The next morning, a Saturday, Keiba and Min went back to the hospital to discuss their plan with everyone present (and so that Keiba could apologize for her abrupt departure the day before). Now they stood outside of the home she grew up in. Luckily her stepmother’s blue Corvette wasn’t in the driveway; maybe they could get this over with before she came back.

“I can’t guarantee he won’t say something offensive.” She warned, staring at the mullion of the door.

Min shrugged. “I prepared for the worst.”

“Are you sure about this, Min?”  She was stalling. Of course she was stalling. She didn’t want to be there and neither did Min. Outside he was cool, but inside his heart was beating almost as quickly as hers. He, too, wished that there was another way, but there wasn’t. Besides, Keiba’s house was an hour away from college. They couldn’t back out now that they were here.

“We don’t have enough time.” He reminded her (and himself). “You and I both know that this is the easiest way to get any info on Darcie.”

She sighed, her shoulders fell in resignation.

“Hey,” he touched her frowning mouth. “Stop doing that. I miss your smile.”

She took his hand and held it in hers. “Maybe it’ll come back after all this is over with.”

He kissed her forehead. “I hope so.”

She reached out, hesitated for a moment, then pressed the doorbell. The ding-dong seemed to resound deep in her chest, but that may have just been her nerves acting up.

The sound of footsteps grew louder and louder as Keiba’s father neared. She bit her lip and tried to calm the thunderous beating of her heart, clenching the hand that wasn’t holding Min’s into a fist. There was the sound of the door unlocking. She watched the knob twist. The door was pulled inward until her father’s tall, broad-shouldered form came into view.

He was a physically intimidating man. He had a close shave haircut and teeth that were startlingly white against his dark brown skin tone. He was handsome, but in a cruel, businesslike way, and his mouth was puckered in a scowl. It seemed to Min that they’d never been pulled up into a smile. But, for the moment, his intimidating presence was offset by the surprised look that overcame his features.

“Keiba?” He murmured.

“Hey, dad.” She replied, avoiding his gaze.

He opened his mouth, but then he noticed Min and Keiba’s intertwined hands. His mouth slowly closed, and the scowl he’d been wearing before darkened his features again. There was a long, awkward silence. Keiba cleared .

“Dad, this is my boyfriend, Min-Kyung. Min, this is my dad, Gerald.”

Min didn’t try to plaster on a smile or lighten the grim blankness of his own features. Gerald didn’t seem like the type of person who appreciated any kind of fakeness and if nothing else, Min could respect that about him since he was the same way. Besides, his mission wasn’t really to create a good impression, he was just the distraction. But he did offer his hand.

“Hello, sir.” He greeted.

Gerald’s gaze narrowed as he looked Min up and down. He towered over the young man by about three inches and outweighed him by almost  hundred pounds. The differences were obvious, and Gerald didn’t really like the fact that Min-Kyung seemed to be ignoring all of them. He looked at his daughter reproachfully.

“You have a boyfriend?” He asked, completely disregarding Min’s hand.

“Yes.” Keiba replied as Min lowered his arm.

“This is him?”

“Yes.”

Gerald stared hard at Min down his nose. “He’s… not what I would expect.”

Keiba had known this was coming. She took a moment to brace herself and nodded. “I guess not.”

“Why’d you bring him here?”

“So he can meet you.”

He scoffed. “Well, I don’t want to meet him. Dump him, Keiba. And when you do, come back and we can talk. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you and I’d like to be able to catch up when you’re alone.”

She would not tear up like a child not getting her way. She would not. “No, dad.” She said. “It was Min’s idea to come here and I won’t stand here and let you disrespect him when he’d only wanted to pay his respects to you.” She stared her father in the eye. “Either you meet with Min or I’m never coming back.”

Gerald’s eyes immediately filled with fire. Min was a bit startled and reluctant to admit that it was the exact same look that was in Keiba’s eyes yesterday. “What do you mean ‘never coming back’? You’d choose this boy over your own damn family?!”

