"Hey, honey. Miss me already?"
"It's only been one day and you're already this clingy. Can't a grown man have a little dignity?"
She ran her fingers playfully across my chest as she spoke.
The scent of her perfume hit me instantly, flooding my nostrils. I stepped back without thinking, dodging her embrace.
"I pulled overtime today too. I'm beat. Let's just get some sleep."
I turned and headed for the bedroom without looking back. I didn't see the surprise on her face.
Sonia didn't try to stop me. She hummed her way to the bathroom in a perfectly good mood.
I lay in bed, and images flickered through my mind like scenes from a movie.
I'd known about Sonia's male best friend before we got married.
At the wedding, during the toast, Lucas had walked up and shoved a glass of straight liquor into my hand.
"If you want to marry Sonia, you'd better prove you can handle it."
I'd frowned at the brimming glass of baijiu and laughed it off, saying I'd already had too much and asked if we could switch to wine.
He'd made a big show of it, raising his voice so the whole room could hear.
"What's the matter, bro? Weak constitution? No wonder Sonia says you can't perform in bed. All you're good for is bringing her breakfast."
His friends had roared with laughter. Every guest in the room looked at me differently after that.
And Sonia? She'd just patted him lightly on the chest and told him to stop making things up. Not a single word of real anger. Not one sharp rebuke.
After we got married, she'd answer Lucas's calls right in front of me without a second thought, chatting for an hour at a time. She gave away the birthday present I'd bought her, re-gifted it straight to Lucas.
On our wedding anniversary, she left me sitting alone to go comfort Lucas because he was in a bad mood.
It wasn't like I kept quiet about it. More than once I'd stewed in silence, then told her she needed to maintain boundaries. That there had to be limits between a man and a woman.
She'd just laughed and called me old-fashioned. Said I was a grown man with the pettiest heart she'd ever seen.
"Lucas and I have known each other since we were twelve. If anything was going to happen between us, would I have married you?"
That day she'd vanished for three days. Wouldn't pick up. Wouldn't text back. I was the one who apologized. I was the one who promised I'd stop overthinking. That was what it took to bring her back.
I compromised again and again. Told myself again and again that I was reading too much into things. That marriage meant giving each other space. That trust was the foundation.
Until that stack of movie ticket stubs, cheap props from a bad stage play, made me realize her acting had never been convincing. I'd just been too deep in the role to notice.
The next morning, Sonia was up early. I didn't know how to face her, so I kept my eyes shut and pretended to be asleep.
From the living room, her voice came in a low murmur. Lucas's name still carried through the walls.
"Okay."
"Don't forget to bring your ID."
A moment later, the front door clicked softly shut. Her footsteps faded down the stairwell.
I threw off the covers and got out of bed, grabbed my car keys, and followed her out.
I watched Sonia duck into Lucas's secondhand car. I watched Lucas wrap his arm around the back of her neck and pull her into a hard kiss.
Sonia swatted at him a few times, coy and half-hearted. Then her arms looped around his neck, and they were locked together, mouths pressed tight.
Lost in each other. So completely absorbed that neither of them noticed my car parked right behind them.
Ten minutes later, the car pulled away and sped toward the new development district.
I followed them into a freshly built residential complex. A sales agent greeted them at the door like old friends.
"Mr. Harding, Ms. Henson, did you bring your IDs and bank cards? We can get the contract signed right away."
Lucas slid the documents across the table with a smug grin.
"All here. Let's get it done."
That was when I saw it. The bank card sitting on the table was the savings card I'd set up for Sonia.
The sales agent's bright, cheerful voice rang in my ears.
"You two have wonderful taste. This three-bedroom unit has a fantastic layout, and the balcony faces the lake right in the center of the complex. The view is absolutely stunning."
