I Saved 10,000 Points For Our Wedding, He Deducted 500 For Her Chapter 02

I Saved 10,000 Points For Our Wedding, He Deducted 500 For Her Chapter 02

In the cab, I opened the points app.

Every point I had gained or lost was logged there, line after line.

[Brought lunch +10]

[Didn’t make a scene when he forgot my birthday +50]

[Upset Sienna -100]

…

Every point was a hurt I’d swallowed instead of speaking.

He never knew that every day I saved points, I imagined the day I hit ten thousand and wondered what his face would look like.

Would he be surprised? Would he regret making me wait? Would he get down on one knee in front of everyone and say, “Claire, I’m sorry I kept you waiting so long”?

My nails bit into my palm. The pain snapped me back to myself.

I went home and packed.

His shirts and my dresses shared the same closet. I pulled mine out one by one and packed them into my suitcase.

When I reached the desk, I saw that his laptop was still on.

A folder labeled “Expenses” sat open on the screen.

I opened it.

My birthday present: a $700 necklace.

That same day, Sienna got a $7,000 bracelet from the same brand.

The weekend trip I’d earned after reaching three thousand points: an $80-a-night B&B.

That same week, Sienna had posted a photo from a five-star hotel with floor-to-ceiling windows, tagged in the same city.

I kept scrolling.

Eight years.

Whatever he bought me, Sienna always got something more expensive, better, and chosen with more care.

At the bottom was a note: [I promised her that even if I had a girlfriend, she would still come first.]

I stared at the screen, a dull ache spreading through my chest. I wanted to cry, but nothing came. Eight years of hope seemed to splinter inside those neat little numbers.

I shut the laptop and dragged my suitcase into the living room.

In the center of the media console sat a photo of the three of us, the only one in eight years where I stood in the middle.

I smiled carefully in the picture, lips pressed together, eyes bright.

Back then, I’d thought it meant I’d finally been let in.

I took the frame down, pulled out the photo, and dropped it into the trash.

I heard the front door unlock.

Sienna came in first, moving through the entryway like she lived there.

“Claire, you’re still up? I had a fight with my family. I’m staying here for a few days.”

Ethan came in behind her and casually hung up her coat.

“She’s taking the guest room. You’re okay with that, right?”

Before, I would have said, “Fine,” then spent half the night listening to them watch movies in the living room, their laughter slipping under my bedroom door.

Whenever I complained, he would threaten to dock another hundred points, and I would shut my mouth.

But now, I did not care about the points anymore.

I looked up at Ethan.

“You’re asking me now? In eight years, every time she showed up here, did you ever ask if I was okay with it?”

Then I turned to Sienna. “So you had nowhere else to go, and you came here again? You do remember he has a girlfriend, right?”

Sienna’s face went pale. She said nothing.

Ethan frowned. “She doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Then move out and live with her!”

Ethan stared at me for a second before scoffing. “Do you even hear yourself?”

Sienna’s eyes flooded with tears. “If I’m really that much of a problem, I can get a hotel. Please don’t fight because of me.”

“At least you know you’re the reason. For eight years, you’ve played innocent while acting like the other woman.”

Ethan’s face darkened, anger flashing in his voice.

“Apologize to her.”

“Why would I apologize?”

He lowered his voice. “Claire, apologize, or I’m docking you two thousand points tonight.”

I looked him in the eye and laughed.

“Go ahead. Take as many as you want.”

I grabbed my suitcase and pulled it toward the door.

He grabbed my arm. My gaze dropped to his hand, and that was when I saw the ring on his finger.

A slim silver band, identical to the one Sienna wore.

My own ring finger had been bare for eight years, waiting for him.

I lifted my bare hand and held it up between us.

“Ethan, I waited eight years.”

“And what did I get? The two of you wearing matching rings. A file on your laptop about her that says you promised she would always come first.”

Ethan’s face drained of color. “You went through my laptop?”

He took a deep breath. “I promised her something. The year her parents divorced, she was terrified and alone. I told her I’d always be there. It wasn’t romantic. It was just…”

“Just what? Just that I was supposed to come second?”

“Ethan, I’m done waiting.”

I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.

The slap cracked through the room. His head snapped to the side, color slowly rising in his cheek as he stared at me in disbelief.

I did not look at him again. I dragged my suitcase out the door and into the rain.