My boyfriend, Ryan, DoorDashed me $5.80 worth of barbecue and then claimed it was the last of his spending money for the month. He immediately sent me an Amazon checkout link for $1,899. "Come on, my little sugar mama," he texted. "Time to make it rain. I spent all my cash on you." I stared at the $5.80 order on my desk. One single, sad beef skewer. Two sticks of burnt-tasting chives. That night, I emptied my entire online shopping cart. "Sorry," I texted him back. "My spending money is all gone, too." 1 I was dripping sweat after finishing my run at the campus stadium. The night air smelled like honeysuckle. My phone buzzed. A text from Ryan: 【My princess, your loyal servant has sent a food offering. It's at your door! ~】 It ended with a gif of a golden retriever wagging its tail. I smiled. After four years with Ryan, these little things were part of our daily life. My friends always said I must have saved a country in a past life to find a boyfriend this thoughtful. But when I opened the bag, I just froze. Inside the plastic container were three lonely skewers. One shriveled piece of beef. Two blackened sticks of chives. I was completely baffled. This has to be the wrong order. I checked the receipt stapled to the bag. The order was correct. My name was on it. Then my eyes hit the total. $5.80. My brain just... buzzed. Like I'd been hit. Everything went blank. 2 At that exact second, a FaceTime call popped up. It was Ryan. On the screen, he was wearing the Givenchy T-shirt I bought him, his hair still dripping from a shower. "Babe, why the long face?" He flashed his signature grin. "Oh, hey, speaking of—" His fingers moved off-screen. A new message popped into our chat. An Amazon payment link. A brand-new gaming laptop. $1,899.99. "Mind helping your man out? Gold star, please?" His voice was light and casual, the one he always used. "Your boy spent his last dime keeping you fed. My senior thesis is due, and my old laptop is dying. This one's on an student discount, so you gotta be quick." My finger twitched, moving toward the 'Approve Payment' button on autopilot. But my head was suddenly exploding with a high-speed montage of other, similar moments. It seemed like every "gift" from him was just the setup for a much bigger "ask." He'd buy me a $6 boba, and then spend the next day complaining his Nikes were shot, hinting about the new Jordans. He'd treat me to a $15 bowl of ramen, and two days later, he’d be sighing about how slow his phone was. I’d buy him the new iPhone. The $20 bodega roses he got me for Valentine’s Day cost me my $1,500 DSLR camera, which he "needed for a class project." My finger moved away from the 'Approve' button. 3 Ryan leaned closer to the camera, fluttering his damp eyelashes. "Come on, Ella. You know how important this thesis is. My graduation depends on it... our graduation." I stared at the pathetic meal on my desk. The receipt was practically glowing: $5.80. A surge of anger, hot and sharp, shot up my spine. I flipped my camera around and aimed it at the desk. "Ryan," my voice was shaking, "is this what you call 'keeping me fed'?" Thank God my roommates weren't back. If they were here, I probably would have just quietly swallowed my pride. Faced with the evidence, Ryan went silent. Then, his face settled into a look of calm innocence. "What's wrong, babe? That's your favorite barbecue place." Then, he dialed up the victim act. "Ella... are you mad because it's cheap? You're looking down on me, is that it?" All the accusations I had ready to go suddenly felt like a lump of cotton stuck in my throat. He had me cornered. I just felt... gross. After a beat, his voice went soft. "Babe, don't be mad. I'm skipping meals, living on instant noodles. I used my last six bucks to get you that. My last six dollars went to you." That line snapped the last thread of my patience. "You spend $5.80 on me and expect me to buy you a $1,900 laptop in return? Your math is incredible, Ryan!" 4 Ryan's eyes widened, then he immediately switched to looking pitiful. "Ella, I'm over-budget this month. I had to ask my sister for twenty bucks. That money for your food... that was literally all I had." Ryan came from a working-class family. His monthly allowance was about $400. He sometimes needed his sister to help him out. But because of that, in four years, he'd never been stingy. Not in the "traditional" sense. He'd always been the guy who, if he had $100, would spend $99 