My Boyfriend Became an Inspector and Shut Down My Family's Restaurant

After Marlin Henson became an inspector, the first place he went to check on the sly was the restaurant my parents ran.

He walked into the back kitchen with a mask over his face and tore into my parents without mercy.

No personal belongings allowed in a work area. Ever.

Hygiene's below standard. Food with no open-date labels. Trash cans left uncovered. The whole place is filthy and disorganized.

I stepped in to explain that the restaurant had just opened, that there hadn't been time to sort everything out yet.

Marlin pulled off his mask, his voice flat and cold.

"Maya Pruitt, you know me. I'm never soft when it comes to work."

I thought it was just a warning, once and done.

I never imagined that by that afternoon my parents' restaurant would be shut down by the corporation.

Ordered closed for corrections, with no end date.

Three days later, the drink shop belonging to Marlin's childhood friend Chelsea Shaw opened.

He looked at the kitchen floor you couldn't set a foot on.

The roaches running wild across the counters.

And he just quietly grabbed a mop and started cleaning.

Not one harsh word.

I asked Marlin why he was treating the two so differently.

He set down the rag in his hand and answered like it was nothing.

"It's not exactly a matter of principle. You just look the other way, and it's fine."

All at once it hit me that my heart had never once been treated with care.

When I raised my head, Marlin had already gone back to the kitchen.

I took out my phone and sent my mom a message.

"We're giving up on this place. Let's move to another city and start over."

Nearby, I could hear the shop's staff talking.

"Did you hear? This shop of Chelsea's, Marlin put up the money, a whole five hundred grand. He really doesn't hold back on cash."

"They're childhood sweethearts, no wonder he dotes on her like that. The kitchen's that dirty, any other inspector would've closed it down ages ago."

My body froze where I stood.

I'd had no idea the five hundred thousand that vanished from my card had been spent on Chelsea Shaw.

Afterward he'd explained it away, said he had an investment that suddenly needed the money.

He'd pay me back once it turned a profit.

While I stood there dazed.

Marlin had already tied on an apron and stepped up to the front counter.

"Everyone who comes in today drinks free. Bubble tea's on me."

He was smiling, warm as anything, like he'd long forgotten the real reason he'd come to the shop.

The customers at the door surged forward and pinned me into the corner.

A girl edged up, fawning.

"Boss, you're so generous. When you and the boss lady get married, will you treat us to three days of free bubble tea?"

Chelsea kept her head down, crushing ice, and when she looked up again her face had gone red past all recognition.

She pressed her lips together and glanced at Marlin beside her.

Then, without the slightest regard for the fact that I was standing right there, she said with a smile,

"Forget three days. Five's fine."

Marlin didn't correct her, didn't so much as register me, his actual girlfriend.

He just played along with the customers.

And I thought of the day my parents' shop was sealed up.

They'd stood clutching their household things, staring helplessly at the sign above the storefront.

My dad had sighed and asked me,

"Could you talk to Marlin, get him to shorten the correction period a little?"

I'd thought, we'd been together five years, surely that much goodwill was owed to us.

But his answer came like a poisoned needle driven straight into my heart.

"Dream on. I only go by company rules. You think I'd break them?"

Even now, remembering it, my heart still ached dully.

The crowd thinned out, and Chelsea walked over to me with a cup of bubble tea.

"You're lucky, riding on Marlin's good graces. You get to drink one I made with my own hands."

She dragged over a stool and sat down without a care.

"I hear your parents' shop got ordered to fix everything up? Couldn't even you put in a word with Marlin, being his girlfriend?"

Her words were nothing but naked mockery aimed at me.

She figured my place in Marlin's heart counted for nothing.

And it wasn't just her figuring it. I'd seen it myself.

It seemed like I was the one who'd wedged myself into their relationship, the third person.

That cup of bubble tea sat there a long time. I never opened it.

Marlin came out of the kitchen, a faint frown gathering.

"Chelsea made that herself. Why won't you drink it? You can't give her even that much face?"

He knew I never drank bubble tea.

That was why, for the past five years, what I'd had most was the fresh fruit juice he squeezed for me himself.

Chelsea was the one who loved bubble tea. And he'd actually mixed the two of us up.

I stood, letting out all the resentment I'd stored up these past days.

"Why can't you show my parents a little mercy? These past few days they've been so upset they can't even get a sip of water down."

A chill settled over Marlin's eyes.

"I'm just handling company business by the book."

By the book. And with those words he ground five years of us flat under his heel.

I swallowed hard and gave a cold laugh.

"Then what about Chelsea? Her shop's in even worse shape than my family's, and you can just look the other way. So why don't you report her to the corporation and make her fix it?"

He pulled me into the corner by the restroom, holding back his anger as he stared at me.

