BLEACHED

17: Hot headed husband

Domen stops in front of the women's bathroom door and mindlessly stares at it for a moment, unsure if he should step in.

Resisting his urge not to do it, Domen leans his ear against the bathroom door, ignoring all the possible amounts of little demons the door could have.

The coughing echoing from within is enough to convince him she hadn't taken care of it herself.

He opens the door quickly and steps in, luckily enough for him there isn't anyone inside the restroom.

Lavender is knelt over the toilet in one of the stalls, tears blurring her eyes as her throat begins to burn intensively.

Domen manages to finally find her and squats behind her as he forcefully brings the base of the palm of his hand against her back, taking her by surprise.

The little devil lodged in her throat finally flies out and into the toilet. Her teary eyes drop to check what it is and she widens her gaze as she notices a small plastic ring that is usually the torn off piece of a plastic bottle top.

How did that get there. She clears her throat and reaches her hands to her eyes and wipes off the tears before turning to check who just helped her out.

Her eyes widen at the sight of Domen who is staring from the little bottle piece and down to her.

"Why did you walk away if you were failing to get it out?" He asks as he reaches for her now disheveled hair and gently brings it to her ear, tucking it. "You could have fainted."

Her face slowly begins to warm up at how close they are in the stall, almost forgetting she was on the verge of death just a moment ago.

"It must have done a number on you, you're red all over." He says as he drops his hand down to her neck and gently caresses her skin with his thumb. "Don't be stupid and run off when you're choking."

"I..." She blinks slightly as she tries to ignore the closeness. "People were looking and-."

"You were choking." He frowns as his brows pinch at the centre of his forehead. He lowers his hand down to her shoulder and squeezes his grip on it, making her flinch. "If you die because you were embarrassed of choking, I'll write sinister things on your grave so that everyone knows how much of an idiot you actually are."

"Sorry..." She nods her head slightly but chuckles when she stares back at him.

He rolls his eyes and smiles back before standing up from the floor and helping her up as well.

Lavender steps out of the stall and walks to the sink, staring into her reflection just to check on her makeup when she notices Domen through the mirror reaching into the toilet.

"What are you doing? It's dirty." She says with furrowing brows as he walks out of the stall with the piece of plastic ring on a toilet paper. "Want it as a souvenir for my near death?"

"No. I'm planning on suing them." He says as he approaches her while she stares down at her failed assassin. "It's a health hazard and if you came alone you'd be dead."

"I... Well, maybe I wouldn't have eaten. It was just an accident. They didn't mean to place it there." She says worriedly as she fixes her hair and follows Domen who is walking out of the restroom.

"It's their fault for letting this happen. I didn't pay a lot of money to have a plastic bottle ring end up in the salad. It's careless and it would have killed you." He says with no remorse in his voice. "I'm just going to threaten to shut them down. As a matter of fact, I just might."

"Wait, wait, wait." Lavender rushes up to him and grabs his shoulder lightly and tries to stop him, but his built frame doesn't budge. "You can't seriously shut them down because of this.... Right?"

"This is about your life, Lavender." He says as he glances down at her when they make it to the counter. "If you don't value your life, it doesn't mean everyone around you won't."

"I didn't mean it like that..." She trails off as he turns his attention to the woman at the till openly gawking at the handsome figure standing in front of her that she forgot to even ask what he wanted to order.

"If you don't want your job to end, show me the office to whomever is in charge and present today. And I mean the highest position. I don't care who it is." He hisses to the innocent waitress who raises her brows in question and glances down at Lavender for an explanation.

Lavender simply looks away and towards the floor when she knows there is no convincing Domen who is determined to do what he's thought through to the end.

"Don't stand there and look stupid. Show me to the office!" Domen hisses furiously, getting even the customers to glance at them in worry.

Lavender clears her throat as she almost wants to step away from him and act as though she doesn't know him.

"Hey, um... Let's let this slide." She whispers and he simply shrugs her off .

"We're not allowed to just direct anyone-."

"She nearly died because of your incompetence. Look at this!" His places the paper towel with the plastic ring piece on it. "It got stuck in her throat."

She drops her eyes down on the plastic and widens her eyes in shock before shooting an apologetic gaze towards Lavender.

"I didn't know... It was just an accident and not intentional. We didn't mean to harm your wife, I promise!" She says as she turns her eyes back to Domen who is still boiling on his spot. "Let's just deal with this here and-."

"Oh, so now you seem concerned. I don't give a sh*t, take me to the office, now. Or else I'll make your life a living hell." Domen grits his teeth as he glances away from her with brows pinched to the center of his forehead.

"Uh..." She is visibly breaking a sweat from frustration. She turns her gaze to Lavender instead who seems to have gotten redder than before. "Madam... If you will please... This is the only highest paying job and... If they get word, many jobs will end and they have families-."

"Cut the bull crap." Domen glares at her, getting even Lavender to furrow her brows at him. "Since you've refused to take me there, I'll be waiting for you to come begging on your knees for mercy which I won't give."

He angrily turns on his heel and walks towards the front door. Lavender sighs out and turns to leave, only to feel a tight grip onto her shoulder before she could even take a step. She glances over her shoulder to the woman who sends her a panicked gaze.

"Please... Convince your husband. I've just realized he is Mr Southren... With the connections he has... I won't get a job anywhere...." She begs, nearly pouring herself over the counter to her.

"Uh..." Lavender clears her throat as she dearly wants to correct her, that he isn't her husband, but she refrains from it. Knowing that's the least of her worries. "Sure. I'll try."

"I'm really sorry about what happened... I will ask the chefs and make an apology payment for you. As long as it doesn't get to the higher ups." She says and lets go of her shoulder, bringing her hands together to beg. "Please?"

"I don't need the money." Lavender chuckles as she waves her hand. "I'll try to stop him. Don't worry. I kept telling him it was an accident but he's pretty stubborn. But don't worry. I will make him reconsider."

"Thank you..." She sighs out in relief and smiles to Lavender. "He sure does love you to be the one that angry about it when you aren't. He's a great husband, I must say."

Lavender widens her eyes as her cheeks begin to boil. She turns away from the waitress who chuckles at Lavender's shy attitude as she watches her walk away.

*****
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