Chapter 2

I walked out of Chelsea's drink shop.

Marlin came after me.

Our shops were only a few storefronts apart, really.

In just a few days, a seal had already gone up over my parents' place.

I knew that as long as Marlin refused to give an inch, there was no chance of those doors opening again.

But this time, I wasn't going to lower myself and beg him.

He caught up and grabbed my hand.

His grip was hard enough to hurt my wrist.

I couldn't hold my temper.

"Let go, you're hurting me."

He made no move to release me. If anything, his hand tightened.

"Answer me. What did you mean by that just now?"

"We're planning to get married. Your money, my money, what's the difference? In the end we'd be spending it together anyway, wouldn't we?"

Only in that moment did I see how filthy the man I'd fallen for really was.

He could have actually put that money into an investment, and even if he'd lost it all, I would have accepted it.

But no. He had to lie to me so he could hand it to Chelsea.

I straightened up and met his eyes.

"Then aren't my parents your parents too? So why treat them like this?"

"Chelsea's shop failed hygiene, didn't it? Her food was expired, wasn't it?"

"Why can't you hold them to the same standard? Why do you keep covering for Chelsea?"

Marlin slowly moved his hand away.

The corner of his mouth curled into a trace of a sneer, there and not there.

"So what if I do? As long as I don't report it, there's no problem."

"So you're still sulking over this. Fine, I'll have the company shorten their correction deadline, that's all."

One breezy sentence, and he thought he could paper over every unfair thing he'd done.

Except I no longer needed that kind of cheap concession.

I turned my head toward the shop sign a little way off, and my eyes stung before I could stop them.

"My parents poured everything they had into that shop. They were counting on it to earn a little, so they could buy us a wedding home."

"And now every hope they had is gone. These past few nights they haven't even closed their eyes."

"Even if it's only for my sake, you shouldn't have done this!"

I turned back, but I wasn't looking at Marlin. My gaze fell on the wrist he'd left red.

Marlin's voice came, light and airy.

"Maya, if you're asking someone for help, you act like it. Making a scene like this, I can't help you."

"Can't you just talk properly? What's the point of dragging your parents into it?"

I had talked properly. He'd just taken my humble pleading as his due.

He had never once truly cared how I felt.

I stepped back a few paces, then turned around.

"I don't need your help now."

A few meters of space opened between us.

Behind me, I heard Marlin pick up his phone.

Not a call to the company. Chelsea was calling him.

In the end, he would never keep a single one of my angers or hurts in his heart.

Even at my most hysterical, to him it was nothing more than jealous fussing.

"What? Someone's causing trouble? I'll be right there."

Chelsea's sobbing cut off along with the call as Marlin hung up.

He didn't come after me, and I didn't look back.