An Ordinary Night

Sarah thought they were going to a bar but was surprised to find Mark leading her to one of her favourite restaurants. Mark turned around as if expecting it and reassured her.

"Don't worry, my shout. You looked a little stressed today. Let me treat you, okay?"

Sarah responded to his expectant gaze and warm smile with a similar smile and a nod before they entered the restaurant together.

"A table for two please, thank you." Mark pre-empted the waiter.

The waiter in turn, guided the two to a table by the window that had excellent views of the harbour. The lights of the city glittered and reflected off the surface of the water and Sarah couldn't help but relax. Yet she remained slightly anxious as the mood had turned quite romantic.

Whilst Sarah admired the view of the city, Mark had already begun to order for the two of them.

"A medium rare wagyu steak with mushroom sauce for the lady and as for myself I would like a well-done Riverina angus steak with mushroom sauce too, thank you."

"Would you like any drinks sir?"

"Ah, let me see. We will have the Coonawarra 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, also could we have some distilled water too, thank you."

"Right away sir."

As the waiter walked past her, Sarah was jolted from her thoughts and looked embarrassedly at Mark, she knew that he had already ordered for the two of them.

"I have been here so many times, yet I always get taken away by this view. Thanks again Mark. Let me guess medium rare wagyu for me and well-done angus for you?"

"Hah, you guessed it. Oh, and please don't start with the well-done diatribe."

Sarah pretended as if she did not hear the last part of his reply and took on a lecturer's tone

"How can you treat your food like that? It is so chewy and hard, it is like eating a rock. What are you doing? I feel so bad for that poor cow that gave up his life just so you could mistreat it like that."

Mark smiled as he watched Sarah take full flight, with her hands waving non-stop as she made her point clear. He decided to humour her as he would rather her lecture him than remain glum for the rest of the night.

"Yes, yes. You're right. As usual. But I can't help it, that was how I have always eaten it. You know Asian parents, if it is still 'raw' then it cannot be eaten. They need to cook everything and when they cook it, they must thoroughly cook it. Plus, it's not that bad, plenty of others do it."

"Oh, so if plenty of other people start murdering people then it makes it okay?"

"Wow, this is this and that is that. You cannot honestly conflate the two as being one and the same, come on."

He felt the conversation had taken a strange turn and knew that Sarah had begun to ease up and decided to ask her about the issue she encountered.

"Now tell me why you were sighing so much today? You know sighing and frowning will lead to wrinkles on your face."

"Pfft. Tell me about it, this job makes me feel as if I age at a faster rate. But yeah, well I got an email today from someone, I tried finding out who it was, but even with all my skills it still led me to a dead end. So, I tried to verify the veracity of the information."

Sarah leant forwards and waited for Mark to follow before whispering

"The email contained a photo of the Police Minister meeting the Southern Mafia Boss. Or so it claims, it is true that the photo contains the Minister, but I cannot confirm if the other person is the Mafia Boss."

Mark heard this and realised the danger involved, sucked in a breath of air and quickly interrupted her.

"There are too many prying eyes and ears here. We can talk more about this later. But just be extra careful Sarah."

Sarah nodded her head and Mark smiled in relief as the two continued exchanging meaningless banter that sometimes bordered on flirting until their meal arrived.

"The medium rare wagyu steak for the lady and the well-done angus steak for the sir. Would you like me to pour you your drinks?"

"Sure, thank you."

"Yes, please."

The delicious scent from the wonderful steaks wafted over to her and Sarah's stomach suddenly audibly grumbled. Embarrassed Sarah watched as Mark smirked in his handsome way and was suddenly lost admiring his sharp jawline.

Mark felt her fiery gaze and coughed to shake her out of her daze.

"Sarah the food is on the table. No need to stare at me like that."

Once again feeling embarrassed at being caught and called out, Sarah attacked her steak furiously.

Mark watched her take out her grievances on the steak and laughed aloud in amusement and wondered if it was really alright for him to be happy like this.

Sarah continued to take the occasional peaks at Mark's happy face felt warm and content in his presence.

She was not sure when she began to feel this way, but she could not honestly remember a time before she met Mark. She had only been a recently graduated university student when she first saw him.