After He Resold Me as a Secondhand Girlfriend for Fifty, He Wept

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I was addressing our wedding invitations when Louis Stephens pulled me into a resale group chat.

My swimsuit photo and my contact information were pinned to the top.

Slightly used girlfriend for sale. Fifty bucks, local pickup. Any takers?

The chat exploded.

Delete that! Someone's going to track her down and harass her!

"Yeah, sort out your fight in private!"

Louis lounged back on the couch, typing lazily.

"Fay's divorced. I want to take her abroad for a year to clear her head, so the wedding gets pushed back a year. What right does Dorothy Pruitt have to say no?"

"I've already planned the whole trip. If she keeps being unreasonable, fine, we just won't get married."

Someone tried to talk him down.

"Come on, Louis, don't say things you'll regret. Aren't you afraid someone actually walks off with your girl?"

Louis scoffed.

"Afraid? Besides me, what other man could ever catch her eye?"

The corner of my mouth twitched. I quietly dropped the invitations into the trash.

Later, I got into the luxury car parked downstairs.

Louis chased after it, falling once and then again.

I never looked back.

Just as I was about to put my phone down, someone new joined the chat.

"Five billion for pickup?"

Almost in the same second, a message came through to me.

"Dorothy, he doesn't deserve you. Come back to me."

Louis's pupils shrank. He shot upright.

"Alden Simmons?"

The chat went wild.

"Head of Simmons Group, the top name in L.A. business?"

"Five billion is nothing to him."

"She's pretty, sure, and a Stanford honors grad, but she's not worth anywhere near that."

Everyone was tagging Alden Simmons, telling him she wasn't worth it, that it was fifty dollars.

He replied with just one line: "She is worth it. But what gives certain people the right to treat her this way?"

Louis eyed me suspiciously a few times, then slumped back into the couch.

"Fake. Alden Simmons isn't someone people in our circle can even reach, and he'd never look twice at Dorothy."

The next second, Alden Simmons was kicked from the chat.

Another message popped up on my phone.

"Dorothy?"

"Just say something back to me, okay? Don't shut me out."

Before I could answer, friend requests kept flooding in, the words in them filthy.

"Nice body, gorgeous. Can I take a test run?"

"Fifty's steep. Free shipping?"

My hands were shaking as I turned off my friend-request setting. Then I sent a message to our family and friends group: the wedding was canceled.

Louis walked over, his tone the tone of a man delivering a decision.

"Dorothy, I'll say it one more time. I'm taking Fay abroad."

A minute ago he'd said his childhood friend Fay Mason was divorced, and he wanted to take her away for a year to help her recover.

I blanked for a second. "Are you joking?"

Two minutes later, he'd dumped me into a few resale groups.

One of them, he'd added me by mistake.

Five years together, and he was selling me off as secondhand for fifty bucks.

Then I didn't want him either.

I didn't even lift my head.

"Fine. I have no objection."

His eyes lit up.

"So the wedding?"

"Already canceled."

Only then did he notice the invitations in the trash. He clicked his tongue.

"Why'd you throw those out? We'll just need them again next year."

I frowned.

"Aren't you going to pack? Weren't you leaving today?"

Maybe he picked up that something was off with me, because he started volunteering his itinerary.

"I'm taking Fay to Iceland, the Arctic, Africa, and finally South America. Basically just one loop around the globe."

Just one loop around the globe?

I remembered what he'd told me before.

He didn't like traveling, because it was crowded and expensive and the experience was bad.

So in five years together, the farthest he ever took me was the free park across from our apartment complex.

Even when I suggested a honeymoon in the next city over, he shut me down flat:

"Five days away? What about the hospital? My surgeries are backed up as it is. Am I supposed to just abandon my patients?"

"Dorothy, can you be a little more sensible? If you want to travel, why not wait until we're old and we've got money and time to spare?"

So for me, travel had to wait until we were old.

But Fay didn't have to wait, and she could even make him push the wedding back.

"I've applied for unpaid leave from the hospital. My colleagues will cover my work, so it won't affect anything."

"And you don't need to worry about money either. Didn't your mom say your family isn't asking for a bride price? That twenty thousand can just be our travel fund."

When I still didn't respond, irritation came off him in waves.

"A trip around the world takes at least three years. I'm only going for one. The schedule's already packed tight."

"You have to understand, Fay only miscarried six months ago. A schedule this rushed will wear her out, and it's bad for her recovery..."

"Louis."

I cut him off, my voice level.