on me, and then use the last dollar to buy me a water. It's why I'd planned on marrying him. My mom even approved. She said as long as he was a good person and truly loved me, his background didn't matter. The day he graduated, he'd have a job at my family's company. A house, cars... she'd take care of it all. He wouldn't have to worry about a thing. I had never once doubted his love. I had never once wavered. Until now. Ryan pouted. "You get $5,000 a month. Think of this as an investment in us, right?" "When I graduate and make it big, I'm going to spoil my girl. You know that." I didn't agree to buy the laptop before we hung up. It was the first time I had ever told him no. He immediately stopped texting. He was punishing me with silence. Then, a new post appeared on his Instagram story. A single, sad-eyed emoji. The message was clear. 5 I couldn't hold it in. I told my roommates. I needed a sanity check. Jenna slammed the empty skewer into the trash can. "Didn't he just have you 'reimburse' him $500 for 'group project materials' last month?" She started counting on her fingers. "Since you two got together... clothes, shoes, fraternity dues, his family's Christmas presents... Ella, you've probably spent over $15,000 on him." "But he's sweet to me," I argued, pulling up my Venmo history. "Look, he bought me boba yesterday." "A $6 boba for a $1,900 laptop?" Jenna scoffed. "That's a better return than a crypto scam." The curtain from the top bunk suddenly flew open. Sarah poked her head out. "Guys, don't be so harsh." She made a dramatic face. "I literally saw Ryan in the dining hall. He was eating plain rice with the free ketchup... for a whole week." I just stared at the ceiling. I met Ryan at a debate tournament. He was wearing a shirt that was clean but had been washed so many times it was paper-thin. He wasn't intimidated by anyone. His closing argument was, "You can't put a price tag on love." At the after-party, he'd secretly piled all the shrimp from the buffet onto my plate. I watched him eat a cold bread roll. "My princess deserves the best," he'd whispered. Now, that bread roll felt like it was stuck in my throat. 6 Jenna had an idea. "It's simple," she said. "Just tell him you're broke. See what happens when the bank of Ella is closed." I agreed. That weekend, we went to the movies. I had a membership at the local luxury theater, so I just scanned my card. The second we got to our recliner seats, Ryan started inhaling the free popcorn and snacks. Like he hadn't eaten in days. It just... amplified the "ick" I was feeling. I didn't hear a single line of the movie. Just crunch, crunch, crunch. When we left, he could tell I was pissed. He grabbed my hand, pouting. "Babe, I'm just trying to save up for the laptop. I'm barely eating." Save up? With his allowance, how long would that take? And his family wasn't that poor. His parents both had solid union jobs. They weren't broke. "We're saving every penny for you, babe!" he said, pulling me into a hug. "I'm the man. I can handle being hungry. It's for our future." I was about to tell him my family didn't care about that, but he cut me off. "So... about the laptop... can my little sugar mama just help me out?" "This is pocket change for you, Ella. But it's... it's my whole thesis. If I'm late, we can't graduate together. You don't want that, do you?" The words, "Fine, I'll buy it for you," were right on the tip of my tongue. But I swallowed them. 7 I'll be honest: I fell for Ryan because he was gorgeous. He was sweet, he was charming, and when he'd pout, I'd have given him the world. And for four years, I did. I didn't even wait for him to ask. I saw him looking at something; I bought it. His entire wardrobe, from his boxers to his winter coat, was from me. This money... it was nothing to me. But I was supposed to give it. He wasn't supposed to ask. My mom's voice echoed in my head: "A man can be poor, Ella. He can't be a leech." I thought of Jenna's advice. I looked at Ryan's face. He was so confident. He was 100% sure I was going to cave. My blood ran cold. "I can't," I said. "I'm broke. I spent all my allowance." Ryan's smile froze. He blinked. His voice got high. "What? You get five thousand dollars. How is it gone?" His reaction was all the confirmation I needed. I pulled my arm out of his grip. "I cleared out my shopping cart," I said. "Do you have a problem with that?"
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