Right before the wedding ceremony was supposed to start, my mom found me, her face dark with anger. "Chloe, did you arrange the catering for the reception?" I nodded, confused. I had personally handled all the catering details. We even went to several different hotels for tastings before settling on this one. My mom froze for a second, then glared at me. "Are you out of your mind?! I gave you thirty thousand dollars, and this is the garbage you serve at your wedding?!" "Your husband's family gets top-shelf whiskey, premium steak, and lobster!" "And you serve our relatives cheap beer and generic chicken?!" "Do you have any idea how humiliating this is going to be for your father in front of our entire extended family?!" I was completely stunned. We paid for the exact same premium catering package for every single table. How could there be such a massive discrepancy? Just as I was about to storm out of the bridal suite to find the hotel manager, my husband, Liam, grabbed my arm. "The ceremony is about to start. If you go now, you'll delay the schedule and ruin the timing." Then, he muttered under his breath: "Besides, I'm the one who told them to change it. Why would you go yell at the hotel?" 1 Even though Liam muttered it under his breath, I heard him perfectly clearly. My brain stalled for a second before the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. The two-tiered catering—the blatant disrespect toward my family—was Liam's doing! I forced down the raging fire in my chest and tried to keep my voice level. "Why? I paid the hotel in full for the premium package. Why did you change it?" "You downgraded the food and drinks for my side of the family. How are my relatives supposed to look at my parents now?" "Did you even consider for a second that after this wedding, my parents won't be able to show their faces in front of our family and friends?" Despite my best efforts to stay calm, my voice unconsciously rose into a shout. Liam looked away, too guilty to meet my eyes. My mom's face was livid. She was breathing heavily, on the absolute verge of an explosion. But maintaining the elegant, composed image she had cultivated for years, she held it in and said to me in a low, tight voice: "The ceremony starts in thirty minutes. I am giving you exactly ten minutes to find a reasonable solution to this mess." After she finished, my mom shot Liam an icy, lethal glare, turned on her heel, and walked out. The bridal suite fell dead silent. The only sound was our breathing. "Honey, please, just listen to me explain..." After a long, uncomfortable silence, Liam took a deep breath and reached out to take my hand. I took a step back, pulled up a chair, sat down, and stared at him silently. Liam awkwardly withdrew his hand and scratched his head, pretending it wasn't a big deal. "Look, honey. The premium catering package is eight hundred dollars a table. We booked twenty-eight tables, plus three reserves." "If we used the premium package for everyone, the money your mom gave you wouldn't be enough." "Plus, your family alone takes up twenty-one tables! If we kept the premium package, we'd end up having to pay the difference out of our own pockets!" Liam counted on his fingers, eagerly breaking down the math for me. "But changing the package changes everything!" A look of calculated greed flashed in his eyes—a look I had never seen before. My heart grew colder by the second. This hidden side of Liam was completely rewriting my understanding of the man I was about to marry. "I talked to the hotel manager and downgraded the catering for your family's tables to the basic hundred-and-fifty-dollar package." "By doing that, we'll actually have money left over from your mom's budget after the wedding! We can use that extra cash to take my parents on a nice vacation with us!" When Liam mentioned the vacation, his eyes lit up with excitement. It was as if he was already sitting on a beach with his parents. I, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined he would go behind my back like this. Sneaking off to the hotel manager to downgrade the food, without even bothering to consult the person who was actually paying the bill. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear my own wedding to the ground! 2 But then I thought about our three-year relationship, and all the relatives waiting outside. I was trapped. This was the man I had fought my parents so hard for, blinding myself to all his red flags. We were already at the venue. The guests were seated. Backing out now would be a catastrophic, humiliating scandal. I took a deep, shaky breath, trying my absolute hardest not to lose my mind. "Go find the manager right now and change the catering back to the premium package." "My parents paid for this reception. You know exactly what was agreed upon." "More importantly, today isn't just about my extended family. My dad's business partners and clients are out there." "Did you even think about the consequences of insulting them like this?" The excited, daydreaming look on Liam's face instantly vanished, replaced