Three Months of Mourning

"Besides, we have a house. What's wrong with the family squeezing in together? We can fit. Why waste money renting from someone else?"

Donovan chimed in from the side. "Arya, does your husband look down on us for being poor?"

I did not want to put Arya in a difficult position at the time, so I let it drop. However, now, less than three months after Arya died in that car accident, they were already eager to kick me out and take over my house.

Only now did I understand. When they said 'home', they had long since treated this place as theirs.

I stared at my name on the property deed, thinking back to their conversation earlier.

I pulled out my phone and carefully photographed the deed from cover to cover, uploading everything to cloud storage for backup.

After finishing, I hid the property deed in an even more discreet location.

…

The next day at dinner, I had barely sat down and taken a few bites when Sloane started sighing heavily. "Ugh, business at the factory has been terrible lately. My paycheck still hasn't come through this month. We can barely keep up with household expenses."

Donovan immediately jumped in with a frown, "I haven't been getting much work either. My payment has been delayed for days. I don't have a spare cent. We can barely scrape together Maya's extracurricular class fees."

Sloane glanced at my mother-in-law, then continued, "Grace, haven't groceries gotten ridiculously expensive lately? I went shopping after work today and saw a bunch of greens going for eight dollars. The cost of living just keeps climbing. For people like us with low incomes, it's really tough."

My mother-in-law quietly agreed. "Things are more expensive now. Life is getting harder."

Once my mother-in-law took the bait, Sloane immediately turned to me with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Graham, you see how things are right now. It's difficult. This house fits all of us, but the expenses are huge. How about starting next month, you chip in some rent? It doesn't have to be much. Maybe 3,500 dollars a month."

Before I could respond, she added, "Graham, I know things aren't easy for you either. But you don't have kids right now. You've got way less pressure than we do, so 3,500 shouldn't be that hard for you, right? Think of it as contributing to the household. Right, Grace?"

"That's right, Graham. Why don't you listen to Sloane and Donovan and pay a little rent?"

I set down my utensils, genuinely confused. "Sloane, since when do people pay rent to live in their own home? Besides, I've been paying the water, electricity, and property management fees for this place every single month. I've never asked any of you to chip in a single cent."

I turned to my mother-in-law, my tone carrying a hint of grievance. "And Grace, every month when I get paid, I give you 2,000 dollars for household expenses. After that and my own costs, where would I get extra money for rent?

"It's not that I don't want to spend money on this family. I genuinely can't afford it right now.

"You all know that when Arya had that car accident, we spent everything we had on her treatment. The driver who hit her has no money to compensate us and keeps dragging it out. I have nothing left."

As I spoke, my eyes grew slightly red. The dinner table fell silent instantly.

Sloane's face flushed red, then pale. Donovan frowned and kept his head down without speaking. My mother-in-law's eyes reddened as she lowered her head.

I lost my appetite and hurried back to my room. What I said at the dinner table was half-truth.

When Arya got hit by that drunk driver, we did use our savings to pay for her medical treatment, but the insurance covered most of it later. I was not broke.

…

That night, as I drifted in and out of sleep, I heard Sloane and Donovan arguing. A child's crying mixed in with their voices.

"Didn't you say your mom would back me up and he'd listen?" Sloane's voice was sharp with anger and tears. "After what I said today, I've become the villain! Like I'm the one bullying him!"