At My Proposal Dinner, His Family Showed Their True Faces

1: 1

The day both families were to meet formally and discuss the engagement.

Just as I was heading out the door, my father suddenly stopped me.

Go half an hour late.

I stared at him, confused.

He said,

If they truly respect you, waiting another half hour won't matter to them.

And if they don't, half an hour of waiting is enough for them to show their true faces.

I thought he was being far too suspicious.

Until I reached the private dining room, its door left ajar, and heard my boyfriend's mother say with a cold sneer,

"Son, Carina Fox's just some little slip of a girl. So what if her salary's a bit higher and her family's a bit better off? Today of all days, coming to formally discuss the engagement, and she dares make us wait, dares put on airs. Who does she think she is!"

"Once they're married, I'll show her. However capable she is, she's quitting that job and coming home to have babies."

His father nodded.

"Exactly. For a girl like her, I say we offer ten thousand and one in engagement money, just to make a point."

"But that apartment she's bringing as dowry, my son's name goes on it afterward."

And my boyfriend, who had always held me in the palm of his hand, didn't defend me at all. Instead he chimed right in.

"Mom, Dad, you're both right. But you can't rush these things."

"Listen to me. Wait until we're married, until she's pregnant, then we bring it up."

Standing outside that door, I finally understood.

What Calvin called love was nothing but arsenic wrapped in honey.

I just hadn't seen it clearly, all this time.

I didn't shout, didn't make a scene. I only took my father's hand.

"Dad, you were right. Calvin isn't worth it."

"There's no need for this marriage. And the promotion we promised him, cancel that too."

Just before we left, my father suddenly stopped me.

I froze for a second, thinking he'd changed his mind.

After all, from the very first meeting, my father had said Calvin was calculating, not to be trusted.

"Why?"

My father looked at me, his expression serious.

"Let me take one last look at him for you."

I couldn't help laughing.

"Dad, today's the formal family meeting to discuss the engagement. It's not an exam."

"Showing up half an hour late is so rude."

But my father shook his head.

"If they truly care about you, the only thing they'll worry about in that half hour is whether something happened to you."

"If they don't care about you, or they've been unhappy all along, that half hour is enough for them to say everything they've been hiding."

I still thought he was overthinking it.

Calvin had pursued me for a year.

Through that whole year, nothing stopped him.

When I worked until dawn, he'd wait three hours outside my office building just to drive me home.

When I mentioned offhand that I liked the desserts from a certain bakery, the next day he stood in line for four hours to buy them for me.

Even though my father had always been cool toward him, he never once complained.

He'd comfort me instead.

"Carrie, your dad is a responsible father. He's hard on me because he loves you too much."

"And I'll keep working at it, until I prove myself to your dad!"

Then there were his parents.

The first time his father came to our home, he'd prepared a dozen dishes, all my favorites.

His mother went even further, mailing me her own home-cooked food and brown sugar every holiday, and she'd told me she completely respected my choice to stay child-free, never once bringing up kids.

A family like that.

How could they be anything like what my father said?

But looking at the insistence in my father's eyes, I gave in.

"Fine. Just half an hour late."

"Any more than that would be rude!"

My father nodded.

"Half an hour. That's enough."

With that, he took the car keys and set off.

Not to the restaurant we'd agreed on, though, but to the coffee shop next door.

"We'll sit here. In fifteen minutes we'll go find them."

Soon it was past ten, the time we'd set, five minutes over.

A message came in from Calvin.

Something warmed in my chest, and I smiled and waved my phone at my father.

"See? I told you. He's definitely worried about me."

But when I opened the chat, there was only a single short line.

You here yet?

Nothing else. Not a second sentence.

He knew perfectly well I hated being late more than anything. In two years together I had never once been late.

Yet he didn't ask if something had happened, if I needed help.

Not even a single 'stay safe.'

An odd little pang of disappointment went through me, but I quickly found an excuse for him.

Today was the first time both sets of parents were meeting formally, after all.

I was late.

Caught in the middle, he probably felt awful too.