"I agreed to your world trip. I canceled the wedding. I have no objection to any of it. What else is there for you to be unhappy about?"

He pressed his lips together and said nothing.

"Since there isn't anything, could you delete those messages in the resale group?"

His expression clearly faltered.

"You saw?"

He went quiet for a moment, then started backpedaling.

"I can't take it back now, but it doesn't matter. Everyone in that chat is a friend of mine. Nobody's going to bother you."

"Someone already has."

"Then just turn off your friend requests. Easy fix. Besides, those people are keyboard warriors talking trash. It's not like they took a chunk out of you. Don't be so thin-skinned."

I opened my mouth and nothing came out.

He must have thought he'd won me over, because he let out a breath and tossed me another line of explanation like it was a favor.

"Fay Mason and I are just traveling together, nothing more. Every room I booked is a twin, two beds. Don't read into it."

Two beds?

I laughed all at once.

"Louis, I'm not reading into it. I haven't read enough into it."

His face darkened in an instant.

"What's that supposed to mean? A man and a woman can't just be friends? Can your mind be any filthier?"

"And another thing. Even if Fay and I did have something going on, what business is that of yours, Dorothy?"

My laugh turned bitter.

"If she weren't married, then no, it'd be none of my business."

Fay falls in love, he confesses to me.

Fay breaks up with someone, he wants to break up with me.

Fay announces her engagement, he gets blackout drunk and proposes to me.

Fay posts on her feed that she's pregnant, and the next thing I know he's turning to me saying, Dorothy, let's have a baby.

One after another, laid out plainly in front of me.

But I kept my eyes shut and walked forward anyway, telling myself that once we married, he'd settle down.

I told myself that once we married, he'd settle down.

But then Fay got divorced again.

Lucky me, this time I hadn't married him yet.

Louis stared at me coldly.

"You're just looking for trouble."

He was about to say more when the doorbell rang.

I walked over and pulled the door open.

Fay stood in the doorway dragging her suitcase, soaked to the skin, her face bloodless.

She looked past me, straight at Louis, her voice dropping low.

"Louis, I don't have a home anymore."

Before she'd finished, someone shoved me aside, and the small of my back slammed hard into the shoe cabinet.

"Dorothy, go make ginger tea."

I looked up and saw Louis carrying Fay toward the bathroom, so frantic he'd kicked off one of his slippers.

"Lots of brown sugar, easy on the ginger, or Fay won't be able to drink it."

When I didn't answer, he glanced back, irritated.

"Fay's health is fragile. Getting caught in the rain could bring on pneumonia. Why aren't you moving?"

Getting caught in the rain brings on pneumonia?

But the last time I brought documents to his hospital in a downpour, my clothes and shoes were soaked through, and I stood shivering in his office from the cold.

Even his assistant couldn't stand to watch and offered to fetch me something dry to change into.

He just waved a hand.

"No need. It's summer, a little rain won't hurt. My girlfriend isn't that delicate."

So it wasn't that I wasn't delicate.

It was that he didn't care.

"No."

Louis's face went black.

"We have a guest in the house. This is how you treat a guest?"

I ignored him, held my back, and walked to the couch to sit down, then turned on the TV.

"Dorothy, am I intruding on the two of you?"

I didn't even turn around.

"If you know you're intruding, why did you come?"

"I didn't want to. But it's pouring out there, I just finished the divorce paperwork and had nowhere to go... and Louis never came to take me to the airport."

"Does Seattle not have a subway? Or can you not get a cab to the airport?"

Fay choked up, then asked Louis to put her down.

"I should just go."

That one line set Louis off completely.

He hurled a cup, and the TV screen shattered instantly.

"Get up!"

Louis yanked me to my feet, his hand clamped on my shoulder, his eyes full of disappointment.

"Rideshare drivers are a mixed bunch. It's not safe at all for a single woman to be catching cabs alone."

"You're a woman too. Why can't you put yourself in her shoes?"

Not safe?

Didn't I take a cab home by myself every single time I worked late?

I tried to twist free, but he clamped down harder.

"That hurts!"

He froze, then let go all at once.

He drew a few deep breaths, forcing down his anger.

"Come on, be good. Apologize to Fay."

"Why should I apologize? What did I say that was wrong?"

My voice started to shake.

"She's divorced. She can go back to her parents' place, she can live in the villa her ex gave her!"

"What gives her the right to come to my home? What gives her the right to have you take her off on some getaway?"

"She's the one who should apologize! She's the one with no sense of boundaries! She's the one who doesn't know better!"

