Chapter 3

Two hundred dollars.

Enough for twenty of our breakfasts, or a week of heat.

Oliver always said I was cheap, that you don't get anywhere by pinching pennies.

Every time, I just smiled.

Half out of guilt, half out of love.

He said the dorm on the construction site was cold, so I mailed him an electric blanket overnight.

He said he had to entertain some people, so I wired the money without a word.

During the worst stretch, I gave him the last cent on my card and passed out from hunger by the side of the road.

Everyone said I was a fool.

I didn't think so.

Because through all those unbearable days, it was Oliver who stayed by my side.

The day my college acceptance letter arrived,

I cried until I couldn't breathe.

Not from joy. From guilt.

That string of tuition numbers pressed the air right out of us.

For several nights, Oliver didn't come home.

Only later did I learn he'd gone to the underground fight club on the city outskirts.

Beaten to the ground, punch after punch, dragging himself back up each time.

He pressed a wad of crumpled bills into my palm, still smelling faintly of blood, and grinned.

「Beryl, just focus on your studies. The rest, I'll carry for you.」

After that fight, he lay in bed recovering for three whole months.

I sat by him, crying, saying I'd drop out.

But he held my hand down, so light and so steady.

「No matter how hard it gets, I won't let it hold you back.」

Back then, I believed it.

That love was the hardest armor in this world.

That with it, flowers could bloom even in the cracks of a basement wall.

It was that same armor.

That let me steadily finish Ann's makeup, down to the last stroke.

She checked herself in the mirror, over and over, front and back.

Then she picked up her phone and, right in front of me, unhurriedly left a one-star review.

【One of your orders received a negative customer review. $1,000 has been deducted from your reputation deposit.】

A thousand.

Oliver was standing right behind her.

Once, if anyone made me suffer even the smallest slight, he'd turn on them then and there.

When my landlord overcharged me a hundred on utilities, he went straight to his door, no discussion.

Scared the man into apologizing on the spot.

Now he stood two steps away, watching like it was a show that had nothing to do with him.

The officiant came to call the couple to the hall.

Ann took his arm and walked off, happy.

I leaned back against the wall, no strength left to hold myself up, and slid slowly down to the floor.

I couldn't understand it.

Why would Oliver lie to me?

Just last night, deep into the dark, he'd video-called me smiling, coaxing me to sleep.

Told me he'd make me braised pork when he got back.

So the moment he hung up that call, he turned around and went to marry someone else.

From the hall, the music started.

Oliver's voice came through the microphone, every word clear.

「In this life, I'll protect only you.」

「Wherever you go, I'll follow.」

「No matter how big the trouble, I'll carry it for you.」

The tears rose without warning.

Those words. I knew them too well.

For twelve years, he'd said them in my ear a thousand times.

In the fire. On the fight platform. Under the dim yellow lamp of the basement.

Every word, once, had been true.

All at once I remembered what he'd said earlier. 「just a bit of playacting」.

It had to be that again.

These twelve years, he'd shoved me away a thousand times with a cold face, and every time he turned back around, it was for me.

This time had to be the same.

I braced myself against the wall, stumbled to my feet, and rushed toward the hall.

「Enough! Ollie!」

Every gaze in the hall snapped to me.

I stood at the end of the red carpet, my face streaming with tears.

「What I want has never been wealth or luxury.」

「I don't mind that rented place with no sunlight.」

「I just love that bowl of plain noodle soup you make.」

「All I want is you, here with me.」

I reached my hand out toward him, inch by inch.

「Ollie, let's go home.」

The whole room went dead silent.

Oliver stood up on the platform, looking down at me.

Something odd flickered through his eyes, gone in an instant.

But in the end, all that was left was calm.

「Are you done?」

「How long are you going to keep up this act?」

I froze where I stood.

Ann gathered up her skirt and rushed down from the platform.

「Oliver! Who is she? What is she talking about?」

Oliver pulled her behind him, his tone airy and light.

「Just a makeup artist. Today's the first time I've ever seen her.」

「I don't know her.」

Twelve years. Thousands of days and nights.

Wiped clean with a single line.

Ann believed it.

She charged up to me and swung her hand across my face again.

「I knew you ruined my makeup on purpose!」

「So this was about seducing my husband! You shameless thing!」

She covered her face and ran off crying.

Oliver frowned and started after her.

I clamped down on his wrist and held on.

「Oliver, wait.」

Shaking, I dug the ultrasound printout out of my bag.

「I have something to tell you.」

He turned back, his face frighteningly dark.

「Ann throws one fit and I have to soothe her for days.」

「You've thrown my whole day into chaos. Do you get that?」

Crying, I watched him tear the printout to shreds before my eyes.

When he looked at me, there was nothing left in his eyes but cold.

「How much longer are you going to keep dragging down my life?」