"Father to Daughter" - Chapter 12
Chapter 12
Knock Knock.
“Reiko?” Sho peered into her room.
She covered her blanket over her face.
“Reiko? I have to leave so you are watching over Myu.”
Reiko groaned.
Sho sat on her bed. “Come on. I know it is break, but you need to wake up and help Myu.”
“I don’t want to,” Reiko said in her scratchy voice while she rolled over.
Sho chuckled. “You can go back to sleep once I get back from work.”
Reiko turned back over and glared at her father. “You won’t be back until late…”
Sho stood up and yanked Reiko’s entire blanket off her bed.
“Come on, get up.”
He took the blanket with him as he exited her room.
“I can sleep just fine without a blanket! It’s hot anyway!” Reiko yelled.
She pouted when her father didn’t answer back. Now she couldn’t possibly go back to bed after yelling that loud.
She grumbled as she finally pulled herself out of bed.
“Bye!” Sho yelled as he rushed out the door.
Reiko clicked her tongue.
She opened the fridge tiredly to see what she could eat.
On the middle shelf there was a plate of croquettes nicely wrapped.
“Did you get something to eat already?”
Reiko sighed. Her dad was so stupid sometimes. Why couldn’t he have just said, “I made some croquettes for you”?
He always did this. He does something thoughtful for Reiko, but always shies away from being straightforward about it.
She pulled the croquettes out and warmed them up. Once they were warm, she set them down and took a bite.
“…Dad, these aren’t that good,” she said as she took another bite.
She sat there eating quietly as Myu watched tv.
She hadn’t really been honest and straightforward with her father either. She had been avoiding him after her mother’s death. That’s probably why it didn’t even occur to her to call her father when she went on her date with Takamura yesterday.
She took her own father for granted.
Maybe it was time to be straightforward…
---
“Wow, you have horrible dark circles under your eyes Sho,” Jun commented when he sat next to Sho.
Sho yawned. “I couldn’t sleep that well last night. Reiko was out late with friends and didn’t tell me where she was. Her phone was probably still on silent because she didn’t answer any of my calls either. Then when she finally got home, we got in an argument and I took her phone away.”
Jun nodded, “A reasonable punishment.”
“But I felt guilty about it later…so I couldn’t sleep the whole night because I was thinking about all the different ways I could have handled the situation better,” Sho scratched his head in annoyance.
“That’s pretty common as a parent though. I’m sure it’ll be okay. Haven’t you and Reiko been connecting better lately?”
Sho nodded. “Well…at least I think so. Maybe I’m just getting my hopes up.”
Jun chuckled lightly, “Don’t worry so much about it. She is a teenager. That’s how they are supposed to act. I’m glad Shun is still too young to act that way.”
“Just wait for it.” Sho tiredly put his head down on the table before the meeting about their variety show began.
Suddenly his cellphone went off. He saw the caller being from home so it was probably Myu.
“What is it?” Sho answered.
“Dad?” Reiko was on the other line.
“Oh, Reiko. What do you need?”
“Um, well…I thought I should tell you something.”
“Yeah?”
“Um, first, thanks for the croquettes.” Reiko’s voice was timid while giving the thank you.
“O-oh. Yeah, no problem.” Sho was actually embarrassed that she had commented on it.
“And…”
Reiko paused.
“What is it Reiko, I’m starting a meeting soon.”
“I’m dating Takamura.”
Silence.
Sho opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“Dad?”
“H-huh?” Sho shouldn’t be this surprised. He knew they liked each other. They had even kissed.
Of course they would start dating.
“Uh, well that’s all I wanted to say. Bye.” Reiko hung up before she could hear an actual response from her father.
“Sho?” Jun waved his hand in front of the shocked Sho.
“My daughter has a boyfriend,” Sho stated in a monotone voice. His head slowly turn towards Jun.
“My daughter has a boyfriend,” he repeated.
Jun smiled, giving Sho a pat on the back. “Come on, it’s time for the meeting.”
Sho had trouble concentrating. Why was he so bothered by the fact that Reiko had a boyfriend?
It really shouldn’t bother him that much. It was a typical thing for a teenager to get a boyfriend or girlfriend.
He felt sort of replaced though.
“Good work everyone!” The staff members said as a chorus after the meeting was over.
“Ah senpai!” Kentaro smiled while greeting Jun and Sho. The rest of TAKE followed him.
“Hey, you guys getting ready for your concert tomorrow?” Jun continued the conversation.
Sho’s eyes met with Takamura’s.
Sho could see Takamura’s back straighten. Something about this gave Sho satisfaction. The side of his mouth curved upwards, creating a smirk.
“All of you do your best tomorrow,” Sho added to the conversation.
They all gave bows, Takamura being a lot quicker than the others.
As TAKE turned to leave the room, Sho called out to Takamura. “Takamura, can we talk for a moment?”
The other members of TAKE gave Takamura smirks before rushing out of the room.
