C6 Breaking Ties.

For the following two days, Iris was walking on clouds from happiness. She had read several articles that were posted online on how ‘heartbroken’ David was about losing his wife.

When she saw the photos of him left alone at the cemetery as he absent-mindedly watched the burial, she felt her heartache for him. It must have been like what Lana had said. Maybe he was at least fond of her, despite the rumours that kept circulating in their circle.

But that was beside the point. She was still happy about him having taken the bill that had her number on it, even though he had not looked for her yet.

She did not think it would be simple to pursue someone like David, so she wasn’t bothered about it. Him taking her number was like being given a green light to continue, right?

After Lana heard her speculations, she frowned with worry for her friend. She looked at how she smiling so beautifully that she was drawing the attention of everyone around them.

“I think you should distance yourself from him for now,” Lana said after some thought.

“Why?” she asked with a frown.

“Someone is always following him around and taking pictures of him. If you are in the frame with him, especially with what has happened recently, don’t you think it will be too much for you?” Lana asked worriedly.

“Whether it’s the press or paparazzi, don’t you think it’s something I must deal with eventually anyway? Did you forget what we are aspiring to be?” Iris asked her and she shut her mouth.

“I know what you are worried about, I’m not a child, I know how far I’m allowed to go,” Iris continued.

“Will you take part in the play this semester?” Lana asked, changing the topic abruptly.

“I was thinking about it, but I can’t guarantee anything right now,” Iris answered after a pause.

“You should sign up early to get a good character. I heard that some big-name directors will come to watch this time, so it’ll be a great platform to kick-start your career. You can’t be a bartender forever, right?” Lana said and Iris nodded.

She was on her final year pursuing an acting degree in one of the best art-focused university in the world. Her parents had been against it and wanted her to pursue a field that had a real “future” and would provide her with enough “stability” as they had put it.

After failing to convince them, she knew that she would have to go down this path alone. So, even though they could have afforded to help her through university, she had to take on the task herself. That was how she ended up working as a bartender at Mist.

“I’ll go sign up as soon as registration starts,” Iris said and patted her friend’s shoulder.

“Should we go for lunch?” Lana asked her but was disappointed when Iris shook her head.

“I have to catch up on some sleep. My shift ended very late, and I slept for two hours, I’m on autopilot so I’ll be going home first before going to work later,” Iris said, and after a few more words, she left campus and headed for home.

She nodded off in the bus on her way home and when she finally arrived at her small apartment; she went to shower and dived into bed with a t-shirt. She checked her phone as she lay in bed and saw that there were no notifications.

Although she was disappointed, she didn’t completely lose hope. She only set up an alarm and burrowed into her covers and slept.

*

David took time off after the burial. He had only said he was taking a break from work and no one questioned him too much as they thought he was grieving. They did not know that after the funeral he was nursing an ungodly headache the following morning, so he didn’t go to work.

He had to go and see both his parents and in-laws, so that was what he had arranged to do today. After getting dressed, he left his villa and drove to his parents’ house. Thankfully, everyone that was needed to be there had arrived. Unlike how ‘unkempt’ he looked the last time they saw him, he was now back to his normal self.

“How could you not come and see your mother all this time, and even scheduled a meeting to see me with other people,” his mother complained as she stood up and hugged David.

David did not bother with excuses as he learned a long time ago that those did not really help. After the two separated, his mother held his face in her hands to look at him closely. He let her do whatever he wanted until his father stopped her.

“You are going overboard, sit down. We need to talk first,” he said to his wife and pulled her to sit down next to him. David nodded to his father in greeting before greeting his in-laws and went to sit down in a single-seater, crossing his left leg over his right one and relaxing on the back of the sofa.

The two pairs of parents made some small talk and David silently watched as he leisurely drank the juice a maid had brought out for him. After a few minutes of this superficial back and forth, four pairs of eyes finally rested on him.

“Have you been coping alright?” his father-in-law asked him, and David had to resist the urge to sneer at him and just nodded as he put down his glass.

“I’ve been well, you must be wondering why I called you all here,” David said as he looked at all of their expressions.

“You should all be aware of how my relationship with Suzanne was like. You pretended not to know, and we continued playing our part as well for your sakes,” David continued as he absentmindedly tapped at the armrest as he continued to study their expressions.

“How she died, and what she was doing before she died, we are all aware, right?” David asked, and Suzanne’s father looked away from him. His daughter had really shamed him this time, and he did not even have a place to vent his anger of her actions.

“Mmmh,” his father responded.

“David, we have really wronged you this time,” his father-in-law said apologetically.

“This time?” David asked with a raised eyebrow. Were they really going to keep up with this stupid farce he had to live through for seven years?

“I was tolerating this marriage. I would have rather we had gotten a divorce compared to this outcome because she was a victim as well. But it’s too late for those regrets. I just want to say one thing. So I called you here,” David said and unfolded his leg to assume a more serious position.

“I’m cutting any personal ties I have with your family,” David announced, and Suzanne’s mother burst into tears. His father-in-law was shocked by his statement as well. But after some thought, he could understand why he wanted to do so, even though it was hard to accept.

“Why are you making such difficult decisions, regardless they have been…” his mother started to defend her in-laws but was stopped by her husband who shook his head to signal for her to stop talking.

“It may sound harsh, but I don’t want to be entangled with you in the future, especially if ever I find someone that I am interested in. You all know that I stayed true to Suzanne even after all the things I had to put up with, right? So as not to make things awkward in the future, it is better to make things clear now,” David said with a smile that did not really reach his eyes.

“Well, now that I’ve said my piece, I’ll see you on another day,” he said to his parents and nodded toward his in-laws as if they were really just acquaintances now and walked out of the house. He literally just dropped a bomb on them and fled afterwards.

“Heh, I never knew that our son-in-law was so cold,” his mother-in-law said as she wiped her tears and David’s mother snorted.