It was Thanksgiving. I made the mistake of opening a luxury gift box Tyler had left on the table.

The moment she saw what I had done, she went full on rage. She slapped me several times.

"That was for Oscar! How rude could you be? You didn't even ask me before opening that? Do you think you even deserve to eat something this premium?”

I tried to duck and shield myself, but my face was already burning with red marks.

After her outburst, she dragged me to her family's estate in the countryside. She called over a few of her burly male relatives—and they shoved my head straight into a pig trough.

“You like eating so much, right? Go on, eat your fill!”

Her relatives kept forcing my head down the pigs' feeder. The stench alone made me gag.

Tyler stood nearby, gleefully snapping photos of my humiliation and sending them to Oscar—her new financial advisor at work, someone she’d only just met but was already smitten with.

In that moment, all dignity I had was crushed.

“Tasty, isn't it?”

——

She sneered, lifting my face with visible disgust.

My face was covered in filth, my mouth stuffed with sour, putrid pig feed. I finally managed to spit it out—but not before she zoomed in to capture every degrading detail.

“That was a specialty gift I brought back from overseas for Ozy. One of those festival rice dumplings costs 800 bucks a piece,” she said coldly. “Consider this a lesson.”

I gasped for air. My stomach churned. But worse than the nausea was the ache in my chest.

I had thought the gift box on the table was something she wanted me to prep for her. Turns out, this time was different.

Oscar Green, the charming new guy at her office, had taken only weeks to wrap her around his finger.

I pushed myself off the rough concrete floor, knees scraped raw by loose gravel.

Tyler approached, her ten-centimeters stilettos clicking against the ground. Just then, Oscar called. Tyler instantly switched personas.

“Ozy, did you get the photos I sent? Aren’t they hilarious?” she smiled sweetly.

Oscar’s mocking laugh crackled through the speaker.

“I saw everything, Tyler,” he sneered. “Hard to believe that polished, well-dressed Teddy could ever end up like that. I might just have to share these with the rest of the office—let everyone get a good look.”

His voice added pain to my shame. If those photos really made it out, I couldn’t imagine how I’d ever face anyone again.

I turned to Tyler, begging her, “Tyler, we’re partners—in marriage and in business. If I lose face, it reflects on you too. Please… don’t let those photos spread.”

Tyler looked at me like I was dirt under her shoe. Worse, she seemed to raise her voice on purpose, like she wanted Oscar to hear every word.

“Lose face?” she scoffed. “I couldn’t care less about yours. As long as Ozy’s happy, that’s all that matters. And besides,” she added, “you brought this on yourself. A little punishment is more than fair.”

Oscar jumped back in, his voice dripping with schadenfreude.

“Mr. Campbell, never thought I’d see you like this. Aren’t you usually the big shot around the office?”

The company was built by Tyler and me, but she was always the one people listened to. I still remembered when Oscar made a massive mistake that cost us nearly half a million—and all I did was call him out on it. Clearly, he’d been waiting for payback.

I clenched my jaw, swallowing the rage and humiliation. “Oscar, don’t leak those photos. It’ll damage the company.”

This business was my life’s work. I couldn’t let it burn over someone’s petty revenge.

Oscar just laughed instead, louder this time.

“Well then, Teddy,” he said, “I guess it depends on how badly you want to protect it. If you get down on your knees and beg, I’ll keep the photos to myself.”

My heart dropped.

We had a major deal on the table right now. If those pictures got out, there was no way the client would go through with the contract.

Tyler didn’t let me off easy.

Last time, Oscar accidentally broke my watch. I barely frowned and she reacted by shoving me into the backyard pond. I wasn’t allowed to get out for a full day and night.

Fighting back tears of humiliation, I slowly knelt down in front of Tyler.

Oscar was still on video, watching from his end of the call as I bowed to the floor begging. He burst out laughing. Sharp gravel dug into my forehead. When I reached up to touch it, my fingers came away with blood.

Tyler giggled, trying to charm Oscar. “Now that’s more like it. That’s what I call a proper apology.”

“Ozy, don’t be mad anymore, okay? I’ll take you out for steak, buy you a new gift. I think Teddy’s learned his lesson.”

Oscar wasn’t finished. “No, Tyler, I still don’t think it’s enough!”

“Ozy, you’re still mad, right? What else should we do to punish him?” Then, like Tyler had completely snapped, she ground the heel of her shoe into my fingers.

Pain shot through my body like electricity, but when I opened my mouth to cry out, nothing came.

Oscar added, “Let’s have him sleep in the pig pen. Strip him down, make him walk home tomorrow.”

Tyler laughed into her hand like a schoolgirl. “Ugh, you’re awful… I love it.”

Her cousins didn’t hesitate. In seconds, they’d ripped off my clothes, leaving me curled up in a corner, doing whatever I could to hide what little dignity I had left.

After they ended the call, Tyler stood over me, looking at me condescendingly.

“Well, Teddy, you heard Ozy. You’ll be staying in the pig pen for a few days. When I’m in a good mood again, maybe I’ll let you out.”

I felt completely hollow. All I could do was clench my fists—trying to hang on to the last shred of self-respect I had left.

“Tyler,” I whispered, “I never thought you’d do this to me… After everything I’ve done for you… did it all mean nothing?”

