Chapter 2

It was deep into the night when Reuben finally came home.

He froze for a second when he saw me still sitting in the living room.

Then he quickly changed his shoes and dropped a kiss on my forehead. "Babe, don't wait up for me next time."

As he turned away, I caught his hand.

"Reuben, yesterday was Valentine's Day."

His steps paused. He answered softly, "Yeah, I know."

A vast helplessness rose in my chest. With him, I always ended up the one who lost.

But I still stubbornly wanted an answer.

"Why won't you ever spend Valentine's Day with me?"

Only then did Reuben turn, loosening his tie as if nothing had happened.

"Rachel, you know how busy I am with work. Can't you cut me a little slack?"

"Besides, I gave you a gift."

I looked down at the screenshot on my phone, an electricity bill for $207.50. That was the gift he meant.

I'd lost count of how many times I'd received gifts like this.

A property-management invoice on my birthday. A gas bill handed over on New Year's.

Somewhere along the way, all that was left between us were these cold bills.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "A household electricity bill, that's what you call a gift?"

The power we both used, a shared household expense, was something he was supposed to pay anyway.

And yet he had twisted that responsibility of his into something sickening.

He gave me a long look, unreadable.

"Then what do you want? A bag, jewelry, what?"

"Rachel, when did you get so materialistic?"

I lifted my head in disbelief. So all I'd asked for was the smallest scrap of care, and that made me materialistic.

Five years dating, three years married. I had given him nearly everything I had.

Our poorest year, I worked during the day and picked up a shift at a convenience store at night, eating one cup of instant ramen a day to get by.

All so I could save enough for a down payment, enough to marry Reuben.

When he found out, he ruffled my hair, doting. "You want to marry me that badly?"

Later he hauled bricks on construction sites and sold drinks at a club, until he finally scraped together enough to buy the place we live in now.

"It's my failing that money ever made you worry."

That man who had once burned with it, who had thrown everything he had into loving me, was now yelling that I was materialistic over a gift I had never once received.

I opened the video Zelda had sent me and turned the screen toward him.

"Reuben, were the fireworks pretty?"

The impatience on his face vanished all at once.

"You... you know everything!"

I looked at his face. The guilt in his eyes couldn't be faked.

Before he could say anything, his phone rang.

He glanced at me, then turned and went out to the balcony to take it.

A few seconds, that was all, and when he hurried back in the guilt on his face was already gone.

"This is between us. Why drag Zelda into it?"

"Do you really hate to see me happy that much?"

Realizing his tone had gone too far, he sighed and picked up his coat.

"It's late. She's still downstairs waiting for me. I have to go check on her."

Before he closed the door, he gave me one long look.

"I'll give you an explanation for this."

I stood by the balcony. The floor-to-ceiling windows were wide and bright.

So bright that all I had to do was tilt my head down to see the two of them tangled together below.

The girl angrily shook off his hand, and Reuben couldn't hold back any longer. He pulled her into his arms and bent to kiss her hard on the lips.

A laugh slipped out of me.

I laughed and laughed until the tears ran down my cheeks.

Reuben, I don't want to wait for your explanation anymore.