"What the hell is wrong with the shower?"
Kevin's enraged cry from the washroom startled Beth, causing her knife to slip and nick her finger. Fortunately, it wasn't a deep cut. Perplexed by his incoherent complaints, she extended her hand to address her bleeding finger, but upon turning the faucet, she was to meet with a frustrating absence of water.
In a moment of realisation, she cursed herself for forgetting to turn off the tap the day before.
"BETH!" another round of yells made her shove the finger inside her mouth and licking the blood from her finger. She rushed out of the kitchen.
Standing outside the washroom, she gulped hard before stammering, "I… I think we ran out of water."
"What do you mean, we ran out of water?" retorted Kevin, as he stood at the door.
Seeing him with a towel wrapped around his waist and white foam on his hair, Beth lowered her head and smiled secretly.
"Beth!" he shouted, and she didn't get to hold on to her smile for long.
Not meeting his eyes, she was quick to prepare a lie. "I don't know. Maybe yesterday's rain caused damage to the pipeline."
"Then do something. Don't just stand there ideally. I cannot go to the office this way. I have a very important meeting to attend," he yelled at her.
Nodding her head, she rushed to the kitchen to get the water she had stored for an emergency. Taking out the jar, she struggled to open the lid.
As she reached out for the knife, suddenly her eyes fell outside the window. Seeing Helena splashing water through a hose at Kevin, she bit her lower lips.
The garden water was there to save her day, but it didn't matter to her. What mattered was the way they both were laughing and seeming to be the happiest people of all.
"Hey! Stop! Stop!" Kevin was shouting, laughing, and trying to reach Helena.
And Helena was chuckling, stepping back, not giving up at all.
Clenching the knife tight, Beth forced her gaze away from them and got back to preparing breakfast.
After she set the table for them, she was about to leave the dining room. However, Kevin entered with a white bathrobe wrapped around his torso.
"Hope my suit for the day is ready," he said to her.
"I will prepare it until you have breakfast," she replied, moving aside and letting him get to the table.
"Hurry up! I told you already, I cannot be late today. The CEO of the biggest company of Punneelp is coming to meet me," he explained, taking his chair.
She nodded and just as she was about to leave, he added, "And yes, I will wear my wife's favourite suit."
'Wife!' she muttered underneath her breath, knowing it was not her who he was referring to.
"Wife's favourite?" Helena entered, giggling. "Honey! You are making me blush."
"That is exactly what I want," he said, getting up and pulling a chair for her.
He was a total gentleman to Helena. The perfect husband who every girl dreams about, but for Beth he was just a nightmare which every person tries to run away from.
"Why are you still here?" he grumbled, snapping Beth out of her thoughts.
"I… I am leaving," she stammered and rushed outside.
'Shit! Shit!' She couldn't help cursing after finding Kevin's navy blue suit on the pile of wet clothes.
'What the hell am I supposed to do now? It was drenched last evening. Good heavens, why the hell didn't you make me aware of the rain a little earlier?'
Pacing back and forth, she thought of a back-up plan, but before she could think of anything, Kevin came to her.
"What are you doing here? Why are my clothes still…" he paused, seeing his suit in the pile.
The silence hovering around made chills crawl on her skin.
Gulping hard, she stammered, "Kevin… I… I can explain…"
"But that will not help, Beth." He turned to her in a rage. "I am already getting late," he grumbled.
Speechless, she lowered her head and stood still.
Getting irritated with her act, he pinched the bridge of his nose and shouted, "Now don't just stand there. Go and find something else for me."
Nodding, she wasted no second in rushing to his room.
"Helena, you need to go to the office. If Mr Noble shows up, keep him busy until I arrive."
"What about you?" she asked, knitting her brows in confusion.
"Just go!" He paced to his room.
Glaring at Beth, who was setting a table to iron his clothes, he sat before the mirror and took the dryer. But just as he turned on the dryer, powder blew into his hair.
"What the hell?" He got up in a rage, tossing the dryer aside.
Helena, who had just entered the room to get her bag, froze at the door, seeing him. Numbly turning around, she was about to walk away, but he called her out.
"Helena, what the hell is this?"
Gulping hard, she turned back to him and forced a smile. "I… I am sorry. It was not meant for you."
"What do you mean not for me? Look at me!" he yelled in rage.
Seeing his white face, Beth lowered her head, restraining hard not to let her laugh escape.
"Don't yell at me. It is because of her I did that. For the past few days, I feel like she has been using my things. That is why I set it up for her. Who thought you would use it?" she grumbled.
"Do you have to go this far?"
Her eyes burning on fire, she shouted, "Fine, it was my mistake. Happy?"
"Helena!" he stressed his tone, but not hearing him out, she gritted her teeth, and grabbing her bag, stormed out of the room.
Beth, whose face was beaming with a smile just a while ago, was turned down by her confession.
She wanted to shout in her face that she had done nothing, but sadly, she could not do it. All she could do was grip his shirt tight and gulp hard.
Having no time to go after his wife, Kevin rushed to the washroom. But no water made him grow more furious.
Rushing outside, he shouted, "Come out!"
She ran after him and went to the garden. Turning on the hose, he passed it to her, and she helped him to clean up the powder.
After he was done, he went back to the dressing table. This time, he blew the remaining powder into the trash bin and as he sat to dry his hair, Beth prepared to iron his clothes.
But just as she turned on the iron, a short circuit occurred, affecting all the lights in the house.
The dryer went off and, gripping it in a rage, Kevin shouted at her, "BETH!"
"I… I did nothing," she stammered innocently.
Dropping the dryer on the ground, he rushed to her. Sticking to the wall, she covered her face, crying out, "Please, I did nothing. I am sorry."
Through the gaps of her finger, she saw him grabbing his cloth and glaring at her. Then, after he rushed to the washroom, she exited the room and rushed to her bedroom.
She stood hiding behind the curtains and peeking at his car. Once he drove away from the premises, she came out and watched his car until it disappeared far in the distance.
When she came out of her bedroom, the silence hovering around the house pierced her skin and teased her for being lonely.
So, she grabbed her purse and made her way out. As there was nowhere for her to go, she entered the Walmart to grab the groceries.
Thinking about how Kevin was going to punish her for what she had done, she absently walked across the aisle, pushing the cart.
She picked up the item from the shelves where her thoughts would make her come to a halt. She kept on doing it until she bumped her cart into someone else's cart.
Snapping out of her thoughts, she bowed before the person and, without even looking at her, she apologised, "I am sorry! I did not see where I was going."
Then, without waiting for the person's response, she rushed to the counter. Placing the items on the counter one after another, she let the cashier scan them and prepare a bill for her.
"Three hundred and thirty-nine cents, please!" said the cashier.
Beth handed her the card, but shortly after it was swiped on the machine, it was returned to her. "Sorry, ma'am, your card is empty."
"What? How can that be possible? There must be some mistake. Can you please try it again?" she requested, growing nervous.
Giving her a nasty look, the cashier took the card and swiped it again. This time she placed the card on the countertop and pushed it at her, saying, "It's still the same, ma'am."
Biting her lower lips in embarrassment, she was thinking of what could be done when suddenly Luna appeared before her and pointed at her, saying, "It's her. She is the one who bullied me."
Enlarging his eyes, Mac mumbled, "Beth?"
"Mac?" she too turned to him in surprise.