The Last Insult that Broke Me

My mom, Martha Sanders, works as a housekeeper for my girlfriend's family. On the day we make our relationship official, my girlfriend, Yara Quinn, takes me home to meet her family. My mom brought out a plate of steamed jumbo shrimp. But Yara's mother, Wendy Slade, slams the table and jabs a finger at my mom's forehead. She yells, "You ungrateful leech! The second your son shows up, you start serving him the good stuff. How shameless can you be, you bitch?" I start to stand up to stop Wendy, but Yara kicks me under the table. She speaks before I can. "Just let it go. Don't upset my mom." Then she orders my mom, "Martha, give the shrimp to Lucky." Lucky is their family dog. I stare at the face I thought I knew and hear the coldness in her voice. Suddenly, I feel like everything we have isn't as important as I thought. Chapter 1 A flash of embarrassment crossed Mom's face. But she still obediently poured the plate of jumbo shrimp into the dog's bowl. The Schaunzer, Lucky, wagged its tail as it happily ate the shrimp. My girlfriend's mother, Wendy Slade, laughed as she pointed at the dog. "Our Lucky deserves the good stuff. Unlike some people, who live their whole lives worse than a dog's." She shot Mom and me a snide look. I ignored my girlfriend Yara Quinn's silent plea to let it go. "Mrs. Quinn, I'm severely allergic to shrimp," I said. "So my mom wouldn't use expensive ingredients just to take advantage of you." Yara stared at me in shock. Wendy immediately stopped smiling. A vicious look flashed in her eyes as she asked, "So you're saying I blamed your mother for no reason?" Before I could even say yes, Yara quickly stepped in with an apologetic smile. She said, "Come on, forget it. It was just a misunderstanding." Mom took the chance to pull me into the kitchen. She wanted to stop things from getting worse. "Ian, I know you hate seeing me treated this way," she said. "But Mrs. Quinn is usually a good person. She's just been a little difficult lately." I held Mom's dry, cracked hands. My heart ached for her. "Mom, just quit this job," I said. "I can make money to support you now!" If Wendy could humiliate Mom like this in front of me, then how much had she endured when I wasn't there? But Mom pulled her hands away from mine. She looked away. "Oh, silly. I told you it's nothing. Look at you, making such a fuss." Seeing me refuse to speak, Mom sighed. "Do you think I couldn't tell you've had a crush on Yara for over ten years?" she said. "You've followed her around since you were little. After I started working here, you insisted on picking me up every night. Wasn't it just so you could catch a glance of her? "You've liked her for so many years. Now that you've finally made it this far with her, it's fine that I suffer a little." My tears suddenly fell. I thought I had hidden my feelings so well when I was young, but Mom had seen them all along. She patted my hand and subtly gestured for me to look over. Yara was leaning against the kitchen door. Mom took the dishes out and left us alone. Yara reached out and wiped away my tears. The concern on her face was real. "Ian, my mom has always been harsh with her words, but she's soft at heart," she said. "She says things without thinking. Please don't take it to heart." For a moment, I felt myself giving in. But Yara's next words brought me back to reality. "My mom has always been proud. You can't embarrass her like that," she said. "Ian, if you're going to marry me, you need to learn to tolerate your future mother-in-law." I took a deep breath and kept my expression calm. I said, "Yara, you care about your mom, and I care about mine too." "And I'll have to reconsider our relationship." I walked past her, and I kept the last thing I wanted to say to myself. Chapter 2 When we went back out to the dining room, Wendy was all smiles. It looked like Yara had already calmed her down. She was nothing like the sharp-tongued woman she had been ten minutes ago. Wendy put on a warm smile and said. "Ian, I heard you did well in school. You know, I even helped cover your tuition. "The year you took the SAT, I even gave your mom an extra $50 every month." I forced a smile. That was also the year Yara took her SAT. Every night after she got home from her evening study sessions, Mom had to cook her a fresh late-night meal. Because of that, Mom didn't get home before 11:00 pm once that whole year. Wendy gave my mom just $50. But we were supposed to be endlessly grateful for it. I looked at Yara. There wasn't even a hint of gratitude in her eyes. She looked just as condescending as her mother. Mom had always been proud of me and couldn't help but speak up. "Ian worked hard and got a high SAT score. His tuition was completely waived." Wendy ignored what Mom said, and she changed the subject. "Even if his grades were good, he's still not as good as my daughter," she said. "Yara even won a college scholarship. There was only one first-place award, and she was the one who earned it. "Ian still has a lot to work on." What Wendy didn't know was this. One of the key factors for the college scholarship was overall performance. Yara was the only student in the entire college to get a perfect score. That was why my academic advisor, Roger Lane, sighed and told me that even with a perfect GPA, I still couldn't beat Yara. Wendy didn't know that, but Yara did. Yet she never said a word. Mom was a little unwilling to back down. She quietly argued, "Ian had the highest GPA in his entire year. That's already impressive." Wendy suddenly hurled a cup of hot water at Mom and screamed, "You're just the housekeeper! Who gave you the right to speak here?" Mom stood there frozen, and her eyes welled up with tears. Her hand quickly swelled from the burn, and next to her feet were broken pieces of glass scattered all around. I was so angry I almost lost control. I wanted to slap Wendy and take Mom away right then, but I knew better. If the Quinns decided to press charges, I couldn't afford what they would make me pay. I might even end up behind bars. I would only end up making Mom beg them for mercy because of me. At that moment, I finally realized one thing. This relationship was built across a gap I could never cross. All it would ever bring me was humiliation. Seeing the hatred in my eyes, Wendy happily dropped her act. "Top GPA? Who knows if he cheated?" she said. "It's like how he claims he's allergic to shrimp. Who knows if that's even