For a brief moment, I saw a flicker of something in her eyes—maybe guilt, maybe memory—but it vanished just as quickly. Her cold, detached look returned.

“Whatever we had in the past doesn’t matter. Ozy’s the only one who matters now.”

“I’m done arguing with you. You stay here and think about what you’ve done. When you really understand your mistake, then maybe—maybe—you can come home.”

Tyler soon drove off afterward, leaving me behind like I was nothing. Just a naked man in a pigsty. My forehead and fingers throbbed with pain, the cold air biting at my skin. I was shivering, filth clinging to me like shame.

Then her cousin tossed a handful of slimy vegetable scraps over the fence. “Go on, eat up. This is what we feed the pigs here.”

He chuckled cruelly, then added, “Hard to believe, isn’t it? The great Mr. Campbell, sitting in my pigpen. You didn’t even look at me back when I asked to borrow money. Now look at you.”

I remembered how he used to gamble away everything. When he finally turned his life around, I bought him this land so he could start fresh with a small pig farm.

But clearly, to him, that meant nothing. One act of refusal, all those years ago, had turned into this deep, twisted grudge. Now, the very land I gifted him had become the place of my public humiliation.

The rotting scraps hit my shoulder, then slid off, mixing with the mud.

Trying to appeal to any shred of decency left in him, I called out weakly, “Brother, have you forgotten? If I hadn’t bought you this land, you wouldn’t even have this life!”

He crouched beside the pen, moonlight casting deep shadows across his bitter, contorted face.

“This land?” he spat. “You think that makes us even? If you’d just lent me the money when I needed it, I could’ve hit it big and bought a damn mansion by now.”

I trembled all over. Under the pale moonlight, his face—once vaguely familiar—now looked completely alien.

It turned out, just because someone acted kind to others, didn't mean they'd receive kindness in return.

"Stay right there and think about what you've done!"

I was left alone again in the pigpen.

Night fell. My stomach began to churn violently. The pain twisted deep in my gut. I'd always had stomach problems—an old condition made worse by the endless drinking I’d done to help Tyler win over clients.

Back then, Tyler used to set out my medication for me, always right on time. Now, ironically, the pain I felt was because of her.

The cramps spread like fire through every nerve in my body. With no one around for miles, I had no choice but to call her again.

She didn’t answer.

I tried seven times.

Finally, someone picked up. But it wasn’t her voice—it was Oscar’s. “Yo, Teddy, Tyler’s in the shower. What do you want?”

I clenched my fists, but the pain in my gut wouldn’t let up.

“Put Tyler on the phone.”

Oscar chucled. “Whoa, you forget your place or something? You’re talking to me like that? Keep it up and I’ll make sure things get a lot worse for you.”

In the background, I heard Tyler’s playful voice, “Ozy, can you grab me a towel?”

Then the call got even louder—Oscar had clearly walked into the bathroom with the phone still on. I heard kissing sounds, giggling, the slap of skin.

Tyler’s voice was breathy, “Ugh, why do you have to kiss me like that? I can barely breathe. You’re so bad...”

The sounds continued, noisy and intimate—like they wanted me to hear every second of it. My stomach twisted tighter.

Minutes passed before things quieted down. Then Oscar, like he’d just remembered I was still on the line, brought the phone to Tyler.

“Hey, your husband called. Forgot to mention.”

His laugh echoed through the speaker. In the background, I could hear water running and Tyler playfully scolding him.

I was curled up on a pile of moldy straw, soaked in cold sweat, stomach in full spasm.

“I... I think I’m having a serious flare-up,” I choked out. “Please... I need help...”

There was a beat of silence. Then Oscar’s voice, suddenly louder and mocking, “Tyler, your husband says he’s in so much pain he might die. Should we be nice and help him out?”

Tyler laughed with amusement, “Tell him to drink some of the pig trough water. Maybe that’ll flush out his system.”

Oscar burst out laughing.

“Great idea! Hear that, Teddy? Tyler says pig slop works better than medicine!”

I bit down so hard on my lower lip that I tasted blood before realizing I’d broken the skin.

The night wind swept through the pigsty, thick with the stench of manure. It filled my throat and churned my already ravaged stomach. The pain turned into a wave of nausea and I vomited violently—but all that came up was bitter stomach acid.

Then I heard their voices again. Somehow, they made me feel even sicker.

“Oh, almost forgot to share the good news,” Tyler said, her voice suddenly calm—almost cheerful.

“You know that big contract you’ve been obsessing over for years? I signed it over to your competitor yesterday. I mean, really… who would want to work with someone who eats pig slop?”

That deal had been three years in the making. I’d poured everything I had into it.

“Why?” I choked out. “Why, Tyler? Do you have any idea how much I gave for that project?”

All this pain, all this humiliation—I thought it would be worth it if I could just land that deal. Now, I had nothing.

Tyler was dismissive. “Oh please. It’s just one deal. Don’t be so dramatic. Ozy told me about a much better investment opportunity. So I put the money there instead.”

“Ugh, honestly… You and your stupid laptop, always working on those endless proposals. What’s the point? You’re not even worth one of Ozy’s toenails.”

Their laughter rang through the speaker, like none of this mattered.

“Oh right,” Oscar chimed in, “I accidentally deleted that proposal of yours. Your computer’s a piece of junk—it couldn’t even open the file.”