spark a fire. 

"No, I'll keep it," She said immediately, and audibly could be heard taking a whiff. "Smells nice."

"Ha ha ha..."

Gauging by her reactions, the light expressions on her face, she really was none the wiser to anything amiss… aside from cake, that is. There wasn't any reason for her to go scouring the restaurant for any suspicious individuals, no reason to go ahead and disrupt a perfectly fine evening outing. 

This was the right choice, I knew it was… but it just pisses me off knowing that he knew it too. My circumstances were his get-out-of-jail-free card. He knew could taunt me, goad me, reveal himself, and suffer absolutely no consequences for it.

He was right there, so close and yet so far, like a piece of cheese of a string… and he's got me running in his wheel of endless torture unable to take a bite.

Which was why the sooner we're done with this whole affair, the better. When tomorrow rises, I'll make sure I'll be rising along with it. 

With a whirr, the valet did indeed come around finally, and when he did, I made sure those car keys were tossed into my hands and not Irene's, much to her understandable bemusement.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked as I whistled a dainty tune on my way over to the driver-side door. 

"Driving," I told her, meeting the outrage apparent in her eyes across the hood of the car.

"Driving?" She clacked a heel forward. "Oh-no-no-no, you aren't. My car, give me the keys." 

"Oh-yes-yes-yes, I am," I replied, undaunted by such fierceness, and pointing a stern finger forward. "You've been drinking, young lady." 

"Drinking?" She batted her eyes, and the more she did, the more lines she made on her forehead. "I had one glass! You saw!"

"Yeah, sure, one, alright," I paused, slowly eyeing her dead in the eye. "Allegedly…" 

"Oh, you little son of a - "

"I can't know for sure you haven't been drinking before I got there, can I? That's a twenty-minute window of missing time, there's plenty of chances for refills." 

"Yeah, a window that you made yourself!"

"Regardless," I calmly said. "Better to play it safe than sorry, right?"

"I'll make you sorry."

"Talk to my attorney, Miss." 

"This is seriously the worst way of acting like a gentleman, you know?"

"But a gentleman nonetheless," I smiled at her. "C'mon, you don't really expect me to let you do all the heavy lifting for this, right? It's a date, not babysitting. Let me pamper you for a bit, you just relax, alright? Besides, heels that high - feet must be killing you."

Irene gave it some thought… and by thought I mean she just glared at me for like a solid minute before she finally, begrudgingly complied and walked passenger-side.

"You're right about the heels, at least…" She said, slamming the door and riding shotgun. "You so much as scratch the fender, I'm rendering your life null and void." 

Wasn't going to risk testing the sincerity of that threat, so I made sure I drove slow first… giving her time to acclimatize to her newfound environment of no longer being the woman behind the wheel.

And seriously the way she was keeping a sharp scrutinizing eye on my every move, it was like she was expecting me to turn her car into a tin foil sandwich into oncoming traffic or something.

Even though I was a law-abiding citizen at every red light, dutifully flashing the blinkers on every junction… nothing I did manage to ease her strenuous gaze.

I gave her a quick eyebrow-raised glance, "License and registration, officer? I'll have you know I've personally driven a lazy bastard called Dad to the store and back for cigarettes almost every day." 

"No need," She said, her tone flat and stiff. "Some clarification would be nice, however."

"Clarification?"

"Is this you being nice because you're nice, or is this you being nice because - putting it the nicest term - you're under obligation?" 

"Well…"

"The cake too, was that…" She thinned her lips. "Obligation?" 

What kind of question was she asking me here?

But before I could give an answer, Irene finally lifted her piercing gaze away, and in its place, a dejected sigh sounded. "I.. I'm doing it again. I'm sorry for putting you on the spot. I just… I just don't know what you're thinking now, that's all it is." 

"Meaning to say, you've always known what I've been thinking?" I asked, a little taken aback.

"To a certain extent, at least," She said, absentmindedly stroking the flattened sleeves of my coat. "You're an easy man to read ninety-nine percent of the time." 

