Chapter 2
We spent the whole night at the hospital.
Michael tried to sleep next to me, holding me close, but I made him move to the other bed.
He gave me a long, unreadable look before turning away and refusing to meet my eyes again.
The next day, we took a cab home.
But the moment I opened the door, a confetti cannon blasted me right in the face.
My eyes went blurry, stinging like crazy.
Emily and her friends, Andrew and Dave, were smirking. "Welcome home!"
Noticing how pissed I looked, Michael quickly explained, "They came over to cook and wanted to apologize to you."
I ignored him, just frowning and staring at Emily.
She was wearing my dress, not the first time. Every time she came over, she'd raid my closet like it was her own.
From skincare to clothes, if she liked something, she'd just help herself and take it home without a second thought.
Michael noticed too and said in a low, serious voice, "Emily, why are you wearing my wife's dress?"
Emily didn't even flinch. She knew Michael was all bark and no bite when it came to her, so she just grinned and said, "Because I look good in it!"
She twirled around, grinning from ear to ear.
Andrew muttered, "Yeah, Emily does look better in it."
Dave, ever the loudmouth, waved his hand and said, "Come on, Lily, just let Emily keep the dress."
"900 dollars," I said.
They all froze. "What?"
I repeated calmly, "The dress costs 900 dollars. Pay me, and she can keep it."
The room went dead silent.
Their faces looked sour, and I could see the contempt in their eyes.
Michael was stuck in the middle, looking totally lost. He reached out, trying to smooth things over.
Emily choked up, yanking at the dress like she couldn't stand wearing it anymore.
"Fine, I'll give it back! Did you really have to make up stuff and make things so hard for me?" she complained.
Michael and Andrew, startled, hurried to cover Emily up, worried she'd accidentally expose herself.
Dave, clearly annoyed, shot me a look. "We came over to cook for you, and this is how you treat us? Our kindness is wasted on you. It's just a dumb dress!"
As soon as he finished, there was a loud rip; the dress was completely ruined from all the tugging.
"What a crappy dress! This quality for 900 dollars? Are you kidding me?" Andrew didn't even look sorry; he just started whining loudly.
Emily put her hands together, looking all pitiful.
"Come on, Lily, just tell me the truth. How much was the dress, really? I'll pay you," she said.
She made it sound like I was trying to rip her off, and everyone else was giving me that same contemptuous look.
Michael said quietly, "Lily, maybe just let it go."
I shot Michael a look, and a wave of sadness crashed over me; how could even he doubt my character?
All these years, I'd kept my family's wealth under wraps just to protect Michael's ego, acting like I was just another average girl.
But in the end, all that pretending just made me the punchline of a bad joke.
I turned and went back to my room, grabbed the receipt, 900 dollars, in black and white.
Emily's face froze, and Dave and Andrew finally shut up, looking like they'd just swallowed a bug.
But Emily just kept going. "Lily, do you even know how much Michael makes? You're spending money like water. Aren't you just showing off?"
She spent someone else's betrothal gift money on a diamond ring, and that wasn't vain, but I was vain for buying a dress with my own family's money?
Andrew and Dave shot me looks full of disdain, and even Michael looked uncomfortable.
I didn't even hesitate. I pulled out my phone and started dialing 911.
The next second, Michael, who'd been pretending not to notice anything, suddenly snatched my phone and slammed it down, shattering it on the floor.
"Seriously? It's just a stupid dress! Look at how you're making everyone feel!" he shouted.
His shouting was loud enough to draw the neighbors over, curious about the commotion.
Everyone knew we were about to get married, but he acted like it didn't matter at all.
He stormed out with Emily in tow, her barely holding back a laugh.
I just stood there, calm as ever, not even trying to stop them.
Andrew saw the look on my face and instinctively grabbed Michael's arm. "Michael, maybe you should apologize to Lily. She..."
Michael went full tough guy, snorting coldly.
"Relax, it's nothing. If I don't teach her a lesson this time, she'll really think she can boss me around."
After they left, the neighbors came in to comfort me.
But I didn't look sad at all.
Instead, I asked seriously, "Anyone need any appliances? They're brand new. I'm selling them at half price."
The appliances in the new place were all bought by my family, and they cost over 70,000 dollars in total.
Since I was leaving, there was no way I was letting Michael get them for free.
As soon as I said that, the room, which had been so gloomy just moments ago, suddenly lit up with excitement.
The neighbors started snapping up the appliances, and before long, they even started a bidding war.
Two hours later, every single appliance in the place was gone.
For the next two days, Michael was throwing a fit and didn't come home at all.
Honestly, I was loving the peace and quiet. I finished up my resignation letter and just waited for Monday so I could hand it in and walk out for good.
But by the end of the weekend, Michael finally called me himself.
I missed his first call because I was playing ball, so when I finally answered, he sounded pissed.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
Still out of breath, I wiped the sweat from my face and didn't reply right away.
One of my teammates handed me a bottle of water. "Lily, here, have some water."
"Thanks," I said.
I could hear Michael's breathing suddenly get tense on the other end.
"Where are you? Who was that guy talking just now? Is that why you haven't called me in two days; because you've got someone else?" Michael snapped.