The way things are now? She thought. Hell yes. Any damned day of the week. The reason she thought of her father as a wimp wasn’t because of the way he looked, it was the fact that he let Darcie’s mother walk all over him. He never stood up for himself or for Keiba or for the memory of Keiba’s mother. There wasn’t a lot of respect she had in her when it came to him.

“Dad, trust me, all I want is for you and my boyfriend to meet and get along. It’s not too much of a request—”

“How dare you show up unannounced and start spouting off all this bull when I haven’t seen you in over a year, Keiba. You can’t expect that kind of trust from me.”

On impulse, she stepped forward, one foot up on the threshold. “I deserve your trust.” She said. Her words and tone were level despite the tension in her body language and the darkness in her gaze. “I deserve your trust and your respect and your attention. Today is the day that you listen for the first time since mom died. I won’t be brushed aside like a piece of trash just because I’ll say something you don’t want to hear.”

“Keiba.”

Min’s voice and his hand gently tugging at hers caused an almost instantaneous change in her mood. She took a deep breath and stepped back. She’d almost lost it there.

“Sir,” he said, looking at Gerald. “I know this is an unexpected visit, but we thought you wouldn’t answer if we told you directly.” It was a lie, but not a bad one. “Why don’t we just talk like civilized people? I’m sure we all have something we’d like to say.”

Gerald looked at Min a while longer and then turned and walked into his house. “Fine.” He said. “But the instant I hear something I don’t like, it’s your I’m coming after.”

“Understood.” Min gestured for Keiba to go in first. She took a deep breath, squeezed his hand, and stepped inside. He closed the door behind them and followed her through the foyer into the living room. Keiba looked around.

Everything looked the same as the day she’d left, but it was different from the house she’d had her most treasured memories in. The warmth had been painted over, remodeled, and reorganized by Darcie and her mother’s interior designing “skills”. It wasn’t that the house looked bad, in fact it looked like it’d been taken right out of a picture in a catalogue, but since the changes were made home hadn’t looked or felt much like home for Keiba.

“Regina went to the store to get a few things for dinner.” Gerald said, pouring himself a glass of bourbon. “She should be back any minute. You should stay and eat.”

Keiba said nothing. She was holding on to the hope that they could get this over with before she came back.

“So,” Gerald leaned against the black, leather couch. “What is it that you have to say to me?”

“Actually, sir,” Min-Kyung told him. “It’s going to be me and you doing the talking.”

“What exactly do you mean by that?”

“I mean I want to get to know my girlfriend’s father a bit better before things get any more serious between us.”

Again, Gerald’s eyes narrowed. “You aren’t trying to have with her are you?”

Keiba remembered that day in her dorm room when something had almost happened and felt the blush trying to fill her cheeks.

She cleared to cover it up. “It isn’t really any of your business, dad.” She told him. “I’m not underage and I don’t need your approval.”

Gerald seethed and downed the rest of his drink in two large gulps.

“I’m going to go look around.” She announced. “I’ll let you two have some time to get to know each other.”

“’Kay.” Min kissed her temple. “Be quick, Rudolph.” He whispered.

She nodded, smiling a little at the nickname, and kissed him quickly on the lips. Knowing that that gesture would get under her father’s skin like nothing else gave her a small, sadistic burst of pleasure. She just hoped he wouldn’t take it out on Min because it’d be Armageddon if she found out he’d hurt him in any way.

Min-Kyung watched her go up the steps until she disappeared into one of the rooms. When he turned back to her father, he found the man glaring at him and swirling the ice in his cup around and around in his hand.

“You 21 yet?” He grumbled. “Because I think we’re both going to need a drink to get through tonight.”

Min had turned 21 last November, and it was the beginning of March now, but he hadn’t been a stranger to alcohol since he was 17. However, this would be the first time he’d tried the harder stuff. He walked to the circular, brass drink trolley and got himself a glass of scotch. There was soda there to mix it with, but he didn’t want to dilute it any--at least, not while Gerald was standing right there. Maybe some part of him really did want to impress Gerald (at least, a small part of him), and it must’ve been that part that was the tiniest bit pleased with the grunt of approval he received for taking the scotch straight.

“Follow me, kid.”

