Chapter 2

 Ryan's eyes wandered around the room to see if there was anyone else she was speaking to. No one. His eyes darted back to her. A rapist? Is she starting to run out of her mind?

“What are you talking about?” Ryan forced himself to ask even though what he wanted to do right now was to throw anything he could possibly throw, turn the room upside down to show Stephanie that she isn't the only one capable of getting mad.

 She stared at him, anger visible on her face. "So it has now come to this, huh? Drugging me just so you can sleep with me?" She didn't shout this time. 

 Drug? Ryan tried to stand up but his body felt numb again. The last thing Stephanie should ever think of if she had even the slightest bit feeling for him was that he would drug her. And to think she was the one who seduced him last night… his mouth opened slightly to say something, but no words came out. All the words in his head wanted to rush out at once. He couldn't even form a sentence to deny what she was accusing him of.

Stephanie threw another shoe at Ryan. Her hand shook slightly in mad anger as she gathered the blanket around her and walked to the drawer. If she had known that this is what Ryan would resolve to make them have a child, she would have sent him to another room. 

"It seems just like you, Ryan." She stopped when she got to the drawer. "Drugging and raping me just because you think a child will solve your poverty problem." 

 She opened the drawer and threw out things from it.

"You think getting me pregnant would make me consider you as a proper man?" She threw one drug tablet toward him to make sure he feels his stupidity. Only that the Ryan she knew doesn't have any feeling of stupidity. Maybe it's his lack of ambition that makes it impossible for him to think like a normal man. Hell, a normal man!

 "To hell with you, Ryan!" She shouted, still looking for the emergency contraceptives. 

"To hell with you if you think I'm going to have a child for a loser." 

    If humiliation were a currency, he was sure he would have been the first man ever seen to build a house in the air with the constant humiliation he's been subjected to in the past three years of his marriage to Stephanie.

Stephanie's family members made it clear to him that they knew he was made of nothing other than poverty and yeah, they treated him worse than a piece of trash.

Had he really been this stupid? He remembered what Stephanie told him on their wedding day just as the guests started to leave and they were alone for some moments. She asked him would Ryan stay at home being a househusband to support her career. And what had been his reply? He had grinned!

He reached into his pocket to get his cigarettes, he pulled out an empty hand. He had almost forgotten that he was too poor now to even buy that. 

He couldn't stand it anymore. The woman he loved only did see him as a substitute for her ex-boyfriend?

After being married for many years, she thought Ryan was the kind of person who would rather force her just to make her pregnant to maintain the marriage?

And she‘d rather take abortion pills than have a baby with him?

Ryan walked over to her and gripped her wrist, forcing her to look at him.

  "Last night. Did you remember anything?"

  She laughed. "I remember. Yes. You raped me!" 

 Ryan shook his head,  "Anderson?" He looked at Stephanie's pale face and continued, “You moaned his name.”

“I didn't...” Stephanie subconsciously tried to deny it, but then lifted her chin. “So What?” She jerked her hand from his grip, "He's way better than you."

  “If you said so. ," Ryan said. "Let’s get divorced. I've had enough."

Silence enveloped the room at Ryan's demand for a divorce. Stephanie blinked her eyes repeatedly, her anger evaporating and completely replaced by a headache.


"What?" Her lips quivered. "What did you just say?"


"I want a divorce. Today."


"Why would you mention that out of the blue? Do you think a divorce is a joke?" 


"This marriage isn't working. And…" Ryan looked into her eyes. "I can't do this any more. I've had enough of being the one you let out your anger on." And, Ryan thought, I can't continue living this stupid life in the name of love where you have no respect for me.


"If that's the case, I will find something to do about it. A divorce isn't necessary, especially since it will affect you."


"Affect me? As in, I'm too poor to stay alive?" Ryan asked sarcastically.