"Chelsea's a girl on her own. Starting a business is hard for her. Why do you have to keep clawing at this one thing?"

"Your family's shop had real problems to begin with. Ordering it fixed was the right call."

All of a sudden I went calm, no strength left to argue.

As if, in this moment, the person facing off against me wasn't the boyfriend I'd spent five years with.

But an enemy squaring up against me.

When had things between us become this?

"Marlin Henson, that five hundred thousand you borrowed. Pay it back as soon as you can."

"I'd rather throw that money down the drain than have it spent on someone like you."

I walked out of Chelsea's drink shop.

Marlin came after me.

Our shops were only a few storefronts apart, really.

In just a few days, a seal had already gone up over my parents' place.

I knew that as long as Marlin refused to give an inch, there was no chance of those doors opening again.

But this time, I wasn't going to lower myself and beg him.

He caught up and grabbed my hand.

His grip was hard enough to hurt my wrist.

I couldn't hold my temper.

"Let go, you're hurting me."

He made no move to release me. If anything, his hand tightened.

"Answer me. What did you mean by that just now?"

"We're planning to get married. Your money, my money, what's the difference? In the end we'd be spending it together anyway, wouldn't we?"

Only in that moment did I see how filthy the man I'd fallen for really was.

He could have actually put that money into an investment, and even if he'd lost it all, I would have accepted it.

But no. He had to lie to me so he could hand it to Chelsea.

I straightened up and met his eyes.

"Then aren't my parents your parents too? So why treat them like this?"

"Chelsea's shop failed hygiene, didn't it? Her food was expired, wasn't it?"

"Why can't you hold them to the same standard? Why do you keep covering for Chelsea?"

Marlin slowly moved his hand away.

The corner of his mouth curled into a trace of a sneer, there and not there.

"So what if I do? As long as I don't report it, there's no problem."

"So you're still sulking over this. Fine, I'll have the company shorten their correction deadline, that's all."

One breezy sentence, and he thought he could paper over every unfair thing he'd done.

Except I no longer needed that kind of cheap concession.

I turned my head toward the shop sign a little way off, and my eyes stung before I could stop them.

"My parents poured everything they had into that shop. They were counting on it to earn a little, so they could buy us a wedding home."

"And now every hope they had is gone. These past few nights they haven't even closed their eyes."

"Even if it's only for my sake, you shouldn't have done this!"

I turned back, but I wasn't looking at Marlin. My gaze fell on the wrist he'd left red.

Marlin's voice came, light and airy.

"Maya, if you're asking someone for help, you act like it. Making a scene like this, I can't help you."

"Can't you just talk properly? What's the point of dragging your parents into it?"

I had talked properly. He'd just taken my humble pleading as his due.

He had never once truly cared how I felt.

I stepped back a few paces, then turned around.

"I don't need your help now."

A few meters of space opened between us.

Behind me, I heard Marlin pick up his phone.

Not a call to the company. Chelsea was calling him.

In the end, he would never keep a single one of my angers or hurts in his heart.

Even at my most hysterical, to him it was nothing more than jealous fussing.

"What? Someone's causing trouble? I'll be right there."

Chelsea's sobbing cut off along with the call as Marlin hung up.

He didn't come after me, and I didn't look back.

By eight that night, Marlin still wasn't home.

For once, I didn't call him. I ate dinner in silence, cleaned up, and went to bed.

My phone rang. It was Marlin.

"Maya, I can't come home tonight. I'm staying at the hospital."

My heart lurched for a second.

"Another inspector showed up at the drink shop for a surprise check, ready to report Chelsea to the company. But how could I let her take that kind of grief?"

"He hit me. I ended up in the hospital, and he ended up in a holding cell."

So it turned out that, for Chelsea, he could throw everything away.

He was even pleased with himself about it.

Yet he wouldn't give an inch for me.

My heart, which had lifted for that one moment, dropped hard.

I said nothing, just listened to Marlin recount the afternoon in an excited rush.

He seemed to have forgotten that we'd argued, that things between us had gone sour.

Then the line went quiet, and Marlin lowered his voice.

"Maya, can you come to the hospital and keep me company? My chest hurts a little."

In the end I didn't go. I hung up quickly.

That night, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

Messages from Chelsea.

Her smug little taunts looked like a joke to me.

"Actually, that inspector was someone I hired to pose as one. I just wanted to know how far Marlin would go for me."

"He didn't disappoint. Twenty-some years of history, after all. How could your five years ever compare?"

"Maya, you lost. Marlin cares about me, not you."

Winning or losing like that meant nothing.

I was about to delete Chelsea's messages.

Then I thought better of it and sent one back.

"Since you like him, he's all yours."

The plan had been for Marlin and me to get married once my parents' restaurant got back on its feet.

Now it was clear the restaurant would never reopen.

