Horrified by what he had done, Alex looked at Ellaine and Hazel with pleading eyes. On the other hand, the shock on Ellaine and Hazel's faces soon turned into a smirk. They didn't say a thing, but Alex knew that he was now totally in their grasp, without a choice.
The dinner, which was supposed to be a celebration for Alex and Amber's joining the family, turned into complete chaos by Karen. All she did throughout the dinner was drown herself in alcohol without having a single bite of food. She sat beside Alex, and even after the smacking she got from Alex, she continued to yell at him or smack him from time to time.
Alex, on the other hand, after losing his temper once, was more cautious this time. He tried to get her something to eat, but to no success, at last, he could only give up in failure. Even Jennifer and the others tried but to no success.
Amidst the chaos, when they were finally done, all of them left the room in a mess. Jennifer was the one who paid the bill. The group left the restaurant, and Alex carried Karen, with the help of Ellaine, out of the restaurant. All of them were looking at each other to who will take Karen back to her home.
"Does anyone know where she lives?" Ellaine asked as she looked at all the ladies.
All of them looked towards each other, expecting someone to reply.
"She never talked about her private life except for these occasional outbreaks," Hazel said.
"Yeah, but she was never this wasted before," Jennifer said with concern, "She is a complete mess herself and getting her back home should be our priority."
"But how do we do that? We don't even know where she lives," someone from the ladies pointed out the obvious.
"Does anyone has her husband's contact?"Jennifer suddenly asked, "Anyone?" she looked around, hoping to get a positive reply from the ladies. But everyone shook their heads in denial.
"Why don't we call the HR department? They must have an emergency contact of hers registered with the company," It was Amber with the suggestion this time.
"That's a great idea. Why didn't we think of it?" Ellaine said, face-palming her forehead.
"I just hope that someone is still there in the HR department," Hazel looked at her watch. It was way past nine, and the chances of someone being there were slim.
Jennifer, without wasting any time, dialled the number of her acquaintance in the HR department.
"Hey, Sherlin. This is Jessica. Are you still at work?" Jennifer didn't beat around the bush as soon as the other party answered the call.
"Ohh... Is someone else still there? It's something urgent," Jennifer asked.
"Is that so? Well, never mind."
"No, it's nothing serious. I will just look for someone else."
"Yeah... Yeah... Sure. Good night then," and with that, Jennifer ended her call.
"No one is there. Everyone is gone back home," Jennifer told everyone.
"Now, what do we do? We can't just leave her in the middle of the road," Hazel said. But as soon as Ellaine heard her, she let go of Karen and stood unbothered on the side, leaving Karen all for Alex.
"You..." Alex was left speechless when he saw the way Ellaine acted, but no one else noticed or even if they did, they had more pressing matters at hand.
"Why don't we book in a room and let her rest there for the night?" It was Amber again with a suggestion.
"Brilliant," Ellaine was ecstatic to hear it, and she ran up to Amber and engulfed her in a big, powerful hug, almost choking her to death.
"But then who is going to stay with her? We can't leave her alone," Jennifer's words poured cold water on Ellaine's excitement.
Everyone looked at one another.
"I can't. My husband will wake the whole neighbourhood with the commotion," Ellaine said, shaking her head.
"So will mine," Hazel also echoed her opinion.
"My son is only nine months. I can't leave him alone all night," someone else said.
Everyone except for Amber and Alex was married and had a family to take care of. It was hard for them to spend the night with Karen.
On the sides, Alex raised his hand slightly. Ellaine, who saw it, exclaimed, "Alex, you naughty little debauch. Aren't you satisfied with what you did to me? Now you even want to spend the night with Karen."
"No, that's not what..." Alex tried to explain but was cut short by Hazel.
"Don't you remember the way he smacked Karen? His intentions were dubious from the start," how can Hazel be left behind?
"You are taking it the wrong way," Alex tried to explain.
"So you are saying it's either your way or highway?" Ellaine left no chance to bash Alex.
"Does your words make any sense?" Alex shouted at Ellaine, "Here I am asking you in a civilised manner like a stuck gramophone to listen to me once, but and you are just going on and on blabbering whatever comes to your mind. Do you think just because I am polite enough not to refute you, you will take me for granted?" Alex lost his temper.
Everyone was left speechless. Never have they ever dreamt of a day Alex would lose his cool.
"All I am trying to say is that I know where she lives?" Alex said with a much softer tone.
"How?" Ellaine asked meekly. You can't just switch off the curiosity in someone.
"I dropped her home a couple of days back," Alex told them.
All of them looked towards Alex, then towards Karen, who was in his arms, blabbering nonsense. Hazel and Ellaine were fighting their urge to tease Alex after his sudden outburst.
"Then it's settled. Alex will drop Karen home. We should get going," Hazel said as he nudged others to walk away.
"Wait... how am I going to take her home on my own? I rode my bike here," Alex tried to stop them for help.
But none of them stopped to hear out Alex. They hurriedly hitched cabs and ran away. Jennifer, who wanted to help him out, was also dragged away by Hazel.
Alex was left alone on the street, with Karen hanging by his arm.