Chapter 7 : The Expression She Never Shows Me (4)
by fnovelpia
Some philosopher once said : Life is the C between B and D.
The C between B and D.
It was the most fitting way to describe it.
“Now, Dad wants you to cheer up. Since it’s a rare occasion, just lean on your daughter, okay? I’m all grown up now, you know?”
Sewon spread her arms wide open.
The phrase “open-minded” suited this situation perfectly.
If I stretched out my hand just a little, I could reach the forbidden fruit of the Creator’s tree.
My hand trembled.
In my past life, leaning on someone with broad shoulders meant being a reliable son.
Here, women’s sense of shame is quite a high hurdle.
Even in this reverse world… no one would get “open-minded” just to calm their dad.
Sewon was way too close.
As a rental papa, as an adult, I had to get my head straight.
Pathetically, I showed a disgraceful side.
To a precious client.
“Sewon, I appreciate your feelings, but Dad’s fine. I’m calm now. Save that for when you really love someone. You wouldn’t say that to other boys, right? They might misunderstand.”
Wiping tears with the back of my hand, I gave my advice.
She looked so much like my wife in appearance that I couldn’t help being meddlesome.
“Really, Dad. Of course. I said it to cheer you up.”
Sewon made a slightly displeased face.
She pulled her arms, which had been wide open, back as if they gave her chills.
Phew.
Glad she knew her boundaries.
Maybe because she was from a single-parent household, she kept a proper distance from her dad.
“Right. Sewon, there’s a distance between parent and child. You’re a girl, and I’m your dad. Do you understand what I mean?”
“Yeah. I get it… hehe, I learned something.”
Sewon covered her mouth with her palm, then smiled brightly as if satisfied.
I didn’t understand what she meant by learning something.
The tense moment was over for now.
If this were a web novel platform, the producer would have immediately censored this scene.
I sighed quietly and looked down at the lunchbox Sewon had brought.
Octopus-shaped stir-fried sausages and neatly rolled egg omelet.
Now that I look, it hardly resembled the lunch my childhood friend used to make, except for the menu.
Sewon’s cooking skill was much better.
In this day and age, could she be a rare cooking girl?
I picked up a sausage with chopsticks and bit into it with my front teeth.
“It’s delicious.”
It wasn’t a cliché compliment.
It was sophisticated and exquisite.
As I got older, I grew tired of processed meat, but this suited my old man’s palate perfectly.
“I worked hard on this last night~. It feels good to hear that from Dad. Thanks.”
Sewon placed her palm on one cheek and giggled.
For some reason, she seemed more embarrassed than when I said “touch my chest.”
For the first time, I felt like I was doing a proper dad thing.
Riding the momentum, I said the “dad-like” line.
“Sewon, you’ll make a fine bride someday.”
“A bride… really? Dad, you can’t say that.”
Sewon scratched her cheek and spoke.
Embarrassed, she fiddled with her smartphone for a moment.
“Hmm…?”
Ding.
Her phone suddenly buzzed.
It was a message from the [Rental Papa] app.
The timer showed nearly 30 minutes had passed since I last checked.
[The client has purchased the [Rental Papa] trial option!]
[Option details: Sharing One Bite (30,000₩)]
Sharing one bite.
Indeed, it was the only option allowed in the [Rental Papa] trial version.
Sharing a bite of the food you’re eating.
Not very hygienic or ideal… but.
This “sharing one bite” option,like a parent bird feeding its baby bird mouth-to-mouth,was described in the [Rental Papa] app as a way to express love to one’s child.
I muttered to myself,“Who would spend 30,000 won just for this?”
I wondered why she fiddled with her phone.
I never thought Sewon would actually purchase the option.
Besides, she made the lunch herself, right?
It wasn’t just curiosity about the taste or hunger.
Without showing my confused feelings, I picked up some egg roll with chopsticks.
“Go ahead, Sewon.”
***
From the moment she first saw “Dad,” Sewon felt an unexplainable emotion toward him.
He was tall, with broad shoulders.
Not skinny, not chubby, not tiny or bony.
Unlike most boys who were stuck in those categories.
He was handsome.
Even adding “very” wouldn’t be an exaggeration.
He had a calm, shadowy side, which made him even more dignified.