And our wedding would never happen either.

Early the next morning, I canceled the wedding photo shoot I'd booked.

Then I deleted all the wedding planning off my phone.

The owner messaged me.

"The shoot is only a few days away. Are you sure you want to cancel? You booked this half a year in advance."

I replied, "Sure."

Half a year ago, I'd dreamed about our wedding, mine and Marlin's.

I logged every step, every little detail on my phone.

Terrified of missing anything.

But a marriage takes two. When only one person cares, it all feels pointless in the end.

When Marlin came home, the bruises were still on his face.

He stood in the doorway, his eyes full of sullen reproach.

"Maya, you're so cold. You don't even care about me."

"Chelsea looked after me all night."

I pulled all the laundry down from the balcony and bundled it into my arms.

"You got into a fight for someone else, and someone else took care of you. Isn't that how it should be?"

Seeing how cold I was, Marlin reined himself in.

He came over and pulled me into his arms.

"Still angry?"

"Don't worry. I've already worked it out with the company. The shop can open in a few days."

The cloying sweetness of his cologne made it hard to breathe. It was Chelsea's favorite.

I shoved him away hard, and the laundry in my arms fell to the floor.

"Marlin, I canceled the wedding shoot."

"Let's postpone the wedding."

My answer had nothing to do with what he'd said, yet he wasn't upset. He even agreed.

"The company's got things going on right now anyway. I don't have the time."

"A few days won't make a difference."

Marlin always liked to say in a few days, wait a few days.

I just didn't know how long that few days was supposed to be.

And I didn't want to wait anymore.

Because my flight was tomorrow.

That afternoon, by unspoken agreement, neither of us brought up my parents' restaurant again.

He went back to the study to work.

I stayed in the bedroom, packing.

But when I came out, the study was empty.

All that was left was the message Marlin had sent to my phone.

"Working late at the office tonight. Not coming home."

I went downstairs to take out the trash and looked over at the office tower in the distance.

Not a single light was on.

I didn't care to find out why he'd lied, or where he'd gone.

From the moment he coldly shut down my parents' shop.

I had stopped feeling anything for him at all.

It wasn't the first time he'd lied to me, after all.

That night, I barely slept.

Because Chelsea couldn't wait to share her joy with me.

In the photo, a man lay beside Chelsea's bed.

Eyes softly closed, cheeks flushed.

He'd been drinking.

"Marlin drank so much to cover for me, he almost threw up blood. I felt so bad for him."

"Tonight was a dinner with our friends. There's a reason Marlin didn't invite you, and you should know what it means. You'll never fit into our circle."

I read the messages, and the cold crept back in.

Marlin never used to touch a drop of alcohol.

Not even the first time we met each other's parents, not even on my birthday, when my friends asked him to at least have a token sip.

He'd just hold a cup of warm water and give an awkward smile.

"I can't drink. One sip and my stomach hurts."

I always understood.

Marlin had said it too.

On our wedding day, he'd finally drink his fill with my relatives.

Because that would be the most important moment of our lives.

So it turned out he was only strict about it with me.

For Chelsea, his tolerance had no limit at all.

The day I was leaving, Marlin came home reeking of alcohol.

I saw the kiss mark he'd deliberately hidden under his collar.

"You were drinking last night."

He tugged at his collar without thinking.

His tone flat.

"Company dinner. Couldn't get out of it."

His eyes caught the suitcase beside me.

"Where are you going?"

"To visit relatives."

I said.

He nodded and went into the bathroom to splash water on his face.

He pulled out a hand towel and gave his face a careless wipe.

"I've got a business trip next door too."

"Afternoon flight."

The last message Chelsea had sent the night before was a travel itinerary.

"Marlin promised to take me to see the ocean. Tomorrow."

I shook my head and stopped dredging up those things.

After he finished, Marlin went back to the room to pack.

He didn't bring a single work thing. His suitcase was stuffed with beach clothes.

"Marlin, I'm leaving."

His hand froze on the zipper, and his eyes came up to me.

"Go on, then. It's not like you're not coming back."

"You're making it sound like we'll never see each other again."

I turned and opened the door.

Marlin called out to me from behind.

"Right. The company says the shop can reopen the day after tomorrow."

"Remember to tell your mother."

I gripped the handle of my suitcase.

I didn't answer. I dragged the case out the door.

At the airport terminal, my parents came hurrying up too, loaded down with bags.

There was still an hour before boarding.

Marlin and Chelsea appeared in the waiting area.

The awkwardness on his face was impossible to hide.

"We just ran into each other."

"Don't get the wrong idea."

I smiled.

"Marlin, I know everything. There was no overtime, no business trip. You were taking Chelsea to see the ocean."

"You didn't need to hide it from me."

"Because the two of us were over a long time ago......"