Chapter 2124 Reap What You Sow
- “I remember it very differently,” Reuben said, his tone low but steady. “From the beginning, we were willing—two people in love, no coercion, no deceit. When you became pregnant, I asked you to keep the child. I told you my parents' objections didn't matter. I would steal the household registration book, slip away with you, and register the marriage in secret. Once we had that marriage certificate, we would be husband and wife in every legal sense, and our child would be born within wedlock. I already owned a home. My income was more than enough to provide you and the baby with comfort and security. You, however, insisted on a lavish ceremony—guests, chandeliers, a procession that would prove you were loved and respected. I understand wanting dignity, but sometimes reality demands compromise. My parents wouldn't budge; the pregnancy was unexpected, yet you would not bend even an inch. Because they refused to stage a grand wedding, you ended the pregnancy and walked away from me. Tell me—didn't you claim to love me, not my parents? I was the one who was spending the rest of my life with you, not my parents. You erased our child simply because my mother and father refused to throw us a ceremony. A single afternoon in white silk—does that weigh more than the love we fought for, more than the heartbeat we made together?”
- “How could a wedding not matter?” Yadira's anger burst free, pushing every syllable like broken glass. “That day is a man's public promise, the proof that he respects the woman he brings home. If I had married you without so much as a bouquet, the neighbors would whisper that I must be cheap, paying my own dowry just to slip inside your door. Don't doubt me, Reuben. If I post our story online—how your parents refused a wedding while I still planned to marry—you know nine out of ten strangers would beg me to break up. I'm no heiress, but I'm the treasured daughter my parents raised on soft words and hope. Why should I walk into a family that won't even acknowledge I exist?”
- “Because the proof of our love was already there,” Reuben answered. “We created life—love made visible. Yes, post it, and most people would tell you to run, but why would their opinions matter? They wield keyboards, not responsibilities. You were the one who was pregnant. Real life isn't a comment thread of opinions. It is compromise, frustration, and small mercies. We learn to survive inside the gray.”