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Going Dutch Was A Farce

Going Dutch Was A Farce

Short Story · Romance
By:  First SnowCompleted
Language: English
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9Chapters
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Synopsis

Tragic Love

Melodramatic

Bias

Mistress

Scumbag

Winning Back the Wife

Cheating

We had been in love for five years and married for three. My husband had taken the whole “going Dutch” to an absurd extreme. A two-dollar bottle of water for the house? Split it in half. A $105 utility bill? He'd send me a Venmo request for my half. He called it “the spirit of equality in a modern marriage.” According to him, rules were rules. I gritted my teeth and put up with it. Until I found out I was pregnant. To save money on the prenatal appointments and nutritional expenses he insisted we split, I could barely afford anything more than plain boiled eggs every day. Even when I was heavily pregnant and caught in a downpour, if I tried to call a cab, he'd lecture me for lacking the independence a modern woman was supposed to have. Yet when another woman told him she was “having a bad day,” he didn't hesitate to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury goods for her. He even paid her expensive tuition to study abroad. I thought I'd already become numb to it all, so numb that I was prepared for whatever came next, even if it killed me. Then came the day when his disgusting penny-pinching calculations went too far. He tried to make me pay my “share” of the medication I needed to stay alive.

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9 Chapters
Chapter 1
“The numbers don’t add up.”Lucas Craig’s long, slender fingers tapped the receipt on the table.He pushed his gold-rimmed glasses up the bridge of his nose, his voice calm and gentle.“The folic acid you bought yesterday cost more than the amount we agreed on.”I sat on the couch, still holding the glass of water he had just poured for me. The temperature was exactly 113 degrees Fahrenheit, measured carefully with a thermometer.“That brand was sold out.”I watched the steam rising from the glass.“The pharmacy only had this imported one. It was sixty-five dollars more.”Lucas picked up the black fountain pen from the table and drew a light line through the printed “Prenatal Expenses Cost-Sharing Agreement”.“Nancy Shore, we agreed that we'd keep our finances separate after we got married.”He looked up at me, with eyes holding the same gentle patience and tenderness as always.“It’s a matter of respecting each other. It’s also part of the commitment we made to each other a
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Chapter 2
The next morning, I sat alone in the obstetrics and gynecology wing of the hospital.All around me were couples leaning against each other. Some husbands carried water bottles for their wives. Others gently massaged their wives’ legs.I looked down at the registration slip clenched in my hand.Lucas hadn't come. Half an hour earlier, Winona had called him because the strings on her brand-new cello had snapped, cutting her finger.Lucas hadn't even finished putting on his coat before rushing out.“Winny's all alone here. I can't leave her by herself.”He stood by the front door, changing his shoes, a trace of urgency in his voice. “You can take a cab to the hospital yourself. Make sure you get a receipt.“We'll split the fare when you get back.”The door closed behind him.I hadn't even had the chance to say that the doctor told me I had to fast for the blood test today, and I was already a little dizzy.My name flashed across the waiting-room screen. I took a deep breath and
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Chapter 3
The insurance agent greeted me warmly. “Ms. Shore, what kind of coverage are you looking for?”I sat down on the sofa and accepted the glass of water she offered me.“I want a life insurance policy.”I looked at her calmly and said, “The highest coverage you offer.”The agent glanced at my pregnant belly, slightly surprised. “Since you're pregnant, some policies may have stricter underwriting requirements.”“That’s fine. I’ve done my research.”I took my bank card out of my purse. “If something happens to me during childbirth… How much would the payout be?”The agent quickly ran the numbers on her tablet.“Based on the coverage level you’re choosing, the accidental death benefit would be around two million dollars.”I nodded and said, “I’ll take it.”“And who would you like to name as the beneficiary?”She picked up her electronic pen and asked, “Your parents, or your husband?”I fell silent for a moment. I pictured Lucas sitting there with his calculator, carefully tallyin
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Chapter 4
Lucas slept in the master bedroom while I moved into the guest room.His reason was that he was already exhausted from working hard during the day and couldn't afford to have his sleep disturbed whenever I got up during the night.“We split the rent fifty-fifty.”He'd stood in the doorway of the guest room back then, thoughtfully helping me make the bed.“But since you're staying in the guest room, I'll deduct two hundred dollars from your share of rent each month. Consider it a little accommodation for a pregnant woman.”Today was my thirty-eighth-week prenatal appointment.Outside, rain was pouring. I struggled into my raincoat and made my way into the living room, one hand against the wall for support.Lucas was standing in front of the mirror in an impeccably tailored designer suit, adjusting his tie.“Lucas.”I held my lower back, breathing heavily.“The rain is too bad. I can't get a ride. Can you take me to the hospital?”Lucas glanced at me through the mirror. His br
