03

Austin wasn't home, and they didn't ask why.

My mother pulled me down to sit beside her and held my hand. "You've lost weight."

I gripped her hand back, my thumb brushing over the scar in the web of hers.

When I was little I knocked over a brazier playing around, and she threw out her hand to shield me. That patch of skin had stayed sunken ever since.

That evening she was in the kitchen for three hours, and turned out a full table of food.

But the dishes had barely reached the table when the lock clicked.

Austin walked in with Linda and her parents.

He saw my mother and father and didn't so much as greet them.

"Didn't I book you a room at a motel? Why are you still here? Linda's family's air conditioning broke today, they're staying with us. There's no space for you here, is there?"

I held my chopsticks, my knuckles going white.

"Austin, this is my home. Where do you get off telling my parents to go stay somewhere else?"

Linda stoked the fire from the side.

"Look at this spread tonight. Austin, honey, you're the one who works to keep this house going. How come nobody called you to eat?"

Austin seized the opening at once. "Isabella, it's not your place to run this house. I pay the rent on it, and I have every right to bring anyone I want home."

Zoe Donaldson put on her fake concern. "If it's this much trouble for Austin, we'll just leave, then."

That only made Austin angrier. "Isabella, is this how you treat your elders? Where are your manners?"

He slapped a box down on the table as he spoke.

"Linda's mom and dad heard your parents were here, so they even brought a gift. Go on, take a look for yourself."

My mother saw it and wiped her hands on her apron, over and over. "We haven't started eating yet. Why don't we all sit down together?"

Zoe sat down at once.

I grabbed the box and tore it open.

"Austin, this is that expired fish oil that was supposed to be thrown out. This is your gift?"

The manufacture date was three years ago.

The print was tiny, but I read it clear as day.

A while back my parents said their legs hurt going up stairs, and the doctor recommended fish oil.

Austin traveled abroad for work a lot, so I asked him to bring some back. Once, twice, three times.

He finally brought back a box, and it was expired.

I never imagined he'd repackage the expired fish oil and pass it off as a gift from Linda's parents.

I met Austin at thirty-five.

Because it came to us so late, the whole family treasured it all the more.

My mother was always saying, "Austin's young, he doesn't know better. Be patient with him. You have to make him feel how lucky he is to be holding two gold bars."

Everyone around me said an older single woman ends up either alone or a stepmother. What had I done to deserve a man like Austin?

I believed it.

We all believed it.

My mother tugged Austin and Linda toward the table. "Austin, try this. I braised these ribs today."

He nudged them with his chopsticks and frowned. "Too greasy."

My mother's hand stopped in midair.

"Then... then have some soup. The chicken soup isn't greasy."

Austin took a spoonful. "A little heavy on the salt."

"Oh, oh, that's my hand being too heavy, I'll use less next time..." My mother hurried to take it away. "Then have some greens, I made the greens light."

Austin hesitated three seconds, then picked up a small piece of greens and put it in his mouth.

"Not bad," he said.

My mother's eyes lit up for a second.

He set down his chopsticks and never picked them up again.

Her hand was still holding the soup bowl, frozen in the act of offering it, as though someone had hit pause on her.

Linda picked up a rib, bit into it, and narrowed her eyes.

"Auntie, you really can cook. This is more authentic than that private kitchen place Austin took us to last night."

My parents had been here three days, and Austin hadn't sat down for a single meal with them.

But last night he'd taken Linda's whole family out to a private kitchen dinner.

"Austin."

I heard my own voice shaking. "My mother made your favorite dishes. I called you three times and you didn't pick up. And now you're picking my mother's cooking apart, piece by piece. Isn't that going too far?"

"I'm already exhausted, and then you people drag me to the table to put on a show. I went along with it. What more do you want?"

"A show?"

My eyes snapped up. "It's because my whole family kept giving in and backing down that you've let it go to your head, isn't it?"

"Don't blow this out of proportion. We have guests."

Austin gave a cold snort.

04

“Isabella, can’t you drop the pettiness for once? Linda and her parents have no one to lean on in this city. How do you not have an ounce of sympathy?”

“Ever since you got pregnant, your temper’s gotten worse and worse. You want to know why I don’t want to come home anymore?”

The time I was throwing up and running to the bathroom, I called him. He was busy helping Linda Donaldson shop for an air conditioner.

I called 911 and went to the hospital by myself. That was how I found out I was pregnant.

I didn’t tell him, because by then a seed of unease had already taken root in me.

I never imagined he already knew.

And his reaction was this: disgust that my pregnancy hormones were acting up.

“If you keep throwing these fits, I don’t see the point in this marriage anymore.”

The room went silent for a beat.

I closed my eyes, then turned to my parents. “I’m sorry. I let you down.”

The truth was, this marriage had been full of holes for a long time.

The only reason I held on was so my parents wouldn’t have to hang their heads in the village. After all, a daughter kept at home for thirty-five years had at least married up.

Dad stammered, “This—this…”

Austin curled his lip. “You’d better talk some sense into your daughter. A person needs a little perspective.”

Mom clutched her apron, anxious. “Don’t talk nonsense, Austin. Divorce is out of the question.”

Austin glanced at her the way you’d look at a servant who didn’t know her place, and didn’t even bother to answer.

Then Mom turned to me. “Bella, hurry up and apologize to Austin. You don’t want your child to grow up without a father, do you?”

“Your dad and I will leave right now. As long as the two of you are all right, that’s enough. We won’t stay here and make trouble for you.”

She stood as she spoke and reached for the suitcase.

I grabbed hold of her.

“Take my advice and don’t do anything rash…”

Austin’s voice suddenly dropped half a note. “…Look at you. How would you get by out there?”

“It’s different for me. At my age, there’s a whole line of people waiting for a shot at me.”

Linda tugged at the corner of her mouth and leaned her whole body into Austin, smug as a cat that had just gotten into the cream.

My hand around the suitcase handle loosened, then tightened again.

Just then, my phone buzzed.

“Bella, Linda Donaldson isn’t Austin’s childhood sweetheart. She’s his ex-wife.”

“To get the property-relocation payout, they secretly registered the divorce. They came out ahead by a thousand square feet of property and a million in cash.”

“He’s suspected of marriage fraud. And there’s a reason he chose you, one he can’t bring himself to say out loud…”

My head snapped up, and in a dry, cracked voice I said,

“Austin, we’re getting divorced.”