Worth Less Than a Coupon

Adrian Vale was in his study on a video call when our internet cut out because the phone account had run out of credit. I panicked and reloaded it with $50. When he came out, he frowned the moment he realized I'd forgotten to use the promo code again. "Leaving a coupon unused isn't generosity. It's stupidity." Embarrassed, I tried to explain. "I was afraid the connection would ruin your call, so I rushed. "And it was only a dollar, so I thought..." He'd already turned away in irritation. Whenever I tried to defend myself, he answered me with silence. And every single time, I was the one who apologized first. I pressed my lips together and gave up. "I'm sorry. I'll remember next time." Chapter 1 Nora's POV Only then did Adrian hand me a smile, like he was doing me a favor. "That's better. I'm thinking about our future too." He rubbed my hair and went into the bedroom to change. Then, under my puzzled stare, he said, "Celeste just finished Milan Fashion Week. Her team is having a celebration dinner tonight." He placed the newest unopened iPhone he'd bought that morning into a gift box. I tightened my grip around the phone I'd been using for five years, its screen visibly cracked. My own phone had frozen the week before. When I said I wanted a new one, Adrian told me to wait until the holiday sales. But when my best friend Celeste Monroe wanted something, he never made her wait. Before leaving, Adrian bent and kissed my cheek. "Go to bed early. Don't wait up." I looked at the plate of ribs I'd spent the entire afternoon making. My throat tightened. "Okay. I won't wait." Not tonight. Not anymore. I sat alone at the dining table and forced myself to finish the ribs. My stomach was painfully full when my phone started vibrating again and again. It took nearly half a minute for the dying device to load my messages. Celeste had sent me a voice note. "Nora, thank you both for the gift. I love it. "Especially Adrian. I only mentioned yesterday that I was tired of the orange color, and tonight he replaced it with the classic silver one. He's so thoughtful. "If he treats a friend this well, he must spoil you even more in private. I really misjudged him when I used to think he was cold. "I'm so happy for you. I really am." I didn't even reach the end of the message before I grabbed the trash can and threw up. Celeste sounded tipsy, but completely sincere. Last week, when I asked for a new phone for my birthday, she'd been standing right there when Adrian refused. She praised him for being practical. She teased me for spending too freely. I rinsed my mouth mechanically and tried to settle my stomach. This wasn't the first time. The month before, I worked late and missed the supermarket's evening discount window. Adrian barely spoke to me for a week. Then Celeste landed a Milan runway booking. To celebrate, Adrian took her to a new high-end restaurant downtown. Whenever he and I ate out, he planned around coupons. That night, he tipped nearly a thousand dollars. Two months earlier, we were at a tourist attraction when my period came early. I asked him to buy me pads. He looked annoyed. "Didn't you stock up for a year during the last sale? Why would you buy them here at tourist prices?" I was in pain and too humiliated to argue. A woman nearby noticed and quietly gave me a spare pack. Later, Adrian spent more than twelve thousand dollars at auction on an overpriced painting by an obscure foreign artist for Celeste. That time, I finally confronted him. He wiped my tears as if he truly didn't understand. "Nora, groceries and household supplies only keep us alive. No matter how good they are, they're consumables. So we save where we can. "But art and the things that feed the spirit are different. Some things are worth any price. "Celeste and I came from the same kind of scarcity. When I give her something she once couldn't have, it's almost like I'm healing the younger version of myself too. "You grew up never lacking anything. You've never really had some grand spiritual pursuit either. It's normal that you don't understand." I no longer knew when it had happened. But whenever Adrian talked about Celeste now, warmth softened his entire face. It hadn't always been like this. Chapter 2 The first time I introduced Adrian and Celeste, they could barely stand each other. Adrian hated the way Celeste's family drained her financially and worried I'd get dragged into their mess. Celeste heard how many women chased Adrian and immediately warned him that if he ever hurt me, she'd make him regret it. I spent the entire evening keeping them from fighting. Slowly, the hostility faded. Celeste started saving Adrian a seat in our shared college lectures. I was relieved that the two people closest to me had finally learned to get along. Then everything changed. Adrian began studying painting. Celeste took modeling jobs on the side. They connected almost instantly. Our three-person group chat used to revolve around food, restaurants, and whatever new dish I wanted to try. Gradually, it became a place for conversations about art that I could barely follow. Adrian loved the restraint and quiet resonance of watercolor. Celeste preferred the intensity and movement of oils. They could debate for hours without noticing that I'd stopped speaking. Eventually Adrian stopped spending weekends exploring restaurants with me. He went to art exhibitions Celeste liked instead. At amusement parks, he no longer rode the carousel with me. He followed Celeste to the drop rides and haunted houses that made my stomach turn. Even when he proposed, he didn't buy the diamond ring I'd saved to my wish list for months. He chose a plain silver band. Exactly Celeste's style. A tear struck my phone screen. The wallpaper behind the chat was one of Celeste's modeling portraits. She was tall now, poised and effortlessly cool. Nothing like the hunched, timid girl I'd met in college. I thought about the admiration that appeared more and more often in Adrian's eyes when he looked at her. And finally I understood. I was groceries. Phone bills. Coupons. Everything that should be kept practical and cheap. Celeste was inspiration. She was the thing worth spending wildly on. While I was still crying, Adrian sent another message. He said he'd be home late again and reminded me to lock the door before sleeping. Once, I would have replied to a message like that with a dozen hearts and ridiculous stickers. This time, I wiped my face and closed the chat. Then I slid the plain silver wedding band I'd worn for five years off my finger and left it on the nightstand. I picked up my bag and walked out. Chapter 3 It was only eight when I reached the little family restaurant my parents owned. The last dinner rush was still going. I knew how clumsy I could be, so I found a corner and tried not to get in