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Chapter 5
The surgical lights were so bright I could barely keep my eyes open.Cold, a bone-deep cold. My entire body felt as if I were lying in a freezer. Blood was pouring out of me, completely beyond my control.“Her blood pressure is still dropping! Systolic is down to sixty!”There was an unmistakable panic in the anesthesiologist's voice.“The front wall of the uterus has completely ruptured. She's already lost more than fifty ounces of blood!”The surgeon's hands were covered in blood.“Quick! Get blood from the blood bank! Start a rapid transfusion!”I lay strapped to the operating table, my limbs secured in place. My consciousness wavered between wakefulness and oblivion.With every heartbeat came the hollow sensation that my life was slowly draining away.“Ma'am! Stay with us! Don't fall asleep!”The nurse gently but firmly tapped my cheek. “Think about your baby! You have to keep fighting!”My baby. My fingers twitched slightly. In this entire world, the only thing I st
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Chapter 6
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the blinds into the hospital room.The first thing I did after opening my eyes was press the call button beside my bed, and a nurse came in shortly after.“How are you feeling? Does the incision still hurt?”“I’m okay.” My voice was hoarse.“Could you raise the head of the bed a little for me?”I leaned against the headboard, picked up my phone, and opened my banking app. I transferred the few hundred dollars I had left in my account, along with the twenty thousand dollars I'd secretly saved over the past few months for the baby's birth, all into Lucas's account.[Transfer amount: $20,500.00. Note: Half of the surgery bill, plus the divorce fee. No need to give me anything back.]I tapped Confirm.When the words [Transfer successful] appeared on the screen, I let out a long breath, as though I'd finally shed the shackles I'd been carrying for the past three years.Half an hour later, the hospital room door was suddenly pushed open.
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Chapter 7
By the time Lucas got home, it was already noon. The house was eerily quiet, stripped of its usual liveliness.He changed his shoes and walked into the living room and, out of habit, was about to call out for me to bring him a glass of water.The words caught in his throat when he remembered that I was still in the hospital. He shook his head, thinking that I had really let this argument drag on far too long this time.“When she gets discharged, I’ll take her somewhere nice to eat.”He muttered to himself as he walked toward the master bedroom and pulled open the bottom drawer of the nightstand.There was no hospital bag inside. Only a brown paper envelope lying quietly in the otherwise empty drawer.Lucas frowned. He picked up the envelope and casually unwound the string.The contents slipped out, scattering across the carpet. The top item was an ultrasound report and a medical diagnosis from three months ago.Lucas picked them up without much thought, and his eyes skimmed o
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Chapter 8
With a deafening bang, the hospital room door was suddenly flung open.I was leaning against the headboard, drinking the bone broth my caregiver was feeding me.Lucas rushed inside with his crooked tie and disheveled hair. He had even lost one of his shoes somewhere along the way.The polished, superior image of the elite professional he usually carried was completely gone.“Nance!”He lunged to the side of the bed, his eyes bloodshot, clutching the insurance policy and medical report tightly in his hands.“Why didn’t you tell me?!” His voice trembled with unmistakable fear.“Why didn’t you tell me something this serious was happening?!”I swallowed the mouthful of broth and waved for the caregiver to step aside. Then I looked at him with complete calm.“I did tell you.” My voice was flat.“Three months ago, I called you and told you I needed to buy medication to keep the pregnancy going. You said I was exaggerating and that I was only trying to break our going Dutch agreemen
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Chapter 9
The next morning, Lucas stormed into Harris’s law firm.Desperate for even one chance to see me, he did something almost insane. He willingly signed a property transfer agreement that left him with nothing.He signed over every property, every penny of savings, and every stock in his name to me—completely no strings attached.“Give it all to her… I don’t want anything. I just want her to let me apologize to her in person. I just want her to let me be a father to our daughter…”He sat on the law firm’s floor, covering his face as he sobbed.After signing away everything, however, the only response he got from Harris was cold and final.“Ms. Shore has received everything. She says she still doesn’t want to see you.”Lucas had destroyed his entire life, along with the love he had once taken for granted.Half a month later, Lucas had nothing left. Like a homeless vagrant, he waited outside the recovery retreat with nowhere else to go.He didn’t dare make a scene. He was afraid of
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