Chapter 4

When I got home, I was so angry I couldn't sleep. I thought about driving the car back to my parents' house and just taking a plane to my in-laws'.

But when I got to the garage, it was empty.

Eric hemmed and hawed, saying a good friend had borrowed the car to impress a date.

"My buddy's a great driver, nothing will happen."

"He's just taking it out for dinner with a girl, it'll be back soon."

I felt a stab of pain in my chest. How many times had this happened?

Five years ago when Eric and I got married, my parents gave me a $40,000 Mercedes as a wedding gift.

From then on, it seemed like the car became public property.

Whenever Sophia's family had even a minor issue, they'd come borrow the car.

During holiday visits to the in-laws, any relative could order Eric to be their chauffeur.

For weddings, funerals, or other big events, friends and family would ask to borrow our car.

I didn't want to make a fuss, so I kept quiet.

But the car would always come back filthy.

Traffic tickets, toll fees, gas - we had to pay for it all out of pocket.

A few times, someone even threw up in the car.

I'd gag while paying to have it cleaned.

Halfway through cleaning once, the car wash guy found used condoms in the back seat.

I checked the dashcam footage and nearly threw up.

On the car mats I'd carefully chosen, Eric's cousin was going at it with some strange woman.

I lost it and cursed out his cousin in the family group chat.

Eric's aunt accused me of being petty, saying young couples need their romance and I was making a big deal out of nothing.

I laughed coldly and posted screenshots from the video in the chat.

"Auntie, look closely before you speak. That's not your daughter-in-law in there."

"If you want to fool around, get a hotel room. Do you have to be so disgusting in my car?"

In the end, the cousin and his wife nearly divorced over this, and Eric blamed me.

"Look what you've done, making such a big deal out of nothing!"

"Now my cousin's family is falling apart. Are you happy?"

That Christmas was a disaster, with relatives gossiping and laughing at us.

What annoyed me most was that the cousin and his wife didn't end up divorcing.

His wife even passive-aggressively attacked me in the group chat:

"Some people get a little money and look down on everyone else."

"Doing such awful things, it's karma that you can't have children."

I was about to fire back at her when Eric jumped in to defend me.

"No one's borrowing our car anymore, so don't even ask."

"Every time you borrow it with a full tank and return it empty. We're not suckers."

One time his cousin borrowed the car to go party and returned it with barely any gas left.

I was in a rush to go out and didn't notice the fuel gauge.

I ran out of gas halfway and was stranded on the highway for hours.

The car blocking traffic caused a huge jam, and I missed an important contract meeting.

When I finally made it back to the office, my boss chewed me out.

After that, I strictly forbade Eric from lending out the car behind my back.

I even threatened divorce over it.

But people treated it like background noise, still secretly borrowing the car.

Now Sophia wanted another free ride, and all the old resentments came flooding back. I was firmly against it.

As a result, she nearly got me fired.

Not only that, she seemed determined to ruin my reputation and get me kicked out of the civil service altogether.