Dark Comedy

Liu Xinyu got down from the bed and went to stand in front of the glass windows as she pulled the curtains open. She looked at the lush green trees outside and the beautiful blooming flowers that filled the garden. She closed her eyes as she soaked the sunlight with her mind wandering off to places.

Liu Xinyu truly thought life was like a comedy. But ironically, there was nothing funny about it. Maybe her life had the tag of dark comedy in it because she felt like only she was being laughed at by fate however, she couldn't laugh at her fate to reciprocate the feeling.

Have you ever had a moment in life when you thought you had it all figured out? You had all the plans laid out in front of you clearly, making you all excited about the future as you could see exactly where you were headed. But then, the wind changed its direction, the clear path became blurry in the face of torrential rain that came unannounced to ruin your plans.

Liu Xinyu had felt this way, on more than one occasion in her life. In fact, she spent all her life feeling this way. She really wished her parents hadn't given her the name Liu Xinyu. Although her name had a beautiful meaning of 'new rain' that carried the signs of new beginnings, however, to her this name felt like a curse sometimes. After all, there had been too many rains on her parades over the years. Why wouldn't she think it was a curse or maybe like a talisman to attract rain to her?

Anyway, one thing was made very clear from her nightmare she was really lost right now. No matter how she denied that she was just taking a break to pick up her spirits, she had to face the truth that in fact, she was just lost and left feeling emptiness that she had never felt before in life.

It's okay, it's a new day. We can always find our path. As they say, you first have to lose yourself to find yourself. How poetic you are today, Xin! 

After mentally praising herself for a minute, she went to the bathroom to freshen up. If she really didn't go down in ten minutes, the empress of this family was gonna come up again with her rolling pin in hands!

On the other hand, Liu Xing rushed downstairs to find her husband, Liu Qin who was setting the breakfast table. "Honey, come here!"

Liu Qin looked at his wife's expression and frowned in confusion. "What's wrong? Didn't you go to wake up, Xin Bao (treasure of my heart)? She didn't get up? Don't be mad if she wants to laze in bed. Let her be."

"You can stop defending her," said Liu Xing with a stern expression. "I didn't even say anything yet. Forget about that and sit down. I have something important to tell you about Xiǎo Yú."

Seeing how serious she looked, Liu Qin became serious too, and sat down to listen to her. His wife wouldn't have this expression if it wasn't something serious and she won't joke about anything related to their daughter as Xin Yu was very precious to both of them.

"Your daughter is having nightmares again," whispered Liu Xing to him secretly. 

"WHAT?!" He stood up in shock and looked rather unsettled by this information too.

Liu Xing held his wrist to pull him down to make him sit down again as she added, "Keep it down. Do you want her to hear you?"

"Oh, sorry!" he became very well-behaved once he received a look from his wife. "Wait! Honey, she is as much my daughter as she is yours. No, I should say you have a remarkable contribution in bringing her to this world."

"Is that the point here?" asked Liu Xing looking at her husband whose focus was still wrong after all these years of their marriage. "Focus!"

He nodded and then went on, "But didn't they say she won't have nightmares again?"

"I know," replied Liu Xing as she rubbed her forehead. "How would I know what's going on? It's not like I understand these things. I think we need to take her there again."

Liu Qin wholeheartedly agreed with her words as he nodded. "Let's go today."

"Today? Tomorrow is her twenty-third birthday!" she reminded him.

"That's why we should be going today and fixing whatever is wrong. We can't let her enter a new year of her life with these nightmares."

Listening to him, Liu Xing thought about it and actually agreed somewhat. "Then let's go today," she announced.

"Where are you two planning to go now? Don't you get tired of having so many honeymoons of yours?"

Both Liu Qin and Liu Xing went silent once they heard their daughter's voice. Then seeing her dissatisfied look, Liu Qin smiled at her and said, "Oh, my Xin Bao is awake! Good morning, sweetie! Did you have a good sleep?" Liu Xing coughed as a reminder and he promptly changed his words, "I mean, forget about sleep. I make your favorite scallion pancakes. Would you like to try some?"

Liu Xinyu narrowed her eyes at her parents as she felt they were hiding something from her again but thinking that they'd again be just planning on running away for a vacation together, she didn't delve into it further. She went to sit at the breakfast table and she said, "Pa, are you sure you made the scallion pancakes for me and not for Ma?"

"You both like it," was Liu Qin's response. "Does it matter whom I made it for?"

"Nope. It doesn't matter," replied Liu Xinyu as she picked up the chopsticks to eat.

Since there was no habit of not speaking during a meal, Liu Xing decided to take it upon herself to bring the topic up. "Xiǎo Yú, how about going out today with Mama and Baba?"

Liu Xinyu stopped chewing and looked at the anticipating eyes of her parents. She furrowed her brows ever so slightly. "No, I promised myself to never go out with you two again. You both embarrass me too much."

"What do you mean by that?"

Liu Qin placed his hand on his wife's hand to placate her as she was about to burst out. He smiled lovingly at his daughter and said, "But we feel proud taking you out. It's your birthday tomorrow. Pa just wants to take you out for some fun. Won't you even do this much to make Pa happy?"

"Wow! What happened today? Ma, you're letting your husband use an emotional card on me. What a surprise!" Liu Xinyu was even more suspicious now considering her parents never really forced her for anything in life. Playing these kinds of emotional cards to convince her of something was definitely not what this pair of husband and wife's gameplay.