Love With Limits

The first thing Lawrence Yancey said when he returned was, "Drop the charges."

He placed the court summons on the dining table, sounding more like he was informing rather than discussing with me.

I put the last shirt on a neatly folded pile of clothes in my luggage case.

"You're seriously bringing me to court over a necklace?"

He tugged at his necktie and sat opposite me. "Wendy just joined us, and her birthday coincided with our project closing. As her supervisor, it's not too much to give her a gift."

I shut my luggage case.

"Not at all."

The angles of this face softened. "So, drop the lawsuit. I'll go with you to court tomorrow to explain things."

"I'm not dropping it."

Lawrence stared at me for a few seconds and suddenly picked up his phone.

Soon after, I received a text from the bank.

[The supplementary card ending in 7319 has been suspended.]

"I'll have your card suspended until you calm down."

He leaned back into his chair and said calmly, "Your expenses have been getting out of hand lately. Spending over 7,000 on medical tests, and now, you're even hiring a lawyer. Niki, I'm not punishing you. I'm helping you stop before things get worse."

I looked at the text and wasn't the least bit surprised.

Over the past three years, our fights always ended this way.

He never scolded me or smashed things.

At just a touch of a button, I wouldn't be able to buy a box of pills or hail a taxi. I'd even have to check my account balance before I could buy a bag of fruits for my mom.

Lawrence's voice softened at my silence. "I know the nodule has gotten you anxious. Since you've found out that it's benign, it proves that my initial assumption was right. There's no need to get a divorce over this."

"Just because it is benign, does that make it right for me to reject going for a test?"

"At least we wouldn't have incurred that expense."

He answered too quickly, as though he had already concluded so in his mind.

I pulled my luggage case up. "Keep the card."

Lawrence stood up to block the door with his body. "Where are you going?"

"My mom's."

"That old house your mom lives in doesn't even have an elevator. You won't be able to last for more than a few days."

He grabbed the handle of the luggage case and reminded me patiently, "Remember that I pay for all her blood pressure medication and blood glucose lancets every month. Doing this out of spite will only make things difficult for her."

I clenched my fists tighter.

"How much of your money did she spend over the past three years?"

Lawrence furrowed his brows. "What's the point of drawing the line so clearly between husband and wife?"

"Isn't that what you do best?"

I pulled out my phone. "Medication, festive celebrations, two medical checkups and tests. I've listed them all. A total of 48,600 dollars. You can deduct that from my portion when the court decides on division of property between us."

"Niki."

His voice finally turned cold. "You don't have an income. What do you mean ‘your portion'?"

I looked up at him.

Part of the deposit we paid for the house was 900,000 dollars from proceeds of the small apartment I had sold before we got married.

I had covered all our daily expenses using my own savings during the first two years of his entrepreneurship.

When his father had a stroke, I quit my job to take care of him for four whole years.

Yet, his claim that I didn't have an income meant that he thought I didn't have a share of our assets.

Lawrence seemed to realize the impact of his words and reached out to touch my shoulder.

"I'm not denying your contributions, but they don't directly translate to money. If you leave me, who's going to pay for your daily necessities and insurance?"

I evaded his touch.

"We'll discuss this in court."

I walked out the door with my luggage case in tow.

He didn't stop me from leaving, but said flatly, "I won't be paying for your mom's business insurance renewal due next month."

I stopped in my tracks for half a second.

Lawrence picked up the summons and flashed it at me. "Send me your application for the withdrawal of the lawsuit once you've written it. Once I approve it, I'll lift the suspension on your card and resume insurance payments."

I took the piece of paper from him and then slowly tore it into two.

Lawrence's phone rang.

I could hear Wendy's voice through the phone as she choked back sobs.

"Lawrence, my landlord wants me to move out tonight. I don't know who else I can go to…"

Lawrence gave me a furtive glance, grabbed his car keys, and walked toward the door.

He stopped in his tracks right before he left.

"Think about it tonight. If you withdraw the lawsuit before tomorrow morning, I can take it that nothing happened."