What Do I Call You?

Chapter Eight

The sun painted a glowing light through the windows, illuminating the expanse of the spacious deluxe room when I woke up the next day from a long slumber. I had forgotten to close down the blinds before sleeping due to extreme exhaustion last night. And when I opened my eyes, I was suddenly met by a strong wave of nausea as I squinted through the flashing brightness meeting my vision in the first few seconds I was trying to adjust my sight. I quickly closed my eyes again and stretched out, yawning. My muscles felt incredibly sore in all the right places and I was kind of surprised to feel so much better compared to the past few days I had been feeling drunkenly tired and worn-out. This might actually be the very first time I’ve ever had a full sleep without waking in the middle of the night, disgruntled.

Henry was still standing at his usual position, the same place as I had seen him last night, when I finally came down the stairs towards the lobby, smiling in carefree solitude. Today, he was wearing a gray shirt with ‘No Commitment’ in black capital letters written across it. I smirked at the sight of his sturdy posture and casually walked towards his counter to greet him.

“You look upbeat,” he commented back. His vacant face, I thoughtfully noted as a permanent feature of his placid appearance met me with a boring look. I just grinned back in response to him, contradicting his dull reaction.

“Anything I can do for you today?”

“I want to book the room for the whole week,” I responded nonchalantly, “I have decided to stay for a while. Got things I need to do here and I want to pay in advance too.”

Henry’s eyes instantly widened for a second from where he remained standing behind the counter upon hearing my unexpected request. He distractingly fidgeted with the rim of his glasses (another one of his habits, it seemed) as he looked over his computer towards me with a wary expression. He hesitated and looked quite unsure as he tried to read me with those dead eyes. I just shrugged and lazily kept my smile, ignoring his bothered expression.

The day is too good to be spoilt immediately so I tried not to be affected even the slightest at the way he had just acted because of what I had just said.

“You’re still not leaving Avian Hills?” he promptly asked, inquisitively trying to gauge out some inexplicable reason as to why I was still there when he had already warned me strictly of what was in the town. And of course, I’ve already expected this question.

“Well, I’m on vacation and I want to stay for a while.” I just teased back with a smug smile. The kid just gave me a look of incredulity as I casually picked out my wallet from my back pocket, “I’m paying you in full so you don’t have any reason to hate me now, Henry.”

He snorted to my remark, sighing in surrender. And realizing that it would be pointless, he eventually dropped the topic and started punching some digits on his computer again. After a few moments, he looked up with uncaring attention and relayed to me the price. I smirked back and coolly pulled out a few bills from my wallet to pay him the amount.

“You really have no plans of leaving unless you get what you want, huh?” he bluntly said after he handed me the fill-up form to which I will have to sign for my extended stay. I grinned again, taking the pen on the counter, and placed the form in front of me. I started filling it up, smiling back at him.

“Don’t sweat it, boy,” I retorted. And that only earned another snort from him.

“I’m not going to stop you anymore, Mr. Takagi. The rest of the town will surely do it soon, if not now.”

I paused and curiously looked up to him, feeling a bit on edge again. But I only met the dead and blank gaze of those dark brown eyes underneath his glasses. I let go of the pen and stopped writing to rest my arms on top of the counter between us. I then leaned a little forward with a frown drawing above the bridge of my nose.

“Then just one question,” I casually requested, “Why run a motel when you don’t even want any outsiders like me to visit the town?”

Henry did not answer right away and only looked at me for a second, not even batting an eye. I continued filling up the form again, waiting for him to say anything, and almost thought he was not going to answer anymore when he spoke again after a few seconds.

“It’s not that we don’t want all outsiders,” He explained in his monotonous voice, “We just don’t want any uninvited ones freely gallivanting in here for no reason.”

“And I’m unwanted?”

“Yes,” He bluntly replied back without even missing a beat and I looked up to him, feeling a bit offended. That was kind of harsh, and I was even older for him to regard me like that.

“Just look at it as if you’re crashing the party, Mr. Takagi. And you’re certainly not here for any good cause. That’s why I’m trying to warn you now…”

He trailed off, deliberately leaving me hanging.

“Just leave before this totally gets out of control.”

Blinking for a few seconds, I tried to replay his words in my mind. It still made no sense. I started laughing at how incredulous it all sounded and shook my head sideways.

“I get it, Henry,” I said after the laughter went away, and Henry only looked at me with the same stoic expression as I returned back to writing down again.

“I don’t think you really do.”

“Don’t worry,” I waved him off, signing the last line on the bottom of the form and handed it back to him with a grin, “I won’t be leaving this town until Nari agrees to a date. And unless that happens, I don’t think I’d ever leave.”

