Chapter 27: The Japan Trip
Translator: Doris
It turned out that I couldn’t “kill” him.
It was my fault. I was a coward.
He had been asleep for the whole morning. I was just hesitating if I was supposed to awake him, I suddenly heard something in my dad’s room.
When I went in, I found he had got up, sitting on the side of the bed and rubbing the temple. With his eyes closed, he seemed to still be uncomfortable. That made me softhearted.
Seeing me, he called me Baobao, which you could regard as my nickname. [pitiful][pitiful]
I was more softhearted now.
He asked, “Was that you who took me home?”
I said, “Yes.”
He paused and asked, “Did I say anything?”
Thinking for a while, I shook my head and said, “No.”
With an incredulous look on his face, he asked, “Really?”
I stared at him and said, “What do you think you will say?”
He was astonished and then kept silent.
I had changed my mind at that time. After all, it was such a childish thing for me to question him whether what he said after drinking was true. Thinking of it, I felt a bit disgusted.
I thought if he indeed had special feelings for me, why couldn’t he tell me about it when he was sober?
I didn’t want a relationship which couldn’t be expressed soberly.
A stubborn man always wouldn’t meet a good end. So, I was disappointed.
He said, “Alright. Forget it.”
Then, he went to take a bath.
Immediately, I felt mad, sitting on the side of his bed and sulking.
I had no one else to tell. Having gone through my buddy list on wechat for twice, I opened the chat page of Ms. XXXX. Considering for a while, I sent her a message and asked her about the trip to Japan.
She said they would mainly go to several anime companies to see if they could cooperate with them. And then, as a side dish, they would have some fun too.
How interesting!
In my dad’s view, the main course and side dish were the opposite of what Ms. XXXX said.
According to their descriptions, there was a huge difference, as in one was claiming it was mainly for tourism, and the other was mainly for the business trip, which made me confused.
My dad took a bath for ten minutes, and I meditated here for ten minutes too.
When he came out from the bathroom, I made a decision. Then I told him, “I’m joining you guys for Japan!”
He didn’t seem to hear me clearly, drying his hair and turning his head towards me. Then he asked me, “What?”
I stood up, close to him, and said word by word: “I’m joining you guys for Japan.”
Then I saw a smile on his face. He couldn’t help smiling. I was sure he must be over the moon now. I didn’t expect that I could read him mind one day. Haha!
After a while, he said, “OK. Give me your passport this afternoon.”
I told Ms. XXXX that I would go to Japan with them. Then she laughed for ten seconds!
And she said, “Come on! I really don’t want to be a third wheel!”
I told her this quite seriously, so I couldn’t be affected by her laughing.
So I asked her seriously: “How about laying my cards on the table? while we were traveling?”
“Ah!” she yelled and said, “Eh.. it’s not a good idea.”
I said: “why?”
She said, “Well, it’s hard to explain. Let me give you an example. When I was in high school, I travelled with some mates from the same club, in which there were a boy and a girl who had an ambiguous relationship. But they were just not that into each other. Instead of starting a relationship, they might just desire a one-night stand. Therefore, travelling was a good opportunity for them. A one-night stand was just an episode took place on the trip. After returning to school, they could regard that as nothing happened.
This example was so unreliable that it couldn’t convince me.
I said, “Do you think my dad is that kind of person?”
She said, “Yes. Your dad is indeed that kind of person!”
I: ...
She said, “You haven’t been in a relationship with your dad. Of course you don’t know him well. He will not easily establish a relationship with others. Otherwise, there are so many people adoring him, but why has he never had a lover?”
...It seemed that it made sense.
After all, I witnessed what a player he could be, the little tricks he could pull.
He was really scum.
I said: “So what can I do?”
She said, “Well, you can lure him to show his hand.”
I asked, “But how?”
She said, “Eh...how about seducing him?”
I said: ......
I fell into silence for a while. Then I asked: “what’s the difference between this and my putting my cards on the table? Won’t it expose myself all the same?”
She said seriously, “Of course! Listen to me, it’s indeed different. You may know your dad well, but I must know it better than you when it comes to your dad’s mind games. If you show your hand first, no matter what happens, it will be none of your dad’s business. As a result, you will be the loser. While, he wouldn’t be responsible for you...
Hearing that, I felt so uncomfortable.
So I interrupted her, “I haven’t said I am gonna sleep with him.”
She said, “Now that you don’t want to sleep with him, why will you show your hand to him? Aren’t you satisfied with the relationship between you and your dad now?”
...She was really an older sister, clear-sighted, who could analyse things clearly.
I: “Go on, please.”
“According to his personality, it is possible for him to treat the journey as an abnormal state,” she said, “so if you show your hand and he doesn’t want to accept it, you will lose. But if you don’t say anything, he’ll be more responsible if you lure him to make a move on you actively. Think! You live together, but he has never crossed the line. While, obviously, he must covet you. All of these indicate that he has scruples. After all, under normal circumstances, it is not easy to break the... I meant, shackle, is it?”
Her Chinese was not quite well, so sometimes she was not sure of her word choices.
I confirmed: “Yes. Shackle.”
She said: “He will appreciate you if you give him the chance to break it. If he really has strong feelings for you, there will be a happy ending, right?”
I fell into contemplation.
It sounded right.
But why was it so complicated?”
Was what my dad thought really that complicated?
Anyway, I was a little excited about the proposal.
That night, he just hugged me.
But if it was not just a hug, I would at least not be afraid of “killing him” the next day!