206 The Apology 4 (1/2)
Xu Jing had no idea how long he had been on the floor but when he came to, it was due to a pair of hands that placed themselves firmly on his shoulders. They tried to pull him up from the floor.
Xu Jing allowed himself to be carried up and he turned to look into the eyes of his benefactor. He saw a pair of eyes that her mother gifted to her looking back at him.
”Dad...” Sylvia started to say but she didn't know what else there was for her to say. What could one say when one saw one's father in such a situation?
In the end, Sylvia settled with saying nothing and Xu Jing did not seem to mind. Sylvia half-carried, half-dragged her father's body down the stairs and into the living room. She placed him at the couch and she sat down beside him.
Sylvia did not know what really happened but when she came back and saw her father lying before her parents' bedroom door, she had a fairly good guess what had transpired. Her father knew that the cat was out of the bag and tried to explain it to her mom, but knowing her mother, she probably refused to listen to him and shut him out.
With her father slumped in a heap beside her, Sylvia didn't know what to even do or say. Her life experience had not taught her how to deal with a situation like this. Indeed, what should you do when one of your parents was caught cheating and kicked out by the other parent?
Sylvia doubted there was a self-help book for a topic like that.
Sylvia heard her father take in a deep breath. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. 'At least he doesn't look as devastated as before.'
Little did Sylvia know she was one of the main reasons why Xu Jing was bouncing back. Xu Jing didn't want to appear like such a mess in front of her daughter. Sylvia's presence reminded him that he was a father and he needed to act like one.
He could break down and cry in front of his mother or even his wife because he saw himself as equal or lower than them but he had to snap out of it and hold it together when he was around his daughter. He could never do the same thing he did before his mother or his wife in front of his daughter. It was due to the dignity of him being a parent.
A parent, especially a father, was supposed to be the rock for the children to lean on and if the rock crumble, what would happen to the children?
Another reason was enough time had passed and he felt more like himself again.
As spirit returned to her father, Sylvia started to comb her mind to think of a conversational topic. She thought about not addressing the elephant in the room, which was to talk about anything but the affair but Sylvia realized that would only contribute to the already massive problem. The reason it got to today's less than favorable state was the lack of communication. If there was a lesson that Sylvia had learned from this unfortunate turn of event, that was it.