When a Henpecked Man Finally Sees Daylight

Errol's POV

In my peripheral vision, I saw Sacha’s expression faltered. She then opened her mouth to explain, but I quietly shut the car door and slipped into the back seat without a word.

Still, she hurriedly explained, “It’s probably my coworker's. They caught a ride with me after work." Her voice was unnervingly calm, lips trembling ever so slightly as if she were holding back something deeper.

Not wanting to prolong the topic, I simply hummed and nodded. Afterward, the atmosphere in the car became heavy and tense in an instant.

Had I not seen that same bag last night, in the photo of her and Craig, I might’ve believed her. The unmistakable Pikachu keychain dangling from the zipper—the one we’d won together on our first date—stood out like a flashing neon sign. That keychain had gone missing weeks ago, and I had turned the house upside down looking for it. I remember Sacha snapping at me, saying it was just a worthless trinket. “It’s not worth fussing over if it’s lost,” she had said. In hindsight, she wasn’t wrong, it really isn't worth anything—once a keepsake loses its meaning.

After a while, we finally arrived at the hospital. Just as Sacha was about to help me out of the car, her phone buzzed, slicing through the uneasy quiet. A hint of hesitation then flashed in her eyes, but after a few seconds, she eventually answered the call.

"Sacha, I slipped in the bathroom. I'm now having a hard time walking. Can you come over?" Craig’s voice came through the phone, sounding pitiful.

Her eyes instinctively darted to me. With no expression, I gave a small nod and said calmly, “If you need to go, don’t worry about me. I’ll manage.”

“I… I have something urgent at work,” she muttered, already shifting back into the driver’s seat. “You just rest. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” And with that, she sped off at a pace much faster than when she’d brought me here.

Grimacing from the pain in my leg, I checked myself into the hospital, borrowing a wheelchair from the nurse’s station. Kind strangers helped me navigate the halls until my wound was finally cleaned and bandaged. By the time the doctor finished, it was already past noon. Still, Sacha hadn’t returned yet nor called or messaged me once. Left with no other choice, I hailed a taxi and made my way home on my own.

By the time I stepped through my front door, it was late afternoon, and only then did Sacha finally call.

“Errol, where are you? I’m back here in the hospital,” she said, her voice irritated.

"I’m home," I replied calmly.

“You’re home? Why didn’t you tell me?” she snapped, her anger sparking over the line. “I went all the way back to here for nothing!”

Not once had she called to check on me, to see how I’d managed with my injury, or even how I’d gotten home. And now, the first thing she did was scold me for wasting her time.

If it were in the past, we would have had a big argument over the phone by now. I would’ve let all my frustration spill out. But now, it no longer seemed necessary.

Maybe, from the very beginning, it wasn’t that she didn’t understand my frustrations or didn’t know what I cared about. She just simply didn’t care. Holding the phone, I suddenly felt like laughing.

How absurd was it to keep demanding care and attention from someone who didn't want to give it to you in the first place?

"Hello? Are you going to say something?" Sacha barked, her impatience palpable through the phone.

I could only shake my head. “I thought you were busy,” I replied, my voice flat. “Didn’t you tell me not to bother you when you’re busy?”

Being reminded of her own words, she could only snort and hung up the phone.

For a long moment, I sat there in silence, the phone still clutched in my hand. In the past, she’d berate me for calling too much, for interrupting her precious time. Now that I didn’t call, she found a reason to be angry anyway. No matter what I did, I was wrong.

As the sky outside darkened, Sacha finally returned. She staggered through the door with a shopping bag dangling from her hand, clearly drunk. Her eyes then landed on me sitting on the couch as I watched TV, and without a word, she plopped down beside me with a smug smile playing on her lips.

She opened the shopping bag with deliberate flair, pulling out a box and showing off the label. It was the PS5 I had been dreaming about for weeks.