For three years, Louis York kept me like a caged bird. Everyone envied him for having a wife who never argued. Even when I was pregnant, he sent me out late at night to buy condoms for them. I endured it without a word. Everything changed the night his beloved threatened to jump. He rushed to save her, and in the chaos, I lost our baby. When Louis arrived, he cradled his barely-scratched darling in his arms and carried her to the ambulance, leaving me bleeding on the rooftop. That night, for the first time in years, I picked up the phone and called my mother. “Mom, I want to come home.” Her familiar Mosani accent carried a hint of joy. “Great! Your grandmother and aunts have been waiting. Mosani women never marry outsiders. No one will protect you so far away.” I stared at my reflection in the hospital bathroom mirror. The once-rosy cheeks were now gaunt and pale, a jagged scar slashing across my left cheek. A bitter smile tugged at my lips. She was right. I was Mosani. In our matriarchal society, marriage was never binding. We lived with our mothers, our grandmothers, our aunts. Fathers were a distant concept. The truth was, I never needed Louis. Hanging up, I booked my ticket home. Clutching my abdomen, I shuffled out to discharge myself, only to run into Louis and his precious Lillie Cortez. Despite having nothing but a band-aid on her ankle, she exaggerated every step, milking the injury for all it was worth. Louis fussed over her like she was made of glass, his concern deepening with every dramatic wince. Then his gaze landed on me. He froze. A second later, his expression hardened. “What are you doing here?” As the hospital’s chief obstetrician, he should have noticed my pallor, the fresh scars from emergency surgery. But he didn’t. Lillie burst into tears. “Why did you even bother saving me? I have no family, no love. Death would be a mercy…” Louis panicked, pulling her close. “Who says you’re unloved? “I’m your family now. The world may abandon you, but I never will. “I’ll always be your rock, Lillie. “Wherever you go, just turn around. I’ll be there.” Their melodrama was nauseating. I turned to leave, but Louis stopped me. “We’re having friends over for dinner tonight to welcome Lillie. “Cook something local, but no spice, no garlic, no ginger. She’s allergic. No meat or grease either, because of her injury. And make her favorite mushroom soup…” He rattled off her preferences effortlessly, then tossed me a laundry bag. “Hand-wash her silks. Change the detergent. She hates the scent.” Pain flared in my abdomen, but his demands made my skin crawl. I finally snapped. “Do you even care how I’m doing?”
Louis blinked, his gaze searching my face. Lillie broke into fresh sobs. “I should just die! Then I wouldn’t be a burden to you!” That set Louis off. “Kailey Harris, enough!” he roared. “I’m an OB-GYN! If something were wrong, I’d know! You survived falling off a cliff and carried me ten miles. Quit the theatrics!” We had met in my hometown. Lost in a storm and bitten by a snake, he’d stumbled upon me while I was out gathering herbs. I sucked out the venom and dragged him to the hospital. That rescue had cost me a broken arm and a body covered in thorn scratches from tumbling down a cliff. And now, my resilience was his excuse for cruelty. Meeting my tear-filled eyes, Louis hesitated for a moment before snapping at someone else. “She’s depressed! She can’t control how she feels! “Why are you deliberately making it worse?” All this over a single question. His outburst left me speechless. The last time Lillie scarred my face, I merely glanced at the mirror and was immediately accused of guilt-tripping her. That night, I did nothing. Her laundry sat in a heap in the bathroom. When Louis came home, he was furious. Friends stepped in, placating him. “She’s pregnant. Don’t make her do chores. Let’s go out for dinner. Lillie’s favorite.” So, all along, it was Lillie who had been wanting me to cook the meals. As they headed out, Lillie turned back with a smirk. “Coming with us, Kailey?”
At dinner, Louis fawned over Lillie. When she wanted roasted chestnuts, he burned his fingers peeling them for her. The slightest complaint about spice had him rinsing every bite. Yet during my pregnancy, he wouldn’t even buy me oranges from the shop downstairs. When someone raised a toast to Lillie, Louis snatched the glass from her hand. “She’s injured. No alcohol.” Lillie pouted. “Just one sip!” Then, casting a pointed glance my way, she added sweetly, “But Kailey has wine.” I hadn’t touched mine since the miscarriage. Still, Louis snapped at me. “You’re pregnant! Do I really need to remind you?” Silence fell over the table. Awkward laughter quickly shifted the focus back to Louis and Lillie. “Louis has always been her knight,” someone chuckled. “When I crashed my bike with Lillie on the back, he nearly beat me up!” “That’s nothing. I got death threats just for watching porn with her!” another chimed in. Laughter died as their eyes flicked toward me, the current wife. A voice muttered, “Just reminiscing, no offense.” Louis’ blatant disrespect gave them permission to pile on. After my face was scarred, one of his friends sighed, “Regretting your choice now? “Should’ve waited for Lillie to come back. “You only picked her because she looked like her. “Now that her face is ruined, nothing’s stopping you from going back.” They envied Louis’ blindly devoted wife. Little did they know, Mosani women didn’t marry. We stayed with our partners by choice, leaving when love faded. Why bind two hearts with a piece of paper? Not even their gossip could shake me now. My indifference made Lillie’s eyes gleam with malice. Giggling behind manicured fingers, she asked, “Is it true Mosani women sleep around and raise fatherless children? “Are all your women so… available?” Then, with mock innocence, she added, “How many men climbed into your bed before Louis?” My face went cold in an instant. My hand tightened around my utensils, trembling with the effort to suppress my anger at her calculated provocation. Right on cue, Louis chimed in.
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