"Gabriel, you fought with your parents, didn't you?" Mason sighed. "After all, they are your parents. They gave birth to you. What they did today was a bit excessive, sure, but..."
My anger, far from dissipating, flared up again.
"Uncle Mason," I cut in. "I lived with you and Grandparents growing up. You don't deny that, do you?"
A pause. Two seconds of dead air. "That is true."
"Then tell me, after they gave birth to me, did they actually raise me?"
Silence stretched over the line. Uncle Mason was speechless. I knew my mother must have called him, begging him to talk some sense into me. After all, I had spent more time with Mason than with my own parents.
"They were busy back then," Mason mumbled weakly. "They didn't have time. Now they're about to retire..."
"If you're here to persuade me to make up with them, forget it." I didn't let him finish. "In their world, the only thing that matters is their reputation."
If I hadn't been starved for parental affection, if I hadn't genuinely missed them, I never would have moved back in with them after college. But those two years together only highlighted the chasm between us—in thinking, in habits, in values.
"Uncle Mason, do you have anything else to say?"
He remained silent.
Suddenly, my father's roar blasted through the phone speaker. He must have been listening in.
"I raised you to adulthood, and this is how you repay me? You ungrateful wretch! A person cannot be this selfish—look at what you've become!"
My mother's voice filtered through from the background. "Alright, say a little less. Gabriel is still young. He doesn't understand."
I snapped.
"Mom, I am not young. I'm twenty-five. I'm at the age where I should be getting married." My voice came out steady. Cold. "If I hold my wedding this year, have you thought about where we will live?"
I didn't wait for an answer.
"Aria Weber and I met in college. We've been together for nearly six years. Her family isn't asking for a bride price; they only hoped our family could provide a marital home. How do you want me to explain this to them now?"
Every word came from the bottom of my heart. I wanted them to understand the gravity of what they had done.
Before my mother could speak, my father replied with chilling indifference.
"Can't you live at home? Is a three-bedroom apartment not enough for you? That way, your mother can help with cooking and chores."