Chapter 2

He looked at me, his face devoid of any warmth.

"You're back?"

"Yeah."

I changed my shoes, ignored them completely, and walked straight into the bedroom.

I needed to take inventory of my things.

When I opened my vanity drawer, I froze.

The lipstick I had bought just last week was missing.

It was YSL's newest limited-edition shade. It was incredibly hard to get, and I had to pay a personal shopper nearly a hundred dollars for it.

I had only used it once.

I walked out of the bedroom.

"Ethan, where is my lipstick?"

He was flipping through channels with the remote and didn't even look up.

"Oh, Chloe said she ran out of that shade, so I told her she could have it."

The blood rushed to my head.

"You gave it to her?"

"Yeah."

He finally looked up, his face painted with pure indifference.

"It’s just a lipstick. I'll buy you a new one later."

Chloe chimed in from the side, her voice tiny. "Clara, I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was that expensive. I'll bring it back to you tomorrow."

"How do you return a used lipstick?" I snapped.

Ethan lost his patience.

"Clara, that's enough. It’s a single lipstick. I said I'd buy you a new one. Do you really have to keep making a scene over such a trivial thing?"

A trivial thing?

She has her fingerprint on my door.

She takes my personal belongings whenever she pleases.

And to him, these were trivial things?

"Let's get a divorce," I said.

The living room fell dead silent.

Ethan looked at me as if I had just told him the most ridiculous joke in the world.

"What did you say?"

"I said, I want a divorce."

He stood up and walked over to me, towering over me.

"You want a divorce over a lipstick? Clara, have you lost your mind?"

"I haven't lost my mind." I looked straight into his eyes. "I just find you disgusting."

His face flushed red instantly.

"Fine. Fine! You find me disgusting, huh?"

He grabbed his jacket from the couch and turned toward the door.

"I won't be coming back tonight. Enjoy being disgusted by yourself!"

He slammed the door so hard the walls vibrated.

Chloe stood up, looking lost and helpless.

"Clara, please don't be mad. Ethan just has a short fuse. I'll go buy you a replacement lipstick right now."

"No need." I looked at her coldly. "You should leave too."

She blinked, stunned.

Her face turned pale.

Ultimately, she grabbed her purse and slunk out of the apartment like a beaten dog.

Finally, the entire place was quiet.

I sat on the couch, took out my phone, and called my mom.

"Mom, I'm getting a divorce."

There was a long silence on the other end.

"Clara, you're being immature again. Couples fight all the time. You can't just throw around the word divorce every time you're upset."

"Mom, he registered another woman’s fingerprint on our front door."

"I'm sure he had a good reason for it. Don't be so petty. Men have a hard time working out there; you need to be more understanding."

"He also gave my brand-new lipstick to her."

"How much could a lipstick possibly cost? Didn't he say he'd buy you a new one? Clara, you can't be this spoiled. Ethan is a good man. Don't push him away with your dramatic tantrums."