All the love I'd given over the years—I might as well have been giving it to a wall.

Ryan's dad spoke up, "Actually, the wedding expenses aren't that much."

At this point, Ryan's dad paused, and my parents and I exchanged confused glances, unsure of his meaning.

Then he continued, "The real expense is the house."

My parents' faces darkened immediately.

Ryan's mom leaned back in her chair with a smug smile. "You'll need to cover the house. Ryan showed me Aria's place, and I think it's fine, but we'll need to add his name to the title. Otherwise, it wouldn't feel right for us to live there.

"And you'll need to provide a car as well, nothing too flashy—something in the range of $80,000 should be enough. It's better to keep things modest."

At this, my dad couldn't hold back any longer. "Are you suggesting that Ryan is going to move in with us?"

Ryan's dad reacted as if he'd been insulted. "Ryan is our only son. He can't move in with you."

My dad sneered, "You're offering no traditional gifts, and we have to handle the wedding as well as paying for the house. Now, you want us to buy a car, too. How is that not moving in with us?"

Ryan's mom looked at me with disdain, "Blame your indiscreet daughter. Now that she's pregnant, who else would marry her? If she doesn't offer something, why should my son accept her?"

I had already seen their true colors and was planning to break up with Ryan anyway. So the house, car, and wedding expenses were just empty words—they meant nothing to me.

But these comments were clearly personal attacks. How could I tolerate that?

I snapped, "You think I'm the one who's indiscreet? What about your son? He's just a washed-up loser I used to date.

"And even if I were pregnant out of wedlock, so what? It's a personal choice. Only people with outdated, narrow minds would make such a big deal out of it, and now you're trying to use it to leverage against my family?

"You want my family to pay for everything? Just look at him—he's barely worth my time, let alone any kind of settlement."

Ryan's parents were fuming red with anger. Ryan himself was stuttering, unable to form a coherent response.

I turned to Ryan's mom, lifted my chin with disdain, and said, "See? He can't even get his words out."

Ryan's mom finally lost her composure and started hurling insults at me.