2: 2

My brother dragged me up to the head table while I fumed.

The day my acceptance letter came, my parents had already thrown me a party back in the village.

So today's celebration dinner was just for the relatives on both sides.

Aunt Belinda came over leading that man.

"Sophie, don't go throwing a fit at your aunt now. I treat you better than my own daughter, I swear."

I figured that was garbage.

"Here, look at how much thought he put into this."

Belinda pushed the heavy man forward, right up in front of me. There was a little cart beside him too.

"Oh my, that phone of yours looks older than mine."

I dipped my head slightly.

On the table sat the smartphone I'd used for five years.

A hand-me-down my mother had discarded.

The screen had a few cracks running across it.

Aside from being a little slow, everything on it still worked fine.

My mother's face went a bit stiff. "We deliberately didn't buy her a new phone, so she'd focus on her studies."

One of the relatives praised her for knowing how to raise a child right, said that was the only reason I'd gotten into an Ivy.

I glanced over at my brother, playing his game beside me.

The phone in his hands was one my mother had bought him three days ago.

All because he'd lagged in a match, lost, and cried out of frustration.

That same afternoon my mother came up with an excuse, saying he'd worked hard all semester and deserved a break now that the holiday had finally come.

The heavy man's name was Jordan Whitney.

He lifted two boxed new phones from the cart and set them in front of me.

"These are for you."

Belinda made a big show of it. "These are iPhones! Some model or other, seventeen thousand apiece!"

"Sophie, look, you two aren't even together yet and he's already this generous with you, already so thoughtful. See how much he cares?"

Beside me, my brother's head snapped up the second he heard "iPhone."

He wanted one!

Jordan kept setting things down in front of me.

An iPad, a laptop, a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet, all from designer brands.

Piling up in front of me into a little mountain.

Jordan said, "I know you girls like your bags, so I picked out this Louis Vuitton myself."

My mother stared at it, wide-eyed. "Oh my, this is too much, we really can't accept... take it back now."

The relatives murmured among themselves, tallying up how much the whole pile was worth.

My face darkened.

Not one person cared what I wanted.

If anything, the way Jordan threw all this at me carried a kind of arrogance, like he was trying to buy me down and couldn't understand why I wouldn't give in.

I grabbed the cart and swept every last thing back into it.

"Didn't you hear my mother? It's too expensive. Our family can't afford to take it!"

I watched my mother's face twist up like she was constipated.

3: 3

After the meal, some of the relatives paired off for card games, others huddled together to gossip.

The whole time it felt like they were picking me apart behind my back.

I went upstairs to find my parents and set them straight. There was no way I would agree to date Jordan Whitney.

"Sister-in-law, you saw it yourself, didn't you? The girl's got her heart set elsewhere. A gold bracelet worth thousands, handed right to her, and he never once said it had to be a done deal first."

"Free gold, and your daughter won't take it. She should think about giving it to her own mother, showing a little gratitude."

"Sister-in-law, listen to me. Get an engagement locked down for little Sophie now, or once she's off at school and her wings are strong, you won't get a thing out of her."

"You can't raise a grown girl for nothing!"

I couldn't stand at the door and listen to any more of it. I kicked it open.

"Belinda Fox, you eat too much garbage or something? All that comes out of your mouth is crap!"

She jumped, then went straight to shrieking, jabbing a finger in my face.

I screamed right back at her.

She looked ready to hit me, and I wasn't the least bit scared of her.

My mother slapped me across the face.

"Is that any way to talk to your aunt?!"

The tears came and I couldn't stop them.

Belinda spat.

"Ha! All those books rotting in your dog's belly, and now you've got the nerve to talk back to an elder. You ungrateful little thing. Turn your back on the people who fed you and I hope a car runs you down the second you step outside!"

"If you hadn't scored into an Ivy, you really think anyone would've looked at you twice?"

"If I hadn't gone and made this connection, who would even know your name?!"

She hadn't expected me to fire back, and it left her shaking with rage. She swore up and down she wouldn't lift a finger to help with my mess.

My mother was the one who panicked then, telling me to apologize to my aunt.

I stiffened my neck and refused.

She grabbed the back of my neck and forced my head down.

"I told you to apologize to your aunt. Did you hear me?!"

"Sophia Fox, are you saying you don't want me for a mother anymore?!"

I bit down until my mouth bled, and squeezed out the word sorry.

Seeing me pinned under my mother, Belinda pressed a hand to her chest, playing it up like I'd worked her into a heart attack.

My father and the others heard the commotion and came running.

When he heard Belinda's version, that I'd cursed her out, his face went dark, but he didn't raise a hand.

He'd never once hit me my whole life.

Between the two of them, my mother with her sons-over-daughters mind, my father was the one who came off as the softer on me.

My father said:

"No matter what, you don't get to call your aunt by her name, and you sure as hell don't get to curse at her!"

I was too choked with hurt to speak, my throat like it had a hand around it.

My father's heart gave, and he turned to Belinda.

"If she doesn't want to, then let it go."

Belinda said:

"This isn't for her to decide!"

"You won't think of yourself, fine, but you'd better think of your little brother. Do you have any idea how many people would kill to marry into the Whitney family?!"

My father fell silent.

Then he tried to talk me around.

"Sophie... it's only an engagement, not the wedding right away. If it really doesn't work out, you can break it off later..."

Me: "I won't agree to it!"

My mother snapped:

"Sophia Fox, what is there to be unhappy about? Where is he beneath you? Don't think getting into an Ivy makes you something special!"

My brother chimed in from the side.

"Right. The guy's worth hundreds of millions. Him even looking at you is a favor. You really think a fancy degree makes you special? You'll graduate and end up grinding away as somebody's mule in the big city like everyone else!"

I glared at him.

And saw the brand-new iPhone in his hands, the one he was playing with.

"Who said you could touch that!"

I lunged to grab it and my mother shoved me back.

"I said he could!"

"Sophia Fox, your father and I did not have it easy putting you through school. If you have any conscience at all, you'll think about us for once!"