Ryan stammered, trying to explain.

"Next time, I absolutely won't let her interrupt our wedding."

"Answer my question directly."

"Avery, why are you being so relentless? You know Aubrey is sick!"

"Understood. Then this is it. Divorce."

I couldn't listen anymore. If I did, I worried my forced smile would crack.

I didn't want to lose my composure, nor did I want to waste another ounce of emotion on Ryan.

But he stared at me, incredulous, then roared.

"Divorce, divorce, divorce! Avery, I'm trying to be reasonable here! How long are you going to keep this up? Every other word is 'divorce'! Aren't you tired of it?"

"I'm telling you, divorce isn't an option!"

"Even if you don't care about the baby, I won't let our child be born without a father!"

Hearing the word "baby" made me want to turn and flee.

But he was quicker. He released my arm and stormed out to the balcony to smoke.

I knew he was going to cool off. The old me would have silently prepared his foot bath, waiting for him to return, then apologized, given in, and we'd have gone back to normal.

But not today.

I walked out of the apartment building and onto the street, letting the night wind chill me to the bone.

As I walked, I remembered the first time I saw Ryan.

It was on a road much like this one. My mother and I were fleeing debt collectors, and I’d lost my shoes. My feet were cut and bleeding from the stones, but I didn't dare stop.

If we slowed down, the collectors would catch us and beat us.

By chance, we ran into Ryan cycling home. He saw the state my mother and I were in and, without a moment’s hesitation, grabbed a brick and charged.

The debt collectors ended up in the police station, and Ryan got a disciplinary warning from school for excessive self-defense.

That’s when I realized we were in the same grade.

Six years of memories, still vivid in my mind.

That encounter sparked a sense of guilt in me. Ryan, feigning illness, asked me to take care of him, and he secretly helped pay off our family’s debts.

I remembered how he'd blush when the nurses at the hospital teased him about me being his girlfriend, and his adorable, stubborn refusal to back down.

He was so good to me that my mother felt we could never repay him.

"Avery," she’d often say, "you must never let Ryan down. We owe him."

Six whole years.

I truly believed I had been more than fair to him.

Mom, I just can't do this anymore.

If it hadn't been for Aubrey, maybe everything would have been perfect.

Without realizing it, I found myself outside a budget hotel, just as barefoot and desperate as I had been all those years ago.