Mending a broken relationship

Description: "Families are about love overcoming emotional torture". Matt Groening

"When you cut relationships you really cut them clean, there is no place left for past feelings... I was still a child, but I have grown up since then, I’m used to it now, not seeing you around and not hearing you either. I’m fine with you never calling again. I grew up, and we will be perfectly fine without you."

1. That man

The phone which was left on the coffee table vibrated, her pens and pencils trembled along with it, one falling on the dark carpet with white and red flower pattern. The thick dictionaries piled one upon another on the side of the table made no movement, but the scattered papers beside them shook. Su Fei glanced at the ID before putting the mobile on silent mode, uninterested in receiving the call.

He had been at it for almost a month now. How diligent. She initially thought he would tire after a week. After all, their last conversation had been pleasant for neither one of them. She thought, disinterestedly that, with the passing years, he seemed, to have learned some patience. Su Fei reclined on her sofa, adjusted her laptop’s screen and pressed the play button, going back to her film. She couldn’t be bothered, even as her phone’s screen lit up again and again with missed calls.

The apartment she was in was one she rented with her own money. It wasn’t luxurious but it was big enough to satisfy her needs. When her parents divorced while she was still seven, her father took off to another country, and she never saw him again. Her mother wasn’t one who believed in doting children and was especially strict with her. So, for a long time now, Su Fei had learned to be independent. Her mother made sure that she was, by no means, someone who would beg for others! And certainly not for their time and love!

Still, the man was persistent. Her mailbox, post box, and phone’s memory card were saturated. At that point, even her mother said a few words the time she would visit her on the weekends. After two months, Su Fei thought to give him face. For the first time in a while, she logged into her skype and received his video call and reluctantly, she agreed to come and see him at the designated place.

***

Declining his proposal of using his private flights, she took commercial ones. After a flight of eighteen hours, she finally touched the ground again, with, albeit, aching and tired limbs. No matter what, she thought, she definitely wouldn’t be coming to see him often.

Her small luggage held tightly in one hand, she took off her sunglasses and gazed around her, searching for his silhouette. The airport’s hall was packed and people were screaming left and right. Su Fei’s eyes squinted. She had never been a great fan of noisy places. Searching for a while unsuccessfully, she sat on an open seat, ready to dial his number.

'Are you miss Su Fei?'

Hearing her name, she lifted her head to see a man in an all black suit and tie. Blond hair filled with gel and the corpulence of a medium bodybuilder. His tone of voice was respectful with almost no accent. If she didn’t see him directly, she wouldn’t have thought it to be the voice of a foreigner. No, actually it was she who came here, then wasn’t she the foreigner? She smiled at him politely, and responded with the language she had used most of her life,

'Can I know who is asking?'

The man smiled, apologizing briefly before giving her his phone. 'Boss' was written on the screen of the ongoing call. Su Fei bowed slightly and apologized for the impoliteness, before taking the mobile in her hands and to her ear. On the other side of the line, a voice both familiar and unfamiliar. Su Fei’s lips lifted despite her eyes holding no humor as she kept on listening to him. Just who did she come here for again? As he finally went silent, she gave back the phone to the man in a suit. From the beginning to the end, she said nothing. What was she supposed to say? Accusing him of not even sparing the time to see her by himself? Calling him a liar for another failed promised or should she have pleaded that he sincerely put a pause to his ongoing affairs,  at the very least, for the time she was going to spend here. What? At most four days? Really, he couldn't have freed himself for four days? Well, even if he promised, she wouldn't have believed. In the end, she was aware that whatever it was that she said, would have turned into a quarrel. She was simply too physically tired to permit herself to be mentally tired as well.

When the man in front of her finished his conversation with his boss and turned to her, she gave him a slight smile, her blue eyes glimmering with restrained frustration.

'Then I’ll trouble you, sir Andrews.'

