"You don't have to look so worried, Dray. It's just a bracelet. It's not like he's asking for my hand in marriage... again."
Lina didn't even look up as she spoke. She was sitting cross-legged on our bed, surrounded by a sea of premium tissue paper and gold-embossed shopping bags. The room, which usually felt cramped and dim, was currently glittering with the reflected light of high-end luxury.
I stood in the doorway, the small velvet box with the pearls still tucked into the palm of my hand. I had waited three days for the right moment. Three days of us moving around the apartment like strangers, barely speaking, barely touching. I thought today would be different. I thought the tension had cooled enough for me to try one last time.
"He sent more gifts to you?" I asked, my voice sounding thin even to my own ears.
"Rico is just being a friend, Dray," she said, her voice airy and light. She pulled a velvet-lined case from a bag and popped it open.
A diamond-encrusted tennis bracelet winked at me.
"He knows things have been stressful for me. He said every woman deserves to feel a little bit of magic when her world feels grey. It's a friendship gesture. He's always been generous like that."
"A friendship gesture doesn't cost thirty thousand dollars, Lina," I said, stepping into the room.
"He's buying his way back into your life. He's the same man who stood at our engagement party and told me I was never going to be able to keep you. Have you forgotten that?"
Lina sighed, finally looking at me. There wasn't any anger in her eyes—that was the part that hurt the most. Anger meant she still felt something. Instead, she just looked at me with a weary sort of pity.
"He was protective of me, Dray. That's what men in his position do. We were never enemies, Rico and I. We just... didn't work out at the time. We were young. But now that we're older, I can see that he was just looking out for my future. Can you really blame a man for wanting me to have the best?"
"I'm trying to give you the best, Lina," I whispered. I walked to the edge of the bed and held out the box.
"I brought this for you. I know things have been hard. I know I've been distant with the work, but I did this for you. I wanted to apologize properly."
She looked at the box. She didn't reach for it. She didn't even lean forward.
"Oh, Dray," she said softly.
"That's sweet. Truly. But I think we both know what's inside, don't we? It's probably some more of that cheap jewelry from the mall. Or maybe a silver plated necklace that'll turn my neck green in a week."
"It's not cheap, Lina. I worked—"
"It's okay," she interrupted, waving a hand dismissively as she turned back to a large, square box from a famous French designer.
"You don't have to explain. I know you tried your best with what you have. Just put it on the nightstand. I'll look at it later when I have a moment."
"Lina, just open it. Please."
She paused, her hand on the ribbon of Rico's gift. She looked at my box, then back at me.
"Dray, look at the bed. Look at what's here. I'm currently opening a custom-made silk scarf and a limited edition timepiece. If I open your little box right now, it's just going to be... sad. Let's not do that to ourselves, okay? Let's just enjoy the fact that for once, this room doesn't feel like a prison."
She turned away from me, her focus returning to the ribbon. With a practiced flick of her wrist, she untied it.
"Oh, wow... Rico remembered I loved this leather."
I stood there, my hand still extended, holding a gift that represented eighteen hours of bone-breaking labor. She hadn't even touched it. To her, it wasn't a gift; it was an inconvenience. A reminder of the poverty she was trying to drown in Rico's gold.
"He's not your friend, Lina," I said, my voice trembling with a mixture of grief and rising coldness.
"He's a ghost. And you're letting him haunt our marriage."
"If he's a ghost, at least he's a ghost who provides," she murmured, her fingers tracing the stitching on a new handbag.
"Go check on your computer, Dray. I'm sure there's some code that needs your attention. I'll be out in a bit to figure out what we're doing for dinner. Maybe I'll ask Rico for a recommendation; he knows all the new spots that actually have a dress code."
I didn't say another word. I placed the velvet box on the very edge of the nightstand, right next to a discarded pile of Rico's crumpled wrapping paper. It looked small. It looked insignificant. It looked exactly like how she saw me.
I walked out of the room and back to my desk.
I didn't open my compiler. I didn't look at the Aegis logs. Instead, I opened the private browser window.
Our bank balance would change soon..I had gotten a message on my work that I was yet to agree to.
I looked toward the bedroom. I could hear Lina humming a song. It was a song Rico used to like.
I typed a response to the senders of the message offering a few thousand dollars to take a full look at Aegis.
"Not yet. I want to see how far this goes. I'm going to Darkson Corp tomorrow. I want to give them one last chance to be human."
I closed the laptop and sat in the dark.
An hour later, Lina came out of the room. She was wearing the new silk scarf and the diamond bracelet. She looked like a billionaire's daughter again. She looked like the woman I met in high school, but the soul behind her eyes had been replaced by something made of glass.
"I'm going to meet Rico for a quick drink," she said, grabbing her keys.
"Just to say thank you for the gifts. It would be rude not to, right? There's some leftover pasta in the fridge for you."
She didn't mention the pearls. She hadn't even opened the box.
"Have a good time, Lina," I said.
"I will. Oh, and Dray? Try to do something about the trash? The hallway is starting to smell like... well, like this apartment."
She closed the door behind her, the click of the lock sounding like a finality.
I stood up and walked into the bedroom. I looked at the nightstand.
My gift was gone.
For a second, my heart leaped. I thought she had taken it. I thought she had finally looked.
Then I saw it.
The velvet box was in the trash can. It had been swept off the table along with the discarded wrapping paper and the empty silk ribbons from Rico's gifts. She hadn't even realized she'd thrown it away.
To her, my sacrifice was literally indistinguishable from garbage.
I reached into the trash and pulled out the box. I opened it. The pearls caught the dim light of the streetlamp outside. They were beautiful. They were honest.
I put the box in my pocket.