Praise Me [BL]

Chapter 35

QOTD: what're you wearing 👁👁

"Are you done?"

Of course, I thought in disbelief, after all that, of course that's what he'd say.

"That's all? 'Are you done?' That's all you're gonna say?"

"What should I say?" My dad stood in front of me, looking as unaffected as always. He feels even taller than usual, I thought as I sat at one of the bar stools in his hotel room. "You want me to suddenly change my mind and apologize for everything I've said?"

"..."

"I am surprised." He admitted as he leaned against the bar table. "You never talk back, sure you can get an attitude now and then but you usually listen so well."

"If you think I'd want you to apologize, you at least know what you said was wrong."

"Well, whatever I said made you angry so-"

"Whatever you said? You called my boyfriend a faggot." I stared at him incredulously.

He let out an understanding noise. "Yes, that was impolite. I'm not familiar with him like that, I should be mindful of what I say."

"How can you just throw that word around like that? I've told you so many times, it's a slur, a slur-"

"I know what a slur is."

"Then why do you not care? How can you say it so easily, as if you're talking about the weather?"

I felt exasperated when his eyebrows drew together, as if he didn't understand why I was upset. "That's what you are, Caesar. Gay, faggot, it's all the same."

He never understands. No matter how many times I explain it, he never understands. "This isn't Korea! You can't say those things here so casually." I stressed. "It doesn't matter how normalized it is there, you know it's not okay either way."

"Watch your tone when you're talking to me, boy." His face fell into his usual stoic expression. "I know this isn't Korea. In Korea, people like you get killed. You think I'm just telling you to not like men because I want to see you sad?"

"You live in Korea. I don't." Why doesn't he understand? "I've been to Korea twice, I don't know Korean, and I barely understand my own culture. I can like men here and it be okay, people don't care about that here."

"They don't care?" He asked. "You've never been stared at for holding hands with your boyfriend? You've never been looked at differently for liking men? You're telling me you live just the same as a straight man would?" He shook his head. "People get killed here too. It doesn't matter what part of the world you're in, people will always look at you differently."

Don't stay silent, speak up, stop letting him just say whatever he wants. "It's better here. You lived here until I graduated. How can you not see that?"