Chapter 2

Her voice was sharp and irritating.

But of course. She was used to bossing me around.

Whenever something didn't go her way, even in public, she would throw a tantrum, completely disregarding my dignity.

She would demand a sincere, public apology from me.

And back then, just to keep her happy, I would bend over backward to accommodate her moods.

"Figure it out yourself," I replied, my tone icy. "Go sit in the diner downstairs until I get off work, or call a locksmith."

Chloe lost her temper instantly. "Ethan! I don't care what you have to do. Get back here and open this door within thirty minutes, or you'll regret it!"

If this were before, her anger would have terrified me.

I would have begged for her forgiveness, terrified that she would stay mad at me.

I would have jumped into a cab immediately and rushed home to open the door.

"Sorry," I said. "I'm busy at work. I can't leave."

"I know you're still jealous and angry about Owen! But can you stop holding on to it? Even if I made a mistake, it's just a lapse in judgment. Every woman makes mistakes, okay? You need to be man enough to forgive me just this once!"

"I'm not angry, and I'm definitely not jealous. Don't worry about it," I chuckled softly.

Hearing my laugh, she sounded confused. "You're really not mad?"

"Nope. But you still need to call that locksmith yourself."

I hung up.

My boss had told me to go home and prep for my relocation.

I originally needed to go home to grab some important documents.

But knowing Chloe was locked out and waiting, I was in no rush.

I decided to go for a stroll.

In the past, I lived incredibly frugally. I hated spending money on myself.

Every penny I made went straight to Chloe.

If you split my salary into ten parts, she spent nine point nine of it.

As a project manager, my base salary was at least $5,000 a month.

With bonuses, it easily reached $8,000 to $10,000.

Because of this, Chloe wore designer clothes, carried luxury bags, and always had the newest phone.

Meanwhile, I was still using an old Android from five years ago.

It was so slow it made me want to cry.

Sometimes, just opening Snapchat took ages.

And if I replied to her messages a minute late, I'd get a barrage of abuse.

But now, I could finally buy the things I actually wanted.

Since my salary and bonus had just cleared, I walked straight into a store and bought the latest $3,000 Samsung tri-fold phone.

God, a high-end phone felt amazing. It was so fast and smooth.

I also bought myself a brand-new outfit and got a fresh haircut.

That evening, I invited my buddies out for drinks.

When they saw me walk in, they joked, "Well, look who it is! What's the occasion? You're not home catering to your wife tonight?"

Hearing that, I figured they hadn't seen the viral video yet.

Or even if they had, they were too polite to bring it up.

"What wife?" I laughed. "You guys don't know? She's the star of a viral video right now."

It was a lie to say it didn't hurt. I still felt a dull ache in my chest.