The door groaned as it opened, a stark contrast to the usual comfort that came with seeing your wife.

Recently, they had fallen behind on their bills, and rent was due at the start of the month.

Gwen had always been diligent about managing her finances, ensuring her account was up to date and fully funded. However, the recent disputes over her payment habits had cast a shadow over that reliability.

She insisted that her troubles stemmed from the incident where someone had used her likeness to sell drugs to students on campus, but the board had already made their ruling.

“Sweetheart, I…” She hesitated, her gaze dropping to her brown leather jacket, a look of shame washing over her as if she regretted coming home at all.

"I lost my job."