From: North of Beautiful

"The sting of his disregard hurt me more than I thought it would. I blinked back both my tears and response: I'm going to Williams because a ton of their alumni run major corporations, like I will. But I didn't want to hear that esteem-scraping chuckle, chuckle again. Claudius always told me, "Just cry, okay? Dad will stop picking on you if you just cry in front of him." It wasn't that I couldn't cry. I wouldn't, not in front of Dad. Every tear was bitter surrender."

Justina Chen Headley