"Surely I misheard you because you both couldn't be so cruel as to ask that I postpone the gathering when I have spoken of it to my peers. My peers will be here," Harper said, waiting for her parents to laugh and say they were only jesting.
Harper noticed the look in her mother's eyes. She was heartbroken; meanwhile, her father was angry.
Harper knew right there that it couldn't be her mother who wanted the gathering not to take place, but rather her father.
"Father, is it you who wishes to see me embarrassed? They would think that I am a liar. It couldn't be that you want me to be laughed at. Please tell me it isn't so," Harper said, the air around her seeming to vanish.
Robert avoided eye contact with Harper. It pained him to do this, but it was for the best.
"Now isn't the time for you to be hosting a gathering. You should focus on getting Cassius to propose to you, not sitting around with other ladies who are not yet married. You will survive," Robert promised Harper.