But the feelings Sewon had weren’t just about looks.
He offered to carry her schoolbag, even though he was a boy.
He did it as if it was only natural for him to do so.
At school, there were boys who thought it normal to make girls carry their bags just because they were boys.
She agreed when he suggested going to see flowers.
In fact, there was relief on her face.
She didn’t think a girl who liked flowers was strange.
She complimented him.
It must be just a simple facade, but for some reason, energy wells up inside me.
Is it like a buff from a game?
There is discernment.
Eight parts are meant to comfort.
Two parts are to test the distance.
When told to touch my chest, I responded confidently.
I was truly mature.
Among these, the most appealing aspect was this:
‘This person. Fragile.’
I was taken aback when she cried over the lunchbox.
She acted as if she had really lost her wife.
A father who raised his daughter for ten years after losing his wife.
It was only a setting I came up with for some reason.
No matter how easy it is for men to cry, to Sewon it seemed sincere.
Maybe she’s a brilliant actress in emotional acting.
Or she really lost a beloved wife.
Whether dead or alive, either way, I sensed that it was a void now.
A pure love.
I thought men like that only existed in fantasy worlds.
Would I ever find someone like that?
‘Dad.’
No.
When I first saw Joo Yeonho, my stomach felt queasy.
Now my heart flutters.
Even though I vowed not to waste money and started this on a whim,even though I thought I’d never use this option,Sewon, as if mesmerized, purchased the ‘Feed Me a Bite’ option on the [Rental Papa] app.
Absolutely!
Really!
I swear!
It was not for any obscene purpose involving saliva exchange with a man.
Yeah, yeah.
‘Yeah. I don’t know.’
I couldn’t taste anything special from the rolled omelet.
It just tasted like dad.
Sewon could only describe that taste as ‘Dad’s taste.’
What kind of flavor is this?
What is the identity of this feeling writhing inside me?
I don’t know yet after today’s meeting.
The 100,000 won my mom leaves every time for food expenses.
Money saved just to pay back someday.
If I spend part of it, I’ll understand.
Let’s say it’s spending money saved from the trial version.
The next Papa-Katsu will definitely be the last…!
Originally, I joined the [Rental Papa] trial just to test the distance.
But Sewon’s sense of distance has already glitched.
***
Seungbin’s eyes were fixed entirely on that scene.
His senior crush was with some man.
She was bright, kind, gentle, and cute.
He could give more than ten reasons why he fell in love.
He prepared a confession event in his own way but was rejected.
She said she didn’t really know about dating or love.
To be rejected by a guy’s confession—how lame must that guy be?
He heard murmurs mixed with ridicule like hallucinations but he couldn’t just be discouraged.
He was going to bravely confess again, saying, ‘Then let’s explore dating together!’
But nothing went well, and after lingering around Sewon’s senior, he just ran away.
He was telling himself the optimal timing just hadn’t come yet.
Today, he was sincerely planning to confess again.
When Sewon was alone.
Right after school, Sewon hurried somewhere.
Seungbin followed her footsteps, resembling stalking, which felt awkward.
Then he caught sight of Sewon meeting a man at the station.
Is he her boyfriend?
His heart sank.
He’s an uncommon handsome man, but isn’t the age gap too big?
‘Ah, what? Oh, it’s her dad.’
He didn’t hear well from afar.
But he heard ‘dad’ and ‘Sewon’ and such whispered.
They were almost certainly father and daughter, but something felt off.
Probably a father and daughter who don’t meet often.
Sewon’s mom might be his second, maybe.
In a world where men-women relationships are messed up, that’s not unusual.
After walking one lap around K Neighborhood Park,Sewon and her dad sat on a bench.
Seungbin quickly hid his face with a newspaper and sat on a bench far away.
He peeked secretly and still couldn’t hear the conversation well.
At one point, the man seemed flustered with Sewon but managed to recover.
They were eating lunch.
Did she pack a lunchbox for the dad she hadn’t seen in a while?
The Sewon senior I like is indeed kind.
Just as Seungbin was about to stop stalking and leave,he saw it.
The expression Sewon made while receiving and eating the rolled omelet from the man.
‘Damn it. You said you don’t know much about dating or love!’
He realized.
It was a face she never showed me, never would show me, and would never show.
That kind of expression.
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