Aiki’s fork clattered onto her plate. “No!” She cleared her throat, forcing a smile. “I mean… it’s so hard. You’ll never learn it. Why waste your time?”

The real game began when I got my promotion.

“Honey!” I burst through the door one evening, knowing her mom was visiting. “My boss pulled me aside today. He said with the baby coming…” I paused dramatically. “I’m getting a fifteen-thousand-dollar bonus!”

Aiki hugged me, her joy seeming genuine. “Oh, baby, that’s wonderful!”

But the second I went to check on dinner, I heard the rapid-fire Japanese.

“Juu-go-man doru! Fifteen thousand!”

“Motto hikidaseru. We can extract more.”

That night, I pushed further. “I’ve been thinking… maybe I should get a second job. I want our baby to have everything.”