true? "His mother is greedy and classless. No wonder her son has no manners!" Every word cut deeper than the last. But before I could say anything back, Yara's expression hardened with impatience. She said, "Apologize to my mom!" I stared at her in disbelief. It felt like I was seeing her for the first time. The girl I remembered used to stand up for me when other boys called me a poor kid and threw mud at me. She had stepped in front of me with her arms wide open without a second thought. Whenever my father got drunk and beat me with his belt until I was crawling on the floor, she would secretly take medicine from home and treat my wounds. The bold, spirited girl next door in my memories was the girl I had secretly loved for years. Even after the Quinns became wealthy and moved away, my feelings for her never faded. But now, seeing her force me to apologize, I couldn't help but think I was a complete joke. Chapter 3 Just as Yara and I reached a standstill, her childhood friend, Liam Jackson, showed up. "Wendy, Yara, your place is really lively today," Liam said. Wendy's attitude flipped instantly. She beamed at him and said, "Yara was kind enough to bring one of her classmates over to see how people like us live." Liam said in a clear, cheerful voice, "And he's a male classmate, too." Wendy responded, "It's only because his mom works as our housekeeper. Yara just happened to bring him along. Don't read too much into it." He clearly knew I was Yara's boyfriend, but he pretended otherwise. "I see." Liam straightened his cuff and said quietly, "Good. As long as he's not her boyfriend." As he moved, a red braided bracelet slipped into view. The exact same one was on Yara's wrist. I had asked about it before, and Yara had brushed it off. She said it was a lucky charm her mother gave her. She had gotten used to wearing it and never took it off. But now I knew that wasn't the truth. "Oh, come on. You know who Yara likes," Wendy said. "If you two don't end up together, those matching bracelets I got you will have been for nothing." Liam blushed. "Wendy, you're teasing me." Yara frowned and said unhappily, "Mom!" Wendy shot her an annoyed look. "Fine, fine. You're all grown up now. I can't control who you like anymore." After that, she acted like a kind and caring elder. She warmly patted Liam's hand and made small talk with him, completely ignoring Mom and me. "Wendy, I picked out this bracelet from House of M when I was in Perly. Try it on," Liam said. Wendy scolded him for spending so much, but happily held out her wrist. The diamonds sparkled under the lights. The more she looked at it, the happier Wendy was. As for the gift I had brought, it was still sitting by the front door, unopened. Coincidentally, it was a scarf from the same brand. It was the only luxury item I could afford, and it had cost me two months of tutoring pay. Wendy hadn't even bothered to look at it. "If you ask me, you're the perfect son-in-law, Liam," Wendy said. "It's a shame Yara doesn't see it. Instead, she likes those lowlifes who only want to climb the social ladder. "Well, as long as I'm around, some people will never be part of this family!" Wendy was making it very clear that I wasn't good enough. Mom was shaking with anger when she yanked off her apron. She had always kept her head down, but she wouldn't let anyone insult me like that. "Mrs. Quinn, your family is out of our league. Ian isn't lucky enough to be part of your family," Mom said. "Even if he wanted to, I would never let him lower himself like that. "As of today, I quit. You'll have to find someone else." Mom grabbed my hand, and we walked out. Three minutes later, I came back. Wendy looked surprised, then smirked. "So much for your pride. I knew you couldn't stay away." Yara's eyes lit up. She thought I couldn't bear to leave her. With everyone watching, I picked up the gift I had brought and took it from the entryway. After all, I had spent nearly 2,000 dollars on it. There was no reason to give it to someone who didn't deserve it. Chapter 4 Yara quickly ran after me. "Ian, don't go!" she called out. She stopped in front of me, breathing hard. There was confusion in her eyes. "Ian, how can you just leave like that?" she said. "This was your first time meeting my mom. I only asked you to apologize so you would make a good impression." Then, she turned on Mom. "Martha, how could you go along with him?" Yara took my hand and tried to lead me back to the house. "Come back and say a few nice things to my mom. If she's in a good mood, she might finally approve of us." I pulled my hand away. I couldn't believe I had been so blind to not see how stupid she had always been. "Didn't you hear how your mother humiliated us?" I said. "Do you think I'm pathetic? Why would I let anyone trample my dignity and insult me? "Since your mom looks down on us that much, then let's break up, Yara." Yara froze for a second, then panic set in. "How can you break up with me, Ian?" she stammered. "Is this about the bracelet I have on? I can explain." I cut her off. "No, it's because you're a coward! Your mom insulted us right to our faces, and you didn't even have the courage to stand up for me. Or do you think my mom and I deserved that kind of treatment? "Yara, we're over." "You don't mean that, do you?" Yara asked. "You've liked me for so many years. How can you just end it like this?" I was caught off guard. How did she know I had been in love with her all those years? Realizing she had slipped up, she mumbled, "It doesn't matter. I won't agree to the breakup." I refused to argue with her anymore. I said flatly, "Breaking up isn't like a divorce. I don't need you to agree to it." When she realized I had made up my mind, Yara spoke through gritted teeth. "Martha quit her job. Without that income, can you still pay off your student loans? "Do you know that one word from me could stop you from getting financial aid? Ian, don't push me. I don't want to go this far." I never thought she could be this shameless. I looked at Yara with a mocking smile. "I guess this is all you've got." Yara finally snapped. "Fine. Keep acting tough! Just don't come crying to me later." As she stormed off, Mom looked at me worriedly. "Ian, maybe I should go and apologize to them. What if this ruins your future?" she said. I patted her hand to reassure her. Then I called Roger. "Sir, could you please tell Prof. Walker that I've decided to accept the exchange program she recommended?"