Crack!

My face burned.

I moved to hit him back on instinct, but he shoved me down into the couch.

My ears rang, and then a crushing exhaustion swept over everything.

I didn't have it in me for a cold war, or for another fight.

"Let's break up."

Louis's hand jerked, curling in on itself a few times, then reached toward my tear-streaked face.

"Why are you crying"

"Let it go, Louis. I don't blame Dorothy."

Fay pulled him aside and murmured into his ear.

"I understand. Dorothy grew up in a single-parent home. She's been starved of love since she was little, low emotional intelligence, no idea how to express herself. She isn't really a bad person."

"She just loves you too much, that's why she keeps treating me like the enemy."

"Maybe don't go on the trip around the world after all? She is your wife, when it comes down to it. You should think more about how she feels."

She gave a soft little sigh and made a show of reaching for her luggage.

"I'll stay at my ex-husband's tonight, then go back to my parents' place tomorrow."

"His girlfriend can't stand me, but she does whatever he says, so she probably won't throw me out."

Louis caught her by the arm and deliberately raised his voice.

"Don't worry about her. Whether she's even my wife is still up in the air."

He shot me a look of disgust as he said it.

"You take a good hard look at yourself. Figure out who has no sense of boundaries, who's the one acting like a child."

"If you think it's fine to disrespect my friends, then there's no reason for us to get married at all."

I tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"Get married? Have you forgotten we already broke up?"

He choked on that, then drew a deep breath.

"You're upset. I won't stoop to arguing with you."

He led Fay off to the bathroom.

Water started running behind the door.

Outside it, he passed in a towel, a change of clothes, her skincare.

Then he hurried to the kitchen, and by the time the water shut off, he already had the ginger tea ready.

Not one of these things had he ever done for me.

The one time I asked him to hand me a towel, he threw it in my face.

"I don't like this careless streak of yours, always losing things and troubling other people. Fix it."

"Dorothy."

Louis came over, brow furrowed.

"Where's the laundry detergent? And underwear, you can't machine-wash it, right, it's better by hand?"

My eyes dropped to the wet bundle of clothes in his arms.

"You're going to wash them for her?"

His expression turned awkward, and he pushed the clothes at me.

"It's not really appropriate for me. How about you do it?"

I pressed down the nausea rising in my stomach and let out a cold laugh.

His face darkened, and he carried the clothes off to the bathroom.

My phone buzzed. A video call from Mom.

On the screen she was beaming, showing off the custom gown she had on.

"Sweetie, look, isn't this gown pretty? Will it be right for your wedding?"

I frowned.

"Mom, I'm not getting"

"Is it not pretty? Then Mom will have another one made."

My throat closed, and I swallowed the rest of the sentence.

All those years she raised me selling snacks at the night market, grease on her every single day, never once wearing anything this fine.

You could tell from the fabric alone the gown hadn't been cheap. She must have been dreaming of my wedding for a long time.

I choked back a sob and forced a smile.

"It's beautiful, Mom. On the wedding day you'll be the prettiest woman there, right after your daughter!"

Mom's eyes crinkled with laughter as she leaned closer to the screen.

"Is Louis hanging up the laundry?"

She sounded delighted. "I always said it. Once he married you, he'd treasure you, he'd help with the housework for sure."

I looked toward the balcony.

Louis was hanging up Fay's clothes.

Our eyes met. His face went blank as he looked away and walked off to the bedroom.

Something pulled me after him.

Five years together. He had once been the man I wanted to hand the rest of my life to.

Every couple hits rough patches. If I gave a little more ground, if I sat down and talked it through with him calmly.

Would he agree not to go traveling with Fay?

Could the wedding still happen on schedule?

Could Mom still come to my wedding in her new gown?

I pushed open the bedroom door.

"Louis, let's talk this through"

My throat jammed shut.

Inside the room, Fay was leaning back against the headboard, both arms wrapped around the back of Louis's neck, holding him against her.

And Louis was bending down, close, about to kiss her.

The moment her eyes met mine, Fay froze.

"Dorothy?"

Louis whipped his head around and shoved Fay away from him.

"Dorothy, it's not what you think."

"Sorry to interrupt."

I turned and walked out.

Two steps in, something felt wrong.

I turned back, and Louis had already rushed to the doorway to grab my arm.

"Just listen to me, I didn't"

I stepped out of reach.

"It's fine, you don't have to explain. You're single now. It's your business."

I went around him toward the bed.

Fay was still sitting there, the satisfaction not quite wiped off her mouth.