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"But - I don't know - tonight, for some reason, you're in that one percent range. It's hard to gauge what you're thinking to yourself right now. It's making me question your every move, your every word… I can't help it. I can't handle the uncertainty."

Irene sounded… uneasy. I've heard her like this before… but usually that slight twinge in her voice would be reserved for like world-ending stakes and the likes. I didn't expect to hear it here… especially for a conundrum that sounded so… so normal.

"Pretty sure that's just most people on the first date in general," I said, eyeing her apprehensive expression from the rearview mirror. "You think I'm not squirming here thinking what you're thinking now?" 

"But under our current circumstances, it's..."

"Forget our current circumstances, you're gonna pull all your hair out just fretting all over it," I told her. "In fact, why don't we reverse circumstances? Say you're the one obligated instead. Now I ask - would you go out on this date with me because you want to, or because you're obligated to?" 

I saw her eyebrows slant.

"That's the same question I asked you." 

"Except now I'm asking you," I said. "So what's your answer? Are you being nice because you are, or are you nice because you have to be?"

Irene took some time to ponder it, hardly even noticed I sped up at yellow light on the verge of turning red, nor even cared I forgot the blinkers on a turn somewhere.

Finally, she responded. "That really is an unfair question I just asked." 

"Right?" I said, giving her a half-smile with a half-glance. "If your life literally hinges on the prerequisite that I am to be in the belief that you are truly, madly, deeply in love with me, then everything you do is just gonna fall under the same question regardless of your intention."

"True, except that…" Her voice went soft here. "I really do love you…" 

"Then I ask you," At a stoplight blinking red, I turned around to her fully. "Why should my answer be any different when it comes to you?" 

No one said anything after that. It was a long while of just staring into each other's gazes, each other's faces. I noticed hers had a strand of her hair blowing into her eye. I went to reach out for it, extending my hand slowly… inch by inch… closer to her… closer...

I heard her breathe in deep.

"The light's green," I heard her hurriedly whisper.

My arm froze, darting my eyes straight to - 

"Oh shit." 

Someone from behind us blared the horn of impatience, and I put my feet on the pedal hard, speeding off down the road without much grace.

Irene straightened herself, returning her usual cool level-headed demeanor, as she spoke, "Speed limit's 35 here by the way. You're doing 37."

"I don't know how you even know that without a sign telling you anywhere." 

"Meticulousness," She replied sharply. "Now slow down, or I'll pull you over myself."

"Yeah, give your own car a speeding ticket, why don't you?" I rolled my eyes. "Besides, aren't you coppers allowed to speed when it comes to emergencies?"

"And this is an emergency, how exactly?" 

"We're burning moonlight," I replied. "There are only so many hours in the night. Gotta make the best of what little time we have with each other." 

"What do you have planned?" She asked.

"I don't know, what do you have planned?" 

She looked flabbergasted. "The - the hotel after dinner, that's what I had planned, but - "

"Down to business so soon?" I smirked at her. "You really that eager to get in bed with me?"

Oh, the look she gave me… I swear, it could crack every mirror in a fifty-mile radius. 

"Let's just... do something else first," I said, placating her burning gaze. "Y'know, let our dinners digest for the time being." 

She gave a huff, dropping her stare. "I don't mind that. But the question is - what exactly? I mean, I don't even have a clue what destination you have in mind right now." 

"Well, that's unfortunate," I said, shifting gears. "Because neither do I." 

"Ugh, you're giving me a headache," Her stare was back again, and she clicked her tongue. "And you're still not slowing down!" 

"C'mon, good girls dig the bad boys, don't they?" I gave her this rugged look, with an even rugger voice. "And everyone knows bad boys always drive two miles over the speed limit." 

"I swear - "

"Oh wait, I almost forgot," I raised a wry brow at her. "You're not exactly a good girl yourself now, are you, Irene?" 

Okay, I take it back. The look she gave now was the one that would most definitely break glass… and most likely my spine too if I kept at it.

I turned my eyes to the road, gulping down hard. "Okay, how about we just pay sweet Aunty Ria a quick visit, huh?"