Crash Landing On You - These Are The Days

Genius Parents Issues

Second ficlet for the day. Enjoy!

Ri Jeong Hyeok watched from the couch as his daughter unceremoniously dropped her school bag by the door with a heavy sigh and started to head into the living room. When Da Eun saw him sitting on the couch, she abruptly changed her trajectory toward the kitchen.

Jeong Hyeok raised an eyebrow and caught Mary's eyes, who just picked her up, shrugged, gave a half-hearted salute, and backed silently out of the door.

"Ri Da Eun?"

She stiffened and stopped in her tracks. "Yes?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes." Her body language said the exact opposite.

"Hmm." He intoned, skeptically.

"Appa, I said everything is fine." She was an even worse liar than her Dad.

He patted the couch next to him, "Sit. Stay."

Da Eun scoffed at him but relented in heading towards his direction. "Charming, Appa."

"Did you actually want a snack, or was the kitchen just part of avoiding me and whatever it is that you don't want to talk about?"

"I don't need anything." She said as she flopped onto the couch.

"Apple juice it is, then." He encountered, rising from the couch and heading towards the kitchen himself. His first approach to uncomfortable situations was still to offer her favorite drink.

"So, tell me what's the angst about," Jeong Hyeok said, opening a bottle of juice and handing it to his daughter as he returned.

"Why are you home, Appa? You are a professor. Shouldn't you be working?" she asked, clearly avoiding the original conversation.

"I was working. I only have one class to teach today. What is it?"

Da Eun hesitated. "Is Mama home?"

"She won't be until after your bedtime."

"Ji Hun and Jin Woo?"

"Football game. I have to pick them up in about an hour. You're stuck with me, kid."

Da Eun continued to look at the floor, the ceiling, the window, anywhere but her Dad. "I'd rather talk to Mama about this, Appa." She muttered.

"This isn't about dating, is it?" He asked, horrified. 

"Wha—No, Appa."

"Okay good. You're stuck with me, Da Eun-ah. And I am not letting you mope until bedtime without telling me what's up"

Da Eun huffed. "I got a lousy grade on a test."

"Okay.." he prompted.

"It was a math test."

"And?"

"And, I am your daughter." She snapped. "And both of you are a genius in your field. What if I am not smart enough?"

Jeong Hyeok shoulders slumped. "Oh God, Da Eun-ah, that's what you're worried about? You know you could need a calculator to do a single-digit addition and I'd still love you just the same. Also, that's completely irrelevant, because you're only eleven years old and tackling differential equations. You're still pretty far ahead of the curve there, kid."

"But apparently I am not good enough. I only got C."

"Let me see what was on the test." He waited as she produced some papers from her backpack, then briefly looked them over. "Huh, I see the problem. I never enjoyed solving equations, Da Eun-ah. You were probably just bored."