N/A: Good grief there are a lot proofreading errors in this fic! Not to worry, my wife is bringing herself onboard as a co-author and proofreader. She actually used to be a proofreader for an actual publishing company, so expect the quality to start going up!
Dinner and a Show: Part 2
"Sachi! I am so proud of you! You did such a beautiful job!" Kimiko was practically beside herself, showering her daughter with praise after her recital. I hardly said a word until we were all back in the limousine, the sheer weight of emotion I was feeling made it nearly impossible to speak. As a person struggling with depression and regret myself, her performance had spoken directly to me.
"Oh, Baby! You were wonderful!" Kimiko continued gushing, practically fangirling over her daughter, even as Sachi mumbled something about her antics causing a scene. But Kimiko was not to be deterred. Her maternal pride had reached the limit of her ability to hold it in. She couldn't stop praising her daughter if she had wanted to.
"Thank you so much, Scott!" Kimiko said, seizing my hands after we were all seated in the limo again.
"No, thank you." I replied, trying not to choke on the lump in my throat. "Thank you for inviting me tonight." then, turning to Sachi, I said, "Thank you, Sachi. Your words tonight gave me a hope that, honestly, I haven't felt in a long time. You have a gift, no doubt about that. Thank you for sharing it with us tonight."
I fully expected her to blush and stare at her shoes, like a typical introvert, but she surprised me with a gentle smile as she looked me directly in the eye. "I'm very glad I was able to help, Cooper-San!" she said, her voice as clear as when she had sung on stage, "My voice is the one thing I always knew I was meant to share with the world. Thank you for appreciating my gift."
Kimiko and I simply sat there and stared at her. This was not the same shy girl I had met just an hour earlier, and judging from Kimiko's expression, this was a side of her daughter that she rarely, if ever, saw.
A moment later, though, I saw a flush creep across her face as she leaned over and whispered something in her mother's ear. Kimiko's eyes widened and I felt my own face flush along with her's as we quickly released each other's hands.
"So where are we going for dinner?" Kimiko queried, after we had recovered from our embarrassment.
"Well, it was short notice, so I couldn't anything too fancy, but I was able to reserve a table at Outback Steakhouse. I hope that's agreeable to our star performer!" I said, winking at Sachi. "And I've got three vouchers for tickets at the movie theatre, too."
"T-that's fine," Sachi stammered, flushing again at the sudden attention, while her mother fixed me with a look that said 'we'll talk about how much you're spending on us later'. That was a conversation I think I'd rather postpone for as long as possible.
Shortly after we had arrived and ordered, Kimiko excused herself to use the restroom, so I decided to try engaging Sachi in conversation again, seeing as my earlier compliment about her singing seemed to have broken the ice.
"So how is school treating you", I inquired. I figured I'd start with easy subject.
"Um... It's fine," she answered, shrugging.
"Do you have a favorite subject?" I pressed.
She nodded. "Literature and music." She said proudly.
"I'm not surprised!" I chuckled, "Your performance tonight more than convinced me of that!"
She smiled again, and then her face turned thoughtful. "I'm not so good with math and science, though. I study really hard, but the best I seem to be able to do is a C. I even joined a robotics club at school, but I'm not really sure that it's helping."
"That's good!" I encouraged her. "Doing your best is something you should never be ashamed of. And joining a robotics club? That shows you've got guts if you're willing to pursue something that advanced for the sake of your grades!" She flushed again slightly under my praise, so I continued, "If you like, I help tutor you in math and science, as long as your mom's okay with it."
She seemed to consider that for a moment. But when she answered, it was not what I though she would say.
"Cooper-San?" she asked, turning to face me. "Are you going to marry my mom?"
I froze. How do you answer something like that? And on a "first date" at that!
"Uh... Would you like that?" I asked slowly.
She glanced away, suddenly shy again. "I-I don't know. I've never had a dad before, but I guess..."
Before she could finish her thought, though, we were interrupted by the simultaneous arrival of Kimiko and our supper. This was definitely a conversation I wanted to continue in the future, though. Hopefully soon.
