Chapter 5 The Heartbroken One

"You look like you've been drinking," Orion said to her, ignoring the question she had just asked.

Lyra's expression turned skeptical as she stared at him. "Excuse me? I believe I asked about my husband."

Orion ignored her once again, and signaled to the bartender. "We'll have two glasses of that whiskey I just had," he said, then turned his attention back to Lyra, who glared at him impatiently. "So tell me, what have you been drinking?"

"You know, you're really beginning to get on my nerves," Lyra started in a low voice. "You told me you knew something about my husband, and that's the only reason I left my comfort zone to come meet you here. Why are you talking about drinks all of a sudden?"

Orion stared at Lyra for what seemed like ages, a calm and calculating expression on his face. "I'm a bit surprised you showed up, actually." Their drinks came and Orion picked up his and took a sip.

"Why did you really come here, Lyra Raven?"

Lyra looked completely taken aback by the question. "Excuse me? You were the one that called me, and told me you had something to tell me about my husband."

"I never said that," Orion argued calmly.

Lyra scoffed and shook her head, like she couldn't believe what was happening. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Then what exactly did you say?"

"I remember I just said it's about your husband, nothing else." He watched as Lyra let out a heavy breath of frustration and grabbed her drink, swallowing it in large gulps.

"You might want to take it easy with the drink."

"What's your deal?" Lyra shot at him after she set down her glass, staring at him pointedly.

"I just want to know, did something happen to your husband?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Because you came running here the instant I mentioned him."

Lyra narrowed her eyes on him as a thought crossed her mind. She hadn't thought about it in her desperation, but she was definitely going to ask now that it had crossed her mind.

"By the way, how do you know my husband?"

Orion smirked and picked up his glass, crossing his legs on the stool. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"Well, you have to tell me right now, because I'm beginning to get really suspicious of you."

"Well?" she prompted when she saw that Orion wasn't forthcoming with any information.

Orion remained quiet, taking sips from his glass and watching her. After a while, Lyra got down from the high stool and cleared her throat. Orion sat up straighter, suddenly alert. What was she about to do?

"What are you trying to do?"

Lyra ignored him and cleared her throat again. "Hi," she called out in the loudest voice possible. Orion froze on his stool, unable to react. The bar suddenly grew quieter than it had been a few minutes ago, and Lyra was certain she had the attention of a few people. "Please, I need you all to listen closely. This man right here, has kidnapped my husband. He called me out here, probably to ask for some mo-"

Orion knew where this was headed. She didn't have to complete her sentence for him to know. He quickly jumped from the stool and covered her mouth before she could speak further.

"Dude, you have got to control your woman. She's drunk!" someone at the far corner of the bar called out, and raucous laughter erupted in the bar.

He'd been quite slow to realize that she was drunk. Maybe she'd had firm control over her behavior, until now?

He tried to get her to sit back down on the stool, but she bit his palm in the process, as his hand was still over her mouth. "Stop this, right now," Orion warned in a dangerously low voice, and surprisingly, Lyra surrendered willfully, letting him guide her back to her stool. He didn't think it'd have been that easy.

He wondered how much alcohol she'd had before coming out to meet him, because it was definitely not the whiskey that was getting to her.

"No more of that, please."

"Then tell me where my husband is, for goodness' sake. I'm sure you know something."

"I just need you to answer the question I asked you earlier. Did something happen to your husband?"

After a while of staring into space, Lyra started in a quiet tone. "He called me, and told me he wanted to have dinner together."

She looked past Orion, a forlorn expression on her face. "That was a first, you know. My husband was always so busy with work, he barely came home, barely had time for his family. But he wanted to have dinner with me that day, so I hurried home."

Things went south faster than Orion could imagine. A perfectly calm Lyra turned hysterical all of a sudden.

"Then he told me he was going on a business trip and never returned!" she wailed, clutching her chest. Orion watched her, his heart tearing at the sight before him. She was very drunk. But she was also really sad and heartbroken.

"He left me divorce papers too, and a letter confessing his infidelity. Can you imagine that?" Lyra asked in-between sobs.

Orion didn't have to imagine it, because it was something he'd known already.

"Hey, take care of your whining girl!" someone called out, but Orion ignored whoever it was. His focus was on the girl before him. The heartbroken one. He didn't know how to console her. He was an uptight, broken bastard who didn't know a thing about consoling others.

All of a sudden, Lyra clutched her stomach, and she started to writhe in pain. Orion noticed the change in her behavior, but still remained sitting, not knowing how to react. 'Was this another drunk behavior?' he mused as he watched her.

He wasn't prepared for it when she dropped from the stool to the floor, still clutching her stomach.

It was then he knew something was off.

He quickly jumped down and crouched next to her on the floor. "Hey, are you okay?"

"M-my stomach. I think my stomach's on fire."

A group of people had gathered around them, enclosing them, and Travis saw that she was finding it harder to breathe with each passing second. He scooped her up from the floor into his arms, and just before he ran out, he called out to the bartender. "Call Nine-One-One, please."