A Beautiful Paradox (COMPLETE)

Chapter 23

Although he felt suffocated by the awkward tension filling up the room, Kit still willed himself to lock eyes with the man sitting in front of him. He highly doubted that he was presenting a strong front, but, at the very least, he wanted to try his best to conceal any signs of fright and insecurity.

"I honestly wasn't expecting you to come at all," the older man started to say, as his guarded eyes closely studied Kit. "Or even less, alone. You should know that I didn't ask you to come for a nice friendly conversation."

Of course, Kit knew that. When he had received the call that morning, Kit certainly expected the worst to happen if he decided to come meet the man. But no matter how hurtful and horrifying it turned out to be, he wasn't going to pull back. Because Kit was done with running away from the battles that he was now so willing to fight. That he was now so desperate to win for the sake of Ming's happiness. And for the sake of his own happiness.

"Mr. Daechapanya, I came here today because I wanted to tell you something."

Kit paused for a short moment. Taking the lasting silence as a sign from Ming's father that he could continue talking, he took a deep breath and voiced his next thoughts.

"I apologize for the insolence, but I came to tell you that I'm not willing to back down," Kit firmly declared. "And I'll spend as long as it takes to win your approval."

The man's sharp eyes narrowed at Kit's bold statement. "You're right that it's insolent. And it's foolish. It's only going to be a waste of everyone's time."

"It won't be a waste of my time," Kit denied in an instant. "Because it'll be worth every second to fight for an end where we can all work it out together. To reach a point where Ming doesn't have to lose either of us."

"There is no such ending in this situation."

"We'll show you that there is."

The two men quickly bounced their attacks off of each other, back and forth without pause, their eyes never breaking off contact throughout the entire match. The escalating tension between them fed into Kit's growing nervousness and agitation. But he still held his ground, hoping with all his might that he could fully convey his sincere determination.

"I'll tell you one thing," Ming's father eventually said. "You have guts. You're strong."

"No, I'm not. I'm actually a weak person," Kit confessed. At the man's raised eyebrows, Kit explained further. "But I almost lost Ming due to my weakness and I realized that nothing in the world scares me more than losing him. So I resolved to become stronger in order to keep him in my life."

Ming's father fell silent. Yet, after a few minutes, his stony face loosened a little and he let out a small sigh.

"I guess I could relate to that."