Chapter 7 - Twenty Years of Invisible Sacrifices
Emma sat down slowly.
She suddenly looked much younger than before.
Not because of her age.
Because the confidence she had worn like expensive jewelry had completely disappeared.
"I don't understand," she said.
She looked toward me.
"Were things really that bad during your marriage?"
I answered honestly.
"No."
Everyone looked surprised.
"They were worse."
Mark rolled his eyes.
"Here we go."
I ignored him.
"When I met Mark, he had ambition but very little money."
Vanessa nodded quietly.
"That part is true."
"I worked two jobs while he tried building his first company."
Emma blinked.
"He told me he built everything alone."
I smiled sadly.
"He likes telling that story."
Mark folded his arms.
"I never forced you to help."
"No."
"You chose to."
"I did."
I walked toward an old bookshelf.
From the highest shelf, I removed several photo albums.
The covers had faded with age.
I placed them on the coffee table.
"Look."
Emma slowly opened the first album.
The photographs showed a tiny rented apartment.
Old furniture.
Secondhand clothes.
A much younger Mark assembling shelves with his own hands.
Then another photograph.
I stood beside him wearing a supermarket uniform.
Emma looked confused.
"You worked there?"
"For eleven years."
"But Mark said you never wanted a career."
Rachel quietly smiled.
"I've heard that version too."
I turned another page.
"This was our honeymoon."
Emma stared.
"This... is a campground."
"We couldn't afford hotels."
Another page.
Mark holding his newborn son.
Another.
My old compact car.
Another.
Me standing beside moving boxes.
"That's the apartment we're standing in now," I explained.
"We bought it together."
Emma looked directly at Mark.
"You never mentioned any of this."
He shrugged.
"The past isn't important."
"The past built your future."
Nobody argued with that.
Vanessa crossed her arms.
"He also forgot to mention who introduced him to his first investors."
Mark sighed.
"Vanessa..."
"It was me."
Emma looked shocked again.
"I believed he built everything from nothing."
Vanessa laughed softly.
"He had plenty of help."
I closed the album.
"The problem wasn't that Mark accepted help."
I looked him directly in the eyes.
"The problem was that he erased everyone who gave it."
His expression hardened.
"You always make yourself the victim."
"No."
I shook my head.
"I'm finally telling the story without leaving my chapters out."
For the first time that evening...
May you like
Mark had absolutely nothing to say.
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