He Called Me Tacky, Now He Begs for Me

Everyone froze for a moment, and then the snickering started, low and mean. Spencer forced down the contempt flickering in his eyes and said with a strained sort of politeness, "Mr. Zade, that ring is from the matching set that Hazel and I wear, so you really cannot just take it." Keith Zade closed his fingers around the ring and said in that innocent, childlike way of his, "I know, but you just said you did not want it, so now I want it. A man should keep his word, so are you going back on yours now?" Keith was the only son of the Zade family, the city's wealthiest, and the family behind Zade Corporation, and at 22, he came from a background that could not be more privileged, yet a car accident two years ago left him with a head injury. While he still had those strikingly good looks, his mind never really developed past the age of seven or eight. Spencer, on the other hand, was widely regarded as the rising star of the investment banking world, and he cared more about his reputation and public image than just about anything else, so when his face went completely cold at this point, he realized that either admitting he went back on his own words or arguing with someone who was not fully mentally capable would make him look petty and cheap. So he turned to me with an impatient look and said, "Hazel, are you not going to get that ring back, or are you actually hoping to marry into the Zade family?" I looked up at him, and I could see him urging me on with his eyes because he knew I had always been good at reading his moods, just like I had done for the past three years, where a single frown from him told me to stay quiet, and whenever he said my makeup was too flashy, I just put on lip balm and nothing else. I used to joke around with him, but he told me I was being too forward, so I stopped making jokes after that. He said my face would only bring trouble, so I started wearing a hat whenever I went out, just to avoid trouble. Still, no matter what I did, Spencer was never happy. I dressed properly and always minded my manners in social settings, yet he would still say I was putting myself on display and trying to catch the attention of other men. In public, he always made a point of keeping his distance, as if letting anyone know I was his girlfriend was something beneath him. I knew the kind of woman he wanted to marry was someone cool and reserved, intellectual and gentle, not someone with bold features like mine, because that would make him look superficial. But I could not change the face I was born with, and I was just tired of going back and forth with him. So I paused for a moment, then turned to Keith and said, "Mr. Zade, you picked up that ring, so does that mean you are going to be with me?"