Framed as a John on New Year's Eve

It's my first time visiting my girlfriend, Jennifer Hayes' family for the holidays.

At the dining table, her childhood friend, Duncan Foley, suddenly slams his cutlery down.

"How could you bring a prostitute client home for dinner, Jenny?"

The atmosphere becomes awkward immediately.

Everyone initially thinks that Duncan is running his mouth because he's had too much to drink, but he continues to ramble in a matter-of-fact tone.

"My buddy is a part of the anti-prostitution task force! As if I can get the person he's personally arrested wrong!"

As he speaks, he tosses a copy of the public security administrative penalty notice onto the table. My name is displayed on it.

The sight leaves me stunned.

It's true that the anti-prostitution task force arrested dozens of offenders in the city last month. But I'm the one who gave the signature of approval as the newly promoted chief commissioner…

When I didn't respond, Duncan Foley took it as his cue to make matters worse.

"Jenny, a man who wants to marry up but won't even clean up his act is absolutely vile. It's not too late to realize just how disgusting a guy like this really is. Dump him before he gets his filth on you!"

Glancing at the public security administrative penalty notice, I calmly said, "My name isn't exactly rare. A ton of people have the same name. How are you so sure it's me?"

Duncan's expression stiffened. Baring his teeth, he uttered, "It's true that other people might also have the name Nicholas Blackwell, but are you also going to say that the guy my buddy arrested has the same face as you?"

I let out a snort. "If you insist your friend recognizes me, then fine. Call him right now. Make that a video call. We can ask him directly."

My firm stance threw Duncan off for a moment.

He immediately put on a wounded act before turning to Jennifer Hayes' parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, what, you expect a criminal to be clean? I'm just worried Jenny might catch some nasty disease from him! I may be blunt, but everything I say is for Jenny's sake!"

At that point, Jennifer turned to me, suspicion evident in her eyes.

My heart sank. I quickly grabbed her hand. "Jenny, we've been together for a long time now. Do you really not know what kind of person I am?"

Her gaze wavered, like she was hesitating.

She cast Duncan a brief look, then said in a low voice, "Duncan, you can't joke about matters like this. If you've falsely accused Nick of something he didn't do, then you have to sincerely apologize to him."

After a pause, she added, "Nick, I want to believe you, but… Duncan isn't the kind of person who'd intentionally make false accusations. If you really did it, you should come clean now, and I'll let it go."

I froze, thinking I must've misheard.

As soon as she finished speaking, her parents' expressions turned ugly. "Jenny, what are you saying? If what Duncan says about him is true, there's no way we'll allow you to be with someone like that.

"The evidence is right here. As far as we can tell, this punk is just being obstinate. It's impossible for this to be nothing but a coincidence."

From the very start, Jennifer's parents had made it clear that they didn't like me.

They'd kept making subtle digs at me for being from a small town.

They'd said we weren't a good match status-wise and questioned what kind of spell I'd put on Jennifer for her to not only insist on dating me but also bring me to their home on New Year's Day without telling them first.

It was true that my parents were farmers their whole lives, and they had to scrape together every penny to send me to college.

After graduating, I landed a stable job. I started at the bottom and worked my way up one step at a time to where I was at that point.

The only reason I'd always told Jennifer I was just a low-level civil servant was to prevent her from feeling any pressure over my current status.

I'd actually planned to come clean today and even propose while I was at it. I never expected her parents to act like this toward me.

My body stiffened briefly, and my lips twitched a little as I said, "Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, it's true that my family isn't well off, but what does money have to do with character? You can look down on me all you want, but please don't insult my parents."

Once I called them out, they finally held their tongues.

I was just about to sit down again when Duncan splashed a glass of red wine all over me. "Nicholas, Jenny already gave you a chance to come clean, but it seems like you're just too proud to own up to it."