Chapter 1

My pale face reflected on the cold phone screen, and it took me a long time to snap out of my reverie.

Mick: [Can you really pay me $150,000? Do you grow money on trees in your backyard?]

There was an immediate reply.

Mandy: [I bought this phone for Felix. He’s only used it for two months, and it's still almost new. Do you think you could get this phone if he weren't mad at me? I've seen plenty of cheapskates, but you're the first one who’s thick-skinned enough to ask for such an outrageous price.]

Mandy Sudds seemed frustrated and angry.

She finally gave up on texting me to negotiate on the online marketplace.

For some reason, I clicked into her profile. Her account was eight years old.

When I bought my phone back then, I asked if she had an account on the platform. She was taken aback, but answered firmly, "No."

I was surprised at her hesitation, but I now understood the reason.

After that, I clicked into my buddy Felix Cliff's account. His account showed many listings, including travel souvenirs. There were seashells from Soli Island, which I did not get to visit on my honeymoon, and his-and-hers toothbrush and slippers.

I could see Mandy in the comments section of every listing.

She littered them with apologies.

[Don't be mad, Felix. I made a mistake.]

There were proclamations.

[No one is allowed to buy this from him! It's mine. I'm buying everything he's selling!]

Mandy and I had never argued in our eight years together. It was not that we did not fight, but every time we disagreed, she gave me the cold shoulder. She always refused to back down, and I would be the first to give in.

Among his listings was a used condom.

Mandy sounded exasperated in her comment.

[I still have a lot of them, Felix. Are you planning to sell them all?]

I was reading this part when the door slammed open. Mandy entered, breathless, and she looked around for her water bottle, but could not find it.

Mandy frowned. "Mick Fenton, where's my bottle?"

"You took it with you two days ago."

Felix had visited my house two days ago and said that our bottles looked nice. Mandy took it with her on the same day. The next day, he listed them for sale on the online marketplace. Mandy probably had not bought them back yet.

Those his-and-hers bottles were the only matching items we owned as a couple, and when Mandy realized it, she started looking guilty and changed the subject. "I got taken advantage of today. Someone tried to con me out of my money. Don't you ever become someone like that…"

At this point, she paused and looked me up and down. I suddenly realized who she meant when she said she had seen plenty of cheapskates.

The first time Mandy went to the market with me, I squeezed into the crowd to snatch discounted vegetables. When I finally got them, she was nowhere to be found.

She did not pick up my calls, and no one had seen her in the market. I looked around for her for two hours before going home, only to find out that she had been home all this time.

Mandy ate the vegetables I bought while saying coldly, "Don't take me with you the next time you try to get cheap stuff. I don't want anyone to find out about it."

I did not reply, but looked at her empty ring finger. "Where's your ring?"

Mandy looked away and changed the subject again. "Why did you call me home?"

She sounded uncertain, and I knew Felix must have listed the ring online too, but I did not expose her. All I did was press down harder on my new job’s offer letter.

The company was 2,000 miles away, but it was a rare opportunity. I wanted to discuss it with her, and I would have given up the job if she told me she could not bear for me to leave her, but it looked like there was no point in that discussion.

"Nothing."