by a sullen scowl. "I can't change it back... I told the manager to downgrade the order the very next day after you finalized the menu." "The kitchen definitely prepped all the food in advance!" "Besides, they're just here to celebrate our marriage. Who actually cares if the food is a little cheap?" It felt like a ball of fire was lodged in my throat. I was literally shaking with rage. "Then go out there and tell your relatives they're sitting at the wrong tables! Tell them to switch!" "Let my dad's business partners sit at the tables with the top-shelf liquor and steak! All the relatives get the basic package!" The moment I suggested moving his family, Liam stiffened defensively. He stuck his neck out and argued back: "We can't do that! How humiliating would it be to serve my family cheap food?!" I let out a harsh, incredulous laugh. Oh, so now he understands it's humiliating. But he was perfectly fine serving that exact same garbage to my family? "Besides, they're already seated! If I make them move now, how am I supposed to look them in the eye?!" "Are you trying to ruin me?!" I couldn't hold it in anymore. I slammed my hand down hard on the vanity table. CRASH! Everything on the table swept onto the floor. I stood up and screamed at him: "And what exactly are YOU doing to ME?!" "Did you forget that when we were negotiating this wedding, your family cried poverty over and over again?!" "I felt bad for you! I didn't ask you to pay a single cent! I let your family eat and drink for free on my dime, under the strict condition that everyone received the exact same premium treatment!" "And what happens? I pay the bill, and I end up being the one humiliated?!" "That is not how the world works! Liam, do you still want to get married or not?!" I roared at Liam, and the suffocating pressure in my chest finally eased a fraction. I took a deep breath of air. Liam was completely stunned that I would threaten to call off the wedding. He stared at me, his eyes wide in disbelief, looking like a chicken being choked. Before Liam could even utter a word, the door to the bridal suite was violently kicked open. "How dare you speak to my son like that?!" 3 "You aren't even officially married yet, and you're already screaming at your man? You think you run this house?!" My mother-in-law, Martha, stormed into the room and slapped me hard across the face. Feeling the burning, stinging pain on my cheek, my mind went completely blank. I stared at this wicked, vicious old woman in utter shock. Martha's face was twisted in pure malice. There was absolutely no trace of the sweet, loving future mother-in-law she had pretended to be. In that moment, I realized with chilling clarity that all her previous kindness had been an act. This was her true face! Liam was also shocked by his mother bursting in and slapping me. Snapping out of it, he hurried over to check my face. "Mom! What are you doing?! The ceremony hasn't even started, and you just slapped her face swollen!" "When we go out there, what are the guests going to think?!" Martha yanked Liam behind her, shielding him, and glared at me with absolute venom. "The wedding is about to start, and you two are in here screaming like animals! What is wrong with you?!" "And I heard you actually had the nerve to demand my family switch tables?!" "Do you still want to marry into this family or not?!" Holding my stinging, swelling cheek, a wave of profound regret washed over me. If I had known his family was like this, I never would have fought my parents so bitterly to marry Liam. When our families first sat down to discuss the wedding, I, trying to be understanding of Liam's financial situation, directly told my parents we didn't need a dowry, an engagement ring, or any of the traditional expensive gifts. I told them if I saw something I liked, I would just buy it myself. I didn't need his family to pay for it. My parents strongly disagreed, but because I was so incredibly stubborn, they eventually caved. They even bought me a brand-new car as a wedding gift out of their own pockets. When it came time to discuss the reception, my in-laws looked visibly disgusted when my parents mentioned we had a large extended family and would need around twenty tables. "Look, it's not that I'm being cheap, but I just don't agree with bringing that many people to a wedding reception." "Twenty tables? That is ridiculous!" "Are you just inviting every random person you've ever met? Do you have any idea how much that's going to cost?!" "Besides, if you invite all those people, they're going to give cash gifts. Who gets to keep that money?" My mom instantly lost her temper. "That is exactly how large our extended family is! And I'm actually giving you a conservative estimate!" "Who keeps the cash gifts from our side of the family is none of your business!" "Even if I give every single cent of it to my daughter, that is her personal asset, and it has absolutely nothing to do with your family!" After being chewed out by my mom, Martha muttered something under her breath in defense. I forget the exact