The Absurdity of It All

While I was still standing there in a stupor, Bianca stepped past me and opened the door herself.

A fair, thin boy walked in, dragging a suitcase in his left hand and carrying a huge stack of books in his right, swaying under the weight.

Bianca quickly took the books from him. "Let me."

The face in front of me overlapped with the face in the photo.

It was Mason.

Bianca dragged Mason's suitcase toward the guest room. As she passed me, she started explaining awkwardly.

"Mason is still my husband in name, after all. I asked him to move in with us so his family wouldn't get suspicious. I'll tutor him myself from now on, and you'll have to cook something nutritious for him. I'm sure he'll succeed next year."

"Thank you, Professor Bianca," Mason thanked Bianca, his face flushed.

When he looked up and saw me, the blush vanished at once. He rolled his eyes and muttered reluctantly, "Thank you too, Professor's…husband."

Husband?

Bianca and I weren't even married. What kind of husband was I?

I gently set the watch on the table, ignoring him, and turned to pack my things.

However, Mason refused to let me leave quietly. He nodded at me, but he couldn't hide the smugness in his eyes even with his head lowered.

"Professor Bianca only married me to help me. You're the only person she loves. Don't worry. Once I graduate and start working, I'll pay back the fifty thousand dollars she gave my family and the car she bought me. I'll pay back every cent. I'm grateful to you and the professor for giving me a second chance in life."

Even a fake marriage needed a payoff?

I quickly opened my mobile banking app.

Our joint savings of seventy-five thousand dollars had vanished. Only a little over three hundred dollars remained.

I held my chest, feeling as if my chest was being crushed. It hurt so badly I could barely breathe.

Whenever we talked about marriage, Bianca said she wouldn't marry me unless I saved up one hundred thousand dollars first.

I worked desperately to save up, so I could have the money sooner and marry her properly.

Yet now, she had married Mason without asking him for a single cent.

Not only had she asked for anything, she had even bought Mason a car and given his parents a fifty-thousand dollar monetary gift.

What did that make me, her boyfriend of eight years?

In despair, I shouted at Bianca, "We saved that money together, but you used it to marry another man! You stole it!"

Bianca had always thought highly of her own virtues, so when she heard the word "stole," her expression immediately darkened.

"If I hadn't given Mason's parents the money, how would they have agreed to let him leave the countryside? Is a human life not worth fifty thousand dollars to you? And about the car, what man gets married without buying a car? Whether the marriage is real or fake, I couldn't let Mason be treated unfairly. You're a man too. Can't you put yourself in his shoes?"

A metallic taste spread through my throat.

Tens of thousands of dollars, and she made it sound so lightly, as if she could take it out whenever she wanted.

But that was every cent we had saved over seven years of work.

Bianca was a university lecturer, and I ran a tailor shop. Our income was decent, but Bianca devoted herself to research, and materials were expensive. They ate up almost everything she made, and I always covered our household expenses.

The savings had also come from my careful budgeting, scraped together bit by bit. All so that one day, I could save enough and marry the woman I loved most.

I never got Bianca to marry me.

Instead, I got her to use our wedding funds to buy another man a car and marry him.

"You're so stingy. It's just some money. Once I finish grad school, what will that amount even matter? I'll pay you back double! I thought Professor Bianca's lover would be someone special, but he's just like those ignorant old men back in the village, always talking about money. So vulgar!" Mason muttered in dissatisfaction.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough for both Bianca and me to hear.

Bianca paused, but she still didn't say a word in my defense in the end. Instead, she simply carried Mason's luggage into the guest room and made Mason's bed for him.

Bianca was usually busy with work, so, I had taken on all the housework myself because I felt sorry for her.

This was the first time I had ever seen her do housework.

And it was for another man.