The Engagement Clause

At our engagement party, my fiancée’s godbrother produced a contract.
“Lucas,” he said, his voice slick, “Sienna promised years ago that she would give me a child.”
“Sign this procreation agreement. Otherwise, you’re not marrying her.”
I didn’t take the papers. I turned to look at Sienna. “Did you really promise him something like that?”
“It was a silly childhood joke, that’s all,” she replied, waving a dismissive hand. “Caleb’s drunk. Don’t mind him. Just sign it so he doesn’t make a scene.”
Looking at her completely unfazed expression, I suddenly had to laugh.
If that’s how it was going to be…
Then this relationship was no longer worth saving.

1
I tore the agreement to shreds. The pieces of paper fluttered to the floor like bitter confetti.
The color drained from Caleb’s face. He shot to his feet, his chair screeching against the polished floor. “Thorne, what the hell is your problem?”
I ignored him, my eyes fixed only on Sienna.
Her brow was furrowed in that familiar look of irritation, the one a parent gives two bickering children. Except, every single time, she expected me to be the one to back down.
“Caleb’s had too much to drink, you know that,” she said, her voice rising with clear annoyance. “He’s just messing around. Do you have to take it so seriously? What’s the big deal about signing a piece of paper to humor him?”
Humor him.
I looked at her face, flushed with anger, and was suddenly thrown back to when we first got together. She’d had the same expression then. The first time I suggested that Caleb was perhaps a little too clingy, she’d snapped, “Lucas, he’s my godbrother. We grew up together. He’s just immature. Why are you so jealous?”
So I had backed down. For five years.
Caleb loved his little pranks.
He’d “accidentally” lose my important contract files, “unintentionally” spill coffee on my laptop full of critical data, and secretly switch my herbal tea with laxatives. Every time I confronted him, Sienna would shield him, always with the same line: “He didn’t mean it. Don’t be so petty.”
Three months ago, Caleb tampered with my car’s brakes.
I nearly died on the freeway. The car was totaled, and I broke my leg in two places, spending two long months in a hospital bed. The doctor said I was lucky to be alive, that I’d danced with death and somehow been pulled back. He also said I was inches away from being permanently crippled.
I remember Sienna at the hospital, shaking and crying, vowing to give Caleb the scolding of his life.
But the next day, when she came to visit with a thermos of soup, her tone had already softened.
“Caleb cried all night. He knows he was wrong,” she’d said. “He honestly didn’t mean any harm. It was just a stupid prank that went too far. He never thought the consequences would be so serious. Please, don’t call the police. Let’s just let this go, okay?”
I had looked at her red-rimmed eyes then and couldn’t say a word. In the end, I let it go.
And now, here was Caleb, standing at our engagement party, brandishing a so-called “procreation agreement” and demanding my signature as if it were his right.
I had reached my limit.
“Sienna,” I said, my voice tight with suppressed fury. “Tell me again. What is it you want me to do?”
My tone seemed to provoke her. She stood up abruptly. “I’m just asking you to sign a paper to get Caleb to stop making a scene! Lucas, what is wrong with you today? You’re usually fine with this. It’s a joke! Can’t you just play along? Or would you rather embarrass everyone and become the laughingstock of the party?”
Beside her, Caleb let out a short, sharp laugh. His chin was tilted up, his eyes gleaming with defiance and a smug sense of victory. He was certain I would yield, just like every other time. He even poured himself another glass of wine, swirling it casually, waiting for my inevitable surrender.
I slowly rose to my feet and smoothed the front of my suit jacket.
Then I looked directly at Caleb. “You’re not welcome here. You can either leave on your own, or I can have security escort you out.”
The entire ballroom fell silent. Every guest turned to stare, their eyes darting between the three of us.
The smile on Caleb’s face froze. He had clearly never imagined I would humiliate him in front of everyone. His face went from red to a sickly pale. His knuckles turned white as he gripped his wine glass.
“Lucas!” Sienna seized my arm, her nails digging into my flesh. “Everyone is watching! What the hell has gotten into you? Apologize to Caleb, right now!”