It made sense that he'd be unhappy.

The minutes crawled by.

Ten minutes passed.

Still no message from Calvin, no call either.

Every second dragged like a year, and at last I made it to the fifteen-minute mark.

I stood up at once.

I couldn't even finish the coffee I usually loved.

"Dad, it's time. Let's hurry over."

My father set down his teacup and nodded.

"Let's go."

The hotel was right next door, only a few dozen steps away.

But the closer I got to the private room, the more inexplicably nervous I became.

Thinking to myself that I really ought to apologize for being late.

After all, I'd kept them waiting a long time.

When we reached the door of the private room, a burst of scolding came from inside.

The waiter was just about to push the door open for us.

But my father suddenly raised a hand, motioning for us to wait.

I was still puzzled when Camille James's shrill voice came through the gap in the unclosed door, perfectly clear.

"Son, Carina's just some little slip of a girl. So what if her salary's a bit higher and her family's a bit better off?"

"The very first meeting, and she dares make us wait, dares put on airs. Who does she think she is!"

2: 2

My feet froze on the spot.

Was this the same woman who had always been so warm with me, who called me "sweetheart" in every other breath?

My father's face darkened in an instant, but he didn't storm in to cut them off.

James James set down his teacup and drawled out his reply.

"Exactly. You can't spoil a woman."

"What good is a high salary? The more she earns, the less she listens, the harder she is to manage!"

"I say we wait until after the wedding, make her quit that job, and have her stay home and raise kids like she should."

Camille James nodded at once.

"Right. The most important thing for a woman is to support her husband and raise the children. Parading around out there all day, what does that look like!"

"And no more of that no-kids nonsense. That would cut off the James family line. Just wait, I won't just make her have kids, she'll give me three boys!"

My fingertips curled in, tighter and tighter, and something sat like a stone in my chest.

How could a person put on such an act?

Just yesterday.

She had held my hand, smiling, and said to me:

"Sweetheart, you're so accomplished. I'm the first to support a woman having her own career."

James James had stood right there backing her up, even joking that Calvin would be the perfect househusband for me.

I never imagined they'd already been plotting over my womb behind my back.

"That's right. For someone like her, and she still has the nerve to ask for eighteen thousand in engagement gifts? I say we give her a token ten thousand and one and be done with it!"

James James clicked his tongue.

"But the house and the car she brings, my son's name goes on all of it from now on!"

Camille James was thinking of something, and her eyes narrowed with her smile.

"Right. My son's about to make supervisor. The house has to have our son's name on it."

"And later we'll make her hand over her paycheck too. She earns that well, we can't let her family reap the benefit!"

"Enough, that's enough!"

My heart sank even deeper.

Right then, Calvin, who hadn't said a word, finally spoke.

Some part of me couldn't help but hope.

He still loved me.

But the next second, what came out of his mouth dropped me into ice water.

"Mom, Dad, you're all right, but now isn't the time!"

"She's riding high right now, her career's going well. Push her to quit out of nowhere and she'll never go for it."

"Besides, her father's a sharp one. Better to wait until we're married, until she's pregnant. Once the kid is born, where's she going to run?"

He raised his voice.

"Listen to me. Once we're married, once there's a kid, once she has a weak spot, that's when we make our demands."

"By then the house, the paycheck, won't it all belong to our family?"

The words landed, and the private room burst into laughter.

"That's my clever boy!"

"Now that's playing the long game to land the big fish!"

Standing outside the door, all I felt was a cold running through my whole body.

So my father had been right.

Calvin really was rotten inside. He couldn't be trusted.

Three years of love, and it was nothing but a scheme.

The joke was that it took until today for me to see his true face.

But I didn't want to charge in and confront them.

It would cost me too much of my own dignity.

It would only make me look desperate to marry, as if it had to be Calvin or no one.

Men, if this one won't do, the next one is bound to be better.

There was no reason to waste myself on garbage.

I took my father's hand, and my voice came out perfectly calm.

"Dad, thank you for all the trouble you went to."

