Author's Note: My next story was supposed to be set during the college years, but as I started to write, I somehow ended up on the opposite spectrum of their timeline!  I think I was influenced by my last story.  :) 

This new story is about a moment shared between a father and his daughter.  We know from drama trailers that Xiao Xi and Jiang Chen have a child, Jiang Xiao Ke.  I've read at least one online blog post indicating that it's a girl, but I think the majority of the other posts (and myself included) think it sounded like a little boy.  For the purposes of this story, Jiang Xiao Ke is their first-born child, and a boy.  They also have a little girl.  I'm not good at giving names, so I did some fancy footwork while writing the story to avoid having to give her one.  Just wanted to let you all know, in case you wondered why she's referred to entirely through pronouns. 

Thank you again for staying with me and reading my stories.  And a very special thank you to those who take the time to comment -- your every comment always brightens my day!  Enjoy.

 

Fatherly Love

When Jiang Chen came home from work one spring evening, he found his daughter sitting on the curb outside their apartment complex, still wearing her school uniform with her book bag on her back. Her chin was propped between her hands, and her arms were propped against her bent knees. She appeared to be deep in thought, and not altogether thrilled.

Jiang Chen tapped his brief case against the side of his leg a few times as he weighed his options. He could leave her be, let the child’s mother deal with her, or he could take the time to find out what was bothering his daughter.

With fleeting thoughts of the evening he’d planned for himself, one that had involved sitting in his favorite arm chair to finally read the new reference book he’d picked up the other day on herbal medicine, Jiang Chen set his brief case down on the ground and took a seat next to his daughter. “Aren’t you going inside?” he asked her.

Startled from her reveries, his daughter turned and said with some surprise, “Ba!”

“How long have you been sitting out here? School’s been out for a while now. Aren’t you afraid your mother will be looking for you?”

As if planned, Jiang Chen’s phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and read the name on the display. It was Chen Xiao Xi. “Mm, what’s going on?” He listened for about a minute and then interrupted his wife to say, “It’s alright. I’m with her now. We’re right outside the house. We’ll be in shortly.”

Jiang Chen hung up and put his phone back in his pocket, and then said to his daughter, “You should at least answer your phone when your mother calls to tell her you’re okay. She worried when she couldn’t reach you. Did you just get home?”

His daughter nodded sadly.

“But you didn’t want to go in?”

His daughter nodded again.

“Why not?”

She drew a pattern on the ground with the toe of her right shoe.

“Is it your grades? Did you not do well on your math test, and you’re afraid to tell your mother and me?”

His daughter shook her head.

It was Jiang Chen’s turn to nod his head. He hadn’t thought that to be the case. She, like her older brother, Xiao Ke, had thankfully taken after him in that respect and didn’t have any problems at school. But still, he’d asked just in case.

Of course, that meant he still had no idea what was bothering his daughter – to the point where she was avoiding going home.

Finally, his daughter spoke. “Ba, can I ask you? How do you know if you like a person?”

Like a deer caught in headlights, Jiang Chen didn’t know how to answer. For as long as he could remember, he’d helped both his children with their homework. Xiao Xi had tried, but as school had never been her forte, their needs had soon outstripped her abilities. He’d taken over at that point, but now, with his daughter’s question, he wished Xiao Xi was present so he could turn the reins back over to her. He didn’t know how to help his daughter with this question.

“Ah, maybe you should go in and ask your mother.”

“But I’m asking you.”

So you are, Jiang Chen thought, so you are. He thought back to his own experience and tried to answer based on that. But it’d been a long time since he’d thought about it. He and