Saying so, she bowed her head to the one who was supposed to be her driver from here onwards. The man returned her gesture and politely asked for her baggage. Su Fei tried refusing for it was a small thing, containing just enough clothes for a couple days. But he insisted. Both hands freed, she clasped them behind her back, walking lazily after him and towards the extravagant limousine. Her eyes turned cold at the sight of wrapped presents in there.

Not touching a thing and ignoring the gaze the driver would sometimes give her through the mirror, she stretched and found a comfortable position, taking out her phone from her yellow shirt pocket. She was about to call, but remembering the jet lag, it was supposed to be two in the morning there. In the end, she chose to message, reassuring her mother that she arrived safely. By the time she was finished, the car already arrived in front of a residence, the electric gate opened for them. Su Fei got to see once more just how extravagant that man liked to be. There was actually a maze! As they took turns lefts and rights, she silently cursed how long it would still be. If anything, she was just looking forward to seeing a comfortable bed, hoping to catch some decent sleep!

After who knew how many twists and turns, the driver finally pulled in front of a fountain, going out of his way to open the door for her before she got to it herself. Su Fei's smile turned stiff, at the sight of all the staff bowing their head to her. An old man presented himself as the butler, Henry. He talked her mother tongue smoothly, but with a thick British accent. It was, in her view, an army! Maids, footmen, cooks, and gardeners. The way they were acting, one could wonder if that man actually thought she was going to move in here for the rest of her life. He could keep on dreaming!

A vast room had been prepared for her. Almost thrice the size of her apartment. All the things in there had been furnished the same style as that little apartment, only bigger and definitely more expensive. A side room had been used as a cupboard, filled to the brim with clothes and shoes her size. She clicked her tongue, for sure, his research had been through. Her bedroom had a king-size bed in there and by the bedhead, was a jewel box full to the brim. Well, he certainly didn't do things halfway. Once she turned around, she found on the opposite wall, a painting hanging over the door. It was newly made, the date inscribed in the corner that of three months ago. Far from finding the gesture touching, it was bordering invasive. The painting looked like the photo she took while at a party with her friends after her graduation years ago. How did he get his hand on it?

Sighing, she returned to where she remembered seeing the bathroom was and took a bath before coming back to the bedroom. Her long dark hair was still dripping as she sat on the bed, rubbing them with a towel. In the end, she wrapped the towel around her head and let herself fall on the bed, closing her eyes. Despite still being in a peignoir, she made no motion to change clothes and let herself fall asleep a little uneasy. Though in her childhood she used to dream of a princess room like this one, she had long stopped being his princess.

The sun that was high in the sky finally set and Su Fei woke up to the sound of persistent knockings. The man that she was waiting for and for whom she came to this country still didn't come back to his own home, but instead, by the intermediate of a maid, asked of her to wear a classy dress and come find him in a fanciful restaurant. Su Fei's temper was put to great tests as time passed it seemed. She held on anyway and reigned it in. Choosing a blue cocktail dress, she let the woman who came dressed her hair and applied light makeup.

Su Fei grew up hearing left and right that she resembled her mother. And certainly, it wasn't false: she had her mother’s fair skin, button-like nose and as she stood on her full twenty-three years old, she could be mistaken as her mother in her younger days. However, if you asked Su Fei herself, she would say that she looked more like her father than her mother. More than just the blue eyes, she inherited from him, she had the man's sharp brows and thin mouth, making her face look severe even when she was in a good mood. Now that she wasn't, she looked even less welcoming.

Following that, the driver brought her to said restaurant, and a worker led her to a personal room in there.

As she came closer and the occupants entered her field's vision, her eyes squinted while she recognized the man who got up from his seat while she entered. A stranger. Well, maybe not completely. It was the same man with whom she exchanged some words via video calls sometimes ago. And he wasn’t alone. On his left, sat a chocolate hair woman who stood up too, and smiled at her. 

