A Dinner With Father

Kahoru woke up the next morning feeling groggy. She had slept later than usual after all the thinking she did last night.

It was a Saturday morning and Kahoru's day off work. She looked over to her alarm clock.

"9:30 am... what should I do?" She mumbled to herself. The room was quiet with the faint sound of birds chirping. Kahoru tirelessly stared at the wall in front of her, lost in her thoughts until her stomach made a grumbling noise. Kahoru clutched her stomach with her hand and shifted to the side of her single bed. She stood up and pulled open her curtains to let in the light from the morning sun.

Kahoru flinched, quickly shutting her eyes closed, she wasn't expecting the sun to be so bright at this time of the year. "Ahh, my eyes!" She turned around so she could readjust to her lit up room. Kahoru quickly made her way to the kitchen. She yawned as she opened the fridge to see what she could eat for breakfast, but nothing was appealing to her.

"I guess I'm going to have to go out today." She sighed. Kahoru didn't enjoy going out. The idea of socialising with others always made her feel slightly nervous. She would only talk to people when it was necessary.

She closed the fridge and headed into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Kahoru brushed her teeth and washed her face. She put on minimal makeup, tied her hair back and put on a grey snow jacket and blue denim jeans. She threw on a black beanie and wrapped a brown wool scarf around her neck to make sure she was extra warm. It was not the best combination of clothes, but as long as she was warm, she couldn't care less.

It was the middle of winter so it was quite cold. She grabbed her umbrella and bag, then made her way out after she wore on her old mustard coloured timberlands.

Kahoru made her way down the elevator and out of the building. As the automatic glass doors opened, the cold air quickly seeped in and caused a shiver to run down her spine.

"M-Maybe I shouldn't have gone out..." She wrapped her arms around herself and as she walked towards the station. Kahoru's breath was visible every time she breathed out. Her face became numb from the cold air and her nose stung. While she walked, she adjusted her scarf and wrapped it around her face, covering her nose and mouth to try to reduce the numbing.

It helped a little. Kahoru still thought she was going to freeze to death as she walked. After several minutes of walking, she finally arrived at the station. She scanned her Pasmo card and made her way towards the big signs with the train timetables.

She felt like going somewhere new today, a mall she had never been to. Kahoru reached for her phone and searched up malls. One had caught her eye and it wasn't far from where she was. It looked absolutely stunning. She decided to go and explore.

"Ginza..." She looked at the train times and headed towards her platform to wait for her train.

Time was passing slower than usual for her. She felt like every second was too long and she began to get impatient. "Am I going to die of hypothermia?" She muttered. As she was complaining to herself, the announcer informed that the train approaching. She watched the rails in the direction to where the train will be arriving from, eager to get out of the cold quickly. "Train... please hurry up!" she pleaded.

The train had arrived, slowing down in front of her to then come to a halt. She waited to the side of the doors to ensure that the passengers inside were able to get out.

As the train doors opened, a lady with a child walked out. No one else did, so Kahoru walked inside. The warmth of the train carriage had finally reached her, warming up her face. Kahoru went to find an empty seat to sit on so she could finally relax. The twenty-five minutes she spent outside, she thought she was really going to freeze to death.

As time passed, Kahoru had her earphones in. It wasn't loud, as she needed to hear the announcement. "The next station is Ginza Station. Please mind the gap when leaving the train."

She took out her earphones and placed them back in her tote bag. As the train slowed down, She stood up and walked towards the left door.

As the doors opened the cold wind came rushing through, once again she felt cold. She needed to head into the mall to warm up again. Luckily for her, it was only located two minutes away from the train station, so she quickly made her way there.

The mall was a massive rectangular building made out of mostly tempered glass. Kahoru stared in awe at the building. She then searched for the entrance and walked inside.

The moment she walked inside, her eyes grew wide from amazement. The entire shopping mall inside and out was luxurious. The floors were white with gold marble and the walls were white. There was a large sunroof above her that covered a bit of the main entrance. She felt out of place.

Kahoru's stomached growled once again reminding her of the reason she was there in the first place. She patted her stomach. "I'll find something for you soon." She whispered to herself. She looked around for directional signs. She felt like she was definitely going to get lost and started to walk towards the sign that had 'Food Court" labelled on it. She followed the direction it pointed towards and finally found herself in the food court. The mall was enormous. It took a while to walk just to find food. "Maybe I should've just gone to the convenience store."

Kahoru walked around the food court realising that the restaurants there were unfamiliar to her. Everything looked expensive and she did not want to spend so much money just for breakfast. Just as Kahoru was about to give up and go find another place to eat, her eyes caught onto a tea house. "Takayoshi...Tea house." The outside was decorated traditionally. Kahoru walked up to the restaurant and glimpsed over the menu. Everything was decently priced; something Kahoru was able to afford. She walked in and a waitress greeted her. "Welcome! How many people?"

"Just one."