I walked away, but not before I gave Henry one of my biggest grins to which he just returned with a deep sigh. He waved me off this time and I laughed as I walked out of the glass doors of the motel. I stepped out, breathing in the breeze of the morning as it instantly met my face.

What a day…

And it is all just starting to finally play on.

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I decided to visit the city for a while.

It was inevitable. I still have some things I needed to buy anyway. And I also need some personal stuff and more clothes during my entire stay at Avian Hills. I have to settle some urgent matters in the company as well, but maybe not in the real office though. I was still not ready to go back to that place. Moreover, this could also be the best time to finally show me up in front of my parents and explain my plans more to them in person. I don’t like hiding anymore, more especially from my father. Just the mere image of his diffident visage and those permanent squinting eyes that could look past beneath my lies immediately brought heightened angst inside my head.

Where do I even start with him?

To be honest, my father and I had never really jived so well together ever since I was young. It was never a normal father-son relationship that other young boys and dads have. In fact, ours was actually more along the lines of extreme awkwardness and discomfort. I had literally grown up nursing an estranged and distant affection towards him because he was much harder to approach compared to my mother. He never really showed any expression aside from a brief rigid shrug of his shoulders and a vague squint of his eyes. He would only approach me when the matters deemed him necessary. And most of the time, it was all just about the business and serious stuff. I have never really understood his entire cold demeanor and that subtle condescending aura that he had always summoned around him.

I was just always scared of him when I was a kid. And now that I am nearing my thirties, I think I could still feel the shivers of fright even with just thinking about his anger. That is why I’m kind of antsy. Especially now when I am actually turning things around in my life so suddenly, it could really become much worse between us. Even more so, if I still withheld this entire silence and hiding, it could really be the end of me. Knowing my brother, he most certainly has given our parents the rundown about our conversation last night.

I guess I should already expect things to get ugly from here.

I sighed in utter disdain, just as I was about to drive past the border signs of the city. Filled with thoughts, I was then reminded again of Nari’s face as I headed down the road towards the central district. The sudden image, popping out of nowhere, had me smiling subconsciously and I entirely forgot my upcoming agony. It kept on like that until I had finally taken a turn at an intersection.

The more familiar the street signs had become, the more I felt nervous. I soon slowed down on a street until I receded to a halt in front of the big property of my parents in an upscale part of the city.

A tall well-built bodyguard in a black suit, who was standing outside the huge modern-looking mansion, quickly took notice of the arrival of my black SUV and immediately pushed a signal button in his hand to prompt the big steel gates. It automatically opened, revealing an expanse of an enormous garden with a fountain by the front. I briefly gave the big guy a tight nod through the clear windshield and quickly drove up towards the driveway inside, where a helper was already waiting for me at the entryway to submit to my requests.

“Master Sun,” Edgar, the head butler of the family, suddenly appeared from the grand foyer as he stood in front of the big platinum doors of the mansion after I got out of the car. The helper beside him quickly approached my side to take my car keys. I obliged and took off my coat to which another helper had silently taken from my hold and soon disappeared into the house after I handed it over to him.

“Are they home?” I asked, walking up the short stairs by the entryway and I reluctantly stepped past the wide entrance of the house, waiting for Edgar to answer me. He was trailing me behind.

“They’re at the dining hall.”

“Thank you,” I said to Edgar, giving him a small smile to which he had formally reciprocated with a bow. I quickly walked towards the farthest end of the hallway inside the house where the dining hall was located. As soon as I had opened the wide mahogany doors, the faces of my mother and father greeted me back with equally startled looks.

“Sun?” My mother blinked at me, a cup raised midway to her mouth.

“Mother,” I smiled weakly, and I slowly sauntered towards the long dinner table where they were sitting casually across each other, “Father.”

I gave my father a subtle nod, my face settling into a docile cast. He merely returned the simple greeting with a slight jut of his jaw—a usual response I have grown accustomed to since birth. And not even bothering to look back at me, he just calmly went back on continuing with what he was eating on his plate. It seemed that they were having lunch just as I had entered the hall.

“You’re not dead, I see,” he then remarked in that distant unexpressive tone of his voice after a long silence. And upon hearing this, I silently took a seat near him and nodded back.

“Where have you been, Sun?” My mother, however, cried out dramatically from across the hall, her eyes reflecting with relief and worry. She quickly put down her cup on the table and stood up from her chair to walk straight towards me. As soon as she reached me, she immediately engulfed me into a tight hug while I remained seated and I awkwardly returned the gesture with an arm loosely embracing her hip.

“I’m fine, mom,” I reassured her, patting her on the hand that was holding me around the shoulder.

“We’ve heard,” Father interjected, still looking passive from where he was seated.

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