My Husband Invited 75 Guests To Stay In Our 2-bedroom Apartment For A Month. He Expected Me To Pay $12,000 For His Mother’s Birthday. So I Drained The Joint Account And Caught A Flight Out Of His Life.

Hannah, without a word, went to her bedroom and closed the door. She took off her shoes and put on comfortable clothes.

She was boiling inside but kept her composure. When she returned to the living room, Liam’s friends were already shouting while watching the game.

She looked at her husband with cold eyes and said in a low but very clear voice, “Liam, come here for a moment.”

Puzzled, he followed her. In the hallway, Hannah calmly but emphasizing each word, said, “This is my house too. You have no right to invite people over without asking me. I’m tired and I want to rest. And now there are strangers in my home.”

“Either they leave right now, or I’m going to my mother’s and I won’t be back for a long time,” she added.

A bewildered Liam tried to make excuses. “But honey, what are you saying? They’ll leave soon. They’re only staying for a couple of hours to watch the game. It’s not right to kick them out. That’s harsh,” he said.

Hannah repeated coldly, “Them or me. You decide.”

Liam realized she wasn’t joking and gave in. He went back to his friends and told them something unexpected had come up, that his wife wasn’t feeling well and they had to go to the hospital.

The friends looked at each other, annoyed. One of them tapped his temple with his finger, but they gathered their things and left.

As they were leaving, one of them, Ben, said to Liam, “Mate, you need to get your wife in line. She’s going to walk all over you.”

Hannah heard it but said nothing. The important thing was that they were gone.

Afterwards, Liam tried to start a scene. He shouted that it wasn’t normal, that his friends were offended, that she had embarrassed him, and that she didn’t respect him.

Hannah, standing by the window, looked out at the street and listened in silence. When he got tired and fell silent, she said, “Did you understand me? Don’t ever do it again. Next time, give me a heads up and ask me if it’s okay.”

And then she went to sleep on the sofa in the living room, ostentatiously taking a pillow and a blanket. Liam stood in the doorway muttering something, but she didn’t respond.

For a week, they barely spoke. When Hannah came home from work, she would prepare dinner just for herself, eat in silence, and lock herself in the bedroom.

Liam tried to talk to her several times, but she responded with monosyllables. The atmosphere was icy.

Seven days later, Liam approached, sat next to her on the sofa, and said, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. I should have asked you. I get it now.”

Hannah nodded. “All right, but remember, I won’t tolerate being ignored,” she said.

He nodded and promised. There were a few months of calm.

The second incident occurred six months ago. Liam called her from work to tell her euphorically that he had signed them both up for a gym.

It was an annual membership with a 40% discount and he had to decide quickly. The offer ended at 6:00 that evening.

Hannah was in the middle of a client meeting and took the call in the hallway. “Did you ask me if I want to go to that gym?” she said.

He was surprised. “A month ago we said it would be good to get some exercise and get in shape,” he replied.

She replied, “We talked about it in abstract terms. We didn’t choose a specific gym. We didn’t talk about prices, and we didn’t decide when to start, but you made the decision all by yourself.”

He began to justify himself. “The offer was ending and it was to save money. I did it with good intentions,” he said.

Hannah didn’t let him finish and hung up. That evening when she got home, Liam greeted her with a guilty look.

On the table were two gym memberships. He tried to explain it was a bargain.

“Normally for both of us it would cost $1,800 and I got it for $1,000. We saved $800,” he said.

Hannah listened to it all and then said coldly, “Cancel the membership and get the money back.”

“The next time you make a decision that affects us both without consulting me, I will leave without saying a word, without any explanation. I will just pack my bag and go,” she added.

Liam tried to argue. “How can I cancel it? It says it’s nonrefundable. They won’t give me the money back,” he said.

Hannah repeated even more coldly, “Either you cancel it or I’m leaving right now.”

She stood up, went to the bedroom, took a suitcase from the wardrobe, and started packing. Liam ran after her.

“What are you doing? You’re not really leaving, are you?” he said.

She continued packing in silence. Seeing she wasn’t joking, he picked up the phone, called the gym, shouted, argued with the manager, and threatened to report them to the Commerce Commission.

Half an hour later, he returned and said, “Sorted. They’re refunding the money in three days.”

Hannah nodded, unpacked the suitcase, and put it away. From then on, Liam became more cautious, but it didn’t last long.

The Mother-in-Law and the 60th Birthday

The problem was deeper. Liam had been raised in a home where his mother directed everything and his father obeyed in silence.

That’s how things worked in his house. His mother-in-law, Sharon, decided and the others complied.

Where to go on holiday, what to have for dinner, what wallpaper to choose, what car to buy—she decided everything. Liam’s father was a quiet man.

He worked his whole life as an engineer at a factory, and when he came home exhausted, he had no energy to argue with his wife. It was easier to agree.

Liam had absorbed this model, but he saw himself in the director’s role, not his father’s. He sincerely believed that in a family, the man should make the decisions and the woman should support him.

Hannah understood this and thought that one day something would happen that would make her simply turn around and leave. The question was, “What would be the final straw?”

For the last three months, Liam had been talking to his mother often. The mother-in-law, who lived in Napier, had been widowed for five years.

Liam’s father had died suddenly of a heart attack at work. Since then, the mother-in-law had become even more attached to Liam, her only son.

She called him every day, sometimes two or three times, to tell him trivial things, complain about noisy neighbors, prices at the shops, and the bad weather, and to give him advice on how he should live with Hannah.

“Liam, tell your wife to make you a good roast lamb more often. A man needs a hearty meal,” she said.

“Liam, when are you going to have a baby? I’ll be 60 soon and I want to hold a grandchild in my arms,” she added.

Hannah overheard these conversations in silence. She saw her mother-in-law a couple of times a year.