With that, I rose, grabbed my coat, and walked out, my back pressed under the weight of silence and baffled stares.
That night, I had planned to stay at a guesthouse. But when I opened my phone to book a room, I realized my bank balance wasn’t even enough to cover one night.
Only then did it hit me. After getting married, I handed over my paycheck card and my bonus card—even the savings I had set aside before our wedding had been transferred into a joint account.
Jonathan had said, 'A family should keep money together. That way, it feels secure.'
Not long ago, when he offered me his salary card, I hadn’t taken it.
For the past year, I’d been a full-time mother. The only money I ever had in my hand was the allowance he gave me, never more than a couple of hundred dollars at most.
I once thought that was a symbol of trust. Only now do I realize I had turned myself into an appendage, surviving completely on Jonathan's support.
...
The next morning, I visited the baby supply shop I always frequented. Before my pregnancy, I worked there as a sales assistant.
Since then, nearly everything I purchased during and after my pregnancy came from that same store.