Nothing Left to Repay

"That boy's a lucky one. His girlfriend's scraping together money to buy him a car."

The sales associate shook her head with a smile as she slipped the bag into its dust cover.

I watched the hand-drawn dried-flower card get swept into the trash.

My stomach churned.

Suddenly, I remembered Veronica's birthday last year.

That boy, Dylan, had given her a two-dollar coffee mug.

"Veronica, my internship barely pays anything. This is all I could afford. Please don't think less of it."

Veronica, who was usually so cool and aloof, had put that mug in the most prominent spot on her desk.

Every day, whenever she drank from it, she'd snap a picture and post it online.

And now the gift I'd given her had become nothing more than a way to raise cash.

I took out my phone and called Veronica.

It rang five times before she declined the call.

And that was it. Nothing after that.

In the past, even if she really was in a meeting, she'd sneak me a text.

No matter how busy she was, she always found a minute for me.

Then she was promoted to project lead and said she was at a critical point in her career.

And just like that, I became her secret boyfriend.

Eventually, she even requested a transfer to a branch office, and we started a long-distance relationship that lasted two years.

Last month, she said she had a bad flu and took a week of sick leave. I rushed over overnight to take care of her, but she flat-out refused to let me in, insisting she didn't want me to catch it.

I felt so bad for her that I just left the food I'd cooked outside her door and quietly went home.

I opened Dylan's video profile.

"She says keeping us a secret is hard, but it's worth it for our future."

The video showed the shadows of two people kissing in an underground parking garage.

I stared at the screen, a tangle of emotions twisting inside me.

The men's breath mints she'd started keeping in her coat pocket. The passenger seat in her car that had been readjusted.

Everything finally made sense.

At ten that night, Veronica finally called me back.

"Caleb, what did you want this afternoon? I've been so busy my head's spinning."

She sounded exhausted.

I took a deep breath. "That bag. Is it still working out for you?"

There was a second of silence on the other end.

"Oh, that. There's an internal co-investment project at work, and I was a little short on cash, so I sold it for now.

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it first.

"But don't read too much into it. Bags can be replaced, but you're the only one who matters to me."

Short on cash!?

In front of other people, she was the glamorous daughter of a wealthy family, but I knew better than anyone.

Over the past two years, Hale Group had become a house of cards. It looked impressive from the outside, but it could barely keep its cash flowing.

Her dad had cut off her credit cards a long time ago.

To keep up appearances, what else could she do besides sell the things I'd given her?