"You were right. Calvin isn't worth it."

"This marriage, there's no reason to go through with it. Cancel the promotion we promised him."

3: 3

My father let out a cold snort.

"Just canceling the promotion lets him off too easy."

"He dared treat Ivan Fox's daughter like this. He's going to pay for it."

My father did nothing by halves; in business circles they called him the Living Reaper.

Whatever price he meant, it wouldn't be a small one. But I didn't ask.

Whatever he did, Calvin had it coming.

As I walked out of the restaurant, Calvin called.

Seeing those two words saved on my screen, "Future Husband," made my stomach turn.

Three years ago I'd resisted an arranged marriage, and I couldn't stand the way the rich sons around me behaved, so I'd deliberately hidden who I was and gone to the branch office to cut my teeth. That was how I'd ended up giving a chance to Calvin, who seemed so plain and honest.

I never thought I'd still end up getting my eyes pecked out by the very hawk I let close.

I didn't pick up. I just blocked every way he had of reaching me.

Back at my rented place, I cleared out everything connected to him.

Once it was all gone, I ended the lease and went home.

I pushed open the door to my father's study and got straight to the point.

"Dad, I don't think love is for me. I don't want to date for the next three years."

"I want to work at your side. I want to focus on my career."

My father froze for a second.

Then he laughed out loud.

For three years he'd urged me, more than once, to break it off with Calvin and come learn how to take over the company at his side.

But I was stubborn. I always assumed he'd just push me into meeting other people my age, and I used that as leverage, thinking I could force him to accept Calvin.

Looking back now, I wanted to slap myself.

I really had been out of my mind over that man.

"Good, good, good. That's my daughter. That's spirit."

My eyes went hot, and I threw myself into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I've been such a terrible daughter these past few years."

My father patted my back, the way he had when I was little and he'd been both father and mother, coaxing me to sleep.

"There's no sorry between us. All your old man wants is for you to be happy."

My eyes burned even more, and I held him tight.

My father moved fast.

Even though it was Sunday, he had my appointment finalized in no time.

Monday, which was tomorrow.

Everyone would know I was being transferred straight from the branch office to headquarters, made my father's special assistant, working right at his side.

Thinking of the new life I was about to begin, I slept through the night without a single dream, and slept well.

Early the next morning I set off for the branch office in high spirits, ready to pack up my things.

But I'd forgotten Calvin worked in my department.

Sure enough, the moment I reached the office, he pulled me into the emergency stairwell, his face dark.

"Carina, give me an explanation."

The skin under his eyes was bruised dark, and his stare was almost spitting fire.

He was clearly right at the edge of losing it.

Which made sense.

Anyone would be furious to have his girlfriend walk out on him at the restaurant on the very day of the proposal meeting, then vanish off a cliff.

But so what.

This was the price for playing with my feelings.

I didn't owe him a thing.

"Explanation? What do I need to explain?"

I shrugged.

Calvin hadn't expected me to be so unruffled. His face flushed with anger.

"Quit the act!"

"The twenty-fifth was the day we were supposed to settle the wedding date. How could you and your father just disappear and leave us all sitting there waiting like fools?"

"You not only gave no explanation, you wouldn't answer your phone, you blocked me, you moved out without a word. None of that needs explaining to me?"

My tone stayed exactly as cool as before.

"I have nothing to explain."

I rubbed at my brow, tired of it, and hardened my voice.

"Calvin, I'm officially notifying you. We're over."

"Don't come bothering me again."

Calvin stared, blank, as if he'd misheard.

"Carrie, what did you just say?"

I said it again.

"I said we're breaking up."

4: 4

He looked rattled, unsure what was wrong with me, and tried a careful guess.

"Carrie, what's really going on with you?"

"Is it... did Laurence Barnes say something bad about me again?"

Laurence is a childhood friend of mine, someone I've always been close to. From the moment he learned I'd gotten together with Calvin,

he quietly looked into him and came specifically to warn me, to talk me into breaking it off, saying his character was rotten.

