After Refusing My Pregnant Wife My Wages, I Regretted It

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After she got pregnant, my wife still insisted on controlling my paycheck.

So every month I quietly held back five thousand.

On the drive home from her prenatal checkup.

She suddenly asked:

You've been hiding a private stash, haven't you.

No.

Without a flicker, she pulled out a statement showing three thousand spent at a karaoke lounge.

"We're still five thousand short for the delivery, Leonard Simmons. What exactly are you playing at?"

I clicked my tongue.

"That's my money."

"That's our shared marital property!"

Her eyes went red. "What gives you the right to blow it?"

I stopped the car.

I dragged her out of the passenger seat.

"On the grounds that you're the only person in this house who doesn't earn a cent.

"You said I had no right to spend my own money, right?

"Fine. From now on you pay for everything yourself, out of your own earnings. Including the fare home."

She cupped her belly.

"How am I supposed to earn anything, looking like this?"

"Steal it. Rob someone."

I kept my hand on the wheel.

"Up to you."

"You're joking, Leonard. Tell me you're joking."

Maya Roman stepped forward.

I'd already shut the door first.

She stood outside the window, staring at me in a daze.

All the fight from a moment ago had drained out of her, replaced by shock and confusion.

So it turned out that even Maya, a top-tier professional, had a fragile side too.

A strange little rush of satisfaction rose up in me.

I rested one arm on the window.

"If you're so capable, pay for your own cab home.

"If you can't, walk."

"But..."

The car was already moving.

Maya ran a couple of steps after it.

Then she stopped, both hands on her belly.

Face pale, breathing hard.

The next second.

My car came back.

"Leonard!"

Her eyes lit up.

"Forgot one thing."

I rested my hand on the window.

"That maternity dress you're wearing. I bought it."

She froze.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means what's mine is mine."

The rims of her eyes went red.

The hand clutching the fabric at her belly trembled too.

"You want me to just, out here..."

She couldn't finish.

I nodded.

"But I've got almost nothing on underneath. You want me to strip right here?"

"That's your problem."

"You..."

What was on Maya's face wasn't grief.

It was despair.

In the seven years since I'd known her.

It was the first time I'd ever seen that huge lost look on her.

She was so used to being a force at work and at home.

She'd never realized there'd come a day she'd have to beg someone.

Which was why she'd never left herself any room to fall back on.

The feeling in my chest was hard to describe. Pure satisfaction.

I narrowed my eyes.

"Give it back."

Cars kept passing by.

Every one of them glanced over through the window, curious.

Maya actually started to cry.

"I'll admit I was wrong. Let me back in the car, I'm begging you.

"It's so dark out here, I'm scared..."

"Strip."

She looked at me through her tears.

She'd never seen me this hard before.

She glanced around.

Her eyes landed on a clump of bushes.

After she'd thrown the dress at me, she said, her voice thick:

"Now that you've cooled off, let me back in the car..."

That Maya could even bring herself to say something that low.

I threw her clothes onto the back seat.

And left her with nothing but a cold smile.

The car sped along the highway through the dark.

I couldn't stop the corner of my mouth from lifting.

Maybe I'd gone a little too far this time.

But after this.

She'd finally learn what respect meant.

With Maya gone from the house, I called the shots.

I could set the air conditioner below sixty-eight, and no one complained about the cold.

I could turn the TV all the way up, and no one told me I was disturbing her rest.

I could leave my clothes wherever I dropped them, and no one waddled over with a big belly to make me throw them in the washer.

Maya always liked to manage everyone.

At the office, she managed people.

At home, she managed me.

Big things, small things.

She had to have a say in all of it.

Even pregnant, she kept the same managerial routine going.

Then came a pounding at the door.

Had Maya actually found a way to get back here?

"Leonard!"

My parents stood there, road-worn and travel-frayed.

The second they saw me, they were livid.

"You dumped Maya on the highway?"

"Mom, keep it down. Don't bother the neighbors."

"I don't care! You go get her back right now!"

"Mom, I just wanted to teach her a lesson."

"A lesson?"

Dad's eyes went wide.

"That's your wife! And my grandchild's inside her!

"I don't care what you two are fighting about. At the very least, while she's pregnant, you give in to her a little!

"Go get her back now! This instant!"

I clicked my tongue.

Give in.

The exact same word Maya used.

"Leonard, I'm pregnant, can't you give in to me a little?"

"Leonard, I'm carrying our baby."

"Leonard, my stomach really hurts."

I'd been giving in to her for seven months.

But since my parents were here.

I couldn't make too big a scene either.

The car pulled up in front of the police station.

