Outsider in My Own Marriage

I specifically accompany my wife, Sophie Caldwell, to visit her family during the holidays.

My mother-in-law, Margaret Jackson, brings over a basket of apples. Then, she says in a half-teasing manner, "These apples are meant for the Jacksons. Once you've had your apple, you'll be blessed with a life as sweet as these apples. By the way, outsiders aren't allowed to take the apples."

Everyone begins fighting for the apples happily. So, I grab an apple of my own too.

The next thing I know, the atmosphere in the living room goes eerily quiet.

Sophie drags me to a corner and starts berating me. "Are you so poor that you can't even afford to buy your own apple? Must you steal apples from my family?

"Didn't you hear my mom saying that outsiders aren't allowed to take the apples? Why did you even take one from the basket?

"Thanks to you, now Julius doesn't have an apple!"

I look around my surroundings. It turns out that there are only eight apples in total, while we have nine people sitting in the living room.

So the "outsider" she was talking about is me.

I decide to hand the apple over to Sophie's godbrother, Julius Sterling. Then, I call my dad on the phone.

"Dad, you don't have to bring the holiday gifts over now."

"What's wrong, Preston? What happened?" my father's anxious voice sounded through the phone.

I, Preston Jameson, glanced at the people in the room before replying calmly, "It's nothing. I'll explain later. Just don't bring them over."

Then, I hung up.

My wife, Sophie Caldwell, immediately exploded.

"What do you mean by that? It's just some apples. Are you really going to make a fuss about that? Julius already has it hard enough. Can't you give him a break?" she pressed. "Our whole family feeds you and takes care of you. Is this how you repay us?"

I silently stared straight into her eyes.

The silence made her realize that she had gone too far. Her tone softened as she grabbed my hand and started coaxing me instead.

"I was just anxious, that's all. Besides, when you're out working, Julius is the one running around taking care of everything at home. If you act like this, you're making all of us look bad."

Then, she shifted the topic again. "Apologize to him properly later. Transfer him 500 as compensation, and we'll let it go. Our parents are getting older, and it's the holidays. Let's not worry them."

There was a trace of pleading in her voice.

I looked at every appliance I had paid for in the house. Even the clothes on their backs were ones that I had bought.

A bitter laugh escaped me.

All the money I had spent meant less than Julius Sterling's effortless companionship.

Taking my silence as agreement, Sophie pulled me back into the crowd.

That was when I noticed the watch on Julius' wrist. It was the exact model I'd wanted for a long time.

Julius noticed my gaze. A flicker of satisfaction flashed across his face.

Just as quickly, it was replaced with wounded innocence.

"Preston," he began, his voice trembling. "Sophie gave me this watch because she saw how much I like it. If it upsets you, I'll return it to her right now. And about the apples… You really don't have to apologize to me. I'm not even part of the Caldwell family anyway."

His eyes were already glistening with tears as if he had suffered some enormous injustice.

Sophie's expression changed instantly. She stepped in front of him protectively. "What are you doing? I gave Julius the watch. If you have a problem, take it up with me. Plus, it's my money. I can spend it on whoever I want.

"You've already shaken him. What more do you want?"

I froze.

I hadn't said a single word, and yet somehow, I was the villain.

If this were any other day, I would've apologized just to keep Sophie from getting upset.