anyone's way. Instead, Mom and Dad finished the orders already on the stove and closed early. They took one look at me and knew something was wrong. I let out a long breath. "Mom. Dad. "I think I'm going to divorce Adrian." They exchanged a look. After a long silence, Dad asked carefully, "Is this about Celeste?" My chest tightened. I stared down at my phone and nodded. "Yes. And no." Dad rubbed the edge of his cigarette pack and sighed. "We helped those two because they seemed like decent kids. I never thought..." He stopped. Adrian and I had grown up together. During our junior year of high school, his father died of cancer. His mother died by suicide soon afterward. Relatives took the family house, leaving Adrian with funeral expenses and roughly eighteen thousand dollars in debt. My parents pitied him. They also knew I loved him. So they paid off the debt and helped him finish school. Celeste hadn't even been called Celeste then. She was born Roberta Pike, named after the son her family wanted and never got. We were classmates but barely spoke until I found her cornered in an alley by members of her own family demanding money. I called the police. Later, when I learned she was working while studying just to cover tuition, I invited her to take shifts at my parents' restaurant. Ray and Diane treated her almost like another daughter. They always slipped extra money into her pay. After graduation, Celeste finally cut ties with her family and changed her name. Without them draining her, her life improved quickly. Unfortunately, the distance between us grew just as fast. Mom's eyes reddened as she squeezed my hand. "Then divorce him. "We helped two people who turned out to be ungrateful. That's on us, not you. "Your father and I can still take care of our daughter." Later, we walked through the nearby mall until almost ten. When the elevator opened outside my parents' apartment, Adrian was already pacing in the hallway with his phone pressed to his ear. Mom's phone started ringing. He spun around. The instant he saw me, relief washed over his face. "Nora. Why didn't you answer your phone? Do you have any idea how worried I was?" He'd noticed at the dinner that I hadn't answered his messages for over an hour. Then my calls went unanswered too. He panicked, left without his jacket, and rushed home. When our apartment was empty, he'd come straight here. His chest was still rising hard from the run. The right sleeve of his shirt was pushed up, exposing the pale scar along his forearm. My heart tightened automatically. The year we graduated, I rented a place of my own because I wanted to prove I could be independent. One night, a drunk man started pounding on my door. I called Adrian. He came immediately. When the man realized I'd contacted the police, he swung a bottle at Adrian. Adrian had just joined one of the most prestigious art firms in the country. His right hand was his entire career. I cried and called him an idiot for risking it. He looked at me and said I mattered more than his hand. We got married soon after. Over five years, we had plenty of fights. Every time I saw that scar, I softened first. My throat burned now. I looked away. "My phone froze." Adrian sighed. "Then use this." He pulled out a brand-new orange phone. My parents looked uncertain. I only saw the familiar little moon sticker on the case. Celeste's. My chest twisted. "Thanks, but no. "My parents already bought me one." I lifted the unopened box in my hand. Adrian stared at me for a long time, his expression turning cold. Then he turned and left without another word. Chapter 4 That night, I quit the administrative job I'd held for five years. I also called a lawyer friend and asked what I needed to prepare for a divorce. I didn't go home. Adrian didn't ask where I was. He probably assumed what he always assumed: that I'd gone to my parents' place in a mood, would cool off for a few days, and then come back on my own. After I finished the resignation paperwork, I finally went back to our apartment with the divorce agreement in my bag. The place was empty. Then my phone rang. Celeste was video calling. "Nora, look where we are." I caught a glimpse of unfamiliar faces and a packed stadium behind her. "You're overseas?" She nodded excitedly. "Yeah. Adrian and I are in Eurepan for the sports event. The atmosphere is insane. I wanted you to see it too." The call was so loud that I frowned. Celeste kept talking over the crowd, asking whether there was anything I wanted her to bring back. Then a hand appeared off-camera and passed her a bottle of water. Adrian's voice followed, gentle and close. "Drink something. Your throat's going to hurt." Then, a beat later, he asked, "Who are you video calling?" The call ended abruptly. That soft voice in the middle of all that noise felt like a weight dropping onto my chest. My phone rang again. This time it was Adrian. He'd moved somewhere quieter. There was an unfamiliar edge of panic in his voice. "Nora, I'm here for work. Celeste happened to have time and came along. Don't overthink it." Our fifth wedding anniversary was one week away. I'd started planning a Marvidise trip a month earlier. Adrian had rejected it with perfect logic. "Baby, work is going to be brutal this month. I don't have the energy for an international trip. "Let's keep things simple this year like we usually do. When this project is over, I'll make it up to you properly." With me, there was always a better sale. A better time. A more practical option. With Celeste, action always came before reason. I held the phone numbly. "I'm not overthinking anything." My throat tightened. "Adrian, I want a div-" Celeste suddenly called his name. His attention left me instantly. "Good. I have something to handle here, and the stadium signal is terrible. We'll talk when I'm back. "Send me a list if you want anything. I'll buy it for you." He hung up before I could get another word out. For the next several hours, Celeste sent updates every half hour. A video from premium seats near the field. Photos near the Breakmeil Bridge. And Uphill Park at night. Her voice messages were full of excitement. "Nora, Eurepan is gorgeous. It's such a shame you couldn't come. "Adrian took me everywhere. He even bought the perfume I love. Don't worry, he picked one up for you too. "The funniest part was the sales associate thought I was his wife. You should've seen how awkward we both got. "Seriously, sometimes I'm jealous that you have such a gentle, thoughtful husband. You'd better treasure him." My stomach rolled. I was done with her performance. My hands shook as I typed. "You like him that much? He's yours." Then I opened Adrian's chat. "I want a divorce." I blocked both of them. Then I packed as quickly as I could and left the apartment for good, ignoring the endless vibrations from my phone.