All Chapters of Everything Divided: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

"Gabriel Cole, sign this agreement. Before we got married, I told you that to keep our marriage pure and prevent money from contaminating our feelings, every household expense from now on will be split absolutely fifty-fifty."Linda Frost crossed her legs and pushed a printed Post-Marriage Financial Separation Agreement toward me.Beside her, her fourteen-year-old son Mason was holding a tablet and playing games.When he heard what Linda said, he didn't even look up. He rolled his eyes and snorted."Uncle Gabriel, Mom's doing this for your own good. What era are we living in? Men and women are equal now. Men should be financially independent too."Men who get married and then try to take advantage of women are basically freeloaders."Since you married my mom and moved into our house, you can't expect her to support you forever, can you?"Looking at the mother and son taking everything for granted, I clenched my fists. The pain in my knuckles reminded me that this wasn't a dream.

Linda's face instantly flushed red. She slammed the table."Gabriel Cole, have you lost your mind? You spent fifteen hundred on one meal? Are you deliberately picking a fight?""I spend my own salary. What I eat and how much I eat is my freedom. Is that any of your business?" I sneered. "What, you want to eat for free? Where's your contractual integrity?"I glanced at Mason, whose cheeks were puffed out with anger, and added, "Oh, right. Besides the ingredient cost, there's also my labor fee."Buying groceries, washing them, and cooking took me an hour and a half. Based on private-chef rates, I'll give you a discount and charge fifty dollars for processing. Eight hundred total. Venmo or card?""Are you obsessed with money?" Mason threw his fork onto the table in rage. "Mom, look at him! He's so cheap he wants to charge us for one meal!"Linda trembled with anger and pointed at me."Gabriel Cole, don't go too far! What married couple lives like this? If you're cooking anyway, wha

A chill shot straight to the top of my head.I forced myself to calm down and immediately called the bank's VIP customer service line."Hello. Please check the account for me. What was that fifty-thousand-dollar transaction just now? I didn't authorize anything!"After checking for a moment, the customer service representative gave me an answer that made me laugh in anger."Mr. Cole, we've verified that the person who handled the matter was your wife, Ms. Frost. She presented your marriage certificate and your original ID."Ms. Frost explained to the teller that you had suddenly fallen seriously ill and were undergoing emergency treatment, and she urgently needed the money for surgery. Because the card had been locked after several incorrect password attempts, she came to the counter with the documents for emergency processing."Out of humanitarian concern and under special-case approval, the branch supervisor allowed the transfer."To get the money, Linda had actually cursed me

A few days later, the test results came out.As expected, the doctor found a highly dangerous aneurysm on my mother's brain CT. It was like a time bomb waiting to explode--the exact culprit that had caused her fatal brain hemorrhage in my last life."Because we found it early and it hasn't ruptured yet, we can arrange minimally invasive surgery right away. Surgery and hospitalization will cost about eighty thousand," the doctor said, looking at the scan."Schedule it immediately. I'll pay now." I didn't hesitate at all. I took the payment slip and went straight to the cashier.When I swiped my card and watched the money leave my account, I didn't feel a trace of pain. I only felt deep relief and security.The next morning, I was woken by my phone vibrating nonstop.When I opened my phone, unread messages had exploded.Mason had posted a long essay on his feed, with a photo of his pathetic back wearing a dirty uniform and eating instant noodles.The caption was tearful:"I neve

As for what happened to Linda and Mason, I heard about it later from my former colleague, Tyler.Because Linda was constantly chased by creditors, her mental state deteriorated badly. She kept making mistakes at work, and the company eventually fired her without mercy.After losing her income, she couldn't keep up with the expensive mortgage at all. The apartment fell into default and was auctioned by the bank. She had no choice but to take Mason and move into a dark, damp low-rent apartment.Mason, because he'd been involved in the theft case and couldn't bear life in poverty, dropped out before finishing middle school.He spent his days hanging around with delinquents, picked up bad habits, and often went home to steal Linda's money.In that cramped low-rent room, the mother and son blamed each other and fought every day over a few dozen dollars for food.Mason would curse Linda at the slightest provocation, calling her a useless poor woman who had ruined his life. Linda, full