words. But the gist of it was that my mom was a greedy, calculating woman who was trying to pack the reception with freeloaders just to recoup all the wedding gifts she had given out over the years, all without spending a dime of her own money. Meanwhile, even if every single one of Liam's relatives showed up, they wouldn't fill ten tables. Thirty tables for a reception was simply too expensive. They claimed that after giving Liam the money for a down payment on a house, they had absolutely nothing left for the wedding. Hearing Martha say that, my mom was ready to grab me and walk out right then and there. But I, being young, naive, and completely blinded by love, physically blocked my parents from leaving. I stubbornly defended Martha, insisting there must be a misunderstanding, that she couldn't possibly mean it like that. My parents were exhausted by my stubbornness. My mom looked at me with deep disappointment. She raised her hand as if to slap some sense into me, but couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead, she gave me another thirty thousand dollars specifically to cover the cost of the reception. The moment Martha heard she didn't have to pay a single cent for the wedding, her face instantly lit up. She grabbed my hand, acting as if the entire ugly argument had never happened. "Oh, Chloe is truly the best daughter-in-law a mother could ask for!" "Don't you worry, once you marry into our family, I promise I will treat you like my own flesh and blood!" 4 She even promised my parents that once I married Liam, she would never let me suffer. Back then, I was stupid enough to believe that Martha had only insulted my parents because she was genuinely stressed about money. But seeing her now, looking like she wanted to eat me alive... I finally saw her for what she truly was. "Then let's call it off!" "You refuse every option I give you to fix this, so there's absolutely no point in continuing this wedding." "Liam, take your mother and your relatives, and get the hell out of here!" "I'll just treat today as a private dinner party for my family and friends!" I screamed at Liam, completely ignoring Martha's existence. "We can't do that! The guests are already here! We have to get married!" "Mom, if we have to, let's just listen to Chloe and have our family switch tables." Liam tugged at his mother's sleeve, whispering nervously. Martha glared at me darkly. She pulled Liam aside and hissed: "Are you an idiot? She practically begged to marry you, paying her own way. There is no way she's going to call off the wedding!" "If you cave to her demands now, she's going to walk all over you for the rest of your life!" "Listen to me. She doesn't have the guts to cancel the wedding. She's just bluffing!" Martha finished her whisper and shot a cautious glance back at me. I found it hilarious. The bridal suite was tiny. Did she really think taking two steps back meant I couldn't hear every word she said? "Chloe, it's not that I'm trying to be difficult, but the guests are already seated. We can't just make them move." "Listen to me. You're marrying Liam today. What's wrong with letting his family eat a little better?" "Once you're married and living your life, our relatives will remember your generosity." Martha spoke with sickening sweetness, acting as if she and her son were doing this entirely for my benefit. If this were the past, when my brain was completely clouded by love, I might have actually fallen for it. But that sudden slap to the face had violently woken me up to exactly what kind of person she was. Seeing Liam cowering behind his mother, utterly devoid of a spine... I lost every last shred of hope I had for him. "I don't need them to remember my generosity! I only know that I paid the bill!" Seeing that I wasn't falling for her manipulation, Martha immediately dropped the act. "Ha! You little ungrateful bitch, you just refuse to listen to reason, don't you?!" She looked up at her son and declared loudly: "Son, if we don't get married, we don't get married! With your looks, you can find any woman you want!" "She's obsessing over a few plates of food like a psychotic cheapskate. I told you not to marry her from the start!" "Look at her now, showing her true colors!" "I told you to find a girl from a rich family, and we wouldn't be dealing with this garbage!" I froze. His mother actively wanted him to marry a rich girl? So basically, Martha wanted her son to be a gold-digger. And I, the ultimate sucker, had just been completely blind to it all this time. Hearing his mother say she was fine with calling off the wedding, Liam panicked. He leaned in close to his mother's ear and whispered: "Mom, we can't call it off! Where am I going to find a rich girl?!" "With our background, being able to marry her..." Martha aggressively shook her head, patting Liam's hand reassuringly. "Don't worry, son. Her dad manages a factory. She wouldn't dare humiliate her family by calling off a wedding!" "She's just bluffing! She can't afford the embarrassment!"
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