Maya was wearing a new set of clothes.

A policewoman draped a coat over her shoulders.

Steadied her as she walked out.

Her eyes and nose were both red.

Both hands resting on her belly.

She looked at me.

And tears instantly filled her eyes.

"You finally came."

The policewoman shot me a look.

"What kind of fight makes a man dump someone on the highway? And a pregnant woman, no less."

I managed a thin smile.

Mom rushed over and steadied her.

"Sweet girl, you've suffered. Get in the car quick, I've already given this rotten boy an earful.

"He won't dare do it again, I promise!"

Maya glanced at me.

I couldn't find a trace of that old defiance in her eyes anymore.

She seemed to be slowly learning how to be a good wife.

She came up to me, sniffled.

"Leonard"

"I'll take you back, fine."

I said.

"But from now on, I manage the paychecks."

She froze.

"Do you agree?"

Her eyes went even redder.

She nodded.

Her voice caught a little.

"I agree"

She got taken back with me.

Only after my parents drove home their warnings again and again that I was never to act out like this.

Did they finally turn and leave.

Maya handed over all of her money into my hands.

"A hundred eight thousand in all.

"A hundred five of it is the baby's education fund. I haven't touched a cent of it."

"Good."

I put the money away.

Add in the paychecks I hadn't handed over during her pregnancy.

And in my hands.

I now had close to two hundred thousand.

So this was what it felt like to have all the money under your own control.

The next day.

I pulled out an order for a private postpartum care center.

One month, sixty thousand.

From delivery and labor support to postpartum care and recovery.

One-stop service.

"Booked it for you."

I watched Maya hold that order form, stunned.

My tone flat.

"So you can't say I mistreated you while I held the money."

The order form trembled in her hands.

She pressed her lips together.

Lifted her head, eyes red.

"Thank you"

That night.

I moved her in.

She stayed there three days.

The light in her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

She stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, one hand at the small of her back, her whole face full of wonder.

"Thank you, Leonard. I'd never have splurged on a place this expensive for myself."

I stood a little way off, smoking.

"You still have to be careful during a pregnancy."

"So is there still enough money? Am I costing too much by having this baby?"

"That's not something you need to worry about."

I stubbed out the cigarette.

"As long as it's good for your health."

She seemed a little embarrassed.

Pressed her lips together.

And awkwardly got out a line.

"Thank you.

"Once I've given birth, I'll pay this money back."

"No need."

The end of everything.

A week before her due date.

I never found out where she heard it.

She shoved open the door to the private room upstairs at the postpartum center.

I froze, a cigarette between my fingers, my arm around a model.

The music cut off.

I looked at her, awkward.

Maya

She didn't say a word.

She crossed the room in long strides.

And slapped me hard across the face.

Ma'am, please calm down!

The salesperson rushed over.

She slapped that salesperson hard across the face too.

So this is the top-tier service you people talk about!

Running this kind of business upstairs at a postpartum center! Can't you make a living any other way? Don't you have any conscience left?

This salesperson was also Maya's midwife.

Maya's eyes were red.

The model I'd picked shrank into my arms, terrified.

Maya pointed at her, eyes red.

Do you even know what kind of place this is?

Do you know the men you're servicing are all about to become fathers?

Do you have any shame at all?

She grabbed a fistful of the model Lena's hair.

The room fell into chaos.

A liquor bottle tipped over on the floor.

The whole room was full of her crying and cursing and the models' shrieks.

Cut through by the salesperson's frantic pleading.

I closed my eyes.

I grabbed Maya's arm.

Are you done making a scene?

Me? Making a scene?

Maya's eyes were full of tears.

Leonard, tell me the truth. When you booked this place, you already knew, didn't you?

I said nothing.

You book a place like this and you still have the nerve to say I'm making a scene?

She twisted my collar into creases.

Something impatient rose in me.

I pushed her off.

Then book one yourself, with your own money!

She went rigid.

Go ahead! Book a postpartum center with no girls in it! Go on!

Her hands shook as she cupped her belly.

I'm pregnant. Where am I supposed to earn the money to book one?

I was getting annoyed.

Learn from them, then.

She froze.

She swallowed.

Her voice came out rough.

What did you say?

Learn from them.

They can do it. Why can't you?

The tears nearly spilled over.

She bit down hard and held them back.

Leonard, are you even human?

Watching her shake, unable to get the words out.

Something in me twisted too.

So I turned my head away.

And spoke like a man digging in.

If you've got no money, go back down.

Rest up downstairs.

Don't worry, I won't actually do anything with them.

Leonard, you animal!

Maya lunged at me.

I reached out on instinct to stop her.

