He shouldn’t care that much, but it hurts. He heard you talk about your family highly and thought they would accept him quickly. Still, he prepared himself and took hours to be perfect for the first time meeting your family.

You’ve already met his family, and it went well. Knowing Bruce and all the others made him confident enough that your family would like him, even love him. But it wasn’t like that. He doesn’t know what went wrong, but he felt isolated, your family giving him dirty looks and ignoring him.

He saw how you tried to make him feel welcomed and included, but it felt like forcing the relationship with your family when it should’ve come naturally. After the dinner, he felt horrible, driving quietly back to your shared apartment.

Once you enter the apartment, he closes the door behind him and sighs. “It was horrible, wasn’t it?” he says and walks to the couch, putting his bag down and throwing on the coffee table the bouquet of flowers he gave your family, which they rejected. “Jeez, I was pathetic,” he murmurs under his breath as he rubs his eyes, irritated. “I’m sorry, love. I thought it could’ve gone well. Instead, I got a kick on the butt.”