I grabbed the sheets off the bed.

"Get up a second. My mom bought these for my wedding."

Louis blocked me, frowning.

"Don't be like this. Fay's a guest. You expect her to sleep on old sheets?"

I held on to the sheets and wouldn't let go.

"A guest? Since when does the man of the house wash a guest's underwear? Since when does a guest sleep in the master bedroom? Since when does a guest hang shamelessly off the man of the house?"

"Shameless? Do you have any manners at all?"

Louis's face went stony.

"I told you to wash them and you wouldn't, I washed them and now you're angry!"

"I was just swamped and put her in the master bedroom without thinking twice."

"And every time I try to explain what just happened, you won't let me. What exactly do you want from me?"

I stalled for a second.

"So this is all my fault?"

Fay stood up and bit her lip.

"Dorothy, I got caught in the rain and I was dizzy. I lost my balance just now, and Louis only reached out to steady me"

Louis cut her off coldly.

"You don't need to explain. She's just looking for a fight."

I said nothing more, quickly bundling the sheets and duvet cover and stuffing them into the wardrobe, then striding for the door.

Fay's eyes went red in an instant, and she rushed over and clamped onto my arm.

"Dorothy, do you think I'm cheap? It really was a misunderstanding just now. I don't want to wreck what you two have. I'm not a homewrecker."

She sobbed so hard she could barely breathe.

She dragged me back toward the room, her nails scraping my arm, leaving a few streaks of blood.

"Don't go. I'll go. I'll leave right now."

"Are you done? You haven't performed enough yet?"

It hurt too much to hold back, and I wrenched free of her hard.

She dropped to the floor, her forehead knocking against the wardrobe, swelling up right before my eyes.

She cupped her forehead, tears falling in fat drops, but she shook her head desperately.

"It's okay, Dorothy, it doesn't hurt. As long as it makes you feel better."

Louis crouched beside her, carefully checking her over for any other injuries, then stared at me with no expression at all.

"Are you satisfied now?"

I raised my arm, streaked with blood.

"She started it"

"Shut up! I saw it with my own eyes, you pushed Fay to the floor! You're going to lie to my face too?"

I stared at him blankly, my throat tightening.

"Louis, not even once. Can't you be fair to me even once?"

"Fair? What you want is to be taken sides with, no matter what. I can't do that, and I won't spoil you like that."

He scooped Fay up, shouldered past me, and rushed out.

Outside the door, Fay said in a small voice.

"Louis, I'm fine. We don't need to go to the hospital."

"How could you be fine? What if you have a concussion?"

"Dorothy seems really upset. Maybe you should stay. I'm afraid she'll storm off out of spite."

Louis didn't slow his steps.

"She already agreed to travel with me for a year, we pushed the wedding back, what more is there for her to sulk about?"

"If she wants to sulk, let her. She'll come running back on her own in a couple of days anyway."

Bang! The door shut.

I stood where I was, a wave of bleak sorrow rising in me.

This was the man I'd nearly given my whole life to.

It was laughable.

I laughed until the tears came, then tipped my head back at once.

No more crying. Crying over him wasn't worth it.

Once I'd pulled myself together, I called the agent and put the apartment up for sale.

Dragging my suitcase out of the elevator, I stopped dead.

A custom charcoal-gray Maybach was parked at the curb, and a striking man in a sharp suit was walking toward me.

"What are you doing here?"

He took my hand and guided me protectively into the car.

"You weren't answering my messages, so I came to find you."

His whole face was set with stubbornness, his long lashes flicking as he started to say something more.

Louis called, his tone airy and light.

"Do you know you were wrong yet?"

"Fay and I are almost home. Let's be clear, you are not allowed to give her any attitude!"

"And I want you to apologize to Fay, properly. You scared her like some lunatic just now."

I rolled the car window down.

Fay was walking this way on Louis's arm.

Louis had his phone in hand, his face grave.

"Dorothy, this is your last chance. If you make Fay cry again, then we're really done."

The moment she saw the car, Fay's eyes lit up, and she covered her mouth.

"Louis, I've seen this license plate on those short videos. I think it's the private car of Alden Simmons, the Simmons Group CEO."

As she spoke, she leaned in, eyeing it with excitement.

"Why would he be outside your apartment building? I wonder if we could see him in person!"

Louis went rigid all at once.

"Alden Simmons?"

He craned his stiff neck to look over, just in time to see me slowly rolling the window back up.

On the phone, his voice was dazed.

"Dorothy? Where are you right now?"