Unseen Goodbye

Now, I realized that I hadn't been a good son.

The real estate agent said I needed Ruby's signature to sell the house.

I showed them proof that my parents paid for it all, but the agent said, "That's good for the court, but you both need to sign if you want to do this the regular way."

I got it.

I couldn't just cut ties with Ruby yet. I had to make things clear with her before any of the court stuff.

After saying thanks to the agent, I grabbed a power of attorney form and went home.

I thought Ruby would be out until late, but there she was on the couch, looking stormy.

She glanced at me calmly when I walked in.

She got up, went to the bedroom, and slammed the door so loud it echoed.

That was her way of telling me to say sorry and sweet-talk her, just like after every other fight we had.

Even though I didn't want to, I looked at the agreement in my hand, sighed, and walked to the door.

I had made up with her so many times before, so what was one more?

Plus, saying sorry this time could get me the whole house back.

With that thought, I opened the bedroom door. Before I could even step inside, her eyebrow razor came flying at me. I dodged, but it still nicked my face, stinging my cheek.

Ruby froze for a second when she saw she had actually hurt me, her eyes seemingly filled with mixed feelings, but then she was back to normal.

I expected her to make me say sorry first, like always, or to ask me to send her some money to calm her down.

However, this time, she was seriously concerned.

"Liam," she said, "I know you're still upset about the wedding thing, but I told you yesterday, Wilson is young and reckless. He could have really gotten into trouble.

"I went to find him for you, too. If something had happened to him, would you really be okay for the rest of your life?"

I stifled a laugh. "Why not?"

Ruby was frustrated, like she was trying to shape iron into steel. "Ignoring that he's a person, he's also our colleague. We've worked together for years. How could you just watch him be put in danger?

"And he helped a lot with getting you out of jail. Without his help, would you have gotten out so quickly?"

I thought it was funny, like a fairy tale.

Why didn't she see that if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have been in jail at all?

My lawyer said that normally, I wouldn't have been locked up for more than three months. Whether Wilson was really helping or not, who knows?

I kept this to myself. Ruby wouldn't believe me anyway.

When I didn't say anything, Ruby thought she had convinced me and smiled.

"I swiped your card this time to do you a favor. Maybe you got locked up because you've been too tight with your money. Even the sky couldn't be seen anymore, so it made you spend big just once.

"Do you think I'm excited about your tiny gifts?" Ruby said that with a sneer, then she saw the papers in my hand. "What's that you've got?"

"I'm going to sell the house."

"Sell the house?" Ruby's eyebrow went up.

I was trying to think of a good excuse to convince her when Ruby giggled behind her hand. "Are you finally going to listen to me and sell this place for a bigger one?

"I've been telling you that this house has lots of issues. The new neighborhood next door is really nice, I've checked it out before..." Ruby kept talking.

I remembered that before I went to jail, Ruby had been pushing me to sell this house and buy one in the new development next door.

She said all kinds of things to make me agree, but I knew she just wanted to be close to Wilson, who was planning to buy a house there.