The Christmas He Lost Her

They went at it until the middle of the night.

By morning, when the door opened, clothes and used condoms were scattered all over the floor.

The sheets were wrinkled, smeared with sticky fluid. My favorite set of bedding.

The maid stood in the doorway, looking at me awkwardly, unsure what to do.

I glanced at the mess, face cold. Not a flicker of emotion.

"Throw it all away."

Chloe fed Leon a glass of milk, the faint red marks on her chest impossible to miss.

"Sorry for messing up your room so much."

I kept tending the potted plants on the balcony and ignored her.

Before, every time Leon brought a side chick home for the night, the disgust would have me throwing up nonstop.

Now that I didn't care anymore...

It was actually a lot easier.

Seeing no reaction from me, Leon spoke, almost like he needed to get a rise out of me. "Where's the pendant I gave you?"

My hand paused while trimming a branch.

Just for a second.

I set the scissors down and brought out a neatly kept box.

Inside sat a pendant engraved with the Fabian family crest.

Leon gave it to me when we first started dating.

"Wynne, this gets passed down to Fabian daughters-in-law."

Back then, I'd been overwhelmed. I treasured it for almost ten years.

Now I placed it straight into Chloe's hands.

"Leon's right. Only this pendant matches your beauty."

The second the words left my mouth, his face darkened. The glass in his hand shattered in his grip.

"Wynne Wronski, what exactly are you playing at?"

I had no answer.

Nothing I did ever seemed to please him.

Once, Leon kept a favorite side piece around for three months. He asked me for one of my moth orchids to give her.

I was so furious I cut every stem to pieces. Made a whole ugly scene.

The girl cried. Leon snapped at me in front of everyone, grinding my dignity into the floor.

"Wynne, do you have to be this petty? It's just a pot of flowers. Why are you fighting her over it?"

Now I was handing over the Fabian family pendant—the thing I'd treasured most.

So what exactly was he still mad about?