Chapter 46. A Date? (10/13)

“Oh my… it seems I’m disturbing. Please excuse this old woman and do continue where you left off.”

She picked up the bag she’d dropped on the ground and headed up the stairs giddy like a child who’d seen something they shouldn’t have seen.

“Mom!” Alicia ran over to the stairs and pulled on her mother’s sleeve between the staircase railing. “It’s not what it looks like! Please don’t misunderstand the situation!”

“Not what it looks like?” Her eyes shifted between the two of us before she said, “Well then… please excuse me. You two can continue.”

“Mom! It’s not like that, I said. Please listen to me and don’t jump to weird conclusions.”

“Haaaah. My daughter’s finally brought someone home for the very first time ever and it’s her boyfriend. What do I do? Do I save for their wedding starting now?”

“MOM! I’m seriously going to get angry if you don’t listen, you know.”

“But. But. I want my precious daughter to find a boyfriend already~ I’m tired of waiting~” Seeing Alicia’s mother for the first time, was far from what I expected. She was quite the free spirit from the looks of it.

Normally a parent would be concerned that her daughter had brought a boy over at such a late hour on a Sunday. Then to see them happily dancing in the living room together without a care in the world, I’d think they’d be furious. But her mom didn’t appear to be any of those things. As long as her child was happy and smiling, that was all that mattered to her.

Now that I’d met her, I felt I had a better understanding of Alicia. She could be so kind because she had such a loving and caring mother. When I thought back to my own mother who’d worked herself to death, for the first time in a long time I felt something stir inside my dead cold heart.

I took a seat on the couch, lowered my head, and placed my left hand over my eyes. My palm over my left eye while my pinky touched the bottom of my partially closed right eye.

I maintained full control over my facial expression and it remained as one of indifference, but there was still a lump in my throat. Some silent tears had welled up at some point and my nose was a bit runny. I remained in complete silence not willing to utter a single word lest my current abnormal and unstable mental state be revealed.

Several memories I’d buried deep in the back of my head flashed through my mind. My right hand clutched at my heart as I desperately worked to repress such emotions and bury them back down in a deep abyss where they’d never see the light of day again. 

These sorts of things were unnecessary to me. Anything unnecessary to survive in this world should just be thrown away. The rational part of my mind I’d honed for years started to kick in as the tsunami swirling about inside my body causing chaos rapidly receded.

When the storm had passed, I took a slow steady deep breath in through my nose before I slowly exhaled it out through my mouth.

“Uh, Alicia, is your boyfriend okay? Something seems a bit off about him right now.”

“Mom, he’s really not my boyfriend though.”

While Alicia had her full attention focused on her mother, it seemed her mother had noticed my odd behavior just now.

I made sure there were no traces on my face of what just transpired, stood back up, then approached Alicia’s mother and said, “Your daughter is telling the truth. We’re not dating. She was just teaching me how to dance because I have two left feet and can’t dance my way out of a paper bag. For Christmas, there’s a school dance coming up and I wanted to learn how to dance so I don’t look like a complete clown. Because I knew your daughter was so kind and couldn’t say no if someone asked her for help with something, I took advantage of that kindness of hers for my own selfish benefit. That’s all there is to it.”

“Do I look that gullible to you? I may be old, but I’m not senile. You may have a good poker face, but have you tried looking at my daughter’s? Just by looking at the confused look on my daughter's face that has no idea what you’re talking about, I can easily tell you’re lying.”

“Haha. Sorry, I should have factored in your easy-to-read daughter’s expression into my lie just now. What a miscalculation on my part.”

“Yes, you certainly should have. If you’re going to lie like you’re an adult, you need to make sure there aren’t any visible flaws in that lie.”

“You’re… pretty easygoing despite how I just tried to blatantly deceive you.”

“Haaaah. Well, I can at least tell the part about you too not being boyfriend and girlfriend is true for now at least. Hurry up and start dating. Preferably starting right now would be nice.”

“Mom! Please stop. I’m begging you. This is too embarrassing!”

Alicia looked like she was about to break down into tears from her mother’s constant teasing.”

“Haaaah. Fine. I get it.”

She stopped trying to head up the stairs and returned to the first floor.

“So? How far have you two gotten exactly?”

“Nowhere!”

“Well... a kiss I aggressively forced on her, I suppose,” I answered bluntly with the truth. Though the chances seemed slim to none with her mother’s easygoing personality, I’d be more than happy if her mother forbade her from interacting with me in the future.

“Ran!” She blushed up to her ears when I snitched. Well, I am your enemy after all. Of course I’m going to take revenge for making me do something embarrassing like dancing.

“Oh, not bad, not bad. And it seems my daughter didn’t hate it that much based on her reaction, so I won’t make a fuss despite you forcefully kissing her. If you do something that hurts her though… well, I won’t forgive you~ okay~” Somehow… for such a free spirit, her words were a bit intimidating. It might have been a good thing I took the help out her little brother approach. I instinctively felt like this woman was much more capable than her naive green daughter who wore her heart on her sleeve.

It was the experience that came with being an adult and facing the cruel reality of the world.

It was always much more difficult dealing with adults than kids. Conflicts took place on a completely different stage than the isolated garden known as ‘school,’ which adolescents attended.

The smile on the mother’s face, who despite her age could still be considered quite the catch, matched with her daughter’s, but at the same time, they were worlds apart. This mother’s lovely smile hid much more than her daughter’s pure innocent one. There was a sense of depth that could convey countless different bits of information. Her eyes were wisened and deep, much more well-rounded.

“Oh my, you have a good set of eyes for someone my daughter’s age. It almost feels like you’re not in the same generation as my daughter. By any chance, do you have an eye for older women?”

“MOM!” Her daughter was so embarrassed she almost died.

“Haha, I do actually.” I sported a fake business smile then extended my arm out and lifted hers up by her fingers.

I’d grabbed her hand to specifically feel and examine them more closely. To get an idea of what she may or may not do for a living. My curiosity had been piqued by this hard-working mother. The feeling under her palm. The length of her fingernails. Whether there was any dirt under them. Callouses. Whether her hands were soft or hardened. Thickened skin or thin. There were all sorts of information you could deem from someone's hand that could help you figure out what line of work they were in.

Her hand was quite beautiful. It was obvious she took good care of her hands. 

I couldn’t help but voice my true thoughts, “You have lovely hands, you must take good care of them despite how hard you work to care for your daughter and son.”

“My. You’re going to make me blush. Alicia, please marry this boy. I want him as my son-in-law.”

My face stiffened up when she said that. Don’t joke with me, I’m trying to get your daughter off my back, not on it woman.

Alicia had collapsed on the couch in defeat at some point with her entire face blushing red. If steam could come out I was sure it would.

“It seems we’ve gone and teased my daughter a bit too much.”

“Certainly. It does seem that way.”