Anger swelled and stuffed Su Fei's chest at their sight, but she held on. She felt the purse -which came with the dress- that she was holding vibrated, and, taking out her phone, she could read the message on the screen. At that moment, she cursed in her heart, ready to bite someone’s head off! Preferably, her father's!

2. The date

Though never in her life had she taken a single acting class, Su Fei thought she could certainly pull off something. So, she hid her mood behind a clueless smile and played the role of the brainless idiot. Anything was fine if she could smear her father's name. Not like these people's opinions mattered to her anyway.

She was, obviously, not as a good actress as she thought herself to be, for her anger could still be discerned. However, it had, for the two other people, another meaning. Jealousy. The man’s ego could reach the roof as his lips lifted in an arrogant sneer. He was handsome, one had to give him that, and seeing the fancy restaurant, he was evidently wealthy as well -or knew how to fake it, that was good too-; though, there was something in his hairstyle that didn’t sit right with her. He had drowned his brown hair in gel, that he had styled in a curly fringe. Maybe, what made her uncomfortable was the fact that it was her father’s most favorite hairstyle.

The man pulled the sole chair left empty and Su Fei sat, thanking him in her native tongue. He introduced himself, then, as he sat back to his place.

“Remembered me? I am Asa Copperlied and this is Lindira Inisia, my friend. She'll help understand each other tonight.”

She gave them a smile, tilting her head, and the woman, a delicate-looking one with frameless glasses, effectively translated into her native tongue what he just said. Su Fei smiled politely, thanking her and introduced herself too.

In her vague memory of this man, what Su Fei remembered most, was that he would always talk in his own language. The only time he attempted using hers, it was a disaster. Su Fei herself wasn’t interested in continuing to see him, so she persistently pretended not to understand whatever he said. The man was even more persistent though, and in the end, they exchanged some brief words via messages. A chance for him she supposed, that machine translations were easily available. What she failed to understand right now was what was the peacoat doing here in place of her father. Was that man really trying to play it like this? Finally managing to have her come into this country all to, in the end, thrust a fiancé her way? Damn him!

As she was fighting her growing temper, the sole man at the table rung the bell, a waiter came and Su Fei looked on as he rudely passed a command at her place, not even letting her the chance to do so. He even dared to criticize her along with it.

“It’s alright,” he said with a smile to his translator when the latter had protested, “she doesn’t understand a wink of our language. And isn't it how it's done in those romantic films? She'll like the gesture!”

He could make an excellent actor, Su Fei thought. His deceptive manner didn’t betray his words at all. If she really couldn’t understand, then she would be fooled! The second woman at this table still had her morale in place though and seemed quite bothered by his manners. Lindira turned to Su Fei, and said pleasantly,

'Mr. Copperlied wants you to taste the best dish of this restaurant, he asks that you excuse his rudeness, but he is sure you will be satisfied. I hope you’re not offended he took the lead for you.'

Quite a gentlewoman indeed. She smiled brightly, but her anxiety was belied by the eyes that wouldn’t meet Su Fei’s. She really shouldn’t be embarrassed by another person’s wrongs.

Still deep in her pretense, Su Fei bowed her head lightly and even thanked the man. It was her first night that she had to lie so much. For a time, the table was silent, no one talking. Until he disrupted it, that is.

While the man charmingly looked at her, the words coming from his mouth were anything but pleasant.

“See what I was telling Vernon? She has no conversation. Apart from her face, she really is not worthy, is she?" he asked his friend. Actually, his manner of being was as if he was talking to Su Fei, so it could be quite misleading. "Well, at the very least, with her by my side, Mr. Su will sponsor us. God knows we deserve it!”

By now, the translator had regained her calm and seemed, now that she was certain the woman in front of her really couldn’t understand them, more at ease which didn't mean that the hand she used to drink her glass of water was shaking any less. Lindira rearranged her glasses on her nose again after that, and translated for Su Fei,

'You’re the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and that dress suits you perfectly. It was really my honor that your father, after persistent efforts, gave his consent to dating you.'

