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With that, I didn't spare the three of them another glance. I turned and walked straight out the door.
I hadn't even cleared the complex before Merlin caught up.
He grabbed my wrist, desperate to explain.
"Lulu, don't be angry. My parents are simple people from the country, they never had much education. What they said came out ugly, but they didn't really mean it that way."
"Trust me, I'll have a good talk with them later. Just don't be angry."
I pulled my wrist free.
"Didn't mean it that way? Then tell me. What did they mean?"
"And if you wanted to have a good talk with them, why didn't you say a word back there at the table? Now that you see me leaving, suddenly you know how to speak up?"
That seemed to anger Merlin.
"Even if my parents said some things wrong, you had no business giving them that look."
"It's your birthday. My mom worked hard to make a whole table of food, and you just walk out like that. You're telling me you did nothing wrong?"
Hearing that, I almost laughed from sheer fury.
"You don't blame them for how ugly their words were. You don't blame them for tearing me down with every single sentence. Instead you blame me for giving them a look?"
"Merlin, be honest. You think the same way your parents do, don't you?"
I looked straight into his eyes. He glanced away, a little cornered.
"Lulu, don't read too much into it, but my parents aren't wrong either."
"I'm only thirty. I've made something of myself, I have my own company. If I wanted to look, there are plenty of young girls out there for me to pick from."
"You're already thirty, and I'm still willing to be with you. Doesn't that prove how I feel about you?"
I didn't say anything. I just stood there and looked at him.
The more Merlin talked, the more he convinced himself he was right.
"I could find a young girl anytime I wanted. There are plenty of beautiful women who'd want to marry me."
"But you? You're already thirty. Find someone your own age and can he be as successful as me? Find someone successful and can he be as young as me?"
"Lulu, accept it. Thirty means something different for men than it does for women."
I didn't say a word. I just suddenly laughed.
Merlin and I met in college. We dated for four years there.
The year I was twenty-two, Merlin graduated and wanted to start his own business, so I went along with him.
We lived together in a basement that leaked. We ate instant noodles with no seasoning together.
When the company was just starting out, Merlin didn't like the drinking and the clinking of glasses with clients, so I carried the whole thing on my shoulders.
Not only did I draw the design work for the company's flagship products, at night I sat at the table and smiled for every client over drinks.
That was how I brought in the orders, one by one.
To this day I still remember drinking until my stomach bled for a single six-figure order.
Lying in that hospital bed, Merlin's eyes were red from crying.
"For the rest of my life, all I'll ever need is Joyce."
From that day on, the man who hated schmoozing forced himself to go out and do it, forced himself to build relationships with every client, so that I only had to focus on my designs.
On the strength of his charm and my designs, his company finally found solid ground in the industry.
It was clearly the two of us working together that got us here.
But now Merlin claimed all the credit for himself.
How laughable.
Seeing me stay quiet, Merlin thought I'd softened.
"All right, my parents are still waiting at home. Let's head back first."
"Go back and apologize to them properly. They're your elders, they won't hold it against you."
I took a step back, opening the distance between us.
"So the past twelve years I might as well have thrown to the dogs."
"Merlin, you and me, we're done."
I didn't wait for his answer. I turned and walked straight toward the gate of the complex.
Merlin's voice rose behind me, seething.
"Joyce, you don't know a good thing when you see it!"
"You're thirty, who's going to want you? I'm telling you, don't come crying with regrets!"
