This man had been pestering Lydia for the past ten minutes. She forced smiles, pretended that it was fine at first until he got annoying. More politely than usual, she tried to put across that he wasn’t interested. However, this man grew persistent and she was feeling agitated. A case she was working on had stressed her out to the max and she was feeling agitated, she was only supposed to be there for a drink. But it seemed as though a woman couldn’t be alone without unwanted attention. Standing up from where she sat, Lydia pulled her coat back on and fastened the buttons. “Look, I hate to break it to you but I’m not interested. If that wasn’t obvious already. Leave me alone,” She snapped in a firmer tone, speaking through gritted teeth as a means of self control. Her temper was short as it was and with her stress levels, the slightest thing provoked her. She took a few steps forward, ready to leave the bar. But she overheard the other male’s voice with some sexist, derogatory comment that caused her to flip. The next thing she knew, she turned around swiftly and sharply on her heel, her fist instantly colliding with the man’s face. “That’s what you deserve for talking to me like –” When she tilted her head up to look at the man, her anger morphed into horror. The guy on the receiving end of the punch was the wrong man – he’d gotten out of the way quick enough and was now nowhere in sight. Her eyes widened, guilt surging throughout her whole body. “Oh my god,” Lydia gasped in shock, running her hands across her face. “I’m so sorry…”
The bar was a place he was often seen in the weekend, drinking away sorrows and stress that had build up after a busy week at the practice. He usually managed to zone out the chatter and laughter from his fellow drinkers, staring into the space in front of him while sipping on his scotch. This time however he wasn’t able to tune out the one-sided conversation between a man and woman, the former of which was seemingly annoying the woman who at one point snapped and raised her voice against him. A tiny smile crept up on his lips at that point, gulping back the contents of his glass and getting up to move towards the bar and get a refill. That was when he was struck on the side of his face. Due to the height different of him and the other man, the only injury was a bruised and slightly cut lip, nothing bad, but Cael stood there in a daze as dark hues looked down at the woman. The puzzles pieced together when her expression turned into horror and shock. “Is everything all right there?” The bartender asked, addressing it more to the woman rather than him. Not that he could answer, he was still trying to form words and recover from the sudden shock, triggering him in more ways than he’d like.