Her mother immediately supported her.
“That’s right. Why should Rebecca apologize? It’s that woman’s fault.”
My mother inhaled sharply. Robert stepped beside me.
Rebecca’s father trembled.
“Who do you think you’re talking to? How dare you say such things to these people?”
Then, to my shock, he dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the floor.
“I’m truly sorry for the terrible things my daughter and wife have done. Please, can you find it in your hearts to forgive us?”
His forehead stayed against the carpet.
For a second, I felt a small, confused heaviness. Seeing a man of his age bow like that should have moved me.
Then he said, “If you don’t forgive us, our company will be in trouble.”
And every bit of pity vanished.
So that was it.
He was not kneeling because his daughter and wife had humiliated a pregnant woman. He was kneeling because consequences had arrived.
Rebecca’s father ran a wholesaler dealing in imported goods. His company had a business relationship with Thomas’s company. After the wedding incident, Thomas, furious beyond anything I had ever seen, had asked his superior to terminate their dealings.
I had not known my brother had that much influence.
Rebecca was a company president’s daughter, but in this situation, Thomas’s company held the stronger hand.
Her father kept apologizing, forehead still on the floor.
“Please. Our company depends heavily on that contract. If it ends, we cannot keep operating at the same scale. Employees will suffer. Please.”
I looked at him coldly.
“Do you think we can forgive you?”
He flinched.
“I understand your anger, but–”
“No,” I said. “You don’t.”
The room fell silent.
“I came to my brother’s wedding while heavily pregnant because I wanted to celebrate him. Your daughter secretly canceled only my attendance. Then she insulted my appearance, my pregnancy, and my unborn child in public. Your wife joined in. And now you’re asking for forgiveness because your business is in danger?”
Rebecca stood abruptly.
“My dad is apologizing this much! Don’t you have any empathy?”
I turned to her.
“Empathy?”
She froze.
“How dare you talk about empathy?”
My voice rose before I could stop it.
“You caused this mess. You humiliated me because you couldn’t stand the possibility of people congratulating a pregnant woman at your wedding. You let your father grovel on the floor because you’re too selfish to apologize yourself. You ruined my brother’s happiness and still think you’re the victim.”
Rebecca’s face went red.
“You–”
“Don’t let your father grovel for your stupidity,” I snapped. “You should be the one apologizing. Your selfishness ruined my brother’s happiness. You’re not a good match for him. Know your place, you fool.”
Her mother shrieked.
“How dare you speak to Rebecca that way!”
My mother slammed her palm on the table.
“Get out.”
The room went still.
Rebecca’s mother blinked. “What?”
“Get out of my house,” my mother said. “All of you.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“The engagement is over.”
Rebecca spun toward him.
“What?”
“I said the engagement is over.”
“Because of this? Because your sister cried a little?”
Thomas’s eyes turned cold.
“Don’t talk about my sister again.”
Rebecca stared at him, stunned.
“You’re choosing her over me?”
“I’m choosing decency over cruelty.”
For the first time, Rebecca looked truly shaken.
But only for a second.
Then her pride returned.
“You’ll regret this. You’ll never find someone like me again.”
Thomas looked exhausted.
“I hope that’s true.”
After that, things moved quickly.
Thomas hired a lawyer because Rebecca refused to accept the breakup. She called him dozens of times a day, showed up at his workplace, sent long messages alternating between tears and threats. Her mother called my mother to accuse us of destroying Rebecca’s life. Her father sent apology letters, gifts, and proposals for reconciliation that all had the same hidden meaning: please save my company.
Thomas refused.
He did, however, arrange for a settlement to be paid to me. I did not want to accept money from Rebecca’s family, but Thomas lowered his head and said, “Please. This is the least I can do.”
So I accepted it and put the entire amount into an account for my unborn child.
“She was insulted before she was even born,” Robert said when we opened the account. “Then let this money protect her future.”
I agreed.
Rebecca’s family’s misfortune continued.
The business relationship with Thomas’s company had been the backbone of her father’s management. Once that contract was terminated, other companies began backing away too. Whispers spread. People did not know all the details, but they knew enough: there had been a serious personal incident that revealed the family behind the company was unstable. In business, trust can take decades to build and only one scandal to crack.
Within months, her father’s company went bankrupt.
Their house was sold. Their cars disappeared. Rebecca stopped visiting Robert’s department store, where she had once spent thousands while basking in his polite service. One of Robert’s coworkers said she came in once near the end, wearing sunglasses, trying to return several used luxury items without receipts. When the store refused, she raised her voice, but security escorted her out before Robert even had to deal with her.
“She looked different,” Robert’s coworker told him. “Still dressed nicely, but desperate.”
I thought I would feel satisfaction hearing that.
I did, a little.
But mostly, I felt tired.
Cruel people often think consequences are persecution. Rebecca likely believed everyone had turned against her unfairly. I doubted she had ever once sat alone and truly thought, I did something unforgivable.
Meanwhile, my pregnancy reached its final month.
Robert became almost comically overprotective. If I stood up, he asked where I was going. If I sighed, he asked if we needed to go to the hospital. If I said the baby kicked, he looked both delighted and alarmed.
Thomas was worse.
He bought three different baby thermometers because reviews were divided. He brought a stack of books about newborn care and placed sticky notes on pages he thought were important. He asked whether babies preferred cotton or bamboo blankets as if preparing for an executive presentation.
One evening, he arrived with a box so large Robert had to help carry it in.
“What is that?” I asked.
“A baby monitor.”
“That box is too big for one monitor.”
“It has multiple functions.”
Robert opened it and stared.
“Thomas, this thing has more features than my phone.”