Minimal for Me, Everything for Her Chapter 03

Minimal for Me, Everything for Her Chapter 03

Adrian caught up with me downstairs.

“The ring isn’t what you think.”

I tried to walk away.

He kept following me.

“Sienna’s birthday is next month. She wants to buy herself a ring. I’m just helping her choose.”

“She doesn’t have any other friends?”

“Nora, she just got out of a terrible relationship. She’s leaning on me right now.”

“You’ve let her lean on you for four years.”

His fingers curled.

“We’ve known each other for years. We’re closer than ordinary friends.”

“So have she and I.”

I looked straight at him.

“She’s my best friend. You’re my husband. How did the two of you end up closer to each other than either of you is to me?”

Adrian hesitated.

“You’re my wife. She’s just a friend. It’s different.”

He said it as if the title wife was enough to erase every double standard.

“When we got married, I wanted rings too.”

He remembered.

His expression darkened.

I’d picked out a pair of plain wedding bands.

Nothing extravagant.

Adrian said wedding rings were a consumerist trap and took me to a sterling-silver jewelry store instead.

We bought two cheap sliver bands.

Eventually, he lost his.

I asked him three times to replace it.

Each time, he said there was no point.

“You already have a wedding ring,” he’d said.

“Sienna isn’t married. Why does she need you to help her choose one?”

“If she likes it, she should buy it. What’s wrong with that?”

Suddenly, I didn’t have the energy to keep asking.

When we got home, Adrian never mentioned the ring again.

Over the next few days, he continued leaving early and coming home late.

It was as if everything that had happened was just another example of me overthinking something that didn’t matter.

Then our wedding anniversary arrived.

Before he left that morning, I asked if he’d come home for dinner.

He checked his phone and answered casually.

“Sure.”

It was the first time in days he hadn’t turned me down.

I bought groceries and ordered a small cake for two.

That evening, Adrian actually came home on time.

But he didn’t even look at the table.

He went straight to the storage room, pulled out several cardboard boxes, and started clearing the living room.

“We have too much stuff. It’s time to get rid of some of it.”

He put the matching mugs I’d bought and the building set we’d put together into the boxes one by one.

Then he took our framed wedding photo off the wall.

I stopped him.

“You’re throwing that away too? It’s the only framed picture we have together.”

“We still have the digital copy.”

He dropped the frame into a box.

The glass struck the bottom and cracked.

I crouched to pick it up.

Adrian pressed a hand over mine.

“Don’t. The glass is broken.”

That tiny gesture made me hesitate.

Maybe he wasn’t completely indifferent.

Maybe he just loved differently.

Then he picked up the scrapbook I’d spent four years making.

“We don’t need this either.”

I grabbed the other side.

“Don’t throw it away. That’s our whole relationship.”

He looked at me and finally let go.

“Then put it away somewhere. Don’t leave it out.”

His phone chimed.

The screen lit up with a photo from Sienna.

She stood inside a jewelry store wearing a pink-diamond ring.

I don’t dare decide without you.

Adrian reached for his coat.

“You promised you’d have dinner with me tonight.”

“We can have dinner any night.”

“Today is our wedding anniversary.”

His eyes flicked toward the wedding photo in the box.

“I thought we agreed not to celebrate anniversaries.”

“You’re the one who said that.”

“You never objected all these years.”

“What if I’m objecting now?”

Adrian stopped by the door.

I forced my trembling hands still and laid out the last piece of hope I had left.

“Adrian. Stay.”

“Just tonight.”

He looked at me for a few seconds.

Then he picked up his car keys.

“Don’t force me to choose like this.”

“Sienna’s alone at the store. The sales staff are waiting for her. I’ll pay the deposit and come right back.”

The door closed behind him.

I sat at the dining table for a long time.

Two hours later, Sienna sent me a message.

Nora, Adrian drank too much. Can you bring his pajamas over?

A hotel room number followed.

I didn’t take his pajamas.

I put the scrapbook he’d nearly thrown away into my bag and went to the hotel.

The suite door wasn’t fully closed.

I had just raised my hand to knock when I heard Sienna laugh.

“I only said I didn’t like her wedding photo and you actually threw it out? Aren’t you worried she’ll make a scene?”

Adrian’s voice came through the crack in the door.

“Make a scene about what? She can’t leave me.”