Unseen Goodbye

"Ruby, regardless of everything, Liam is your husband. It's not right for him to apologize to me. I've forgiven him already, so let's drop it," Wilson chimed in with a hurt tone before I could even speak.

He sounded like he was defending me, but I knew he was just trying to rile her up.

Ruby just scoffed.

"So what if he's my boyfriend? I'm always fair and don't play favorites. I'm worried that someone might hide behind the 'boyfriend' title to cause trouble.

"Liam, I'll ask you one more time, do you admit you were wrong?"

I almost laughed. "Yeah, I know I messed up."

I had messed up by not seeing who she really was sooner and not breaking things off with her to let Wilson have her. That's what I was truly thinking.

However, before I could say it out loud, Ruby snorted with satisfaction. "As long as you understand your mistake, that's enough. Considering you've just gotten out of jail and might be a bit out of it, Wilson and I will let it slide.

"You really should apologize to Wilson for all the help he gave you when you got out. It's the least you can do."

"There’s no need for formalities, Ruby. I was just doing what I should," Wilson said, pretending to be modest.

"You're too kind-hearted. However, I've made up my mind, so don't argue about it."

"......"

Ruby and Wilson were in perfect agreement on the phone, leaving me no chance to say anything before she hung up.

Soon enough, I figured out what Ruby had done. She had gone behind my back and transferred 30 thousand dollars from my card to Wilson.

When Ruby said yes to marrying me, I gave her my bank card PIN to prove how much I trusted her. She started using my card, and I allowed her to because I thought that we were family, and as the man, I should be the one to give more.

At first, she just bought things we needed for the house. However, when she saw I didn't make a fuss, she began treating herself to fancy clothes, expensive bags, and makeup that cost a pretty penny.

I made 4,500 dollars a month, but by the time the middle of the month rolled around, my bank account would be almost empty, and there wouldn’t even be enough to buy a meal. I brought it up with her a couple of times and Ruby got mad, saying I was criticizing her for spending too much. She said she didn't want to rely on me anymore and wanted to be her own boss.

She did cut back on her wild spending after that, but I noticed she still had a steady expense of three thousand dollars every month. I recently found out that it was for gifts for Wilson.

Ruby told me to pinch pennies, so much so that I couldn't even buy underwear that was ten dollars for three pairs, but she didn't think twice about buying Wilson socks that cost three hundred dollars. She talked about being thrifty while I wore the same patched-up shoes for two years, but she gave Wilson two pairs of fancy sneakers worth more than a thousand dollars in just one month. She said we needed to budget, counting every gram of food we cooked, but she spent a fortune on a birthday dinner with Wilson.

……

The more I thought about it, the sillier I felt. However, I knew that large money transfers had to be confirmed in person.

Ruby quickly sent me a text like she always did: [Verification code.]

I looked back at our old chats and couldn't remember when her messages to me had shrunk down to just those words.

She used to grumble about how annoying those codes were and asked me to get her a card linked to mine, but for some reason, I, who always did what she wanted, said no.

Looking back, I guess I was already trying to break free.

I laughed to myself and didn't bother replying. After I left work, I wrote up the divorce papers and, with the house deed in hand, headed to the nearest real estate office.

The house was a gift from my parents when we got married, picked out in Ruby's favorite neighborhood.

To make her happy, my parents had me put her name on the deed too. However, whenever they wanted to visit, Ruby would complain, and I would have to tell them I was too busy with work.