Back then my judgment was clouded, and I didn't believe it.

I even went out of my way to distance myself from him.

Thinking of that now, I felt even more foolish.

The people around me had been warning me all along, and I'd insisted on going my own way anyway.

My brow drew tighter.

"You don't have to guess who. It has nothing to do with anyone else."

I looked at Calvin.

"That day, in the private room, everything you saidI heard all of it."

The expression on Calvin's face froze in an instant, the color draining out inch by inch.

He opened his mouth to explain. I raised a hand and cut him off.

"Don't bother. I won't listen anyway."

"The point is, I'm not the kind of person who can look past this. I said it ends here, so there is no later. Dragging it out is pointless."

I'd thought I'd made myself clear enough that he'd finally understand.

But I never expected that in the time it took me to use the restroom and come back, the whole department was congratulating me.

"Carrie, we heard Calvin came to your family Saturday to talk about the engagement. You two are getting engaged! Congratulations!"

"Good men are hard to find these days. You landed a good one in Calvinyou'd better hold on to him."

"Exactly. He's about to make supervisor, so another raise is coming. He's got real potential!"

There was no smile on my face. I only asked who had spread it.

In answer, they held up their phones.

On the screen was a message Calvin had posted.

Everyone, Carina and I are engaged. You're all welcome to come to our wedding.

The timestamp was exactly one minute after I'd told him it was over.

Calvin hadn't taken in a word I said. He'd gone and chained me to him by force.

Fury surging, I went straight to the smoking area to find him.

His buddies saw me coming and started ribbing him.

"Well, look at thatCal's girl. So crazy about him you can't stand to be apart for a second."

"Man, that's sweet. We'll clear out and stop being the third wheel."

And Calvin didn't say a single word to deny it. Instead he gave me a sweet smile.

"What is it, Carrie? Miss me already, after so little time apart?"

It turned my stomach. I lifted my hand and slapped him without a shred of hesitation.

"Calvin, do my words just go in one ear and out the other? Didn't I tell you we're done? Why are you going around saying we're engaged?"

He wasn't the least bit angry. He caught my hand and blew on it instead.

"Baby, you've had your slap. Now stop being upset."

The disgust nearly overwhelmed me, and I tried to pull my hand free.

But he held it down, hard.

He lowered his voice, pitching it so only the two of us could hear.

"Carina, don't push your luck when I'm handing you a favor."

"I'm the one saying I'll still marry you. You should be grateful. Think about ityou dated me for three years. If I don't want you, you'll be damaged goods nobody wants. Who's going to marry you then?"

"Besides..."

He paused and brushed a loose strand of hair back from my ear.

"I'm about to make supervisor. My pay doubles, my standing goes up. That makes me a top-tier man, doesn't it? Breaking up with me now would be a loss for you. Be good. Stop throwing a tantrum."

I stared at him, stunned.

I could hardly believe those cold, vicious words were coming out of his mouth.

"And if I don't behave?"

The smile left Calvin's face, leaving nothing but ice.

"Then don't blame me for showing you no mercy once I'm supervisor. After all, crushing you will be as easy as crushing an ant."

Watching him stand there so smug and sure of himself, I suddenly wasn't angry anymore. I actually found it funny.

Promotion?

What a nice dream he was having.

Seeing me laugh instead of rage, Calvin frowned.

"Carina, what's so funny?"

I shook his hand off and said it one word at a time.

"I'm laughing because your promotion dream is about to shatter."

He didn't believe me and was about to say something else to humiliate me.

But his phone rang.

It was Director Lambert.

Calvin was over the moon. He pointed at the screen, showing off to me.

"Carina, see that? Director Lambert is calling personally to tell me about my promotion!"

I said nothing.

Smiling, he tapped to answer.

But the next second, the smile froze on his face.

It wasn't congratulations. It was Director Lambert roaring in a rage.

"Calvin, what the hell did you do? Get over here, now!"

"Do you have any idea? Your supervisor appointment has already been revoked!"

"And on top of that, the company is investigating you!"