A Transaction Reminder

The mobile phone vibrated on the bedside cabinet as I stared at the ceiling, counting the twenty-seventh crack. The plaster moldings gleamed with a cold white light beneath the moon, the cracks spreading like cobwebs—eerily mirroring this seemingly intact marriage. The pothos on the windowsill drooped, droplets of water rolling along the veins of the leaves, falling onto the ceramic pot's rim with a soft, fragmented sound. At two-thirty in the morning, the screen lit up, and the consumption alert message pierced my eyes like shards of sharp glass, catching me utterly unprepared. In the darkness, those lines of white letters burned sharply, as if mocking my belated awakening. Card ending 3876, price 29, Merchant: XX Convenience Store, Time 00:17 Matthew's third day on the business trip. The sound of the suitcase wheels scraping the foyer still echoed in my ears; before leaving, he pinched my cheek and said, "Wait for me to bring back a specialty." At that moment, his fingertips bore the scent of tobacco and citrus hand cream—that gift I had given him last birthday. I opened W Chat, my fingertip lingering over the chat box for a long while. The chat window lingered on his message from yesterday, 'The hotel air conditioning is a bit cold,' followed by my reply, 'Remember to cover yourself well,' and then, no new messages. The air was filled with the familiar scent of his cedar-scented laundry detergent, yet in this moment, it felt profoundly alien. 'Just saw the purchase alert, what did you buy?' The instant I pressed send, my heartbeat suddenly faltered. The clock on the bedside cabinet ticked relentlessly, each tick striking my nerves like a hammer. Only ten minutes later did he reply: 'Drank too much, bought a bottle of water to sober up.' I stared at the screen and laughed aloud, yet inside my chest felt as if stuffed with a waterlogged cotton ball, heavy and suffocating. The convenience store downstairs is one I visit every week; most hangover remedies are priced at 12 or 18, and even the most expensive imported mineral water costs only 22. A spending limit of 29 is enough to buy two cans of energy drinks and a pack of cigarettes. His avatar still lingers on the screen as my fingertip glides across it—a photo taken on our wedding day, where he smiles with gentle warmth.