Chapter 2

2.

“I don't need to stay in the hospital. Let's just go home!”

My mother waved her hand, trying to climb out of the hospital bed.

The second she straightened her back, agony twisted her frail face.

My heart ached, but I couldn't help a bitter smile.

“My next paycheck is coming in a few days. You don't need to worry about the money, Mom!”

Dr. Hayes had kindly covered the upfront cost of her surgery for me.

“Your paycheck? Aren't you giving it to your wife?”

For five years, I had handed over every single cent to Maren without holding back a penny.

I kept nothing for myself, just to show her how devoted I was.

I never questioned how she managed our finances.

Only this time, when Mom slipped and needed emergency spinal surgery and Maren claimed we were broke, did I ask a few extra questions.

And she blew up at me.

She called me a useless failure.

“You bring home barely seventy dollars a month! How much did you expect me to save?”

I really thought I had failed our family.

Until I witnessed that scene this morning.

I realized how utterly blind and foolish I had been.

My self-proclaimed romantic devotion was nothing more than a pathetic joke.

“What's wrong? Did you and Maren fight because of me? It’s all my fault for not watching my step...”

Guilt flooded my mother’s eyes.

Watching her, my chest tightened painfully.

She had fallen because she was rushing over to bring us freshly woven wool fabric for winter blankets.

She only meant well.

“Mom, don't worry about Maren and me.”

Just as I said that, Maren walked into the room.

She carried a cheap plastic container of plain boiled cabbage without a single scrap of meat.

“Here, eat something.”

My mother hurriedly nodded, desperate to keep the peace between us.

She knew how much I used to adore Maren.

I couldn't deny that I had favored her above everything.

But that was in the past.

I didn't acknowledge Maren, only leaning in to ask Mom if her back still hurt.

Before Mom could answer, Maren chimed in, offering to stay and look after her for the next couple of days.

If it weren't for the fleeting guilt flickering in her eyes, I might have believed she had actually grown a heart.

When I went to wash the dishes in the communal sink, she trailed behind me.

After a long silence, she finally spoke.

“Are you going to keep giving me the silent treatment?”

“I admit I was harsh during our argument, but I was thinking about our household. The surgery costs five hundred dollars, and we really don't have that kind of cash lying around...”

“Do we not have that kind of cash, or do you just refuse to spend a single dime on my mother?”

“What do you mean by that? Are you trying to pick another fight?”

Maren’s voice turned instantly cold.

In the past, I would have backed down immediately and done everything to soothe her temper.

Now, I felt nothing.

“You can drop a thousand dollars on an imported watch without blinking, but you don't have five hundred for my mother’s surgery.”

“Whenever I asked you to buy some meat for my mother, you claimed we were broke, but you had plenty of grocery funds for another man.”

“You didn't have enough fabric to mend my winter coat, but you had plenty to tailor custom suits for that pretty boy...”

“Enough!” Maren snapped, her brow furrowing in anger. “Who are you calling a pretty boy?”

“You know damn well who I’m talking about.”

I turned around and locked eyes with her.

After a few tense seconds, her gaze wavered, and her voice softened.

“You know Ian's situation. Both of his parents are gone, and his older brother passed away last year.”

“Sean begged me to look after Ian before he died. You’ve known this all along...”

When Sean Cole died last year, Maren had told me the same thing.

Out of respect for our old neighbors, I had always agreed to help him whenever we could.

Yet if Ian refused to work hard himself, helping him was like pouring water into a bottomless pit.

His life was a complete mess of his own making.

After a while, I hadn't heard much about him.

If I hadn't seen him with Maren this morning, I wouldn't even have recognized the well-dressed man standing in front of me.

“I never stopped you from helping someone in need. But buying him an imported luxury watch? Did you really do that with pure intentions?”

Ian shared an eighty percent resemblance with his deceased older brother.

Maren was originally supposed to marry Sean, but the wedding fell apart over family disputes.

Later, she met me through a blind date.

I was an only child with a steady factory job, a clean house, and a reliable car.

I wasn't bad-looking either, and plenty of women had shown interest in me.

Because I was passive about dating, my mother had gotten anxious and set up that blind date.

I fell for Maren the first moment I saw her.

We got married shortly after.

People always say you never forget your first love.

Maren clearly proved that rule.

“The watch...”

She looked away nervously.

“The watch was an old promise I made to Ian. I promised him a special birthday gift.”

I let out a dry laugh.

In five years of marriage, she had never once remembered my birthday.

Even when I brought it up myself, she would just brush it off coldly.

“You’re a grown man, why are you obsessing over birthdays?”

Ian was only two years younger than me.

“Silas, don't be so petty. Once Ian gets on his feet, he’ll pay everything back.”

It wasn't until the next morning that I truly understood what she meant by getting on his feet.