2.
"This way she can boost her following too."
"They've done so much for us. This time they were worried you hadn't eaten yet, so they packed you a box of leftovers. Don't be an ungrateful wretch."
The food came in a clear plastic box. You could see straight to the bottom.
Fish with no fish left on it. Ribs with no meat. And a few blackened leaves that had been stewing who knew how long, floating alone on top.
I set the baby down gently and pushed the script away.
"What did she ever help me with?"
"Help me raise my daughter into a sickly little thing who can barely spare enough blood for a test?"
"I'm not going to help her poison other mothers."
Vivian's face darkened.
"Don't you dare smear Barbara's name."
"Do you want this month's rice-water money for the baby or not?"
We dated. We married.
I handed over eight years of my savings to help Vivian start his business.
At our lowest, the two of us crammed into a rented room, sometimes eating rotten vegetable scraps I'd salvaged from the market.
Never enough nutrition for so long, I'd break out in huge patches of hives.
They itched so badly I couldn't sleep, night after night.
He knelt in front of me, wracked with guilt, crying as he swore to me, "I will never let you go without money again."
"My money is your money. From now on all you have to do is take care of yourself and the baby."
But now here he was, using our living expenses as leverage against me.
As if the baby weren't his.
As if his wife were just a pawn.
We were still locked in it when the doorbell rang.
I opened the door and there was Barbara, arrived at some point without my noticing.
Vivian's face softened at once.
"What brings you by? Is something the matter?"
Barbara handed him a slip and threw an arm around his shoulders.
"Bro, once word gets out about this dress, it's going to turn every head in the room, isn't it?"
"Pay for it quick, bro. Don't drag your feet and let someone else snatch it away."
Vivian only glanced at the amount before nodding right away.
"Two hundred thousand dollars. Not bad, very reasonable."
"When you show up in it, you'll be the standout for sure. I can't be the one holding you back. I'll pay right now."
I patted my daughter's back softly, and my heart sank, inch by inch, to the very bottom.
Two hundred thousand dollars, bought on a whim. But the money to check why his daughter was running a fever and needed blood drawn, he wouldn't spare a cent for.
And it wasn't the first time.
The baby needed new diapers.
He tossed me a pile of ragged clothes and told me to cut them up for cloth diapers.
"These are all things Barbara doesn't wear anymore. Barbara says disposable diapers waste too many resources."
"You wash a cloth diaper and use it again and again. You don't earn money, so save where you can. Save."
Then I turned around and found single-use face cream worth tens of thousands sitting in his shopping cart.
Bought for Barbara.
I confronted him, furious, and he answered back, cool as anything.
"Barbara says face cream like this breeds bacteria fast once it touches the air. Single-use is just right. It doesn't matter if you throw out what you don't finish."
"Can you stop being so unreasonable? This is a necessity for her. She gave you all those clothes. Don't I owe her something in return?"
Spend a fortune on her and it's fine, but spend a dollar on his own daughter and suddenly it's a waste.
I couldn't believe one person could be this shameless about it.
"If you dare pay for that, we're getting divorced."
"Vivian, have you forgotten? Every dollar you're spending right now is marital property we built together after the wedding."
Vivian's brow creased, and when he turned to look at me, his face was sour.
"Barbara's my good buddy. She's genuinely preparing for her career. Can you not be so petty about it?"
"And what marital property? This money is all money I earned myself. It has nothing to do with you."
"If you want a divorce, then let's divorce. I'll draw up the divorce contract for you right now. Just don't come crying about it later..."
Barbara's expression turned mocking.
"You're his wife, so don't take offense at me being blunt, but a guy as responsible as Vivian, there aren't many left."
"To take care of you and the baby, he spends all his time going over nutrition plans with me, sitting through my lessons. He shows up at my place almost every day, two hours at a stretch, all so he can learn more ways to look after you and the baby."
"A woman who lives off him. Once you leave him, how are you going to survive?"
Two hours at a stretch.
No wonder. No wonder he never got home until nearly eleven every night.
His family had come over as guests.
I'd carried my daughter on my back the whole time, cooking dish after dish for them in the kitchen, and every time he called to josh around, he was always busy.
I waited on the whole lot of them, and the table was covered in empty plates.
Starving, all I could make myself was instant noodles.
But before a bite of it even reached my mouth, he saw it, and without a word dumped it straight into the trash.
