I followed James for seven years, living frugally, and finally saved our first million dollars. In this vast New York City, we could finally have a place to call our own. But on the day we were supposed to pay the deposit, James withdrew all the money from our joint account. I called him repeatedly: “Where’s the money? Why did you take out all of our savings?” He replied, “I can’t ignore Lily’s situation. You know she’s like a sister to me.” “She needs this money more than we do.” I looked at the woman in front of me, wearing a silk nightgown, every hair in place. Then I glanced at myself, worn out after seven years, wearing a wrinkled old sweater. Suddenly, I woke up. The determination to end this seven-year relationship filled me at that moment. “James, where’s the money? Why did you withdraw all of it without saying a word?” I shouted as soon as I entered the apartment, filled with anger. James got up from the couch and brought a cake to me: “Emma, I bought your favorite chestnut cake. Have a slice and calm down.” I stared into his eyes and asked again: “I’m asking you where the money went?” He avoided my gaze: “You know, Lily was scammed recently and got into online debt.” James lowered his voice and continued: “She even… sent her nude photos to someone as collateral.” “They said if she doesn’t pay back soon, they’ll send the photos to her friends and family.” “You’re a woman too, you should understand what this means for a girl, right?” I felt weak all over: “Did you give her everything?” I pounded on James’s chest: “You knew very well that was our seven-year savings for buying a house!” At this moment, Lily came out of the bathroom. Fresh out of the shower, Lily’s skin was fair and radiant. Her bare face looked clean and beautiful, with large innocent eyes that made her look particularly pitiful. Not just James, even I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her when I saw her. She spoke with a hint of tears, looking at me: “It’s all my fault. Sister, please don’t fight with James. He was just trying to help me.” “I only borrowed a few thousand dollars, but in just two months, they’re asking me to pay back hundreds of thousands. Where would I get that kind of money?” I looked at her, wearing a silk nightgown that made her look very refined. Then I looked at myself, wearing a sweater I’d had for five years, wrinkled like a cleaning rag, looking more like sleepwear than her actual nightgown. I took deep breaths, trying to expel the anger building up in my chest. But I still felt extremely frustrated. Seeing me like this, James wanted to say something more but didn’t dare. After hesitating several times, he finally spoke: “By the way, Emma, there’s something I want to discuss with you.” “Lily hasn’t paid rent for two months and was kicked out by her landlord.” “She’s a girl, and she has nowhere to go.” “Can we… can we let her stay with us for a few days?” I looked around and noticed several suitcases in the living room that weren’t there before. I didn’t respond, just walked into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. Discuss? He took all our money to pay off Lily’s loan and directly brought her to our home. Which of these things did he actually discuss with me? 0
James and I had been together for seven years. When I was interviewing for my first job in New York City, I almost arrived late because the subway system was so confusing with all its twists and turns. I wandered around for ages without finding the right exit. In desperation, I grabbed a random person on the street to ask for directions. As it turned out, this person worked at the company where I was interviewing and directly took me there. Later, we became colleagues, and then we became a couple. New York City can feel like a cold place, but because of him, these seven years have had a bit of warmth. He wasn’t just my boyfriend; he was also my dining companion, movie buddy, and travel partner. After getting together, like many people in New York, we started saving money, eagerly anticipating the day when we could have our own little nest among the city’s dazzling lights. To save up for a down payment on a house, we lived frugally for seven years, leaving early and returning late every day, never missing a day of work, not even taking a single sick day. On rainy days in the run-down neighborhood, the narrow alleys would be filled with muddy water, making my shoes dirty. Walking through it so often, even my obsession with cleanliness seemed to have worn away. On social media, people our age were traveling to various places, seeing beautiful sights, and eating all kinds of delicious food. During holidays, we only dared to stay in our damp, dark little room, sharing a single portion of cheap takeout between the two of us. During these seven years, James would often stroke my head and say with concern in his eyes: “Emma, I’m sorry you have to struggle like this with me.” “Once we buy a house, we’ll get married right away, and I promise I’ll treat you well.” Every time I saw the sincerity