Su Fei's mouth twitched, had she had something in her mouth, she would have unceremoniously spat it.

'Is that so? I’m very flattered; tell him that he too is quite handsome. The honor is mine, certainly, to have gotten a man like that; I must have done something right in my last life to be rewarded like this!'

Lindira relayed her exact words and Su Fei looked on as the man’s lips moved in happiness.

“It seems like we would acquire that money more easily than we thought.”

In your dreams!

Su Fei gave him a smile while clenching her fists under the table and turned to the translator to hear her sweet lies. One had to recognize that she was good! Definitely a diplomat!

The conversation, as it followed, was mainly nonsensical nonsense and in the end, the one who was really trying her hardest was Lindira. What exactly did her father see in this man, she really couldn't understand. Though they fought over the phone the last time about him giving her personal contacts to strangers to contact her, it didn't mean she rather sees them in real life!

Not long after, the dishes were served. Spicy ones. Not something Su Fei was fond of.

Clumsily –or maybe not- the hand she extended to serve some soup for herself, knocked the soup tureen and it accidentally fell all over the man’s suit.

'Oh dear,' she exclaimed hastily getting up to help him wipe the stain, but he brusquely shouted to not touch him. Su Fei was quite proud of her performance as she attempted an embarrassed face, repeating ‘sorry’.

The sounds had alerted a waiter who came to see what was happening. And the scene, he saw was one petite girl helping an angry man clean his cloth, while another woman had her head bowed in shame.

“What an idiot," was repeating the man.

Brycen, seeing the soup on the floor and the man’s clothes while his glares were directed at the sitting woman, could understand what happened. He proposed for the man to come to the toilet with him, other pants would be offered. Before going, he apologized in the name of the restaurant for the inconvenience and tried asking if someone else was stained, his gaze on the sitting woman.

“Can't you see she's fine? What are you dilly-dallying for, it's not like she understands!” snapped sharply the arrogant man, ordering the worker to get it on with his pants.

Lindira was beside herself with anxiety. Didn't her brother, Vernon, said that it was going to be an easy job? How come helping this business partner of his became such a challenge? And what a dick! Even if he was just trying to swindle this girl out of her money couldn't he at least pretend? Gritting her teeth, she tried smiling warmly at this golden pot,

'They are going to give him new clothes, you shouldn’t worry. Mr. Copperfield asked that we enjoy ourselves, no need to wait for him.'

Now she was actually taking Su Fei for an idiot, wasn’t she? Nevertheless, Su Fei liked her quite a bit so, after apologizing once more she attempted to appear both embarrassed and confused,

'Say, is he really a kind person? His gaze just now was so scary. In his messages, he had always been a gentleman to me... I...I... was that all pretense?'

Lindira beamed at her -or she tried.

'He was genuine.', she reassured, too forcefully for it to sound true and realizing that she tried once more, 'It’s just that he got burned that’s all. But don’t worry, it's just that today was a rough day... he usually doesn’t lose his temper like this.”

Brycen, who came back to wipe the stains and changed the napkin and the cutlery, froze. His mouth twitched. He worked in this restaurant for two months now and actually, that man was quite famous here for losing his temper easily. Well, it wasn’t his place to talk anyway. Like the diligent worker he was, he relayed the message he had been told to relay,

“Mr. Copperfield asks that I tell you he couldn’t stay. Something came up.” Actually, the man's exact words were, ‘damn it, she ruined my Stuart Hughes Diamond. Who does that? The bitch! It cost nearly a million!' and he then stormed off uttering more profanities.

Lindira’s smile wavered, she tightly gripped her hands under the table before smiling more confidently.

“Is that so? Thank you for the message.” Then she turned to Su Fei, “It seems that Mr. Copperfield’s burns were quite severe, he went to the hospital.”

