3: 3

3

I shot to my feet.

"You'd better tell me exactly what you saw!"

"When, and where?"

"Which strange man's car did Katherine get into?"

Howard realized he'd said too much.

He rushed to laugh it off.

"Come on, Asher, it was late that night, pitch dark, I couldn't see clearly."

"Or maybe I got it wrong."

"If you really want to know, go ask your wife."

I practically kicked the bedroom door open.

Katherine had just showered. She stood in her pajamas, staring blankly at the mirror.

She heard me come in but didn't turn around.

"Let's not fight tonight, I'm exhausted."

"Save it for another day."

Still seething, I grabbed her by the wrist.

"Did you get into some strange man's car?"

That finally moved her a little. She turned to look at me.

"What are you talking about?"

"No wonder you asked me earlier where the money for your parents' treatment came from."

"So that's it. You've been out there running around with another man!"

Katherine let out a cold laugh and flung my hand off.

"Asher, is that really what you think of me?"

"Even if I wanted another man, what man would ever look twice at a woman as plain and poor as me?"

"I don't even own one decent outfit."

"And I've got none of the looks your ex Tabitha has."

"What would they be after?"

I paused, and my frown eased.

She had a point.

Wasn't I only so certain she'd never leave me

that I dared bring Tabitha home to celebrate her birthday, right under her nose?

"Good, then it's nothing."

I breathed out.

"I just worry too much when it comes to you."

"From now on, if you need to spend money, tell me right away. Since you're so generous and understanding about all this."

"And I won't hold grudges against you anymore either."

I thought about it, then pulled out a bank card and held it out to her.

But she wouldn't take it.

"I don't need money anymore."

"I already asked my boss for two months' salary in advance and paid my parents' medical bills."

"Asher, keep your money."

Katherine pulled the covers over herself and turned her back to me to sleep.

Watching her all obedient and sensible again, I felt the corner of my mouth lift.

There she was. The Katherine I knew.

I went back out to the living room.

And picked the game back up with Tabitha.

We got pretty into it. Around one in the morning, we woke Katherine.

She stood in the doorway in her pajamas, stomach growling.

"Asher, is there anything left to eat?"

I shrugged.

And pointed at the trash can.

"It's all in there."

"We're both full. Didn't think you'd come home tonight."

Tabitha looked up from her phone screen, her pout playful.

"You want some too? Shame you're too late, it's all been thrown out."

"It's Asher's fault. I told him not to buy so much, but he insisted, and now look, all that waste."

Katherine looked up, confusion in her eyes.

"If you couldn't finish it, you could've saved it."

She'd always been frugal by habit.

Seeing all that barely touched food lying in the trash right now, it had to be killing her inside.

Tabitha shrugged.

"I've hated leftovers since I was a kid. Doesn't matter how expensive it is. Once it's leftover, I wouldn't touch it, not even if you fed it to a dog."

"Asher knows that about me, so it all had to go in the trash."

Katherine turned to look at me.

Her eyes were full of scrutiny, and disappointment.

I sighed, picked up the dog bowl beside me.

Cut a clean piece of cake from the trash can with the cake knife, and dropped it into the bowl.

"Make do with a little."

"If it weren't for Tabitha's birthday, you'd never get to taste fondant cake this good."

Katherine's body went rigid and tense, and still she stared me down.

She'd always held herself above things.

She'd starve before she'd take charity handed down to her.

Back in school, it was because the others mocked her for being an orphan nobody wanted.

She'd rather go collect plastic bottles to sell after class.

Scraping together her own tuition, bit by bit.

Than accept aid for poor students.

So a feeding this humiliating, right now.

There was no way she'd eat it.

Seeing how angry she was, I'll admit it gave me a quiet thrill.

All I wanted was to needle her a little this way.

Who told her to get in a strange man's car without my say-so.

And let my friend see it, making me lose face.

This was just a small punishment for her.

The moment she admitted she was wrong,

I'd take back the punishment and we'd let the whole thing go.

But I never expected Katherine to actually reach out and take it.

"Fine, you want me to eat it."

"Asher, I'll eat every bite like a good girl."

She shoved it into her mouth, big mouthful after big mouthful.

Wolfing it down.

Beside her, Tabitha saw how ridiculous she looked and broke into giggles.

"Slow down, sweetheart."

"Look at you, like you're some starved ghost reborn."

"Has Asher never fed you enough?"

"A trashy little cake fished out of the garbage and you eat like this. Really... never seen anything of the world."

But I didn't sneer and laugh along the way I usually would.

I just watched Katherine, a little thrown.

And in my chest, a bad feeling stirred.

Until Katherine quietly finished the last bite of cake.

She turned her head and glanced at the three Chanel bags on the coffee table.

"These few. How much did they cost?"

4: 4

4

Tabitha blinked at me, all innocence.

"Why do you ask about that?"

Katherine's hand curled into a fist.

"No reason. Just curious."

Tabitha's voice turned smug.

"A hundred and eighty thousand each."

"And I've got high standards. The regular ones don't do anything for me. These are limited editions. Only three of them in the whole country."

"I never expected Asher to be so generous. He bought me every last one in one go."

Katherine went quiet.

She turned and looked at the canvas bag hanging by the entryway.

The same one she carried every time she went out, the one she'd used for a full seven years.

Maybe she was envious too.

