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I didn't take the twenty dollars. I walked home instead.
Set against how generous he was with other women, those twenty dollars felt like a handout tossed my way.
But the moment I got home, Richard laid into me before I could even speak.
"May, aren't you something now, coming home this late!"
"Do you have any idea? I got back and there wasn't even a cup of tea waiting, not even my bath drawn!"
His grip on my wrist hurt. I just stood there and let the man rant.
Only when Richard stopped did I say, coldly,
"Richard, was I born to do all this for you?"
The anger on his face gave way to surprise, then something almost like disbelief as he looked at me.
"You're a housewife. Isn't this exactly what you're supposed to do?"
Something in me caught fire. A whole day of hurt and exhaustion broke loose at once. I threw his hand off hard and snapped,
"Richard, did I choose to stay home?"
"The reason I was forced to stay here, do you really not know?"
He flinched away from my stare on instinct.
That ugly stretch of the past sat between us like a scar. If I never brought it up, he'd probably have forgotten it long ago.
After a moment, Richard softened his voice and tried to pull me into his arms, coaxing me.
"May, have you just been cooped up too long?"
"Tell you what. I'll send you two hundred dollars, you go out and have some fun, all right?"
As he said it, the man actually pulled two bills from his wallet, wearing a look of pure indulgence.
"May, don't scrimp on my account. Eat what you want, spend what you want."
"Just don't be so difficult next time, okay?"
I suddenly remembered that girl's first video, tossing a bracelet worth a few hundred thousand into the trash like it was nothing, and yet saying Richard's love was too cheap.
So how much was Richard's love for me worth?
That night, unsettled from the day, I fell into the nightmare again.
In the dream, they forced liquor into me and stripped off my clothes.
Those men pinned me down and said if I spent one night with them, the Mason project would go smoothly, all of it.
I cried and screamed and fought, and then jerked awake out of the nightmare.
The fear still clinging to me, I curled into Richard's arms out of habit. The man patted my back once, offhand, then pushed me off and sat up.
"I've got a meeting tomorrow. Go sleep in the guest room."
Richard left, and I hugged my pillow and cried without a sound.
Back when I was rescued, he'd held me and said it over and over,
"Don't be scared, May. I'll protect you my whole life. I won't let anyone hurt you again."
Because of what happened, I later fell into severe depression and had to stay home.
And it was Richard who held me then and promised, solemnly,
"May, from now on you just stay home and take it easy. Your husband will earn the money and take care of you. Don't worry, even if you do nothing at all, just being alive is enough."
I wrapped my arms around my own shoulders and laughed at myself.
Right. What he called taking care of me was buying out my time for a few thousand dollars, so I could slave for him.
And then bankroll another woman.
