CHAPTER 99: CHAPTER 99:FAMILY REUNION(2)

Meical smiled calmly, after 10 years, he did not miss them, he did not crave his parents love anymore or his brother’s respect.

He wanted them out of his life for good.

"Do I have a family? You tell me, am your son? You don’t need a second one, you said so yourself mother, I’m your liability...an extra baggage. You all hate me, disapprove of me, mock me, see me as nothing, so why, why after 10 years..you think it’s alright for you to barge into my life, to ask questions that don’t concern you, to walk over me as you’ve always done.."

"That’s preposterous! Watch your mouth, boy!.." Andrey smacked his hand on the table, fuming.

"Then tell me why you’re here? To catch up? We unfortunately aren’t close to do that, you don’t deserve to be invited to my marriage neither do I need your permission to get married. You never considered me as your son so why should I consider you...my family? Don’t give me that crap about family, I was never included in your family on four.." he let out lowly.

Meical’s voice didn’t rise, it didn’t shake. It was steady in that way that made the words cut deeper. "You made that very clear. That there was no place for me.."

Tatiana’s breath hitched, her fingers curling tightly at her sides. Andrey looked like he wanted to slam the table again, but something in Meical’s eyes made him hesitate.

"You’re twisting things.." Andrey said, but the force had drained from his voice. "You were a difficult child. You.."

"I was a child.." Meical corrected quietly. "You were the adults."

His father, his mother, Aleksandr, they were older, they could have killed him and just buried him in a corner. But instead they decided to make his existence less than an animal’s.

Aleksandr shifted, suddenly uncomfortable, but he didn’t dare speak.

Meical held their gazes one by one, unblinking. "I didn’t ask you to come. I don’t need you now. When I needed you, you made it very clear, I did not deserve it.." He gave a small shrug. "And as far as I’m concerned, this conversation should’ve ended the moment you walked in."

Tatiana opened her mouth, then closed it again, unsure for the first time.

Andrey tried again, grasping at firmness. "We came because you’re still our son. Whether you like it or not.."

"But you don’t get to claim me now.." Meical said. "Not after ten years of silence. Not after making it clear I was nothing but dead weight to you."

The room felt smaller, heavier.

"I have my life.." he continued. "I have stability. I have someone who actually wants me. What I don’t have, what I don’t want..is a family that remembered me only when it suited them."

"We didn’t know where you were, a grown man running away, have you no shame?!"

"You didn’t look.." Meical replied. "And you wouldn’t have cared if you found me. You probably hoped I died in some corner.."

"That’s enough." Andrey’s voice boomed through the room, cold and final. "You’ll not stand there and insult the very people who raised you."

"Raised?" Meical almost laughed. "Is that what we’re calling it now?"

Aleksandr scoffed, folding his arms. "You’re dramatic as always. No one mistreated you half as badly as you claim. You’re just sensitive."

Tatiana nodded sharply. "Exactly. You always exaggerated things. Always seeking attention."

"And now hiding your spouse as if we don’t have the right to see her." Andrey added, tone full of authority he believed he still had over Meical. "Bring her here. Enough with this nonsense."

"I already said no.." Meical responded coolly. "My marriage has nothing to do with any of you."

"Don’t be absurd.." Tatiana shot back. "Your spouse is part of our family now, whether you admit it or not. Show her to us. A proper family greets the wife."

Meical’s calm finally thinned, just slightly. "I don’t owe you.."

"Stop talking back.." Andrey snapped. "If you married, then she belongs under this family’s scrutiny. Bring. Her. Out."

"No."

Aleksandr’s brows lifted in disbelief, as if the refusal itself was an insult. He genuinely did not believe Meical had the guts to talk back.

Tatiana inhaled like a woman being defied by a child.

Andrey’s jaw tightened, deeply offended.

"You dare?" he growled.

He stepped out of the table, toward Meical, his posture stiffening, voice rising with that familiar rage Meical grew up fearing.

"You ungrateful brat.." Andrey spat. "You think a little title and a shiny position makes you above us? You think you can speak to your father this way?!"

Meical didn’t flinch this time.

"You are not my father."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Andrey’s face twisted in pure outrage.

"You insolent—!"

He raised his hand, sharp and fast, the same way he always used to, and the room tightened with tension. Before the blow could land, a voice interrupted him.

"Stop.."

Min-jae stood in the doorway. He hadn’t followed Meical inside earlier, he had hesitated at the threshold, unsure if it was his place to enter. But the moment he saw Andrey’s hand rise, he stepped forward.

There was nothing frightened in his expression. His eyes were cold and precise, carrying a calmness that felt more dangerous than anger. He moved straight toward them, posture steady, gaze locked onto Andrey’s lifted arm.

"Lower your hand.." Min-jae said.

Andrey froze, not out of fear, but out of confusion that anyone would dare speak to him that way. Min-jae didn’t break eye contact. He walked to Meical’s side and stood there, close enough that Meical could feel the quiet fury radiating off him.

Meical hadn’t wanted him to see any of this.

He hadn’t wanted Min-jae to witness the part of his life he spent years escaping. But Min-jae wasn’t shaking, wasn’t uncertain, and wasn’t intimidated. He was controlled, collected, and unmistakably angry.

Andrey lowered his hand just slightly, more out of instinct than compliance. Min-jae didn’t give him room to regain his authority.

"He’s not yours to strike, how dare you try to strike my husband when I’m not dead yet..."