Fiona pinched the bridge of her nose, her delicate features twisted in exaggerated disgust.
"Mason, why on earth would you use something like this? Isn't this... well, isn't this what peasants use?"
That single comment was all it took. Terrified Fiona might think he'd lowered his standards, Mason grabbed the insoles—the ones Grandma had spent nights stitching by hand, her eyesight failing—and tossed them into the trash.
Right in front of me. He didn't even blink.
Sometimes I wonder. Are those insoles really so cheap?
To the world, maybe worthless. But Grandma relied on selling those "cheap" things to raise me, feed me, put me through school. To us, they were the ultimate luxury—pure love, stitched into cloth.
To Mason, they were less than garbage. After all, even garbage was allowed inside the Gilbert residence. Grandma's love was not.
Mason let me rot in silence for three days before he finally deigned to message me.
[Mason: Naomi, are you done with the drama yet? If you're finished acting out, go to your grandmother's place and fetch some sweet potato starch.]
[Mason: Fiona wants sweet potato crepes. I'll make them for her when I get off work.]
[Mason: The store-bought stuff doesn't compare to the homemade kind from the country.]
[Mason: And I'm warning you—fix your attitude. No one's going to pay the bill for your jealousy. Stop fighting for attention.]
I stared at the screen, expression numb, and swiped the notification away.
That was Mason in a nutshell. One word from Fiona, and he'd sneer at "country people" with one breath, then demand the fruits of our labor with the next.
Reading his promise to cook for her, a bitter memory surfaced. In all our years together, Mason had never cooked for me.
Correction. Once.
The day Fiona returned from abroad. Under the pretext of cooking for me, he prepared a feast consisting entirely of her favorite dishes.
Fiona loved spice. I had a weak stomach—spicy food was practically poison.
"Just rinse it in warm water," Mason had said, voice clipped with impatience. "Fiona is a guest. Can you stop being so delicate for one night?"
So I sat there for three hours, desperate not to appear ungrateful. I rinsed every piece of meat, every vegetable in water that turned red with chili oil, and forced it down.
That night, I woke in agony. It felt like someone was twisting a knife in my gut. My limbs were heavy, my body slick with cold sweat.
I reached out, hoping Mason could get me water. My hand met a cold, empty pillow.
Gone.
Panic rising through the pain, I called him. Is he working late? Does he need a ride? Is he hungry?
The call connected. But it wasn't Mason who answered.
Fiona's voice, trembling with theatrical pain: "Mason... it's all my fault. I just wanted to cut you an orange..."
Then Mason—gentle, doting, a tone he never used with me. He was tending to her wound. "How could you be so careless? In the future, leave menial tasks like cutting fruit to Naomi. She's used to rough work."
Fiona sobbed softly. "That's not right, is it? It's 1 AM. Naomi must be asleep."
His reply froze the blood in my veins. "So what? How long does it take to slice fruit? She can go back to sleep after. It's not a big deal."
Lying in the dark, clutching my burning stomach, I didn't even have the strength to cry.
I hung up. Terrified I might actually die alone in that bed, I called emergency services.
Two ambulances arrived at the building that night.
One took me, writhing from severe gastritis.
The other took Fiona, who had nicked her finger on a paring knife.
Mason went with her.
I can still see the look in his eyes as he escorted her out—a depth of heartache and worry I had never witnessed in our marriage.
That was the night I learned the truth. Mason hadn't been at the office. He'd rented an apartment for Fiona directly upstairs from our marital home.
A few vertical feet of concrete separated us. But as the ambulance doors closed, I realized Mason and I were separated by an entire universe.
By the time I returned to the apartment, clutching Grandma's urn to my chest, it was 8 PM.
I unlocked the door. Laughter and playful teasing drifted from the living room.
I stepped inside.
The laughter cut off.
