Our Mortgage, Her Home

For three years, a wife has paid toward a mortgage on an apartment she has never been allowed to see. Her husband Derek insists the construction stalled, and every time she asks, his face clouds with worry. They moved to a neighboring city for higher-paying jobs, renting while they work themselves to the bone.

Then a business trip brings her past the old development, and the building is finished, lush and lived-in. On the fifteenth floor, unit 1502, a woman in loungewear answers the door and slams it in her face. The property manager confirms the unit was delivered years ago, and the security footage shows Derek arriving again and again, holding that woman's hand.

When she finally says she has seen the apartment, the remote falls from his hand. He does not pick it up.