Just The Girl

Chapter 7

D A H L I A

The sound of utensils hitting against the marble plates on top of the dining room, no words were uttered, just the sound of mouths chewing and the sips of drinks on glass from left and right.

Me, mom, and dad were at my dad's parent's house for dinner, saying that a good family Sunday should be spent at my grandparents' Villa here in Daybrook.

Family dinners on my dad's side was always this nerve wracking, most especially when the grandparents were over, the aunties and uncles always ready to pounce at you and give unnecessary comments they could think of, and the domineering cousins waiting to bring you down by flaunting the accomplishments you can't seem to have. This looks like a normal family setting, but it's more treacherous than it seems.

Every time we have a gathering like this, I would always smell the competition in the air between everyone, threading in between spaces of our shoulders, wrapped around each and everyone's fingers, passing through ears and mouths as we talked and ate—it annoys me to no end, and I've always prayed for the dinner to finish as quickly as it started.

The only one not affected by this setting was my dad, the youngest of his siblings. Seeing him slurp on his noodles happily was a takeaway of how many fucks he gives—to which was none.

This is why me and Marvin understood one another rather on a deeper level when it came to familial expectations. In Chinese culture, everything just had to be right and into perspective, if not, then more.

"Can I see your grades, Dahlia?"

"Yes, ama."

I gave ama my tablet, opening my university account and showing her the page where all of my grades were posted. Our grading system consisted of having 1 as the lowest grade and 4 as the highest—I could only bag grades more than 3, but never over a 3.5.

"Not enough, Dahlia."

Of course. I'm always not enough. Even when my grades were obviously above average, and some students at my major would kill for having grades like mine. But for ama? If it wasn't a perfect grade of 4, then nothing was ever enough for her.

I saw one of my aunts smirking my way, patting her daughter's shoulder as she faced ama with a predetermined wickedness that only someone with hidden motives would do.

"Vanessa here, mama, has all her grades in 4s. Maybe someday she might take over the company once you retire? She would make a great heir." Said Auntie Belle with a crooked smile, her red lipstick smeared all over her lips from the way she ate her chicken so ferociously, she looked ridiculous.

I then turned my attention towards Vanessa, the cousin who was of the same age as me and was also going to graduate this school year. She was smirking at me, same way as how her mother had just minutes ago, and all I could do was roll my eyes, unfazed by her immaturity.

Like mother, like daughter.

"Someday, Belle." Was all ama had said before she continued to eat, before all of us continued to munch on what's left of our dinner. But by now, I had lost all of my appetite to even take another bite, everything was just too suffocating for me, and I wanted to leave, go home and lie in the comforts of my bed.

"Dahlia." I looked up from staring at my plate towards my Uncle Robert, the eldest of my dad's siblings, his face stern as ever. I don't even remember the last time he had smiled at me at all. "I saw your grades, Dahlia. Can't you do better than that?" He spat, I then started to feel my hands shaking from under the table.