"Okay, Please follow me." The waitress led Kahoru to a private room and left her a menu. After Kahoru sat down, She flipped the pages of the menu and was fairly impressed. Everything on the menu were traditional meals. She decided to order the traditional Japanese breakfast set.

"Madam, is there anything you would like?"

"The traditional breakfast set please."

"Would you like anything else?"

"No thank you."

"Okay, feel free to call me if you would like anything else." The waitress left and Kahoru waited patiently for her food to come. When it arrived, everything looked mouth-watering to her. The food was plated in brown ceramic bowls and plates. There was grilled mackerel, along with miso soup and steaming white rice. Kahoru's eyes sparkled. She had never seen food that looked good in such a long time and she could not wait to dig in.

"Thank you for the meal." Kahoru took her chopsticks and picked up a piece of mackerel. She took a bite, it was delicious. She could eat it forever if she was able to. Kahoru was delighted. She sipped on the miso soup and that was also to par. She ate quickly until she had cleaned her plate and bowl.

"Ahh, that was really good." She patted her stomach in satisfaction, She went to pay and left the restaurant. Kahoru's phone buzzed. She looked at the caller and it was her father. She quickly answered the call.

"Hello, Father."

"Hi Kahoru, I just wanted to remind you that dinner is tonight."

"Thank you for reminding me, father." Kahoru calmly replied, but she had forgotten about her dinner with her father.

"I will text you the time and location. Please wear something nice. Your rags aren't very nice to look at."

"But Father, I cannot afford anything nice." Most of Kahoru's expenses went to her rent and food. Although most of her money went to her savings; she wanted to buy her father something nice for being so supportive of her.

"It's okay Kaho, I'll send some money."

"But Father I-"

Click.

"Don't need... Huh, Hello? Father?" Kahoru was shocked. Her father had hung up on her before she could say anything. She stared at her phone in a daze before she saw the notification pop up. Her father had sent five-hundred dollars. Five-hundred was too much for Kahoru. Kahoru tried to call her father back, but he didn't answer.

"How could you give me so much Father." She groaned. Kahoru looked around the food court and had realised that since she was already in the luxurious mall, she maybe could find something suitable to wear. She headed towards the stores, browsing through and window shopping. None of the dresses had caught her eye. She spent two hours searching before stumbling across a seat to rest on.

Kahoru deeply sighed. She only had a few hours left before she would meet her father for dinner, and she still could not find a dress. She had to head home and get ready for the evening so she was limited on time.

Kahoru leaned back and looked up at the sunroof as the sun shined down on her. "It's getting late, I think I should head back. Kahoru looked around towards the shops she hadn't been in yet and a dress on display caught her eyes. She stared at it for a few seconds realising that she found one she liked. She stood up and quickly walked towards the display. "This might do."

On the mannequin was a baby pink A-line dress. Kahoru's eyes sparkled and walked into the store.

"Welcome!" An attendant greeted her with a warm smile. Kahoru nodded her head and walked towards the attendant at the cash register.

"Excuse me I'd like the pink dress from the mannequin please."

"As you wish Miss." The attendant walked towards the rack and handed a few sizes to her. Kahoru headed into the fitting room to try the sizes and paid for the one that fitted her. She left the mall and went straight back home to get ready.

It was now 5 pm, an hour until Kahoru had to meet her father for dinner. It had been a long time since she had felt pretty. She put on her usual natural makeup with a peach eyeshadow and a red lip tint. Her waist-long hair was done in a half-up style and had soft curls towards the end of her hair.

Kahoru wore her pink Aline dress. It was a turtle neck dress with tight sleeves that had reached passed her elbow with the length of the dress reaching just under her knees.

"Is this even...me?" Kahoru stared at herself in the mirror in disbelief. Before she left the house, she had found some old nude pumps and a beige handbag. The handbag was given by her mother when they were shopping, but Kahoru never found the opportunity to use it. She then realised, maybe if she cared a little about herself, she could always look this nice. Otherwise, she wouldn't have felt nervous about her looks.

Was she trying to deny everything that happened to her life by saying she didn't care?

"Maybe that was why..." She questioned herself.

It was just past 5:30 pm and Kahoru had finished getting ready and headed downstairs. She waited for her taxi to come and headed towards the restaurant.

She had arrived ten minutes earlier than the meet-up time and spotted her father also getting off of the BMW.

"Father!" Kahoru had called out to her father. As the middle-aged man turned around to the voice, he saw his daughter all dressed up. His eyes were wide and his jaw dropped.

"K-Kaho? What a surprise!?"

"Mm."

"I c-can't believe you're dressed up! You're so beautiful. I never thought I'd see you dress up like this." Makoto smiled and handed his arm out to his beautiful daughter. Kahoru blushed and accepted the compliment. She linked arms with his.

They walked up to the entrance of a traditional-looking restaurant and headed inside. Makoto had reserved a private space for themselves. The room had a small rectangular table and there were at least six zabutons with three on each side of the table.

The odd thing was Kahoru's father sat down on the same side as her.

"Father, why are you sitting on my side?"

"Oh, it's because I invited a few more guests." he grinned.