NOVEL NEXT Chapter 274: Pathetic Husband
"I know that you're confused as to what I'm saying since you think that the law is on your side since you're right here...But unfortunately, the legal system doesn't work that way and favours the person who has actual evidence rather than the actual victim of the situation." I explained as to why she was in trouble for beating these guys up if they were to actually file a complaint against her.
"Like, for example, can I ask you if you have any CCTV cameras set up inside or, more particularly, around the changing area where you caught these guys?"
"Of course not!" Nina exclaimed vehemently and looked at me like she was wondering why I was asking the obvious. "What kind of traditional hot spring would have CCTV cameras inside, especially around the changing room? Wouldn't that make all the female customers uncomfortable and make them feel vulnerable in a place where they come for comfort and relaxation?"
"Not to mention that I have absolutely no clue as to how to set up and handle such a complicated system, since I'm horrible with anything that involves technology...I'm so bad with it that I sometimes need to ask the kids who come here about how to send a message or open a website." Mrs Keller reluctantly nodded her head, like she had seen firsthand how bad she was with technology.
"Okay...Then leaving that aside for a second, can you tell how many people here actually saw these three guys enter the girls changing room?" I asked another question, which made the man on the sofa look even more arrogant and even made the guys on the ground gain some courage.
"That would only be one person, and that's me." Nina answered, and she didn't seem to like the fact that the guys on the floor were all smiling, like she was caught in their trap with no escape. "Most of the ladies in the building were waiting in the lobby while the rest were in the changing room.
The men were also already in the hot spring since their time slot is going on now, so no one saw them enter other than me, where I caught them just as they were about to enter and immediately dragged them out before they took a step inside."
"I see..." I sighed and shook my head as things were going exactly like I thought they were, and some ladies in the audience even gasped when they realised what was going on, which made the other ladies ask them about what was going on so that they could know as well.
This little commotion also startled Nina, as she still hadn't realised what was wrong. But she knew that something wasn't right, seeing all the worried faces around her and how the imbeciles on the ground got up and sat themselves on the sofa with sneers on their punchable faces.
"Okay then, even if there are no direct witnesses, there should have been someone who was looking after the changing rooms right, just in case any problem occurred." I asked as there was no way Nina would've left such a vulnerable spot like the changing area unguarded and should've placed some kind of employee there to monitor that part of the building.
"...Or is that you simply slipped up and let them go in under your watch, which I highly doubt since you seem like someone who's quite sincere with her duties and would never let such an incident occur while you're in charge."
I seemed to have the nail right on the head as to how this whole problem started, since Nina didn't immediately respond like she did before and was hesitating if she should say the truth.
"N-No, it was my husband that was supposed to be looking after the changing room and making sure everything was in order..."
Nina's face that looked high and mighty this whole while, even in the face of three men that were stronger then her, suddenly changed to that of sheepish look when she mentioned her husband and her voice also lowered in tone, as if she wasn't really fond of talking about her husband to others. She then continued saying in a low voice,
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"...I had some business outside, so I left him in charge of that area. But..."
"But what?" I asked, not expecting her to look so helpless and, honestly, even a bit ashamed when she was talking about what her husband did.
"But, instead of doing the work I told him to do, he went away without telling me a word of the matter, since apparently his friends had called him out to go for a drink..." Nina's cheeks flushed when she saw a frown slowly appear on my face, knowing exactly what I was thinking about her husband right now.
Even the ladies around me started shaking their heads in dismay, as if they already expected her husband to do such a thing, and some of them even had looks of disdain in their eyes from the moment Nina mentioned him.
"So you basically asked him to do a job, but he left his responsibilities to go and have some fun with his friends, which led to this whole scenario..." I rubbed my forehead and asked Nina if I was hearing correctly.
I then looked straight at her light green eyes that were flickering in shame at what her husband had done and directly asked her, "...Forgive me for asking, Nina, but just what sort of man ditches his job knowing just how important it is to man the station and goes off to somewhere else to have fun, not even caring about the repercussions of his actions?"
"Like, it's understandable if he left if he had some medical emergency or some urgent issue he had to handle...But to leave just because he wanted to have a few bottles of beer with his friends after work....Isn't that a little too irresponsible of him?" I asked with a peculiar look on my face, which made Nina's tall shoulders sink even lower.
"You're mistaken there, Kafka." Mrs Keller voiced from the side, being one of the few who looked down on Nina's husband from the very start. "Nina's husband doesn't have any other job outside and actually works here at the hot spring, along with Nina here as the accountant and a worker who does some chores."
"Wait?...Then doesn't that make what he did even worse?" I asked out of genuine surprise at his negligence and carelessness, which made Nina want to lock herself in a room and not show her face for having such a useless husband.
"Okay fine..." I pulled myself together after hearing about the dunce Nina had for a husband and tried to solve the issue before me. "Let's leave aside the issue of him leaving for now, since maybe he had some other important reason as to why he wanted to meet his friends...For now, can you call him and tell him to come back so that we can sort this issue here?"
"I-I already did..." Nina stuttered and struggled to complete her sentence. "...But I don't think he'll be coming."
"Why? Isn't he basically the main reason this entire mess occurred?" My face twisted when I heard that he wasn't even willing to come, knowing that his wife was in trouble right now. "Or is that he's too intoxicated to come here right now?"
"N-No that's not it...It's actually because..." Nina started her sentence but didn't know how to finish since she didn't seem to want to badmouth her husband.
"It's because he's a coward, and it's simple as that."
Mrs Keller finished what Nina was saying and scoffed when she thought of Nina's husband, who wasn't even willing to help her out in her time of need.
She then looked at me while having a look of clear disdain in her eyes and continued saying,
"That pathetic man she calls a husband who's useless other than when he takes care of the accounts of this place is actually a real coward and silently runs off somewhere else whenever such a problem occurs."
"For a long time now, he'd always escape and let his poor wife deal with any nuisance that happened in the hot spring and would only return when the coast was clear, like the rat he is, which irritates me to the core."
Mrs Keller looked like she wanted to spit on his face because of how worthless Nina's husband was and smear it all over her face.
This was quite shocking to see, as Mrs Keller was a really sweet lady that got along with everyone, so that could only mean that Nina's husband must be one stinking piece of shit if he can provoke such an intense reaction from her.