Wanted: A Spouse

Two in the morning, and the community group chat exploded. 【Wife wanted. With love.】 【This is the lady from apartment 1202. I have been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and I can’t bear to leave my husband and son alone. Therefore, I am arranging a new marriage for my husband.】 【Requirements for the woman: Age 20-25, height 5’6” or taller, slim build, earns $10k+ a month. Must be an only child from a local family, and must be child-free by choice.】 【A test of true love awaits. Qualified neighbors, please contact me directly.】 I stared at my phone, completely floored. You really see all kinds of crazy on the internet these days. A second later, my phone started vibrating like a jackhammer. Leah had tagged me. Three times. 【Ava from 1302, can’t you tell I’m talking to you?】

1 I was baffled. My parents bought this apartment for me. I’d only been living here a month, and I’d already run into a lunatic like this. The other night owls in the group started chiming in: 1501: 【What is this, some kind of performance art?】 803: 【This is why you shouldn’t stay up late. I’ve scrolled straight into the twilight zone.】 702: 【Dream on! Maybe if you wish hard enough when you go to sleep.】 1502: 【Is this for real? Even with a terminal illness, that’s no excuse for this kind of delusion. A princess isn’t going to marry a toad.】 … Someone quietly added: 【Has anyone checked who posted this?】 But it was too late. Leah started tagging everyone in a frenzy. 【I have no idea what you mean by ‘performance art’! I’m a faithful wife, so don’t project your own dirty thoughts onto me!】 【My soul is going to heaven, so what do you mean ‘twilight zone’? Are you cursing me? I hope your whole family gets hemorrhoids!】 【What I do in my sleep is none of your business! You’re just bitter my husband didn’t choose you!】 【Do you think a terminal illness is a joke?】 【You people aren’t just unhelpful, you’re vile and abusive! A bunch of animals!】 The people who had commented were verbally bludgeoned into silence. I watched it all unfold, determined to stay out of it. But Leah was like a rabid dog, sinking her teeth into me and refusing to let go. She sent me a dozen friend requests through the group chat. 【Ava, accept it! Now!】 【I’m a sick person! I can’t stay up late! Have you no compassion?!】 【Don’t play dead. I know you’re awake.】 【You leave for work at 8 AM and get home at 10 PM. You just got out of the shower! I know your routine.】 【ACCEPT IT!】 A wave of goosebumps washed over me as the notifications flooded my screen. Was this woman insane? Had she been spying on me? Annoyed, I swiped to dismiss the notification but accidentally tapped “Accept.” Instantly, a massive wall of text appeared in the chat box, as if it had been waiting to strike. 【Ava, once you’re with my husband, you’ll have to quit your job.】 【Our Leo wakes up at 8:30 for preschool and gets picked up at 3:30. Your current schedule won’t work for school runs.】 【And getting home at ten to cook is way too late. My husband has a sensitive stomach; he can’t go hungry.】 【Of course, your new job can’t pay any less than $10k a month. Otherwise, you won’t be able to support my family properly.】 I laughed out loud. 【With demands like that, what’s the dowry?】 She flew into a rage. 【What dowry? Did you even read my post!】 【I am a SICK WOMAN! This is a matchmaking service out of CHARITY! There is no dowry!】 … I couldn’t be bothered with her meltdown. I clicked on her social media profile. She posted at least ten times a day, all pictures of her husband and son. The most recent post was a photo of a cancer diagnosis. The caption read: 【My darlings, even from heaven, Mommy will always be watching over you.】 It was an early-stage cancer with a very high cure rate. Instead of seeking treatment, she was busy finding her husband’s next wife? Summoning what little kindness I had left, I tried to reason with her. “Ma’am, your priority right now should be getting treatment.” For her body and her mind. But I must have hit a nerve. She completely lost it. A 60-second voice memo landed in my inbox, a piercing shriek that nearly shattered my eardrum. “Ava! I’m not dead yet! You don’t get to tell me what to do!” “As long as I’m alive, you’ll always be the other woman! The mistress! A dirty little secret that can’t see the light of day!” “Even after I’m gone, my son will only ever call you ‘Auntie’!” “If you get any funny ideas, I’ll haunt you from beyond the grave!” I rolled my eyes. Right. Never try to reason with crazy. Block. Delete.

2 The next morning, I ran into Mrs. Gable, the cleaning lady, in the elevator. She worked part-time for me, a quiet and diligent woman. I casually asked her about Leah from 1202. Mrs. Gable’s face paled, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. “That one’s a lunatic!” “She’s been paralyzed for four years, the whole family is scared of her. Now she has cancer. Steer clear of her, dear. Don’t get involved.” She looked like she wanted to say more but held back. I could guess the rest. This woman was trouble. But I never expected this. I spent the morning meeting with clients. When I got back to the office at noon, my manager, David, called me into his office, his face like a thundercloud. He slammed a termination form down in front of me. I blinked, confused. “David, you’re quitting?” His face was beet-red, his neck swelling with rage. “No, you’re quitting!” “If you have a problem, you bring it to me! You don’t send your family here to harass us!” I was completely lost. “My family?” “Some woman! She stormed in here this morning, screaming at the top of her lungs, accusing the company of being immoral, of destroying families!” “She yelled that you had a terminally ill person at home, with a husband and child to care for, and yet you had the nerve to show up to work!” He was shaking with anger. “I’ve mentored you for three years, Ava. If you want to leave, fine. But don’t stoop to these kinds of cheap tactics!” It clicked. Leah. I immediately set the record straight. “David, my parents are healthy, I’m single, and I don’t have kids. The woman who came here is a psycho. I’ll handle it.” He looked skeptical, so I pulled up the group chat history. When he saw the “Wife wanted” post, his expression soured as if he’d swallowed a bug.