2
Her eyes were filled with fury and disappointment. And a sliver of indignation, as if I were the one who had just committed an unforgivable offense. As if I were the one senselessly ruining our engagement party.
Behind her, Caleb tilted his head, a perfectly crafted expression of hurt and anger on his face. He even rubbed his eyes at just the right moment, as if fighting back tears from the sheer weight of the insult.
Suddenly, I felt an immense wave of exhaustion wash over me.
Every concession I had made over the last five years, every act of forgiveness, every time I had told myself, “Let it go, he’s just a spoiled kid,” all of it came rushing back, now appearing not just clear, but utterly pathetic.
I gently pried her hand off my arm.
She froze, stunned that I would pull away from her.
“Sienna, do you remember?” I looked into her eyes, speaking slowly and clearly. “Three months ago, I was lying in a hospital bed, and the doctors were telling me I might never walk properly again. That night, you told me Caleb knew he was wrong, that he was terrified.”
Her pupils contracted slightly. She didn’t understand why I was bringing this up now.
“Do you know,” I continued, my voice low but carrying to the nearest tables, “what I was thinking at that moment?”
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
“I was wondering, if I had become a cripple, would you still have thought it was just him being ‘immature’?” I paused, my gaze sweeping over Caleb’s paling face before settling back on hers. “Now, I finally have my answer.”
The expression on Sienna’s face hardened into a mask.
A second later, Caleb’s demeanor shifted with the speed of a stage actor. He put on a look of profound remorse and stumbled forward, his voice a manufactured sob. “Lucas… no, brother-in-law… it’s all my fault.”
He raised a hand and wiped away non-existent tears with his sleeve. “I’m a bastard, a piece of trash! All that stuff before… I was just messing around, I was stupid…”
As he spoke, he darted glances at Sienna, gauging her reaction. Seeing her brow furrowed in deep concern, his performance intensified.
“I shouldn’t have made such an awful joke, and I definitely shouldn’t have… done all those horrible things that got you hurt…” His voice grew louder, drawing the attention of the entire room. “But Sienna is innocent! She didn’t know anything! If you’re going to be angry, be angry at me! Don’t take it out on her! It’s all my fault!”
I watched his one-man show, my face a blank slate. I’d seen this act too many times before. It was a perfectly calibrated performance designed to prey on Sienna’s sympathies and force me to retreat.
Seeing my impassive stare, a flicker of viciousness crossed Caleb’s eyes. He suddenly raised his hand and, before anyone could react, slapped himself hard across the face.
Crack!
The sharp sound echoed in the silent ballroom. He put all his strength into it, again and again, without mercy. His cheek immediately swelled and turned red. A trickle of blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Caleb!” Sienna shrieked. She lunged forward and grabbed his wrist, her voice cracking with tears. “What are you doing? Stop it! Stop!”
Caleb struggled against her, acting as if he were in such agony that only self-harm could atone for his sins. Tears and snot streamed down his face. “Sienna, let me go! I’m a menace! I deserve to die! I embarrassed Lucas, I ruined your engagement party! I’m not human! I deserve to die!”
He continued to fight, trying to punch himself with his free hand. Sienna threw her arms around him, her own tears flowing freely.
She whipped her head around to face me, and the eyes I had once adored were now blazing with incandescent rage.
“Are you happy now, Lucas?” Her voice was shrill, trembling with emotion. “What do you want? Will you be satisfied only when you’ve pushed him to his death? He’s just a kid! He already said he was sorry! What more do you want from him?”
She looked at me as if I were a cold-blooded executioner, torturing an innocent victim.
My heart, which had been sinking, finally hit rock bottom. The last ounce of warmth vanished.
A kid?
A kid who could tamper with the brakes on my car, who could produce a “procreation agreement” at my engagement party, and who could beat himself bloody to manipulate the situation?
That was a kid?
Caleb slumped in Sienna’s arms, as if utterly spent. “It’s not his fault… Sienna, I brought this on myself,” he gasped. “It’s all my fault, don’t blame him…”
The more “noble” he acted, the more Sienna’s heart broke for him, and the more her anger toward me intensified. She clutched him tightly, like a mother hen protecting her chick, glaring at me as if I were the source of all their suffering.
“Look what you’ve done to him! Just look at him!” she screamed. “Lucas, I never knew you could be so cold-blooded! I was wrong about you!”

