Part 1The Battle for Our Vows

The new dark-skinned intern at the company, Blake, was always finding excuses to hang around my wife's office.

But no matter how much Blake flirted, my wife would frown and tell him to get lost.

"I'm not interested in Black men. Try that again, and you're out of this company!"

I thought my wife genuinely disliked him.

Until I set my sights on a gold watch at an auction.

Just as I was about to bid, a mysterious benefactor suddenly made a grand bid for Blake, securing the watch for him.

A little while later, I saw through someone else's phone that my wife had hidden her social media posts from me:

【The most dazzling watch should adorn the most brilliant obsidian.】

The accompanying picture was a selfie of Blake wearing the gold watch.

I let out a cold laugh and, in retaliation, extravagantly bid on all 99 remaining watches.

I had them all thrown in front of Blake.

"Wear them! Don't you dare leave this auction house unless every single one is on your arm!"

* * *

I was at home studying financial reports when my wife, Sophia Reed, slammed the door open.

"Was that really necessary?"

She frowned at me, her usually gentle gaze now filled with displeasure.

I frowned back. "What's wrong?"

She threw her phone at me.

The video showed Blake with 99 watches weighing down his arm, causing him to collapse to the floor.

The laughter of the onlookers was incessant:

"Whose kept man is this? Making a fool of himself at an auction!"

"Probably trying to show up the real sugar mama, but ended up making an even bigger ass of himself! Hilarious!"

Blake’s arm was so heavy; he crawled out amidst roars of laughter.

His breathing was ragged; he looked utterly pathetic.

I turned off the phone.

"I told you, people like me don't tolerate disrespect."

Sophia sounded impatient.

"Blake recently landed a major project for the company. I was just giving an employee a small reward. Can you stop being so suspicious and petty?"

"Smash!"

The desk ornament she had given me I hurled to the floor.

Sophia quickly dodged, looking at me with some surprise.

In five years of marriage, we had never raised our voices like this.

This was our first real fight, our first act of aggression.

And it was over a Black man.

"A reward? You call making a spectacle of winning that gold watch for Blake, knowing full well your husband had his eye on it, a reward for an employee?"

Sophia bit her lip.

"But... even if you were angry, you could have yelled at him, even slapped him. What right did you have to make him crawl out of there on his knees?"

"The right of being your husband!"

I cut her off with a roar. "Is that so hard to understand?

"Knowing your husband wanted it, yet you get it for another man – is that what a wife should do?

"We might have had a marriage of convenience, but are you telling me there are no feelings between us after five years?"

Sophia fell silent.

Indeed, our marriage began as a business arrangement.

But through countless moments of intimacy, feelings had undeniably grown between us.

"Besides," I said with a bitter laugh, "even if there were no feelings, that doesn't mean you can deny me basic respect."

Sophia looked at me as if I were a stranger.

"You need to cool down."

She threw those words at me and turned to leave.

She didn't even glance at the lavish meal spread on the table.

My smile was bitter—

She seemed to have forgotten that today was our fifth anniversary.