Su Fei had a panicked expression on, trying to get up,

“Oh my God, we should hurry-“

“No… euh…”  Lindira took out her phone,  “He messaged, he said it was going to be alright. He apologized, but would like to report the date. Please enjoy yourself, I’m going to see how he is.”

Then, before Su Fei could say anything else, she collected her things and nearly ran away.

When she was sure that the woman was far away, Su Fei broke into a fit of laughter. The waiter who was still cleaning looked at her, puzzled.

She turned to him with a satisfied smile, “Say, was he really burnt?”

The man was taken aback.

“You…” You can actually talk our language? Now he couldn't understand anymore.

She didn't have the time to mind his bewilderment, she was far too impatient,

“Come on tell me, tell me-” she urged.

The man with a sun-kissed skin finally answered her,

“Euh, no but he was quite pissed that his suit was stained.”

“Damn! Should’ve aimed better…”

She stood up, looking at the untouched foods, “You can put the note on his tablet!”

She then exited the place, her phone on her ear, calling for the driver, leaving behind a still uncomprehending Brycen.

3. Father

Once in the car, she called her father, immediately after the call connected, she threatened, "If you don't come back in the coming hour, you can forever forget about my existence." Without waiting for his reply, she cut it off. 

Everything about this trip was unpleasant, and it only kept on worsening. In the beginning, she was quite curious why her father was suddenly adamant about her coming to see him in his country, but thinking that it was merely for him to search a husband for herself, she really couldn't sit still. For years he didn't care about her life and death and now, suddenly, he waltzed in trying to control her lifelong happiness? She really couldn't understand what triggered the man, so she went on and investigate on her own.

The man had said she could do as she pleased in this house and that was exactly what she did, not caring about the staff's eyes, she directly entered her father's rooms, starting with the one he used as an office. Since the man didn't know the meaning of privacy, neither will she tonight! She searched all over the place and when nothing interesting was found, she entered his bedroom.

She found documents from six months ago and she sneered. Wasn't it when he first contacted her again? 

The door opened behind her, and the man she hadn't seen in person for years now, stood in front of her. The suit he wore didn't have a single wrinkle and his hair was neatly in place, caged by the gel he liked so very much. He eyebrows were creased as it always was in her memories of the man, but there were wrinkles here and there on his face to prove that time had left some mark on the man.

"You've grown up." He interrupted the thick silence.

"No kidding."

He ignored her tone and took a seat on the pouf while she sat on the bed, closing the drawer she had previously opened, not without taking the documents in her arms. Her father looked at what she was holding but didn't comment.

"How exactly did it go with Mr Copperfield?"

"I splashed sauce on his perfect Stuart Hughes Diamond. He didn't appreciate..." She smacked the folder she was holding, "Following me around now, are you?" She took the photos, out, nonchalantly letting them fall on the bed, then took the letters out too, "what are those? Belated birthday presents?" She touched the card reading it, "oh, a congratulation for my first day at work... A call too would have been fine... What? Want to tell me you didn't have the time... Then why didn't you send this? Not even giving your assistant to send it for you?"

"I'm not here for a quarrel."

She had a falsely shocked expression, "No? I wouldn't have known! You just wrote this maybe like... Yesterday and now hope for me to buy that it was from long ago..."

"It was from long ago. And at the time we hadn't the best relationship."

"Neither had we now... And either way, this thing comes four years too late. Don't expect me to clap for you."

"I'm trying here."

"So I should make it easy for you?"

"I... How is your mother?"

"Very well. She said not to call her."

"Didn't even think about it." He said and she nodded.

"So, what happened six months ago? You don't expect me to believe you suddenly started feeling bad about that child you've sired and forgotten for years now..."

"I hadn't forgotten..." He sighed, "That's not the point... I just wanted to make it right by you."

"By giving me a fiancé"

"He's bound to become an outstanding man..."

