2: 2
2
When I got home, Cedric still wasn't back.
Lucille had just posted a grid of photos on her feed.
"Feeling down, so my boss brought me out to the river for a drive. The fireworks are his heart."
I killed the screen and sat staring at the couple's photo on the nightstand.
Cedric and I had been together seven years, all the way from college, and this year we were finally supposed to get married.
Then his father was diagnosed with cancer, and Cedric took back the bride price. It was only eighty thousand to begin with, and he clawed every bit of it back.
He even took back the deposit on the house.
When my parents heard, they didn't say a word.
The next day, they set their savings passbook down in front of me.
It was the money they'd saved their whole lives, the money meant to see them through old age.
"We're old, sweetheart. We can't do much for you. All we can give you is a stable home."
The five-star hotel wedding shrank down to a cheap little restaurant.
I pinched every penny. I couldn't even bring myself to order a latte.
And he turned around and blew over a hundred thousand on fireworks for his little secretary.
There was a wet wad of cotton lodged in my chest, and it wouldn't go up or down.
Somewhere in the dead of night, half-asleep, I heard the door get kicked open, and the light snapped on, blinding.
Cedric hauled me up out of bed without a thought.
"Lucille was kind enough to keep an eye on the renovation for us. What gives you the right to question her?"
He didn't ask where my parents were staying. He didn't care that I'd been sound asleep.
His whole heart and eyes were on how wronged poor Lucille felt.
I pinched the space between my brows.
"Keeping an eye on the renovation? You mean turning my clean, simple design into some influencer showroom?"
"Keeping an eye on it? You mean crowding me out of my own home, making my guest room her bedroom, and turning my parents' room into a dog kennel?"
"My entry access, my whole smart-home system, all handed over to her. Since when do I have to book an appointment just to walk into my own house?"
Cedric stiffened his neck, self-righteous.
"The style Lucille redid is gorgeous. Your taste is just stiff and outdated."
"Besides, your parents hardly ever come. Lucille lives far away, it's a hassle for her to go home when she works late. What's wrong with keeping a room for her?"
"They're all small things. Can you stop being so petty about every little thing?"
"Lucille cried the whole night because of you. Find a moment sometime and apologize to her properly."
My chest was clogged tight, my throat squeezed like a hand around it.
He looked at my red-rimmed eyes and softened his tone.
"All right, stop acting like you've suffered some great injustice."
"These are gifts for your parents. If you're free tomorrow, let's all have dinner together."
Inside the gift box was a string of pearls and a very ordinary tie.
I thought of my parents' eager faces, and I swallowed everything down without a word.
The next day, when they saw Cedric's gifts, a faint smile broke across their faces.
"Cedric's thoughtful. He's so busy with work, and he still remembers us."
Mom fastened the pearl necklace around her neck.
Dad carefully lifted the suit he'd meant to save for the wedding out of the suitcase and knotted the tie with great ceremony.
"Ella, we didn't embarrass you, did we?"
"No, no. You two are the best people in the world."
Once they were ready, I took my parents, both of them full of excitement, to the private room Cedric had picked.
I pushed the door open, only to find Lucille and her dog planted brazenly in the seats of honor.
"The little cutie made herself at home the second we got here and wouldn't budge. You don't mind, right?"
Cedric stroked the dog's head, doting, and didn't even look up.
"Ella isn't the small-minded type. She's not going to fight a dumb animal over a seat."
The light in my parents' eyes dimmed, but they held their smiles.
"It's fine, it's fine. Family sits anywhere, it's all the same."
Lucille's gaze dropped to my parents' necks, and she covered her mouth, laughing.
"Sir, ma'am, honestly, that necklace and tie really do suit you two."
"We took the little cutie shopping for clothes yesterday, and the clerk threw in these two accessories. My baby has no use for them."
"Didn't expect them to look so fitting on you."
The smiles froze on my parents' faces.
Mom's hand jerked back from the necklace as if she'd been burned.
My dad just sat there, the hand at his side curling into a fist.
I looked at the gray at their temples, and I couldn't take it anymore.
"Cedric, what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