3
Her chest heaved with ragged breaths. Then, under the stunned gazes of all our guests, she raised her hand and swung it at my face.
Another slap echoed through the room.
It wasn’t a light one. A sharp, stinging pain erupted on my cheek.
The ballroom was dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone was shocked by the sudden turn of events.
After she hit me, Sienna’s hand remained in the air. She herself seemed surprised for a second, but that surprise was quickly consumed by a fresh wave of protective fury.
She pointed a finger at my nose, her voice icy and resolute, laced with a clear threat. “Lucas, apologize to Caleb. Right now. Immediately. Or… our engagement is off!”
Her eyes were locked on me, filled with anger, with menace, and with a barely perceptible flicker of panic. And something else: expectation. She was expecting me to fold, just like I had countless times before. She was expecting me to choose the path of least resistance, to appease her, to forgive Caleb, and to let this whole fiasco end with their victory.
Over her shoulder, in an angle she couldn't see, Caleb’s lips twitched into a fleeting, triumphant smirk. It was the smirk of a schemer who had just won, a look of pure contempt for the position I was in. It was gone in an instant, but I saw it.
The burning sensation on my cheek felt like it was sinking deeper than the skin. It was searing itself into my heart, extinguishing the last embers of affection I had left.
“I will never apologize,” I said, my voice as cold as her eyes.
“Fine. You chose this. The engagement is canceled!” she snapped. “Go cool off and think about what you’ve done. When you’ve come to your senses, you can come and find me.”
With that, she turned her back on me and, supporting Caleb, walked out of the ballroom. As they left, Caleb, still leaning on her shoulder, glanced back at me and gave a slight, mocking arch of his eyebrow.
The room was silent, the stares of the guests like needles on my skin.
I turned to face the crowd, my expression unreadable. “Ladies and gentlemen, I sincerely apologize. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, the engagement party cannot continue. Thank you for coming, and I’m sorry for the inadequate hospitality.”
After the room had cleared, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out. The screen read: Mr. Vance.
I answered. His voice, a low growl of barely contained rage, erupted from the other end. “Lucas! What in the hell do you think you’re doing? I entrusted my precious daughter to you, not so you could humiliate her like this! I had to miss the party for a business trip, and you turn it into a complete disaster?”
“Mr. Vance,” I replied calmly, “at our engagement party, Caleb Reed produced a procreation agreement and demanded I sign it, stating that Sienna had promised to have his child.”
The line went dead silent. All I could hear was his heavy breathing. A few seconds later, his voice returned, but the tone had changed. It was now loud and blustering, a transparent attempt to sound commanding.
“And that’s it? That’s what this is about? Caleb is Sienna’s godbrother! They grew up together, they’re incredibly close! We all know he’s just a kid at heart! He was just joking, testing to see if you were truly committed to Sienna!” His words came out in a rush, as if rehearsed, but I could hear the slight tremor in his voice.
“Just a test?” I repeated, my tone flat.
He seemed to flinch at the word. “What else could it be?” he yelled. “Do you honestly think he’s trying to cuckold you? If that was his plan, would he announce it in public? You’re overthinking this! Sienna was right, you’re just too sensitive! Now, you go and apologize to Sienna and Caleb and clear the air. Or else I…”
I didn’t want to hear the rest of his nonsense. I hung up.

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