But her swollen feet gave out first.

Thud! She hit the floor.

The salesperson.

Who was also her midwife.

Stepped in and caught her.

Looking at the fluid spreading across the floor beneath her.

The salesperson cried out.

Ma'am! Your water broke!

I stood there, stunned.

Sir, she needs to be taken to the delivery room right now.

The fee is three thousand. Please settle it first.

Maya clutched her belly.

She lifted her head to me with effort.

Tears still stood in her eyes.

But her voice had turned to pleading.

Honeyhelp me

I turned around.

I took three thousand in cash out of my wallet.

Don't you not know how to earn money?

Kneel.

Then the money's yours.

Maya looked at me.

She smiled.

Tears struck the floor, hard.

"Do you really have to push me this far?"

"So do you want it?"

The three thousand hung there in midair.

Maya had been proud her whole life.

Begging me was already her breaking point.

She braced herself against the floor.

Both hands over her belly.

She turned pleading eyes to every person in the room.

"Please... someone help me..."

The marketing girl and the models lowered their eyes.

Not one of them said a word.

"Please, I'm begging you!"

Her tears fell, one after another.

This moment.

This was when her proud spine truly snapped.

Maybe I should have taken the money back.

Helped her up.

Carried her downstairs to give birth.

But a real marriage, one built on mutual respect.

Maybe it had to come through some pain first.

She shuffled forward on her knees.

Opened her mouth.

And the three thousand.

She bit it between her teeth.

In that moment.

She was no different from the women in that place.

Her tears fell onto the three thousand.

She lowered her head.

And sobbed, low and broken.

The marketing girl finally turned midwife.

Not long after.

The medical staff from downstairs came up and took her away.

Maya didn't look at me again.

The door of the room shut.

Another marketing girl came over with a drink.

Smiling, she apologized to me.

Lena's hair, the mess Maya had made of it, was neat again.

Her hand stroked lightly up and down over my chest.

"Baby, you weren't too scared, were you?"

I looked down at Lena.

Her eyes were full of concern.

Even with Maya's slap still marked red on her cheek.

At least.

There was still someone in this world who wouldn't blame me.

Maya gave birth.

A baby boy, six pounds three.

I saw him.

I loved him at once.

Maya lay on the delivery bed, her face pale.

The air conditioning in the room was turned up high.

It kept her whole body warm.

The nutrition meal sat quietly at her bedside.

She said nothing.

Just stared quietly out the window.

I lifted our son a little higher.

"Do you want to be discharged now, or stay a while longer?"

Her hand gripped the blanket over her belly.

"I was in labor for a full day. I can't even get out of bed. How am I supposed to leave?"

"Then either I keep paying, and you don't have to worry about anything.

"Or, if you really can't stand it here, I'll arrange your discharge."

Her lips pressed thin.

Her eyes still fixed hard on the window.

As if forcing back tears.

"Which do you choose?"

I asked her.

She pulled the blanket up.

Over her face.

I heard the muffled catch of her crying.

I knew her choice.

For the next half month and more.

I spent my days upstairs.

At night I'd come down to look in on the two of them.

The last day.

Lena leaned in to kiss me.

I pushed her away.

"Baby, you're leaving today. We'll never see each other again after this."

Lena's eyes went red.

I said nothing.

"Just think of it as something to remember me by."

Her scent drifted close to me again.

I pushed her back.

Stood up and straightened my collar.

Tossed her a stack of bills.

"I'll remember you."

That month had been like a dream.

Since Maya and I first started dating.

It was the happiest month I'd had.

Leaving now.

There was a lot in me that didn't want to go.

But I knew.

In the end, I still had to return to my family.

I went downstairs.

Maya had already come down ahead of me.

She held the baby.

Waiting at the curb without a word.

I walked up with the car keys.

"Come on, we're going home."

She didn't move.

"Get in the car."

I held the passenger door open and looked at her.

She bent her face close to our son.

"I'm not waiting for you."

I froze.

A Ferrari pulled up slowly behind my car.

A man I'd never seen before stepped forward and slid his hand around Maya's waist.

They said something to each other.

Maya nodded and followed the man toward the Ferrari, going along easily.

"Maya!"

I went after her. "Who is he?"

Maya turned her head and looked at me. "Whatever that model is to you, that's what he is to me."

"You're insane!"

I couldn't believe my ears.

"You, doing something like this!"

She raised her eyes slowly.

Her hand still patting our son gently.

"Isn't this the line of work you told me to get into?"

I stood there like I'd been nailed to the spot.

"I have to admit, there are plenty of men richer than you.

"Really, so many."