"No!"

"I'm not here to cause trouble. I came to the Hardings to talk about the wedding."

The moment my mother finished speaking, Marina Harding's already furious eyes narrowed even harder.

She looked my mother over like a leopard sizing up prey.

And right then, Sarah Harding came over in a red evening gown.

"What's going on?"

At the familiar voice, my mother spun around and looked at Sarah, so worked up she seemed to have found a lifeline.

"Sarah!"

"You shut your mouth!"

Marina barked at her, beside herself with rage.

"Who do you think you are? You've got the nerve to call my daughter by her given name."

My mother glanced at Marina, then at Sarah, at a loss.

Only then did it dawn on her that the lofty, elegant woman was Sarah's mother.

She couldn't help glancing down at her own plain clothes, forcing an awkward smile.

But Sarah was stunned by my mother's makeup.

Today wasn't only for the two families to discuss the wedding. It was also Marina's birthday banquet.

So what was she doing here wearing such an ill-omened face?

Was this disrespect, or did she come to curse them? Even the guests couldn't stand the sight of her, dipping their heads to mock her, wondering aloud who on earth she was.

Afraid my mother would humiliate the Hardings, Marina denied that she was any future in-law.

"Get out of here, now. Don't dirty my floor."

"I'll have to bring in a master to do a ritual for me later. You cursed jinx, you've given me a headache."

Marina frowned and pressed a hand to her forehead, and Sarah rushed over in a panic to steady her.

"Mommy, are you all right?"

"All right? How could I be all right."

"She knows perfectly well tonight is my birthday banquet, and she still shows up wearing a corpse's face to curse me."

Sarah frowned at once, staring at my mother with displeasure.

My mother lifted a hand and touched her own face.

"I didn't put on an unlucky face to curse the in-laws!"

"I didn't, I really didn't."

"A man was kind enough to help me fix my makeup—"

"What? Did any of you hear her just now call Marina her in-law?"

"We heard it. She said in-law, all right."

"Don't tell me she's actually—"

"She is not!" Marina straightened up and looked down at my mother with withering scorn.

"The Hardings are people of standing. Why would we ever tie ourselves to some penniless wretch?"

Because of my mother's makeup, Sarah just stood there, displeasure all over her face, doing nothing to save her.

My mother stood there helplessly, taking in the laughter thrown at her from every side.

I'd barely stepped into the banquet hall when I heard the jeering.

"Some nobody from the sticks, actually thinking she can marry up."

"Right? She can't even do her makeup without making it look like a bad omen."

"I think she did it on purpose. She knew Mrs. Harding would never agree to her terms, so she wore corpse makeup to curse her."

The more Marina Harding listened, the angrier she got, and she ordered her bodyguards to pin my mother down.

The moment I saw it, I broke into a run.

But I was still a step too late. Glass after glass of wine had already been thrown in my mother's face.

The alcohol stung her eyes so badly she didn't dare open them.

"Stop it!"

At the sound of my voice, my mother kept her eyes shut and reached out, groping through the mess for me.

"Pat? Pat?"

Something twisted in my chest. I rushed in front of her and caught her by the arms.

"Mom, what happened to your face?"

"Didn't Sean Delgado say he was just going to do your makeup? How did it turn into corpse makeup?"

She froze.

"They really made me look like a bad omen?"

"I didn't know! I really didn't know it would be corpse makeup!"

"It was that man, Sean Delgado. He had a makeup artist do it for me."

The words were barely out of her mouth when a furious shout cut across the room.

"You old crone, what nonsense are you spewing?"

"I never hired anyone to do your makeup. If I remember right, we're only meeting for the first time right now!"

I met the sly look in his eyes, and I understood.

Sean had set my mother up, and now he was denying all of it.

Rage surged up in me. I let go of my mother and grabbed Sean by the collar.

"You dare say you didn't hire a makeup artist to do my mother's face?"

"I didn't!"

Sean flatly swore he'd never met us.

Sarah Harding came storming over.

"That's enough. Let Sean go."

"You people are the ones in the wrong, and now you want to push the blame onto someone else."

"Since you have so little respect for me, don't expect any from me either."

I knew she was misunderstanding both me and my mother, and I quickly opened my mouth to explain.

I didn't expect a woman to walk over and look straight at my mother.

"Ma'am, you still haven't paid me for the makeup!"

"Honestly, coming to a birthday banquet and having me do corpse makeup on you. I'm a mortician!"

The words dropped, and for a few seconds the whole room went silent.

Then someone spoke up, righteous with outrage.

"What? Hiring a mortician who works at the crematorium to do corpse makeup and show up to Mrs. Harding's birthday? That's just vicious!"

"And she still won't admit it. Not only that, she wouldn't even pay for the makeup, so the mortician exposed her secret right on the spot."

My mother had no way to defend herself, and I tried again to explain to Sarah and her mother.

