Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Thea had tears rolling down her face as she drank her sorrows at a bar later that night.
I've known Kenneth for five long years, and I gave my all in order to make myself useful to him. I thought I had become irreplaceable to him, but his words today have proved me wrong. He used to let me do as I please without a single complaint, so why has he changed all of a sudden? Does he not know how I feel about him? Have I not made myself clear enough? Why does he always ignore my feelings?
Thea had never felt so upset throughout her entire life. Unbeknownst to her, a few men sitting in a corner had set their sights on her while she continued downing drinks at the bar.
Eventually, one of the guys approached her with his drink in hand.
“Hey there, beautiful. Are you by yourself?”
Thea shot him a glance and carried on drinking as if he wasn't there.
“What's the matter? You feeling upset? How about I have a drink with you?” the man pressed on.
“Get lost!” Thea snapped at him impatiently as she found such men to be extremely disgusting.
Not wanting to give up just yet, the man boldly wrapped an arm around her as he continued, “Wow, you sure are a feisty one! Come on, tell me about your problems! I might be able to help you out of it!”
“Get your filthy hands off me!” Thea stood up from her chair in an attempt to break free, but could barely maintain her balance after all that drinking.
The man quickly reached out to catch her when she stumbled forward. “Whoa! Be careful there, lady! You could fall down and hurt yourself!”
“F*ck off!” Thea shoved him off and glared fiercely at him.
“Aww, don't be mad! Getting mad will only make me like you even more!” the man said with a shameless grin.
Realizing that he was just a troublemaker, Thea didn't want to waste her time talking to him. Right as she turned around and prepared to leave, the other guys in the corner came over and blocked her path.
“Why the angry face? We're just having a few drinks with you!”
Thea realized she was in danger when she saw those men surrounding her. “Stay away from me!”
“Don't be afraid, miss! We just want to get to know you better over a few drinks!”
Left with no other options, Thea pulled out her phone and gave Kenneth a call on the spot.
“Come save me, Kenneth! I'm at Golden Street Bar!” she shouted anxiously when the call got through after a few rings.
“What's going on, Thea?”
“Who do you think you're calling, huh? We just want to have a drink with you! There's no need for you to be calling anyone!” said one of the men as he snatched her phone over and ended the call.
“D-Don't come closer!” she stammered while backing away.
Hearing her words only prompted those men to close in on her even more. “Geez, all we want is to have a few drinks with you! Why are you overreacting like this?”
“I know, right?”
“F*ck off! Get away from me!” Thea shouted. One of the men added something into his drink as he said, “All right. Just drink this and we'll be on our way!”
Thea knew they were up to no good, so she snatched the glass from his hand and smashed it on the floor. Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“You insolent b*tch!” the man yelled while raising his hand.
He was about to bring it down on her face when someone shouted from behind, “Freeze!” The men turned around in response, only to see a few police officers rushing toward them.
They immediately tried to make a run for it, but the police officers were faster and easily had them surrounded.
“We didn't do anything, officers! We were just trying to have a drink with her!” they protested while kneeling on the floor.
“Shut up and show me your ID!”
Too shocked to do anything, Thea simply watched silently from the side.
Moments later, Kenneth came in through the door and walked right up to her. “Thea, are you okay?”
Hearing his voice snapped her out of her daze, and she burst out crying the moment she saw him. “Oh, Kenneth! I was so scared!” she wailed while hugging him tightly.
“It's okay. You're fine now,” Kenneth comforted her after scanning their surroundings.
A police officer then came over to ask them some questions, and Kenneth helped answer them on her behalf.
Right when the police were about to dismiss the entire incident as a mere misunderstanding, Kenneth noticed a white-colored pill on the floor.
“What is this?” he asked with a frown while picking it up.
The men tried to make a run for it when they saw that, but the police officers were quicker and pinned them down on the floor.
One of the police officers walked up to Kenneth and examined the pill that had yet to dissolve completely. “If I'm not mistaken, this is probably some kind of ecstasy pill. We'll have to test it at the lab to confirm it.”
“Please do, officers,” Kenneth said.
The police officer turned around and looked at the men on the floor as he said, “Bring them in!”
Kenneth waited until the entire incident was over before bringing Thea out of the bar.
As her clothes had been torn from the physical altercation earlier, Kenneth draped his coat over her shoulders to keep her covered.
Thea felt a lot safer after he had saved her in the nick of time, and she found herself becoming more and more dependent on him.
“I'm sorry, Kenneth...” she said when they arrived at his car.
“What are you apologizing for?” Kenneth asked.
“I know I shouldn't have kept what I did a secret from you, and I shouldn't have yelled at you either. I've been reflecting on my mistakes today, Kenneth. I'm really sorry.”
Since she had always taken care of things at work really well, Kenneth chose to turn a blind eye to her little misdeeds. “Workplace conflict is a very common thing. There's no need for you to apologize.”
“Are you still mad at me, then?” Thea asked.
“It doesn't bother me at all,” Kenneth replied.
Huh? It doesn't bother him?
Thea wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry after hearing that.
“I was really scared...” she sobbed with tears in her eyes.
“Don't go drinking all by yourself next time, Thea. You're not a child anymore. You should know what'll happen if they forced that drink down your throat earlier. This is the first time you've made such a silly mistake,” Kenneth reprimanded her.
“I know that, but don't you forget that I'm a woman! Could you not talk to me so formally, Kenneth?” Thea exclaimed coquettishly.
Kenneth simply frowned at her without saying anything.
“I just want to be treated gently...” she mumbled while stepping forward, only to lose her balance and fall into his arms.
Little did they know, a few people were snapping away at them in a car nearby.