He turned away, looked around the kitchen. He seemed to be considering what to hit. Mishi pulled out several photos and, as tears welled up, put them back inside.
“I’m sorry, Tay, I… I didn’t want anyone to know.”
“YOU DIDN’T WANT?!!!” he shouted. “What do you mean you didn’t want it?! A letter by courier to your ex? Do you really think they’re that stupid?!”
Mishi flinched at his sudden outburst and blinked back tears. Tay’s shouting was visibly tempered by her fear. Still, he did not control his anger.
“I had to interrupt negotiations with Golader because of you!” he went on. “I looked like an idiot in front of him! Then like an idiot I had to fly half the night back to Kita, only to end up looking like an even bigger, cheated idiot in front of an entire newsroom! They watched with blissful faces as I paid up!”
“I’m sorry,” Mishi sighed.
“But…” he stopped himself so as not to completely explode, “I’m still not the biggest idiot between the two of us here. Rohn?! Are you serious?! That spineless bastard!!!”
That was when everything in Mishi rose up in offense.
“I’m not listening to this,” she snapped.
She tried to escape the argument into the bedroom, but Tay quickly caught the door and wouldn’t let her close it.
“You don’t even know him!” she shouted at Tay as they struggled over the door.
It was pointless. She moved to the wardrobe and began throwing her clothes onto the bed. Tay remained in the bedroom doorway, watching as Mishi pulled out a suitcase and packed furiously.
“And you know him?!” he yelled at her. “Have you already forgotten why he left you?! Doesn’t it strike you as strange that he suddenly cares?! Now that you’re married and could profit nicely from a divorce?!”
“Of course—everyone just wants your money,” she hissed. “That’s your world, Taris, not mine! Keep it. Keep everything! Keep your money, keep this house, keep your pathetic name!” she threw the last items into the luggage with the force of her words.
“So I’m the bad one now?! And he’s the treasure. He dumped you when you were supposed to die. He’ll dump you again when he finds out you won’t get anything out of me! What’s happened to you?! You’re unbelievably stupid if you think he suddenly loves you!”
“You bet he loves me!” Mishi shouted, finding strength in her conviction. She strode quickly past Tay into the hallway. “That’s something you’ll never understand, Taris. He’s not like you.”
“Not like me?!”
“Yes. Rohn isn’t a pathetic wreck like you. Don’t you dare talk about love. You don’t even know what it means to love someone! You can’t even touch another person, it’s pitiful! You’re such a useless man that the only way you could ever have a woman is by drawing up a contract and shoving a fortune into it!”
She grabbed her coat from the shoe cabinet and delivered the final blow: “So buy yourself another one—I never want to see you again!”