Chapter 19

"..."

"..."

I stared back at him.

"...Is there something you need?" He asked awkwardly.

Before, I would've taken it as a cold dismissal, but now that I've come back I can immediately see that he just isn't used to this.

He's an awkward father.

"Probably a massage," I rolled my shoulders around and massaged my right trapezius.

He stiffly sat there, stiffer than even in his business meetings.

"I… see."

He nodded. Of course, he wasn't at all emotionally incapable— still, familial love was a far-away subject to him.

Of course, he immediately adapted. "Should I call Claire over to give you a massage?"

"What is this? The 18th century?"

He paused with an incredulous expression, trying to look for an answer.

I laughed, "Father… I am joking."

He nodded stiffly. Perhaps he had thought I never would have made a joke in my years of living.

"Ah… that was a good joke," he smiled. "How'd school go today?"

There we go, finally a normal question.

"Well, I met with my boyfriend and we had a date and kissed a lot," he began coughing immediately.

His eyes were wide staring at me full of shock.

"Alice? What do you mean? Is it… Is it Andrew?—" Suddenly, it was me that was coughing.

He did not seem to notice my coughing, "I noticed that you two seemed to have quite an amicable relationship but I didn't know it had progressed to this degree…"

My coughs turned even more severe and filled with repugnance, still, he did not seem to notice.

"Alice, if you're doing this to help my business negotiations, there's absolutely no need…"

"Father… It is not Andrew. I was joking once again… I do not have a boyfriend."

He sighed in relief and wiped his forehead.

Anyway, I was just probing to see what his reaction would be like when I introduce Ivan to him.

"Ah… Daughter, your jokes are… very interesting."

"Yeah… anyway, we're engaged now. So he's not my boyfriend, just my fiance."

He made a strange face at me and patted my shoulder, "Ah… then I guess blessings and applause are in order. My daughter just got married to a man that I do not even know," he clapped. "Fortune has befallen my family."

His humor was absolutely crap, but for some reason, I felt a weird urge to laugh.

He sounded so nerdy and dumb.

Though I feel slightly fortunate that my father this time around seems more accepting and empathetic for me.

I guess he always thought he was a good father because he never actually had a good father. I'm fortunate enough that he didn't mimic his parents' behavior by beating me up.

It's hard to know if you're doing something well if you don't have any other standard of reference.

He must have been shaken up when I mentioned how I felt.

I patted his shoulder back, "I just watched a basketball game. My high school won."

"Ah… Since when were you interested in sports? I myself sometimes am invited by some friends to watch some professional games. If you want to watch, I can get some tickets…"

"Ah… Not interested in sports… It's just fun to be with friends and cheer for our team."

He nodded, "Your father was not so bad at basketball either." He scratched his well-maintained beard. "In one of the summer camps I went to during my youth," I interrupted in my head: most likely an expensive ass summer camp, "One of the activities was Basketball. It was a good warm-up before we went Kayaking."

"Probably not as good as Ivan."

"Hmm?"

"What?"

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, I said that is very interesting."

"So it was. I met some good friends there… I don't speak to them anymore, though…"

We talked for a while and I found myself having fun talking to my distant father. He seemed to share the same feeling and once or twice we would laugh together.

"Daughter… Will you be there for your grandfather's birthday party?" He questioned after the topic unknowingly came up.

At his question, I tilted my head and let my hair fall over my shoulder…

Pondering, as he waited for my response, I uttered out a response after a quick silence.

"...Yeah… Probably…" I shrugged, "Last year was very exhausting."

He affirmed my thoughts about the party, "It is heavy work, especially because my father loves hosting huge parties. When I was younger, I'd often stand for hours as the son of the host of the party and would run around making sure everything was going well."

Ah, look at him, how talkative he's suddenly become.

My eyes looked at him pleasantly as he talked about his experiences, "He really cares about reputation. If I was somehow not to his standard, there'd often be heavy punishment and threats of being thrown out into the street."

I winced, "I didn't know it was to that extent…"

"Hahaha," he laughed, "There's a reason I grew up with perfectionist tendencies."

I laughed, "Haha, yeah… you probably passed those on to me as well."

He pondered and tapped his chin, "I guess I might be a perfectionist, but I'm not a perfect father," he looked away from my eyes into a distant space as he uttered.

"Ah," I opened my mouth, surprised at his unexpected words.

To be honest, I didn't take him for the type to confess these things. I wouldn't think he'd care too much about it… Especially since I'm the product of an arranged marriage, not one out of love.

"...I've been thinking of some things lately and I wish to be a better father. I'm not a very emotional person but I guess this is… my way of going against my father's ways…" He backtracked.

Yeah, I don't like Grandpa and Grandma too much either. They'll probably raise hell when I marry Ivan.

Huh?

When I marry Ivan?

Yeah. I'm marrying him.

"You're a good father, " I smiled, "I've received lots of things, but…" I quickly switched the topic, I myself am not too good at emotional topics either. "—Yeah, I'll go. I'll probably invite a friend to it too."

"Hmm? That'd be fine. Who is it? Just make sure to tell them that they won't be able to see you that much during the party… So maybe invite another friend to go with them."

"Oh, don't worry. He's going to be my date for the night… so he'll be suffering, standing next to me too."

He coughed. "Daughter… so you do have a boyfriend?"

I grinned, "No."

He smiled and rolled his eyes, "Introduce him to me before the birthday party. I want to see what he's like."

Nodding, I walked up the stairs to my room with a smile.

Glancing out of the corner of my eyes, his eyes were focused back onto the tablet in his lap. He fiddled around with the tablet pen in his fingers and his posture seemed more relaxed as compared to when I saw him before we talked.

He brought his mug up to his mouth, only to realize that he had already drunk the mug empty as we talked.

The wall then blocked my sight and I walked up the stairs with light steps.

Seeing my mom's workstation already dark, I whispered good night to my parent's room and entered my room.