For a second, I wondered if I had heard her wrong. Wyatt had sent me into an allergic shock, yet I was supposed to pay for his tuition?

I refused without even thinking. "No. I need that paycheck to buy my cemetery plot."

Hannah's eyes widened. "Nathan, are you really going to curse yourself like that just so Wyatt can't use the money? He's still so young... What's wrong with letting him learn something? Can't you have a little compassion?"

Compassion again.

Because of her compassion, I had less than two more weeks left to live.

I sneered as I said, "That's right. I have no compassion."

When Hannah saw that I would not give in, she stormed out and slammed the door. I then heard her say to Wyatt in the living room, "Wyatt, don't worry. I'll find a way to send you to school."

I did not care. After I recovered from the allergy, I immediately returned to my original schedule and went to work during the day while washing dishes at the restaurant at night.

To spite me, Hannah cooked all kinds of good food for Wyatt every day. The smell drifted out of the kitchen, making me realize how empty my stomach was.

Wyatt would always sit across from me with his plate, eating smugly as he said, "Nathan, you should have some too. Hannah said these ribs were expensive. She bought them with your paycheck."

I shoved the plain dinner rolls into my mouth and ignored him, but I had a bad feeling about all of this.

Three days before payday, I went to finance and asked, "Martha, can you please change the account for my direct deposit? Don't put this month's paycheck in the old account."

I used to think a husband and wife shared everything, so both the apartment and car were in Hannah's name. Meanwhile, my paychecks had always gone into her account.

It was not until I could not afford my own surgery while I was in the hospital that I realized if I had no money of my own, I could not even afford to die.

Martha typed on her computer a few times. When she looked up, her expression was awkward. "Well, didn't your wife come in last week and get an advance on your paycheck? Why are you asking for it again?"

"What?!" I shot to my feet, my voice tight. "When did she come in?"

"The day you took leave for your allergy. She said you were in the hospital and needed money urgently. She was crying pretty hard, and she had a copy of your ID, so I processed it for her."

I almost froze as I gripped the table to keep myself from falling.

She had taken my paycheck in advance?

That was the money I needed for my cemetery plot!

I staggered out of the company. When I found Hannah, she was just going to buy a gold watch with Wyatt.

I rushed over, my voice trembling with rage. "Hannah! Where's my paycheck?"

She started. When she saw it was me, the smile vanished from her face and was replaced by a self-righteous look. "I spent it on Wyatt's tutoring class. You have no idea how expensive tutoring is these days."

"That money was for my cemetery plot!" I grabbed her arm, my fingers trembling. "Give it back to me!"

She shook me off, anger rising in her eyes, too. "Nathan, what is wrong with you? Why do you keep talking about cemetery plots every day? Are you that eager to die? I'm telling you right now that Wyatt's education is what actually matters!

"That being said, what perfect timing. I'm worried people will look down on Wyatt when he starts school, so I want to buy him a gold watch. We're short on money now, so give me your wedding ring. I'll pawn it for cash first, then get it back for you once I have the money."

As she spoke, she grabbed my hand.

Then, she froze when she saw my bare ring finger. "Nathan, where is your wedding ring?"

Wyatt was still beside Hannah, and he quietly reminded her, "Hannah, the watch..."

"Shut up!" Hannah shoved him away and stared at me, her voice tight with panic. "Where is the ring?! Say something!"

Her earlier smugness was gone, and she had even forgotten about the watch. Only panic remained in her eyes.

I looked at her and suddenly found it a little laughable.

She did not care whether I lived or died, but she cared a lot about a ring. "I sold it..."

Before I could finish, the sales associate screamed. "The watch is missing!"

The store instantly fell into chaos. Before I could react, Wyatt bumped into me with a panicked look on his face. Then, something heavy dropped into my arms.

Wyatt pointed at me and said, "He has the watch. He stole it!"

My eyes widened in disbelief, and I quickly denied it. "It wasn't me. Wyatt shoved it into my arms. Check the security cameras if you don't believe me!"

Wyatt's eyes instantly reddened. "Nathan, how could you accuse me like that? Everyone saw you rush over just now to ask Hannah for money, and you even sold your wedding ring because you were short on cash! But no matter how badly you need money, you can't steal!"

As soon as he finished, the people around us began whispering. I know that they had already decided I was the thief from the way they looked at me.

Hannah's expression cooled little by little. "Nathan, you have disappointed me so much."

She snatched the watch from my arms and handed it back to the sales associate, then pulled Wyatt away. "Wyatt wouldn't lie! Nathan, you should admit it when you've done something wrong. Don't make me look down on you even more!"

