Chapter 2

Bayport was hitting a hundred and four degrees, the sun blazing hard enough to make your head spin.

I flagged down a cab and got my wife in first.

Inside, with the AC blowing, the handprint on her face stood out even more.

"I'm sorry." I apologized to her.

She shook her head to say it was fine, but the tears wouldn't stop falling.

Even wronged like this, she still lifted her head and asked me,

"Where are we going now?"

"To buy a house!"

The cab stopped in front of a real estate agency.

The moment we walked in, the agent who'd shown us around a few days earlier came right over.

"Max, Julia, have you two decided to buy?"

I pulled out my card and slapped it on the desk.

"Yes."

"We'll take that place at Amethyst Gardens you showed us before!"

That one was a resale, already renovated, and the whole place still looked new.

Nine hundred square feet. It would've gone for over a million before. Now it was only seven hundred thousand.

My wife grabbed my arm in a hurry.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Didn't you say your dad's health is bad, that you were keeping this money for emergencies?"

I asked her,

"He hit you today in front of all those people, and you're still looking out for him?"

She lowered her head.

"I'm not looking out for him, I'm looking out for you. He's still your own father!"

A wife like this, what more could a husband want.

I pulled her into my arms and said softly,

"He's got two other sons!"

"I waited on him for eight years. It's about time Nathan and Derek did their share!"

And just like that, the house was ours.

Seven hundred thousand, paid in full, move-in ready. We only needed to add a few personal things.

That evening, out shopping with my wife at the grocery store,

my mother called.

"Maxwell, hurry up and bring Julia home. Your dad's calmed down, just come back and say a few nice words to him!"

I glanced at my wife, who was picking out plates, and kept my voice even.

"Mom, Julia and I aren't coming back!"

My mother was stunned.

"Then where will you two live?"

"I bought a house. A resale, just bought it, seven hundred thousand, move-in ready!"

"You bought a house?" My mother's voice shot up an octave.

The next second, my father snatched the phone from her.

"Have you lost your mind?"

"That's all the money you've got, and you dumped every cent into a house. What about your mother and me in our old age?"

I laughed.

"Go ask Nathan and Derek!"

"You're the one who thinks they're more devoted than me, aren't you?"

"What, afraid they won't take care of you?"

My father choked. "You—"

After hanging up, I pushed the cart with my wife over to the register to check out.

The first day in the new place, we didn't go out to celebrate.

Instead my wife cooked herself, fried two eggs and made a bowl of buttered noodles for each of us.

Simple.

But we were content.

"Even though we bought our own place, we should still find time to go back once, don't you think?" my wife suggested.

"Why?"

"Just to pack up our things."

Saturday was my day off, so I took my wife back to my father's place.

My mother opened the door, her face lighting up when she saw us.

My father sat in the living room drinking tea, snide as ever.

"Well, well. So you two remembered how to come home?"

"I knew all that talk about buying a house was just to fool us."

"I know exactly what you're capable of. Forget a house, you'd be hard-pressed to buy a bathroom!"

My mother shot him a glare.

"Can't you old fool keep your mouth shut for once?"

Then she turned and started ordering people around the way she always did.

"Good that you're back. I bought pork ribs. Julia can cook in a bit, and we'll all celebrate properly as a family!"

I gripped my wife's hand and refused.

"Mom, no!"

"We came back to pack up our things!"

"From now on, only you and Dad live in this house!"

The words landed, and my mother froze.

And the teacup in my father's hand hit the floor with a crash.