I took a slow sip of cold water, letting the chill slide down my throat.
From the living room, Amanda’s voice drifted in, thin and overly sweet.
"The guest room is just too dark, Ben," Amanda complained. "The windows face the wrong way. I get terrible migraines if I don't wake up to natural sunlight. I really shouldn't stay."
"But you promised!" Erick cried out.
"I know, sweetie. But my head already hurts."
I walked back into the foyer, holding my glass. Erick stood next to Amanda, tugging on the hem of the oversized dress shirt she still wore. He shot a desperate glare in my direction. His little face demanded I fix this. He wanted his aunt to stay, and he expected me to bend over backward to make it happen.
"Then you can stay in my room," I said.
Amanda blinked, her fake pout dropping for a fraction of a second. "What?"
"Take the master suite," I offered, keeping my voice perfectly level. "I’ll sleep in the guest room."
Benjamin frowned. His bare chest rose and fell as he stared at me.
"You're acting strange," Benjamin noted, his eyes narrowing.
"Am I?"
"You usually scream when she comes over. You threw a vase last Thanksgiving."
"It was a cheap vase," I replied.
"It was a warning sign, Claire. And now you're offering her our bed? What are you trying to prove?"
"Nothing," I said. "I just don't want to fight anymore."
Benjamin crossed his arms. "You hate when people touch your things."
"My things?" I asked.
"Your bed. Your pillows. You threw a fit last month when I let her sit on the duvet."
"I've changed my mind."
I looked at the man I married. It was hard to find the college boy I had fallen for under that layer of hostility. Back at the university, Benjamin was the untouchable heir to the city's wealthiest family. He was brilliant, charismatic, and completely out of my league. I was just a top-tier medical student, buried in anatomy textbooks, entirely invisible to him.
We never spoke. Not until graduation week, when his kidneys failed.
I hadn't hesitated. I went straight to the hospital, got tested, and proved to be a perfect match. I gave him a piece of my own body to save his life. That surgery earned me a smile, a diamond ring, and a marriage license.
I thought it was love. I didn't realize it was just a transaction. A debt he felt obligated to pay.
A phantom ache pinched my side, right over the faded surgical scar. I ignored it.
"Don't be ridiculous," Benjamin said, stepping forward. "There's no reason to switch rooms. Amanda is only staying temporarily."
"I insist," I replied.
"No." He planted his feet firmly on the rug. "You sleep in your own bed."
"I won't be using it," I told him. "I'm leaving anyway, and I won't be sleeping in that room anymore."
Benjamin’s jaw tightened. "Leaving? To go pout in a hotel? Stop acting like a martyr."
"I'm not pouting."
Before Benjamin could argue further, Erick stomped his foot against the hardwood floor.
"Where are you going, Mom?" my son demanded. He crossed his tiny arms, mimicking his father's stance. "Are you going to work odd jobs again?"
The words hung in the air.
"Odd jobs?" I repeated.
"Yeah," Erick muttered, kicking at the floorboard. "Daddy says you just wrap bandages for poor people because you couldn't get a real doctor job."
A bitter taste flooded my mouth. I looked at Benjamin. He had the decency to shift his weight, breaking eye contact for a single second.
I was a highly qualified trauma surgeon. I had given up my residency to stay home and raise Erick. I sacrificed my career to manage Benjamin's household and attend to his fragile health post-transplant. To hear my life's work reduced to 'odd jobs' by the two people I gave everything to felt like swallowing glass.
"I am a doctor, Erick," I said softly.
"Aunt Amanda is a model," Erick shot back. "That's way better."
"Right." I set my empty glass on the console table. "Well, I'm not going to work an odd job. I'm going to—"
I prepared to tell them the truth. I was leaving for an international medical rescue mission. A war zone. A place where my skills actually mattered.
"Ah!" Amanda gasped, folding inward.
My words died in my throat.
Amanda clutched her stomach, her face twisting into a mask of sudden agony. She leaned heavily against the stairwell banister, her knees buckling just enough to look convincing.
"Ben," she whimpered. "It hurts. Oh God, my stomach."
Benjamin was by her side in a fraction of a second. He gripped her shoulders, his previous frustration with me instantly vanishing.
"Where does it hurt? What's wrong?" he asked frantically.
"I don't know," she cried, squeezing her eyes shut. "It's a sharp pain. Make it stop."
Erick started to panic. "Aunt Amanda! Daddy, help her!"
"Where exactly does it hurt, Amanda?" I asked, taking a step closer.
Amanda flinched away from me, burying her face in Benjamin's shoulder. "Don't touch me! Ben, keep her away from me!"
"Back off, Claire," Benjamin warned, throwing his arm protectively around her waist.
"I'm a doctor, Benjamin," I reminded him. "If it's her appendix, the pain would localize to the lower right quadrant."
Amanda immediately clutched her side. "Yes! There! It's right there! It feels like it's bursting!"
I stared at her hands. She was pressing hard against her lower left side.
I pointed at her fingers. "That's your left side, Amanda. Your appendix is on the right. Unless you have situs inversus, you're experiencing a miraculous anatomical shift."
Benjamin glared at me. "Stop interrogating her! Can't you see she's in agony?"
"I see a terrible performance," I replied.
"This isn't a joke, Claire!" Benjamin yelled.
He scooped Amanda up into his arms. She let her head loll back against his chest, groaning pitifully.
"Erick, grab your shoes," Benjamin ordered, heading straight for the front door. "We're taking her to the emergency room."
"I'm coming too!" Erick sniffled, rushing to pull on his light-up sneakers.
Benjamin kicked the front door open wide. The cool night air rushed into the foyer. He didn't look back at me. He didn't ask if I wanted to come, or if I could ride in the back seat to monitor her vitals.
I was completely invisible again.
"Hold on, Amanda," Benjamin promised, his voice thick with genuine terror. "We're almost to the car. You're going to be okay."
Erick ran out after them, slamming the front door shut.
The heavy oak door rattled in its frame.
I stood alone in the foyer. The house fell completely silent once more.
I walked over to the nearest window and pulled the curtain aside. Benjamin's luxury SUV peeled out of the driveway, its headlights sweeping across the dark lawn before disappearing down the street.
They were gone.
A deep, hollow bitterness settled in my chest. I had given that man my kidney. I had given that boy my youth. And yet, one fake stomach ache from a woman who didn't even know basic anatomy was all it took for them to abandon me.
I let the curtain drop.
It was fine. I didn't need them to stay. I just needed to pack.
I turned toward the stairs and began the climb to the master bedroom. I pulled a large suitcase from the top shelf of the closet and threw it onto the mattress.