Jun could sense that he shouldn’t be in the room either.
“I’ll see you later Sho. We should go out for a drink sometime soon.”
Sho gave a nod before redirecting his attention back to Takamura.
Sho patted the seat that Jun just left.
Takamura sat uncomfortably on the edge of the seat and did his best to avoid eye contact.
Sho folded his arms.
“So-“
“I’m sorry!” Takamura bowed his head low. “That was rude of me to be in your home and to kiss Rei-your daughter out of the blue like that.”
Sho examined Takamura, his head still bowed.
“Do you like her?” Sho asked.
“E-eh?” Takamura slowly raised his head.
“Do you like her? Reiko.”
Takamura’s face turned a bright pink. “I-I-ummm, I-I-“
Sho chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Takamura became even more embarrassed.
“I don’t mean to scare you. It’s just,” Sho scratched his head embarrassingly. “You know, it’s my oldest daughter. I haven’t experienced something like this before.”
Takamura noticed Sho’s position shifted from purposefully intimidating to an unsure, caring father.
“As you know, Reiko’s and my relationship is a bit…strained. So…having you come in and having such a good relationship with Reiko…” Sho slowly looked into Takamura’s eyes. “I guess I might have been jealous.”
Takamura blinked a billion times trying to process what Sho was telling him.
“J-jealous?” Takamura couldn’t believe this confession at all.
Sho awkwardly laughed. “It’s dumb, isn’t it? Reiko would be yelling at me, saying I was an idiot by now if I told her this.”
“That’s her way of showing she cares,” Takamura commented quietly.
“Huh?”
“I don’t think she is the type to put forth effort in something she doesn’t care about,” Takamura added, more confidently this time.
“I guess that is true…she used to just ignore me.”
“It should be me who is jealous of you,” Takamura gave a small smile. “She cares for you more than she will ever admit.”
Sho lingered on what Takamura had said. He knew what Takamura had said was true, but actually hearing it said out loud….
“Don’t hurt her,” Sho whispered.
Sho stood up and grabbed his bag.
“You have to be careful. As an idol, being in a relationship is one of the hardest things. If you screw up, not only you will be affected, but Reiko and me as well.” Sho stared down at his shoes solemly.
Finally he lifted his head a forced a smile. “Of course there is also the company you have to look out for. See you around Takamura.”
Takamura sat in silence.
Had it been a mistake to ask Reiko out? He stupidly hadn’t thought about it.
He liked her so much though, but now Sho’s words were weighing on his mind.
What if he screws up?
---
“Your phone.” Sho set Reiko’s phone on her desk where she was reading a book. “Next time call if you are going to be late.”
“…Are you mad?” Reiko said quietly as Sho was walking away.
Sho turned back around. “Mad about what? The phone?”
“No…” Reiko put the book down. “About me and Takamura-san.”
Sho stood there for a moment, thinking about his answer.
He finally gave a loud, long sigh. “Well, it is my daughter he is dating. He needs to be careful!”
Reiko didn’t even chuckle. She simply stared at her dad with those beautiful eyes of hers.
Her eyes reminded Sho of when she was a baby. Always keeping eye contact with the adult that was holding her. Those big, beautiful brown eyes of hers.
It made him want to hold her now.
Sho got close to Reiko and kissed the top of her head.
“No, I’m not mad. Just…be careful.” He lightly patted her head where he had kissed.
Reiko surprised him by suddenly putting her arms around his waist. She buried her face into his stomach.
What was with her lately?
“Is something wrong Reiko?” Sho ran his fingers gently through her hair.
Reiko was slow to respond.
“I think I did a lot of bad things…”
“Huh? Bad things?” Sho stopped his fingers and looked at Reiko with wide eyes.
“W-w-what k-kind of bad things?” Sho was almost scared to even ask.
Reiko unburied her face, but kept her arms around her father. “I took you for granted…and I always said you killed Mom. I also ignored Momoko because I was so angry about things. Then, before I even knew Takamura, I yelled at him just because he is an idol.”
Sho took Reiko’s hands as he kneeled in front of her.
“We make mistakes Reiko. That’s what we do in life all the time. The important thing is if you learn from it and try to fix those mistakes.”
Sho wiped a tear that was just beginning to fall beneath Reiko’s eye.
“You’ll be okay. You are a smart girl. Got that?”
Reiko gave a small nod.
Reiko’s cellphone began ringing as Takamura’s name appeared across the screen.
Sho watched as Reiko jumped and quickly wiped her tears before answering.
Sho pushed his lips together, trying not to laugh. She was such a teenager. Her face was completely glowing as she talked to Takamura on the phone.
She looked over at Sho, gesturing for him to go away.
Yep. Definitely a teenager.
But Sho didn’t feel as bad about it this time. He didn’t feel like he was being replaced even though Takamura did cut into the father-daughter time they were having.
Instead, he just felt happy that Reiko was finally happy.
Maybe finally, they can start living life normally. As a family.