in his eyes, I felt it was all worth it. But now that all the money had been given to Lily to pay off her debt, we couldn’t buy the house anymore. Would we still get married? A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts. James came in with a cup of hot chocolate: “I’m sorry, please don’t be angry, okay?” He put the hot drink on the table and tried to hug me. Seeing the apologetic look in his eyes, in the past, I might have softened. But this time, I found the person in front of me repulsive. Being with James for so many years, his good qualities were obvious. He wasn’t flirtatious and was quite family-oriented. He was good to me and my family too. When my dad suddenly had a heart attack, if it wasn’t for him, I might have just panicked helplessly. But all his maturity and rationality seemed to disappear when it came to Lily. Thinking about how he had repeatedly favored Lily in the past, I felt anger rising inside me. I avoided him and crawled into bed. He seemed a bit helpless: “Don’t always be like this.” “That money… I’ll find a way to earn it back. If I have to, I’ll drive for Uber or deliver food after work.” “You know, Lily grew up with me. When we were poor, her parents helped our family a lot. When her dad passed away, he asked me to take good care of her. Now that she’s in such big trouble, how can I just stand by and do nothing?” “You can understand that, right?” James cared for his childhood friend, but where did he put me when he was protecting her? Lily ate and dressed well every day. If she had borrowed money to save a life or do something meaningful, I could still understand. But she only borrowed money to satisfy her vanity, buying luxury bags and traveling everywhere. How could I understand that? I looked into James’s eyes, tears welling up: “What about me?” “I struggled with you for seven years, and now we have nothing left. Did you think about me?” We stood in silent confrontation. Suddenly, I felt utterly exhausted. I grabbed my pajamas and ran to the bathroom, hoping a shower would help alleviate the frustration in my chest. After showering and returning to the room, I found Lily sitting on my bed watching a TV series, occasionally bursting into laughter. For me, today felt like the sky had fallen. For her, it seemed like nothing had happened. Her laughter was grating, as if mocking me for being a fool all these years. I walked straight up to her and said only two words: “Get out.” 0
Lily looked up in shock, giving me an innocent look. James, hearing the commotion, came in from the living room. Seeing James, Lily’s eyes welled up with tears: “I’m sorry, sister. I thought James had told you I’d be sleeping with you tonight.” “If you don’t want me to sleep here, I’ll leave right away.” James pressed his lips together: “Didn’t Lily always sleep with you when she came over before?” “Besides, we only have one bedroom, there’s no other option.” “You two squeeze in for tonight, and first thing tomorrow morning, I’ll take a day off to help Lily find a place.” I coldly repeated: “Get out.” “Both of you, get out.” I’ve always been mild-mannered, so when James saw me like this, he knew I was truly angry. He signaled to Lily with his eyes, indicating that they should leave. Seeing this, Lily started gathering her bedding while sobbing. As they left and closed the door, my tears finally fell uncontrollably down my cheeks. These tears were so bitter. Half for finally seeing my place in James’s heart, half for my seven years of youth. I don’t know what time I fell asleep, but as soon as the alarm went off, I habitually got up. After so many years, I had been trained into a qualified corporate slave, and a qualified corporate slave goes to work no matter what happens, no matter how upset they are. Opening the bedroom door, I saw Lily and James also getting ready for work. Today’s weather matched my mood – pouring rain. Lily looked out the window and whined to James, “Let’s take a cab today, okay?” “Our offices are on the same route anyway, it won’t cost much. Fifty dollars should be enough to get there.” James’s eyes were full of indulgence as he took out his phone and called a cab without hesitation. James looked at my puffy and swollen eyes, a flash of concern crossing his face: “Emma, come with us. It’s raining heavily today.” I shook my head and went to wash up. For the past seven years, to save money, I never took a cab, whether it was raining or even during a typhoon. Several times I had already opened the ride-hailing app and entered the starting location, but seeing the fare displayed on my phone, I would steel myself, grab an umbrella, and walk a mile to take the bus instead. Thinking back now, although James always said he felt sorry for me, he never actively offered to call a car for me. As I reached the ground floor, I seemed to see my past self wearing rain boots, carefully holding an umbrella, but still getting splashed all over by passing cars, looking utterly miserable. The rain was getting heavier, fine droplets landing on my body, adding a chill to my heart. This time, I called a car for myself. 0
