Chapter 2

Henry returned home after the New Year. He was covered in mud, and he had stubble growing along his jaw. There was also a layer of grime on his face. He had a sack of sweet potatoes and walnuts with him.

"I'm home, honey!" he announced as he stepped through the door, throwing the sack on the floor and scattering dust everywhere.

"I swear that I'm seconds away from dropping dead of exhaustion. The mountain roads aren't for the faint of heart. Anyway, look! The villagers insisted on giving me their local delicacies. They're all organic too!"

I looked at Henry coolly as I balanced my cup of tea between my hands.

"What's wrong, honey?" Henry asked. "Are you upset?"

He took off his muddy shoes. He then sat down next to me and tried to pull me into a hug. "Did you miss me so much that you couldn't sleep?"

The combined scent of perfume and alcohol permeated my senses.

I shifted away and dodged his grabby hands. "Why don't you take a shower if you're so tired?"

Henry retracted his hands and rubbed his nose, saying, "I just wanted to hold you first. Oh, that's right. I didn't come home empty-handed. Look!"

He pulled out a plastic bag from his coat.

There was a red, woven bracelet with a ruby pendant inside.

"I got this from the village. It was blessed by the priest to keep you safe. Felicity… I mean, all the youngsters in the village told me that it's really effective."

I accepted the bracelet and fiddled with it.

Felicity visited our home a year ago.

Henry had told me that he wanted to give his beneficiary a chance to experience the outside world and the warmth of a loving family.

Felicity had been wearing a worn-out uniform at that time. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, and she constantly kept her head lowered, not daring to meet eyes with anyone.

"This is Mrs. Gibbons," Henry said while pointing at me.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Gibbons," Felicity greeted me timidly.

Looking at her threadbare clothes, I decided to drop by the mall to buy a jacket for her. It had cost 200 dollars, which was half of our family's monthly expenses.

However, when I passed by the guest room that night, I heard Felicity complaining to someone over the phone.

"I'm so annoyed! That old hag has such old-fashioned tastes. She bought a stupid jacket for me that not even a beggar would wear. I much prefer the Moncler jacket that Henry said he would buy for me."

The next morning, I found the jacket that I had bought for Felicity stashed inside the kennel.

Beyond furious, I decided to air my grievances to Henry.

Henry frowned as he looked at me and asked, "Why are you being so petty? Felicity's from the mountains. She has a strong sense of pride. She probably felt guilty because you bought something so expensive for her, and she's probably too scared to wear it.

"Besides, youngsters these days have their own sense of style. You shouldn't have bought something for her without understanding her style first. You're behaving like a classic city dweller right now, trying to emotionally blackmail her!"

Now that I knew about the true nature of Henry's and Felicity's relationship, it was only natural that Felicity would dislike the jacket that I bought for her. My jacket was from a local brand, while the jacket that Henry bought from her was from Moncler.

"Why aren't you putting it on?" Henry asked when he noticed that I was lost in my thoughts. "I went through a lot of trouble to get this for you."

I snapped back to my senses and looked at the bracelet. I smiled as I asked, "Where did Mom's surgery funds go, Henry?"

"W-What surgery funds? What are you talking about?" Henry stammered, averting his eyes.

"I stopped by the bank yesterday," I explained as I placed the bank statement on the coffee table. "There's supposed to be 30,000 dollars in the account, but there's only three dollars and eight cents now. You withdrew the money a day before you left for the mountains."

Mom had left that money for me in case there was an emergency.

Henry leaped to his feet. A vein pulsed in his neck as he exclaimed, "You investigated me? We're husband and wife. Aren't we supposed to trust each other? I… I lent the money to Peter! His company was struggling financially, but he'll return the money in the next couple of days."

"You lent it to Peter?"

I pulled out my phone and navigated to Felicity's social media account. I then thrust the device in his face.

The photo showed a custom-made costume. The total cost was 28,000 dollars since each part of the costume was handmade.

"Thank you for your generosity, Henry! Apparently, he paid for this costume using that old crone's money that she saved to buy her mother's casket. Somehow, I feel even better when wearing it."

Henry's eyes widened. The color drained from his face as he stared at the screen.

"L-Let me explain! This is all part of the script! Youngsters these days love it when there's drama! We didn't actually buy the costume. We only rented it to take some photos."

I lifted my hand and slapped him hard across the face.