When Olivia lands a $2,500 bonus, she thinks her hard work is finally paying off.
But the celebration turns to shock when she spots her mother-in-law flaunting a brand-new iPhone — one her unemployed husband secretly bought with Olivia’s money!
Now, Olivia is plotting a lesson he’ll never forget…
While he was courting me, Aaron was attentive, hardworking, and kind. I felt like the luckiest woman in the world when he proposed!
But when we got back from our honeymoon, Aaron started changing almost immediately.
It started with little things. The way he’d skip date night to play video games.
How he’d “forget” to do the dishes, leaving them piled in the sink for days. Then the morning coffee ritual disappeared.
During the year before we got married, he’d wake me every morning with a cup of coffee, a cuddle, and a silly joke. It was one of the many little things he did that made me feel appreciated.
But three years into our marriage, I couldn’t remember the last time he’d done anything thoughtful just to make me smile.
Looking back, I should have confronted him sooner.
But isn’t that always the way? You tell yourself things will get better, that it’s just a phase, and that marriage is about supporting each other through rough patches.
So I kept quiet, kept hoping, and kept pretending everything was fine.
Until one Tuesday evening when our lives took a sharp turn into a downward spiral.
Aaron came home from work and threw himself onto our gray sectional.
“Those guys at work really don’t appreciate me. I nailed the analytics report, and didn’t even get thanked for it,” he announced, staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers to his problems.
I set aside my laptop and moved closer, ignoring the voice in my head that reminded me how we’d had this conversation at least twice a week for the past month.
“I know it’s tough, babe, but things will get better.”
He shook his head.
“Not unless I do something about it.”
And boy, did he do something about it! He walked into his office the next day and told his boss to shove it. Real mature, right?
He didn’t have a new job lined up, or any kind of backup plan either.
I took over all the bills, telling myself it was temporary. We were a team, after all. That’s what I kept repeating in my head as I showed him where I kept cash in the bedroom drawer, just in case he needed anything while job hunting.
“This is only for emergencies, okay?” I told him.
“We need to be careful with our finances until you get another job, so none of your usual generosity, Aaron.”
He nodded and told me he understood.
Aaron had always enjoyed spoiling the people he cared about… not me so much anymore, but his mom and sister always got lavish gifts on their birthdays.
Months crawled by, and Aaron’s job search consisted mainly of playing video games and watching YouTube tutorials about becoming a cryptocurrency millionaire.
He’d occasionally mention some “amazing opportunity” he was “researching,” but these never materialized into actual interviews.
Meanwhile, I was working overtime, trying to keep us afloat, coming home to a messy house and a husband who seemed more interested in his game controller than his wife.
When my boss called me into his office one Friday afternoon, I was honestly expecting bad news.
My hands were shaking as I sat down across from Mr. Peterson’s imposing oak desk.
“Olivia, you’ve been an incredible asset to this company,” he said, his usual stern expression replaced with an actual smile. “We want to reward you for your hard work.”
He slid a check across his desk, and my heart nearly stopped: $2,500!
I practically floated home that evening, imagining Aaron’s reaction.
Maybe this would be the wake-up call he needed; seeing how hard work pays off. Maybe it would inspire him to finally start seriously looking for a job.
“Babe, you deserve it,” he said when I told him, wrapping me in a hug and kissing my forehead.
But something in his voice made my skin crawl. It was too sweet, like when a toddler’s being suspiciously well-behaved.
I pushed the feeling aside, chalking it up to my growing cynicism about our marriage.
Then came the nightmare dinner with Ruth, my mother-in-law.
Picture everything you hate about judgmental in-laws, multiply it by ten, and you’ve got Ruth.
She swept into our house like she owned it, immediately starting her usual inspection tour, running her finger along windowsills and tsking at imaginary dust.
“Olivia, you should really use less salt.
It’s bad for Aaron’s heart,” she critiqued, pushing her food around her plate like it might poison her.
Never mind that Aaron had already added extra salt to his portion without even tasting it first.
“Your floors don’t look clean. Do you even mop?” Another jab, another fake concerned look. I gripped my fork tighter, imagining how satisfying it would be to stab it into the table.
I was about to excuse myself to scream into a pillow when I spotted the brand-new iPhone 16 Pro Max on the table beside her, gleaming under our dining room lights.
My throat went dry.
“Oh, wow. That’s a new phone, isn’t it? Who’s the generous soul?”
Ruth’s face lit up like she’d won the lottery.
“Aaron got it for me. He knows how to treat his mommy right.”
She turned to beam at her son, who suddenly seemed very interested in his mashed potatoes. I’d already guessed where Aaron must’ve gotten the money to buy Ruth such a lavish present, but part of me refused to believe it without proof.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
Tap READ MORE to discover the rest 🔎👇