Min walked with him to the patio outside. They sat across from one another at the tiny glass table. It was a warm evening. A breeze rolled by and teased through Min’s hair.

“I guess we should start with the basics.” Gerald said. “How long have you known Keiba?”

“Since the year started.”

“So that’s, what, seven months?” Min thought about it and then nodded in confirmation. He sipped from his glass. “Has she met your parents yet?”

“Not yet.”

“No? Why not?”

Min swallowed some of his drink and resisted the initial impulse to shiver and cough at the strong, smoky flavor. He swirled his glass around and around while he tried to regain his composure.

“My parents don’t live close by.” He explained. “I only really get to see them in the summer, so around that time is probably when we’ll all get together.”

Gerald grunted and drank more of his bourbon. “Is Keiba pregnant?”

Min blinked. “Uh, no, she isn’t.”

“Have you two had ?”

“We already said—”

“I know what you said; I still- want an answer. Don’t make me repeat the question.”

“No, we haven’t.”

“Why not?” In any other circumstance it would seem odd for the father to ask the boyfriend why he hadn’t slept with his daughter, but Min knew that there was an underlying question Gerald was asking: Do you think she’s not attractive enough?

“It’s not that I don’t think she’s beautiful.” He replied. And it’s not like I haven’t tried. “But we don’t want to rush too quickly into things.”

“Are you a ?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Given your looks, you could pass as one.” Gerald mumbled into his glass. Min clenched his hand under the table and again lifted his glass to his lips.

“So, if she isn’t pregnant and if it isn’t for , why are you with my daughter?”

Min set the glass back down in front of him. The second swallow was easier for him to get downt.

“You must know how wonderful your daughter is.” Min said.

“Sure. Sure, I know. She’s not the most out-going girl, but she’s smart. And even pretty. But I have to make sure your true motives aren’t just to brag to your friends about how you ‘scored with the black chick’ or something like that.” He said.

Min’s mouth dropped open. He was so taken aback by that that for a moment he couldn’t speak.

Gerald watched him carefully. “That’s what happened to Angela, my first wife.”

“Keiba’s mother?”

Gerald nodded. “When we’d been in college, she’d had an Asian boyfriend too. In the end, he’d only used her. It took me forever to get her to trust anyone again. Including me.”  He shook his head. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I’m a bit biased when it comes to—.”

“Asians.”

“Not just Asians, but every guy that shows an interest in Keiba. I’m not the type to go stereotyping anyone. How ironic would that be? And besides, it’s bad business.”

Min nodded.

“Keiba’s definitely the independent sort. Just like her mom was. But her mom had fallen for that bastard’s lies like any other naïve college girl. Keiba’s strong, but she’s a little too trusting, and she never talks to me anymore. I have to give you the third degree to protect her.”

I think she’d be surprised to hear about how much you care. Min thought. Hell, I’m even surprised. When you get past the muscle, he’s actually not so much of an idiotic douchebag. Actually he reminds me a lot of Keiba. He swirled the ice around in his cup. I wonder if she could've been misjudging him all this time...

Min looked up and stared straight into Gerald's eyes. “I understand that you want to protect, but you have to know that I feel exactly the same. I want you to know that I would never intentionally hurt Keiba. Ever. I love your daughter, sir. And I mean that.”

Gerald’s eyes widened. “You love her?”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“Happy… and honestly a little scared. My last relationship didn’t end so well.”

“Was she Korean too? Your last girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“So what made you think you could handle someone like Keiba?”

“I didn’t set out to love her, sir. It just happened. We were friends first, but I’m willing to do pretty much anything to keep things as they are with her.”

“I guess you'd even go so far as to endure this awkward conversation with her dad.” The corner of Gerald’s mouth lifted a little.

Min chuckled, nodded, and forced himself to finish off his scotch. It went down his throat feeling like hot flames, but settled warm in his stomach.

---

Phew! This one took me a while to get out for some reason. ._.  Keiba's dad's personality turned out completely different than what I'd originally thought. I don't know how I feel about that yet, but I'm just gonna roll with it (the benefit and disadvantage to being a "pantster") =3. 

As always, much love to subbie's new and old!  Until the next installment! ^-^/