My manager, Tom Smith, was surprised when he received my application. He said, “You went through so much to come abroad, Joey. Why do you want to return home now?”
I lowered my head and smiled bitterly. “My parents are back in Summeria, so I think it’s better for me to return to be with them.”
Just then, my husband, Shawn Johnson, entered the room. He frowned and asked, “Who’s returning where?”
I ignored him and chatted with Tom for a while more before hanging up. I turned around to see Shawn staring at me. “Who did you say wanted to return?”
I said perfunctorily, “A colleague has submitted an application to be transferred back to Summeria.”
Shawn smirked. “And here I thought you were the one applying to return. Then again, that can’t be the case. You worked so hard to be with me—how could you bear to leave?”
He reached out to wrap his arms around my waist. “Let’s have a child once Jill gets her citizenship, honey.”
This was how he’d always treated me. He would be nice after being nasty. It was too bad I no longer wanted to see his nice side.
I pushed him away and said icily, “We can talk about the future when it actually happens.”
Shawn was surprised to hear that. Then, he softened his tone and said, “I’m actually not used to you not arguing with me this time. I thought you would fight me to the death over this.”
I couldn’t help finding his choice of vocabulary mocking. We were a married couple, yet he thought we would need to fight to the death over an outsider.