She smiled and shook her head, "no, no, you know nothing about the man. At most just his enterprise and the way he works... But him as a personal being... You know nothing about him... And maybe his business plan is awesome, but the man I met is a dick..."

"I wouldn't harm you."

"You wouldn't even realize you're harming me... That's how you've always been."

"Su Fei." There was warning in his tone and she smiled mockingly at herself.

"Why did you contact me?... If you keep silent I'll walk out of here and we may as well be stranger."

"..."

"Why are we even trying. I'm gone fly back tomorrow. Whatever you plan, I don't care anymore, shouldn't have expected anything anyway."

As she was about to pass him by, he finally admitted

"My best friend, Mattis, he died."

“... My condolences, but if you needed people to be with you in this tragedy, you've rung the wrong number."

"At his funeral, his own biological son cursed him..."

"Your best friend, of course, feathers of the flock"

"I thought a lot... His family, although reluctant were still there... But I... I don't want to die alone."

"... Are you ill?"

"No."

"Then what do you fear?... You'll be dead anyway, whether we are there or not, you wouldn't know and that point it wouldn't matter."

"..." It seemed, somehow, that her father's eyes became moist but now that she started, she suddenly couldn't stop.

"Do you remember, when you guys recently divorced? That day, you slammed the door as you walked out, never responding while I was crying for you to stop. Mother was holding me tight and no matter how much I kicked and shouted, you never turned back. I remember it vividly, you know. I was six, three months from being seven... Following that, I called you every single day after coming back to school and before sleeping. One day, you suddenly shouted at me. I was annoying, I supposed, so I reduced my calls to once every two days. It wasn’t more welcomed... I tried once a week. It was alright for a time before you snapped at me again. You said, and I’m quoting ‘by now you should be used to not seeing me around, try being used to not hearing me’, after which my calls didn’t reach, for months! Then you showed up for my birthday two years later, as if nothing was wrong. That time around you came with a new phone for my eighth anniversary. Once a month you said, it would be our day. You didn’t say a word to mother at all. However, even in those 'special days', you were always so quick to cut our conversations short.”

“But I was still answering, you’re the one who erased me from your life.”

She shook her head.

“When I was ten, I called, panicked, short of breath, tears, and snots staining my face. I could hardly talk. Do you have an impression?”

“…”

“No, you don’t. That day, I was trying to tell you that there were bandits in the house. I was scared and whispering. Hours before that I sneakily watched a horror movie. You don’t know what kinds of things I imagined. Bloody things. But you told me, ‘why are you calling me for that? Call the police’ and you hang up on me. Thank God they only knocked mother down and ran away.”

“Didn’t I, in the end, call for the police at your place?”

“Maybe you did. I can't really remember. At the time I wasn't really sure about the emergency numbers... But as I once again called you while I was in the hospital with mother, you didn’t bother to come at all to see her... Someone you’ve shared nine years of your life with... You’re amazing you know. When you cut relationships you really cut them clean, there is no place left for past feelings. Before I wasn’t. I was still a child, but I have grown up since then, I’m used to it now, not seeing around and not hearing you either. I’m fine with you never calling again. I grew up, and we will be perfectly fine without you.”

"But not me."

"You've got to be kidding. You were the one who left. Literally..." 

"I once had a cat. I called it Ah Li. It wasn't really mine. A stray cat that followed me home when I fed it. All black with golden eyes. Mom called it ugly and didn't want to see it. She had me throw it away. But no matter how long I walked before I left it, it would always find its way back home. Until mom got enough, put us in a car and made me leave it far away. Mom was keeping watch so I couldn't really do anything. But some days later, I sneakily went back there in search of it and after searching for a long time I finally found it... But it ran upon seeing me... It didn't need me anymore."

"What do you want to say with that story?"

"You were scared... Of dying alone with no one to mourn for you. So you thought to introduce a good party for me and hope that it would somehow mend all those things you did wrong... Only the man isn't a good party and there is no way to mend anything if you don't even realize why I am mad."