Loving You, For a Lifetime

0.1 Lee Tanaka

In the dark, his phone started beeping loudly.

Lee Tanaka groaned while trying to bury his head under his warm comfortable blanket. Winter in London was a bitch, especially in early mornings. His hand reached out to his phone that he was sure he had put by the bedside table. He wanted to snooze it --

-- just 15 minutes more sleep would be great.

Then his hazy brain realized that the beeping sound was actually not his phone's alarm. But an incoming call.

He grabbed his phone and was going to blast a new one at the person who dared to call him when it's still dark outside... .

The screen showed "Dad".

Yawning, Lee pressed the green icon on his phone to answer the call while curling his body into a shrimp, burrowing himself more inside his blanket.

"Hello?" he spoke with his coarse sleepy voice.

"Lee? Video call!", a male voice in Japanese was heard from the other line.

"Urghhh", he groaned, "I understand. Wait up." he also answered in Japanese out of habit.

With a deep breath to gather all the warmth inside his body, he sat and leaned his body against the bedhead. He blinked a few times to soothe his dry eyes, then he turned on a bedlamp on the sidetable.

He pressed on the videocall button.

"Hi dad," He yawned while still not looking properly on the video screen.

"Happy Birthday, Lee," His father's face gradually came into view after he managed to finally focus his sight.

Lee grinned -- only to soon winced when he suddenly heard a bellowing soprano female voice from the background, a few steps behind his dad.

[Lovebirds resting as a couple, butterflies dancing in pairs;

intoxicated in a garden filled with the beauty of spring]

His mom came into view, swayed her petite frame then shamelessly wrapped her arms around his father's neck.
His father had a stoic expression, though Lee could clearly see the mirth in his eyes.

[I whisper to the monk behind his ears;
Am I pretty as you like, my beloved?]

Then she went full opera with her singing,

[Say, what is wealth, what is prosperity?
Why care about strict Buddhist rules?
Just wishing to be eternal, like the universe;]

Lee held his phone away from him at arm's length distance, while he groaned and covered his face with his other palm. His mom still continued after pecking his father on his cheeks.

"Oh, mom... ." He muttered, now fully closing his eyes in mock disgust.

[Being close to my lover,
Loving that person,
Loving that person,
May we always be together forever in this lifetime.] (1)

(the song)

After his mother finished her trademark song, Lee finally dared to open his eyes again. Her mother giggled while his dad just gave his son a helpless look.