For the next few days, not wanting to see them, I left early and returned late every day. On Saturday, while I was still thinking about how to avoid them, I woke up to find they had already gone out. In the evening, James sent me a message: “No need to cook tonight, I’ll bring food back for you.” Since I didn’t feel like cooking anyway, I didn’t refuse. Around 8 PM, James and Lily returned with several bags. Their laughter could be heard even before they entered the apartment. James put the takeout on the dining table: “Emma, I brought you some Japanese food. Come and eat.” These past few days, James had been trying to please me, either consciously or unconsciously. I didn’t know if he genuinely felt he had done something wrong, or if he was just placating me, hoping I would end the cold war quickly. I glanced at the bags they brought back. The orange Louis Vuitton shopping bag was particularly eye-catching. Lily took out the LV handbag from the bag, showing it off in front of me: “Sister, isn’t this bag beautiful?” “James bought it for me, saying it’s to celebrate my escape from the threats of those loan sharks.” James noticed my gaze and said sheepishly: “You didn’t go today, so another day I’ll take you shopping and buy you one too.” I looked at the bag hanging on the back of the door, which I had bought from a second-hand platform and had been using for five years, and suddenly found it somewhat amusing. One year on my birthday, James said he wanted to buy me a luxury handbag as a birthday gift. His regular salary was mostly deposited into our joint account, leaving him with little money for himself. The money he said he would use to buy me a bag was his overtime pay for half a year. I felt sorry for him and thought that for a handbag, a second-hand one would be fine. So I told him to buy one from a second-hand website. Now that I think about it, I was wrong. In all these years with James, I had placed myself too low. Because I loved him, I always thought more about him, always felt that being together meant working hard towards a common goal. I always thought James felt the same way. I always thought he couldn’t bear to take me to nice restaurants, couldn’t bear to give me expensive things, couldn’t bear to go out and play with me, because he wanted to save money to give me a home. But I was terribly mistaken. As time went on, he only came to think that I didn’t deserve these things, that there was no need to spend money or effort buying these things for me, and that I would always stay by his side anyway. At this moment, it was as if I suddenly woke up. No longer hysterical, no longer trying to evoke his love through the cold war. I quietly walked to the dining table and put the scattered pieces of sushi, which looked like their leftovers, into my mouth. The determination to end this seven-year relationship filled me at this moment. After eating, I slowly spoke: “Weren’t you supposed to be looking for an apartment? When are you moving out?” 0
Lily’s tears came on cue: “Sister, I’m sorry for disturbing you two.” “We haven’t found a place yet.” “If you really don’t want me to stay here, I can go crash at a friend’s place for a few days starting tomorrow.” Although Lily seemed to be talking to me, her eyes were on James. I reminded her: “Okay, remember to pack all your things.” Lily glanced at James and started packing. Her sobbing sounded particularly loud in the quiet room. James grabbed Lily’s hand: “Don’t mind her.” Then he turned to look at me, frowning: “Emma, haven’t you had enough?” “It’s been days, and you’re still walking around with that sour face. Who are you trying to impress?” “Why are you being so petty?” “I’ve already explained everything to you nicely. Lily is like a sister to me. She just escaped from danger, can’t she stay here for a few days until we find her a place? It’s dangerous for a girl to be out there alone, who knows if she might get scammed again.” “Do you have to make everyone so uncomfortable?” Originally, I just wanted to quietly sort out everything between us and then part ways gracefully. But since James insisted on laying it all out like this, I’d play along. I glared at James: “Sister, you say sister, right?” “Giving her all the money we saved for seven years, being at her beck and call anytime, even running to her when I was sick, that kind of sister?” “You two clearly have something going on, yet you hide behind the facade of being siblings, flirting ambiguously.” “Am I your backup plan? Or am I here to highlight how well-matched you two are, how in sync, how good your relationship is?” Guilt, nervousness, and awkwardness intertwined on James’s face. He transformed these unmanageable emotions into a slap across my face. It also completely shattered our seven years of relationship.
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “NovelMaster” app 🔍 search for “295615”, and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster #现实主义Realistic
Leave a Reply