Once Tethered, Now Free

As soon as he was done cleaning my wounds, I made my way to the pharmacy and bought my drugs.

However, I was having a headache and it made it hard to open my eyes.

There was no sign of Ken and I had no idea if he was going to return to take me home.

I had no way of getting back home since I didn't have any money on me and he drove me there. So I had to contact him.

I texted him, [Where are you? I'm waiting for you at the hospital.]

He texted back after a few seconds, [I apologize for leaving you there. I was going to return to take you home, but when we reached Poppy's house, she started experiencing migraines and I had to stay to take care of her.]

When I saw his text, I called him since he didn't say whether he was returning or not.

“Here are your tickets for the movie, Mr. Ken Russo.” I heard a man say as soon as he answered the call, but he sounded far away.

“Alright.” Ken replied to the man, his voice also sounding far away.

I heard them even though he pulled the phone far away.

So I tried to comfort myself as I said, “Don't worry, I can take care of myself.”

However, he said, “You should take a taxi home. I'll tell you all that you want to know when I get back.”

It was obvious that he was just going to tell me more false information.

I was so angry that I ignored him and hung up.

I remembered that I could call an Uber driver to take me home since I didn't have any cash on me and Uber uses online payments.

So I ordered an Uber and it took me home.

However, Ken didn't return home for that night or the next night.

I couldn't sleep because of a party that was going on in an expensive club that was in the next street. The music was too loud that I could hear the lyrics clearly and the beats.

When I walked out earlier, I saw lanterns floating in the sky and I knew that the party goers were setting off floating lanterns into the sky.

I grabbed my laptop and continued working on a design since I was a graphic designer for a film industry.

As I was creating my design, I received a notification from my Facebook on my laptop and I checked it to see a story.

Poppy had posted a video of the floating lanterns as music from the club blared on.

I could hear Ken's voice in the video while he stayed off screen, "After years of wandering, I find my way back home, and here, the lanterns float high in the sky, a warm embrace in all their splendor!”

I watched the video over and over again, unable to stop the sadness I felt in my chest at the realization that they were still together.

I wanted to research their relationship online, but then I realized that I really didn't care, so I continued my work.

That afternoon, I handed my transfer request letter to my Boss, Mr. Dan.

He sighed after I told him that I wanted to transfer to another company back home since I was tying the knot soon.

However, he smiled as he said, “I can't believe I'm going to lose such a hard working employee.”

I was speechless, so I smiled back at him and said, “You're the best boss that I've ever had!”

I texted my co-workers that I was leaving, and they pressed on taking me out for Karaoke night to honor my approaching wedding.

So I agreed and made arrangements for us to go to a Karaoke club that Ken and I usually went to.

It was the only Karaoke club that I knew and Ken told me it was the best in town.

We arrived at the Karaoke club, and when the second person of my friends was singing, I felt thirsty.

So I went to the bar to order a drink when I saw Poppy collecting a sprite from the bartender.

Her lips stretched into a smile, “I didn't know you would also be here! By the way, Ken took me out on our first date to this place back when we were in high school. After that, this place became a second home to us.”

“Oh.” I muttered, not wanting to talk to her.

I glanced at the bartender as I said, “A sprite.”

He handed me one and I turned around to go back to our table since we were strangers.

However, she thought otherwise and said, “Ken bought you a sprite the last time too. You also don't drink alcohol?”

A frown fell on my brows when I heard that.

Honestly, I could drink alcohol. It was just that Ken always stressed on buying non-alcoholic drinks for me and making me avoid alcoholic ones.

He would then say that good wives don't drink alcohol.

To me, it seemed like he wanted me to maintain a good image and good health.

However, I've now noticed that he was just used to doing it.

I never really liked sprite anyway, it was Poppy that liked it.