The wedding was almost here, so I brought my parents, who had traveled a long way to get here, to see the house.
Only the smart lock wouldn't read my face no matter what I did.
I called my girlfriend, Delilah Sullivan. She sounded bored.
"Oh, I've been swamped at work lately. Philip Fox's the one keeping an eye on the renovation for us."
"To make coming and going easier, I deleted your face for now."
That got under my skin a little.
"The lock can store five faces, right? Why delete mine?"
"You're hardly ever here."
"My dad, my mom, me and Philip, plus his dog. That's exactly five."
Earlier, Delilah had told me her father had cancer. Not only did she take back the deposit on the wedding house, she'd asked for another $58,800 on top of the engagement dowry payment.
My parents couldn't stand to see me squeezed like that, so they'd paid for the whole house in full for me.
And now here I was with my parents, treated like strangers, shut out at the door of the very house we'd bought,
while her male secretary and his dog could stroll in and out as they pleased.
Staring at the lock's display, watching it mechanically repeat those two words, "Unknown Person,"
I thought: this door, this marriage, wasn't something I absolutely had to walk through.
My parents had been on the road for hours, and the exhaustion showed on their faces.
……
Seeing how dark my expression had gone, my mother gave me a gentle tug and murmured for peace.
"Maybe the machine's broken. Why don't we just come back another day."
My father said nothing. He only quietly shifted the bag of hometown goods to his other hand.
It was the cured meat and dried bamboo shoots he'd carried all the way from home, saying he wanted his daughter-in-law to taste the flavors of where we came from.
Just as we were about to leave, Delilah's secretary, Philip, came walking up with a poodle on a leash.
He scooped the dog up and held it in front of the camera.
The machine chimed in a sweet female voice.
"Household member, Mimi. Welcome home!"
Philip looked down his nose at me.
"Aaron Pruitt, I'm a very busy man. Next time you want to see the house, kindly make an appointment first."
With that he walked in like he owned the place. A row of cartoon slippers sat lined up by the entryway.
My parents were bending down to change into them when he wrinkled his nose in distaste.
"Those slippers are all mine. I'm kind of a germaphobe, so maybe you two should just come in barefoot."
Rage surged up in me, and my mother tugged at my sleeve.
"Aaron, he's only doing his job for Delilah. Don't give him a hard time."
I forced the anger down and watched my parents slip off their shoes at the door, wipe the soles of their feet again and again with their socks, and then step gingerly inside.
Inside, the whole place was drowning in that cheap, flashy influencer look, nothing at all like the clean, simple style I'd signed off on.
The bedroom that was supposed to be for my parents had a sign hanging on the door that read "Pet Paradise."
The room was littered with dog toys. It had become a kennel.
Philip crossed his arms, every inch the man of the house.
"Ms. Sullivan felt bad about me having nowhere to go when I work late, so she set aside a room just for me and Mimi."
"This place is in a prime location, worth a fortune per square foot. It's not somewhere just any stray cat or dog gets to live."
My parents curled their toes uneasily as they sat stiffly on the couch.
In the muggy heat of high summer, both of them had sweated clean through their clothes.
I drew a deep breath and lifted my head toward the air conditioner.
"Hey, turn on the AC, please."
But the smart AC didn't respond at all.
I was about to call the AC company's help line when Philip came over with the dog.
He patted the dog on the head, and it tipped its face up and barked twice at the AC, and the thing actually switched on.
"A couple of days ago, Ms. Sullivan made me the administrator of the home's smart system."
"Mimi's sensitive to heat by nature, so I had no choice but to delete your voiceprint and put Mimi's in instead."
As he spoke, he opened the fridge, took out two bottles of mineral water, and poured a single glass for my parents.
The rest of the bottle, better than half of it, he emptied straight into the dog bowl beside him.
"Mimi only drinks this brand of mineral water. It's quite expensive, you know."
“I doubt the two of you have ever tasted water this expensive. Go on, tell me if it's sweet.”
Mom and Dad stood frozen, cups raised, unable to move forward or back.
“Aaron, I've still got things to do. If there's nothing else, maybe you'd better head out.”
The dog barked at me twice.
Philip smiled and stroked its head. “Good girl, Mimi. No need to pay any mind to people you don't know.”
I clenched my fists, my chest aching until it went numb.
“Aaron, why don't we just go.”
Mom tugged me out the door. I didn't dare lift my head, afraid the tears would fall.
The moment the elevator doors slid shut, I saw Philip bend down and mop, slow and thorough, over the exact spot where my parents had been standing.
As if we were something filthy.
“It's fine if we take a little grief. As long as you and Delilah build a good life together, that's all that matters.”
Mom pressed a bank card into my hand. “Take this for Delilah's father's treatment.”
My nose stung sharp and hot. I forced out a thin smile and got my parents settled.
After wrestling with it a long while, I sent the realtor a message.
“Can you give me a valuation on this place at current market rates? I want to sell.”
By the time I got home, Delilah still wasn't back.
Philip had just posted a nine-photo grid on social media.
“Feeling down, so the boss took me for a drive along the river. Fireworks that speak her heart.”
I killed the screen and sat staring at the photo of the two of us on the nightstand.
Delilah and I had come seven years together since college, and we'd planned to marry this year.
Then her father got cancer, and she took back the deposit on the house.
On top of the original engagement payment of $18,800, she demanded another $58,800.
When my parents found out, they didn't say a word.
The next day, they set their savings passbook in front of me.