But they'd already stopped listening to me.

"Patrick Dickerson, I'm so disappointed in you."

"If you didn't want to marry me, you could have just said so! Why humiliate my mother like this?"

"It's not like that, it really isn't, it was this man—"

Before my mother could finish, Sean slapped her to the floor.

"You point at me again, I dare you!"

"I'll break your fingers!"

She'd hit my mother. There was no way I'd stand by and watch.

I lunged at him and drove a fist into Sean.

But it only whipped up everyone's fury, and they all turned and started cursing my mother and me.

Cursing us for coming to ruin things. Cursing us for being vicious.

Facing all that filth, my mother suddenly turned guilty and started apologizing to me.

"Son!"

"I dragged you into this. If I hadn't gone and gotten made up, I wouldn't have wrecked their banquet, and you and Sarah could have gotten engaged without a problem."

"If I'd known it would end like this, I never should have come!"

I pulled out a tissue and wiped her face clean, the makeup gone.

I didn't say a single word of complaint to her, because she'd been set up by Sean too.

Sarah walked over and grabbed my hand, speaking in a voice only the two of us could hear.

"If you still want to marry me, you'd better tell everyone she's just your family's housemaid."

I paused, but something in my chest kept twisting, again and again.

I turned my face toward her. "Do you believe her? She really was set up by Sean, made up to look like that."

"Not this again. Why would Sean set her up?"

"Patrick, sometimes you're just too stubborn. You only ever see one thing."

"Let me ask you one thing. Would you really—"

"He wouldn't!"

I told her, flat and certain.

My father died when I was six. My mother raised me by scavenging trash, and that was the only reason I ever got a chance to make something of myself.

Meeting the weight of the Hardings bearing down on me, I kept my head level and apologized to her all the same, then took hold of my mother's arm to leave.

But Sean pulled his trick again, sticking out a foot to trip her.

I never expected her whole body to crash into Marina, knocking over the wine rack beside them too.

Wine soaked through both their dresses.

I whipped my head around, glaring at Sean with wide, furious eyes. He winked at me, pleased with himself, taunting me in silence.

Before my anger could break, Marina's voice came at me, shrill with rage.

"You wretched jinx, it's you again."

"Get away from me!"

This time it wasn't a slap. She swung a fist straight into my mother and knocked her down.

I couldn't spare a thought for settling scores with Sean. I spun around at once to protect her.

Sarah grabbed my hand, her face flushed with anger, looking as if she hated my mother.

"What exactly are you two playing at?"

"Sarah, can't you see what they're doing?"

"They came here just to bring bad luck down on me."

Marina finished, then turned and fixed my mother with a murderous glare.

"You've cursed me again and again. Don't think I have no temper."

"Do you know how expensive this dress is? Even the thread is spun gold, and you ruined it with wine."

With that, she drove another fist into the other side of my mother's face.

"Marina! Stop it!"

I broke free of Sarah's grip and stepped forward.

"My mother was tripped by Sean. That's the only reason she fell into you."

"Ha, Sarah, see? This is a man who loves nothing more than shoving off the blame."

"Sean just stood there and did nothing. How did he end up the target of these two?"

Sean came over wearing all the innocence in the world, his voice thick with grievance.

"He's been slandering me for a long time now, not just today."

"At the company he never missed a chance to steal my credit. The good work he took for himself, the hard jobs he handed to me."

"I'm used to it."

The moment he stopped speaking, every eye in the room turned on me with scorn and contempt.

"Well. Like mother, like son, I suppose."

"You know the old saying. Dragons breed dragons, phoenixes breed phoenixes, and a rat's son knows how to dig holes!"

"Yes, yes! Exactly!"

Eyes shut tight, my mother pushed herself up off the floor.

"That's not how it is. You can't slander my son like this."

"You still have the nerve to speak? Why don't you first tell us how you're going to pay for Marina's dress before you open your mouth!"

Hearing how costly the dress was, my mother grew more and more panicked.

She was afraid I couldn't afford it, and the guilt was enough to set off her stomach.

Back when I was small, she wouldn't eat for fear I'd go hungry, giving every scrap of food to me.

That was how she starved her stomach into sickness, with no money to treat it in time.

And by now, no amount of explaining would change anything.

The gap between us was too wide. People only believed the ones with standing.

"It was our fault for staining your dress. We'll pay for it."

"Hah. What could a pair of paupers like you possibly pay with?"

"You're only a supervisor at my company. Don't you think I know exactly what you're worth?"

"But I'm not some monster. If you can't pay, then get down on your knees, crawl and bark like a dog, all the way out the Harding door."

For a second I was stunned. I never imagined Sarah's mother could be a woman like this.

Sarah wasn't looking at me anymore. She was comforting Sean.

The two of them stood pressed close together, every gesture intimate.

In that moment, it was as though I no longer cared about love between a man and a woman.