My Ivy League Daughter-in-law Forced Us To Give A 10-minute Speech In French To Humiliate Us. She Thought We Were Uneducated Dropouts. Wait Until She Finds Out My Husband Is Actually A Ceo. Am I The Jerk?
The Trap Is Set
With even the atmosphere around the upcoming wedding becoming tense, Aubrey came to us with a request. She wanted us to give a speech as part of the entertainment during the wedding. “We’ve taken some money from you both for the wedding, so we’ll let you attend. But in return, can you do me a favor? And I want it to be a surprise for Tyler.”
“It’s kind of last minute to be telling me this, you know.”
“I forgot. I’m sorry, but it’s already scheduled so I can’t change it.”
“A speech, huh? Well, if that’s all you want, I guess it’s fine.”
Despite her biting words, I resigned myself to the fact that arguing was futile and reluctantly agreed. Given the request for a 10-minute speech from the groom’s parents, we were skeptical but agreed. “Surely she won’t try to mess with us during the speech.”
Just as I had that thought, upon hearing my response, Aubrey narrowed her eyes and grinned cheekily, saying, “Great. So I’ll need the speech in French tomorrow.”
“French? Why on earth?” Taking aback, I asked, and she looked down at me with a smug expression.
Seeing that expression, I realized once again that she held nothing but malice towards us. I was truly disappointed. “A lot of my friends, like me, are Ivy League graduates. I don’t want to be looked down upon just because my in-laws dropped out of high school. But even if they’re elites, there’s no reason the speech has to be in French, right?”
“Think about how the other guests would feel. All right, I guess French might be too much for high school dropouts. It must be embarrassing making excuses, huh?”
With her constant sarcasm and forceful attitude, she left us with a warning to keep our promise and walked away. I glanced at my husband with a troubled look and he just shook his head in silence.
A Son’s Concern
While we were pondering our next move, a call came from Tyler. “Mom, are you okay? Is everything all right?”
“Yes, everything’s fine. What’s up?”
“I heard from Aubrey that you guys are going to help make the wedding special. I was worried she might have caused more trouble for you.”
He sounded apologetic as he said that. It seemed he had called us out of concern for Aubrey’s excessive behavior. “I wonder if choosing Aubrey as my life partner was a mistake. I never thought someone could change so much just because of their educational background.”
My eldest son voiced such doubts. I couldn’t bear to see my beloved son, who never boasted about his education and grew up to be such a kind-hearted individual, worry any further. My husband and I exchanged a knowing glance and nodded in agreement. “We’re fine, honey. Don’t worry about a thing. Just look forward to the wedding.”
We reassured him. With that, we began preparing our speech, determined to show Aubrey what we were made of. We headed to the wedding venue the following day.
The Wedding Day Confrontation
On the wedding day, everything seemed to be going smoothly, except for the occasional glances and sneers from Aubrey’s friends seated at her side. Even when we ran into them in the corridor, they purposely bumped into my shoulder without even a simple greeting. Without apologizing, they moved on wearing scornful smiles, which made me think they’d probably been hearing things about us from Aubrey.
“Are you okay, Violet?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
I could guess what they’ve been told, but even then, these were very rude individuals for being first-time acquaintances. Their very character was questionable. If I was considered the bad apple in the lot, they surely were no better. I straightened my posture and sighed deeply, waiting for the right moment to fight back.
“Now we have a surprise speech from the groom’s parents!”
At the lively announcement, my husband and I looked up. My eldest son looked shocked, while beside him, Aubrey sneered at us with a smirk that seemed entirely out of place for a bride. “The French of old folks who dropped out of high school is perfect for entertainment,” my eldest son’s wife whispered just loud enough for us to hear as we passed by.
I had half a mind to slap that smug face, but I held back and accepted the microphone. Taking a brief moment to collect myself, I began my speech.
Turning the Tables
“First, let me share a little about us.”
The moment I started, I saw from the corner of my eye that Aubrey’s eyes went wide in surprise. She probably was looking forward to hearing a disappointing speech from the grandparents in broken French. While we may not have native-like fluency, it seems we more than shattered her expectations.
My husband, sitting next to me, went on to even show off several other foreign languages, not just French. Seeing Aubrey’s wide-eyed stunned expression, I couldn’t help but smirk. “How can you deliver such a speech? It’s weird considering you dropped out of high school.”
“Please don’t judge a book by its cover, or in this case, by one’s education,” I responded softly and continued my speech.
I openly delivered the speech in French, discussing how my eldest son’s wife disapproved of our educational background. I talked about her unexpectedly requesting this French speech just the day before and her demanding attitude, implying that if we were to attend the wedding, this was the least we could do. I even addressed her previous insults towards us.
I actually had much more to say, but my speech was cut short due to a flustered interruption from Aubrey. Still, the murmurs and whispering in the crowd, coupled with the shocked look on Aubrey’s face, made me feel that our revenge was complete. “Um, sorry for that little commotion there. It was a surprise speech from the groom’s parents. Thank you.”
“No, thank you. And may I say your pronunciation was impeccable. Did you study abroad?”
“No. To our embarrassment, we dropped out of high school.”
“Yes, it’s true that we dropped out of high school, but in my case, it was to help out with the family business. My husband, although he too only completed middle school, managed to not only support his family but also became the CEO of a successful company. He climbed his way up working relentlessly and even established his own company.”