It was the money they'd saved their whole lives, meant for their retirement.
“We're old now. We can't do much for you. All we can give you is a stable home.”
I didn't want to shortchange Delilah, so I still booked a five-star hotel.
For that I pinched every penny, wouldn't even spring for a coffee.
And she turned around and blew over a hundred thousand on fireworks for some secretary.
My chest felt packed with a wet wad of cotton, nothing moving up or down.
Half-asleep in the dead of night, the bedroom door was suddenly kicked open, the light snapping on hard enough to sting my eyes.
Delilah hauled me upright, heedless of everything.
“Philip was kind enough to keep an eye on the renovation for us, and you turn around and question him?”
She didn't ask where I'd settled my parents. She didn't care that I'd been sound asleep.
Every last thought in her head was for poor, wronged Philip.
I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose.
“Keeping an eye on the renovation, is that what you call turning my clean, simple style into some influencer showroom?”
“Keeping an eye on the renovation, is that moving in like a cuckoo and making my guest room into his bedroom, and my parents' room into a dog kennel?”
“All my door access and every smart-home permission are his now. Since when do I have to make an appointment just to come back to my own home?”
Delilah stiffened her neck, self-righteous.
“Philip's redesign looks so much better. You're the one with the stale, old-fashioned taste.”
“Besides, your parents don't come around often, and Philip lives far away. When he works late it's a hassle to get home, so what's the harm in keeping a room for him?”
“They're all small things. Can you please stop nitpicking over every little detail?”
“Because of you, Philip was miserable all night. Find some time, and apologize to him properly.”
My chest was jammed tight, my throat like something had it by the neck.
Seeing my reddened eyes, Delilah softened her tone.
“All right, don't act like you've suffered some enormous injustice.”
“This is a gift for your parents. If you're free tomorrow, let's all have a meal together.”
Inside the gift box lay a string of pearls and a tie of unremarkable quality.
I thought of my parents' eager faces, and I swallowed every ounce of the hurt in silence.
The next morning, when they saw Delilah's gifts, a little smile broke across their faces.
"Delilah's so thoughtful, remembering us even when she's this busy with work."
Mom fastened the pearl necklace around her neck.
Dad carefully lifted from the suitcase the suit he'd been saving for the wedding, and solemnly knotted his tie.
"Aaron, we didn't embarrass you, did we?"
"No, of course not. You two are the best parents in the world."
Once they were ready, I brought my beaming parents to the private room Delilah had reserved.
I pushed the door open, only to find Philip and his dog seated brazenly at the head of the table.
"Mimi wouldn't budge once she settled in here. You don't mind, do you?"
Delilah stroked the dog's head, doting, not even lifting her eyes.
"Aaron's not petty. He wouldn't fight a mutt for a seat."
A shadow crossed my parents' eyes, but they held on to their smiles.
"It's fine, it's fine. We're all family. Sitting anywhere is the same."
Philip's gaze dropped to the necklace and tie on my parents, and he covered his mouth, laughing.
"You know, Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt, that necklace and tie actually suit you two pretty well."
"Yesterday we went to buy Mimi some clothes, and the clerk threw in these two accessories. My Mimi has no use for them."
"Never thought they'd look so fitting on you."
The smiles froze on my parents' faces.
Mom's hand jerked back from the necklace as if it had burned her.
Dad sat there, the hand at his side curling into a fist.
Looking at the gray at their temples, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Delilah, what's that supposed to mean?"
But Philip's eyes went red.
"Ms. Sullivan, I didn't mean anything by it. Why is Aaron angry again?"
Delilah's face soured.
"Aaron, can you please stop being so emotionally unstable all the time?"
"Philip was just complimenting your parents. Do you have to be this sensitive?"
The bitterness and rage inside me nearly drowned me.
"Delilah, you gave my parents the freebies that came with buying your dog clothes."
"The dog and the secretary take the seats of honor at dinner. Is it because you think we're not worthy?"
Delilah lifted her wrist, checked her watch, and frowned.
"I never said that. Can you stop blowing everything out of proportion?"
"I dropped my work to come out here, not to watch you throw a tantrum."
My chest was so tight I couldn't get a word out.
Mom stood up, took my hand, her voice pleading.
"Aaron, don't say any more."
"We're fine. Really, we're fine."
She turned her head and gave Delilah a smile.
"Delilah, thank you for taking the time to have dinner with your uncle and me."
"Aaron's spoiled because of us. Don't be upset with him."
Then she looked at Philip. "Young man, thank you for the gift. We like it very much."
With that she lowered her head, took off the necklace, and slipped it into her bag.
Then she sat down, picked up the teacup in front of her, her hand trembling without stop.
The tea spilled over, splashing onto her brand-new dress.
Dad kept his head down, saying nothing.
I fought back the tears with everything I had.
The server brought out the food, all of it seafood and sashimi.
One of my parents was allergic to seafood, the other had gout.
Seeing them not touch their chopsticks, Philip's eyes reddened with hurt.
"Why are Mr. and Mrs. Pruitt so picky? I went out of my way to book the finest restaurant in Northport. They're impossible to please."
Delilah said nothing, just bent her head over Philip's plate, peeling shrimp for him.
When I stepped out to the restroom, Delilah followed me out, her tone anything but kind.
"Aaron, what's the deal with you and your parents, deliberately trying to make Philip look bad?"
"He pulled a lot of strings to book a place like this. Can't you show a little sense?"