After all, she'd been so careful, so timid she'd only ever asked for a hundred and eighty thousand in bride price.

I'd told her I'd give it once I saved up. Eight years, and I still hadn't.

I was fumbling for something to say.

Katherine gave a flat little nod.

"I'm going in now."

The words I'd prepared just slid back down my throat.

The days that followed.

Katherine turned obedient. She didn't make trouble, and she didn't come asking me for money.

She went to the station alone and sent her parents back to their hometown.

The washed-out old dress she always wore was gone, replaced by a new one.

Her old phone with the cracked screen got a new case.

A woman who'd always looked gray and washed out.

And now, somehow, she'd started to glow.

I noticed the obvious change in her.

It actually left me a little pleased.

"Katherine, if you'd tidied yourself up like this sooner, we'd never have fought at all."

That day, I came up behind her and slid my arms around her waist.

I was about to go further.

Katherine sidestepped me, her face blank.

"It's my time of the month. Not convenient."

Like a bucket of cold water over the head.

"Fine."

"Get some rest, then."

I pulled the covers over myself and was soon fast asleep.

I didn't dig into it.

How Katherine had changed so quietly, so subtly.

I only felt that she was slowly turning into more of a woman.

Digging into it was too much trouble.

All I had to do was sit back and enjoy it.

Over the next few days, I kept making advances toward Katherine.

She should have taken them.

But her face stayed cold, and she told me she had a business trip.

"A business trip?"

I froze and grabbed her by the wrist.

"You're lying. You never go on business trips."

"Are you sneaking off to fool around with some guy?"

Katherine shot me a mocking look.

"I never went on trips before because I had to come home and do the housework, take care of you."

"Now you've got Tabitha."

"So of course you don't need me anymore."

"Am I not even allowed to think about myself, to go out and earn a little more money?"

Just then, my phone suddenly rang.

A friend was messaging to razz me about the way Katherine had eaten that cake last night. Messy and ridiculous.

"Come on, are you trying to end the poor woman's life tomorrow?"

"A video that humiliating, and you actually posted it in the group chat where all of us could see it."

"You're a real friend, aren't you."

Katherine caught it out of the corner of her eye, disbelieving.

"You posted me in the group chat?"

For the first time I felt a little awkward, and I explained.

"It wasn't me. It was Tabitha."

"She thought the way you ate the cake yesterday was kind of funny, so she filmed it and put it on her feed."

"Relax, it's just our little group chat—"

I thought Katherine would cry.

Instead she laughed.

"Asher Sanchez, you're really something."

I thought we'd have a huge fight.

But Katherine was quiet the whole night.

Early the next morning, Katherine put on a white suit I'd rarely seen her wear, ready to leave for her trip.

I looked her over, struck, and asked, "Want me to drive you?"

"No need."

Katherine turned me down flat. "The company sends a car."

"Oh."

Saved me the trouble anyway. Gas costs a fair bit these days.

Once Katherine was out of sight, I got back on the group chat, calling everyone in to game.

Howard, out of nowhere, asked me one thing.

"You and your wife have a fight or something?"

"Married couples fight in bed at night and make up by morning."

"No matter how big the problem, you've got to talk it out."

"And that Tabitha,"

"she's no good. Last time I saw her getting cozy with some other guy at the club. You'd better keep your distance."

I waved him off, irritated.

"All right, all right, I know what I'm doing."

Didn't I know exactly what kind of person Tabitha was?

If I hadn't been broke back then.

Would Tabitha ever have broken up with me?

A girl like that knows how to read the situation. Sharp as they come.

Even if she was after something, she was after my money.

And I was after her looks and the way she made me feel.

Not like Katherine.

Just a big fool, through and through.

After nothing at all, no title, no status, she'd stayed with me eight years.

And I knew better than anyone.

Tabitha was an ex I humored now and then, nothing more than a bit of fun.

Just playing pretend.

But Katherine was different.

Sure, I didn't feel that intense way about her anymore.

But she was frugal, sweet, sensible.

She wouldn't spend two hundred on a dress for herself, but she'd spend five hundred to buy me a genuine leather belt.

A woman like that is exactly the kind you make your wife.

I knew what mattered.

After Katherine left on her trip, a deep boredom set in.

Every day it was either gaming or lying on the couch, gabbing on the phone with Tabitha.

The floor was a mess, piled with fruit peels and trash.

The leftovers on the dining table had started to rot and stink.

I kept waiting for Katherine to come back from her trip.

She'd said the company had her down for three days.

But it had been five now.

And she still wasn't back.

After I pressed her again and again, she sent an explanation.

"The company's shuffled things around. They tacked another two days onto the trip."

"Barring anything unexpected, I'll be back the day after tomorrow at five in the afternoon."

That day, I was getting ready to take her out for a candlelit dinner when she got home.

Women are like that. Slap them once, then hand them a sweet.

The last time we'd had a candlelit dinner was three years ago.

When Katherine saw the surprise I'd set up, she was bound to be thrilled.

But I waited from five until ten at night.

And Katherine never came.

Calls unanswered, messages ignored.

Just as I was pacing back and forth, anxious.

My buddy Howard sent another message.

"Man, you two are so close and you're still pulling this whole going-public routine like some lovesick kid?"

"What's the hotel you're staying at tonight called? The photos your wife posted on her feed even had a soaking tub. You can tell it's expensive. Asher, look at you finally figuring things out!"