Chapter 5

Life slipped into a quiet rhythm. I poured my extra energy into killing it at work and upgrading my life. My posture improved from the Pilates, my mornings were fueled by perfectly brewed espresso, and I started actively house-hunting.

With the thousands of dollars I was saving every month, I realized I had enough for a solid down payment on a cute little studio apartment.

But fate, apparently, demanded one last, dramatic curtain call for this tragicomedy.

Two weeks later, the company sent me back to Wapriana. It was the same project, but the stakes felt different. This time, the schedule was brutal, a tight, twenty-four-hour turnaround.

By the time my plane touched down and I wrapped up the work, it was already four in the afternoon. My flight back wasn't until nine tonight, leaving me with hours to kill.

Driven by some unexplainable curiosity, I gave my cab driver Kevin's address.

I had zero intention of knocking on his door. I just wanted to stand on the sidewalk and physically look at the building I had bled for over the last three years.

It was a lovely, upscale development with manicured lawns and a private courtyard. I stood on the pavement across the street, tilting my head back to find the fourteenth floor.

And that was when I spotted Kevin and Linda.

They were out on the balcony, going through some boxes. Linda, sporting a very obvious baby bump, was happily pointing and directing Kevin as he unboxed something. They were laughing, totally carefree, looking absolutely nothing like a couple on the verge of financial ruin.

My eyes drifted slightly to the window adjacent to the balcony.

That was the so-called guest room, the space I crashed in whenever I visited.

What I saw through the glass made my blood run ice cold.

The walls had been freshly painted a soft, pastel pink. Cute little woodland creature decals bordered the glass, and parked right in the center of the room was a pristine, white wooden crib.

So that was their idea of "renovations."

It wasn't that the house was too messy for a guest. It was that my designated space had been quietly erased to make way for their nursery, and neither of them had the decency to tell me.

I financed the entire apartment, pumping six grand a month. But there wasn't a single square inch left for me.

A suffocating wave of absurdity and icy rage crashed over me.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Kevin without hesitation.

He answered on the second ring, but his tone was defensive. "What?"

"I'm downstairs," I said calmly, as if I were talking about a total stranger.

The line went dead quiet. I could practically hear his heart skip a beat. When he spoke again, his voice jumped an octave. "Wait. Why are you here?"

I replied, "No reason. Just passing by. Figured I'd check out that big renovation you mentioned."

I paused, letting the silence stretch before delivering the kill shot. "So, Kevin, by 'renovation,' did you mean painting my bedroom pastel pink and shoving a crib in it? It looks lovely, by the way. Really homey."

There was a dead silence on the other end.

I could perfectly envision the blood draining from his face as he panicked and exchanged glances with Linda on the terrace.

A few seconds later, his panic morphed into humiliated rage. "Are you stalking me? Are you out of your freaking mind, Susan?" he roared.

"Just stating facts, Kevin," I chuckled softly, looking up at the pink window. "It all makes sense now. It wasn't 'inconvenient' for me to stay.

"I just didn't have a room anymore. You know, you could have just been a man and told me the truth instead of feeding me some pathetic lie."

"It is my house," he shrieked, losing his mind. "I can paint the damn walls whatever color I want. I don't need to report to you."

"You're absolutely right," I replied smoothly. "Which is exactly why I don't need to consult you on how I spend my money."

I hung up the phone, opened his contact, and blocked his number. I did the exact same thing to Linda.

I turned on my heel, flagged down a passing yellow cab, and headed straight for the airport.

Watching the skyline blur past the window, I felt the very last, lingering thread of familial obligation I held in my heart snap and blow away in the wind.

It was finally time to settle the ledger for good.