She turned to the security guards and said, "Call the police. Someone like him needs to learn a lesson."

Right then, it felt like a piece of me was ripped out. The pain was so sharp that I almost forgot to breathe. Hannah knew me better than anyone after so many years of marriage. She knew that no matter what happened, I would never steal.

But she still believed in Wyatt without a second thought.

The pain in my chest soon spread through my whole body, but I clenched my teeth and barely managed to stay upright.

The police arrived quickly and took me to the station.

As I lay on the cold floor of the holding cell, the pain in my chest grew worse, and my mind started to blur.

In the end, I even thought that dying here might not be so bad. At least then I would not have to think about the cemetery plot anymore.

Early the next morning, I was released. Only when I saw Hannah did I realize she had gotten me out.

"You..." Hannah looked surprised at how haggard I looked, and her expression softened with pity.

Just as she was about to speak, I cut her off numbly. "Why was I released?"

Hannah looked a little uncomfortable. After a while, she said quietly, "The police checked the security footage. Wyatt really did steal the watch."

I kept asking, "Then why wasn't Wyatt brought in?"

"I paid the store back and bailed him out." Hannah's voice dropped even lower. "Wyatt had never seen anything nice before, and he only made one stupid mistake. We should give him a chance to correct himself. We can't ruin his life over this..."

Looking at the way she defended Wyatt, I suddenly found everything so pointless. When I was falsely accused, she wanted the police to teach me a lesson right away. Now that it was Wyatt, she wanted to give him a chance.

Once I stopped laughing at my own mistake, I realized something was wrong. "Where did you get the money to pay his bail?"

I remembered that Hannah had spent all our savings long ago. She lowered her head and said, "I took it from the pocket of your coat. You always hide your emergency funds there, so I found it as soon as I looked."

My mind went blank.

The money in my coat pocket was what I had saved little by little from taking jobs with Uber and washing dishes after work. It was the money I needed for my cemetery plot, and I had almost saved enough to reach five thousand dollars.

But now, my paycheck was gone, and the money from my part-time jobs was gone too.

My cemetery plot was gone.

My heart went cold, almost freezing solid in that instant. To the point that all the pain had disappeared.

I followed Hannah home in a daze and did not say a word the whole way.

After we got home, Hannah said in a pacifying tone, "Nathan, are you hungry? I can make you some oatmeal."

I ignored her and went straight back to the bedroom to lie down. The pain in my body and the despair in my heart formed a huge net, trapping me so tightly I could barely move.

Hannah said something else outside the door, but I did not hear a word. I only lay there with my eyes open, staring at the ceiling until dark.

That night, the pain in my body was so bad I could not sleep, so I struggled out of bed to look for some painkillers. As soon as I reached the living room, I heard a low voice coming from the balcony.

It was Wyatt.

"Don't worry. That woman is stupid as hell. She gave me all her husband's money... No one will find out I'm a fugitive..."

A fugitive?

All the blood in my body froze, and cold sweat broke out along my back.

Wyatt was actually a fugitive?

What kind of person had Hannah brought home?

I no longer dared to take my medicine. I held my breath and tiptoed back to the bedroom, but I did not notice that Wyatt had already seen me.

-

The next morning, Hannah eagerly made breakfast and called me over to eat.

I ate without tasting anything, but Wyatt suddenly moved closer to me and said, "Nathan, what happened two days ago was my fault. I made you spend a day in a holding cell. I want to treat you to a meal so that you can forgive me."

He was smiling, but a chill ran down my spine. I calmed the panic in my heart and played it cool. "I'm not going. I don't feel well."

Seeing this, Hannah frowned. "Wyatt came to you and apologized on his own, Nathan. Stop acting like this. Go out with Wyatt later."

I still wanted to say no, but Hannah forced me out the door.

Before closing the door, she even said with a bright smile, "Make sure you two have a good time! After this, you'll understand what a good person Wyatt is. Stop being so hostile to him from now on."

I looked at her smiling face, but I felt as if I had fallen into the abyss.

As we walked down the road, my heart pounded wildly, but Wyatt suddenly laughed. "Nathan, why do you seem so nervous?"

"I'm not." I denied it.

But he lowered his voice and said, "It's because you heard what I said last night, isn't it?"

My heart sank hard, but I forced myself to stay calm. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He smiled coldly, the viciousness in his eyes completely unhidden. "Stop the act. I saw you."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached out and shoved me hard into the road.

I saw a large truck roaring toward me, my ears ringing from the blaring honks.