3 At three in the afternoon, I was in a meeting when my phone started buzzing nonstop. David shot me several dirty looks. I offered an apologetic smile and slipped out, hiding in the restroom to take the call. “Leo’s mom? School’s out. When are you coming to pick him up?” Leo. That was Leah’s son. I fought to keep my voice steady. “I’m not his mother!” The voice on the other end immediately turned accusatory. “As his mother, you’ve never once picked Leo up yourself. That’s not very responsible, is it?” “He’s been looking forward to you picking him up all day. He told everyone how beautiful you are. Are you really going to break his little heart?” “No matter how busy you are with work, a child’s youth only happens once!” My patience snapped. My own youth only happens once, too. Seeing that reasoning was pointless, I cleared my throat, plastered on my most sincere, professional smile, and purred into the phone. “Hello, ma’am. Have you considered refinancing your home loan?” “We offer low interest rates and fast approval. I see here that you have an excellent credit score…” Before I could finish, she slammed the phone down. I smirked and dialed back immediately. “Hi there, I really think you should consider our company’s offer…” Finally. Blocked. When David heard what was going on, he broke protocol and let me go home early. But as I reached my front door, I got a call from an unknown number. A cold, female voice drifted through the speaker. “Ava. You didn’t work late today. Looks like you listened to what I said yesterday.” “But Leo gets out of school at three-thirty. You’re not cutting it as a new mom!” “I can watch you now, but what about after I’m gone?” “Who knows if a tramp like you will abuse my child!” The voice was low and raspy, and it made my scalp tingle. I slammed the phone off, my eyes darting down the empty hallway. The motion-sensor lights were off, leaving everything in shadows. A chill crept up my spine. How did Leah know when I got home?

4 Inside, Mrs. Gable had already cooked dinner and left. I poured myself a large glass of red wine and downed half of it. Then, I grabbed a trash bag and scraped the leftover food into it. I mixed in some foul-smelling fermented tofu, a rotten egg… Clutching the bag, I staggered downstairs to apartment 1202. After putting on a mask and gloves, I smeared the putrid liquid all over the door, the keyhole, and the doorframe. An ungodly stench that assaulted the senses instantly filled the entire floor. I sat down in front of her door and began to wail. “Leah, how could you be so cruel!” “I’m only twenty-five! I’ve never even been in a serious relationship, and you’re forcing me to marry that pig of a husband!” “When I said no, you went to my office and made a scene!” “Do you know how hard it is to find a job right now? You’re trying to ruin my life!” The smell and my crying drew the neighbors out. They started to speak, then bent over, gagging. I thoughtfully handed them spare masks. “I’m so sorry… I had a little too much to drink, I’m just so upset…” Between sobs, I recounted everything—Leah spying on me, the scene at my office. After hearing my story, a few of the older women were filled with righteous indignation. “So you’re the Ava that Leah called out last night?” “That Leah is a piece of work! Look what she’s done to this poor girl!” My crying intensified. “I didn’t know what else to do! I was so stressed, I just had a couple of drinks and came to confront her.” “If she calls the cops, please, tell them I wasn’t looking for trouble. I just drank too much and acted impulsively!” The neighborhood watchdogs, filled with a sense of justice, puffed out their chests. “Don’t you worry, dear. We’ll vouch for you!” I dabbed at my tears, moved by their support. “But…” someone hesitated. “I’ve lived here for years, and I’ve never actually seen Leah.” The others nodded in agreement. “That’s right. She just hides away and torments people from the shadows.” “One time, I have no idea how I pissed her off, but she started threatening me with pictures of my grandson playing in the park!” “Me too! I once said something in the group chat about not guilt-tripping people, and she spent all night harassing me with calls from different numbers!” I stopped crying. A fuzzy idea began to form in my mind. Before I could grasp it, an old man stomped his foot in anger. “Call the police! We have to report her! We can’t let her terrorize the building like this anymore!” The police arrived quickly. After listening to the neighbors’ jumbled explanations, the officer looked at me, exasperated, and knocked on the door of 1202. I was still deep in my performance, tears streaming down my face. “Officer, Leah not only tried to force me to marry her husband, but she also went to my company and caused a huge scene…” The officer suddenly turned, a complicated look in his eyes. “You’re saying she went to your office and caused a scene?” I sensed something was off. Following his gaze, my eyes widened in shock. The one who opened the door was a chubby little boy. And Leah… was in a wheelchair. Paralyzed. Then who was the woman who stormed into my office this morning?!