“So,” she said, her voice loud enough to override the music without quite sounding rude, “don’t you think it’s about time you found a real job instead of hiding behind fancy titles that don’t actually mean anything?”
The room froze.
Not dramatically, not all at once, but in the subtle way people pause when they feel something fragile has just been struck, and suddenly every sound seemed too sharp, too present, every face turning toward me with a mix of curiosity, discomfort, and expectation, because everyone in that room knew this dynamic, had seen it play out in different forms over the years.
My parents stopped mid-motion. A cousin cleared his throat.
Someone laughed once, softly, then stopped.
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