After You Satisfacted Me, I Satisfacted Her Entire Empire

Pearl, Ronnie, the money they'd swindled, the sincerity they'd stolen.

None of it mattered anymore.

At eight that evening, Grandma's condition had stabilized slightly.

I got up and headed to the hospital cafeteria to buy some soft food for her, something she could eat once she woke up.

But when I hurried back carrying the thermos container, I saw Ronnie slipping into her room while I was gone.

He was standing at the side of her bed, leaning down, his lips close to her ear, whispering something I couldn't make out.

The next second, Grandma's body seized violently. The vital signs monitor erupted in alarm, its red indicator light flashing in a frenzy.

I rushed forward and shoved Ronnie away from her.

"What are you doing!"

He stumbled back, eyes wide with feigned panic.

"I just came to tell Grandma some good news."

"I told her that Pearl is already carrying my child."

"I have no idea why she reacted like this!"

I turned back to the bed.

Two lines of tears were sliding from the corners of Grandma's eyes. A rattling sound rose from her throat, as if she were trying to speak, but no words came out.

The heart rate on the monitor plummeted in a straight line. Her blood pressure dropped to critical.

I screamed, slamming the call button over and over.

"Doctor! Nurse!"

"Somebody help! Somebody save my grandmother!"

Her pupils were going glassy, unfocused, drifting. My vision blurred red. I lunged at Ronnie, locked both hands around his throat, and squeezed.

"I'll kill you!"

His eyes rolled back. His hands slapped uselessly against my arms.

"Let... let go..."

That was when Pearl appeared in the doorway, a fruit basket in her hand.

"Marcus, have you lost your mind!"

She screamed and charged at me, shoving me off. She caught Ronnie as he crumpled to the floor and pulled him close.

"Ronnie, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

He clutched his neck, whimpering.

"Pearl, my back really hurts. I think something's broken. What if I can't take care of you anymore?"

The moment she heard that, Pearl hauled him to his feet and rushed him out of the room.

"Doctor!"

"Save my husband!"

Grandma's chest had stopped moving.

A flat, unbroken line stretched across the monitor. The alarm screamed through the room, steady and merciless.

Doctors and nurses flooded in, pushing me aside. They started emergency resuscitation.

The defibrillator fired again and again, jolting Grandma's body each time. But no spark of life returned.

Half an hour later.

The doctor set down his equipment. He pulled the white sheet up slowly, drawing it over Grandma's face.

"The patient shows no vital signs."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

I stared at him blankly.

Sorry for my loss? How was I supposed to bear this loss?

Grandma was the only family I had left.

I walked to the bed, one step at a time, and dropped to my knees.

The grief was so total, so absolute, that not a single tear would come.

I knelt there for three full hours.

Only when both legs had gone completely numb did I grip the edge of the bed and pull myself upright.

I called the funeral home. They sent a vehicle, and I handled the cremation paperwork through the night.

The moment the furnace door closed, I thought I saw Grandma smiling at me. She told me to keep living, to never shed another tear for people who weren't worth it.

It was four in the morning when I walked out of the funeral home, the urn cradled in my arms.

I pulled out my phone. The screen was clean.

No missed calls from Pearl. No messages. Nothing.

She was probably with Ronnie right now.

I put my phone away and took a cab back to the place that had once been called home.

When I pushed open the door, every inch of the apartment was stamped with traces of the life Pearl and I had shared. The wedding portrait on the wall. The matching slippers by the entryway. The pair of custom mugs on the coffee table.

How ironic.

I packed a few clothes, then set my grandmother's death certificate on the table.

Before I left, I took one last look at the apartment. Then I shut the door without mercy.

The airport terminal was a blur of strangers coming and going.

I watched the planes lift off through the window. My heart was strangely still.

The boarding announcement crackled over the speakers.

I stood, clutching the urn tight against my chest, and walked toward the gate without looking back.

Goodbye, city that took everything from me.

Goodbye, Pearl.