Once Upon Online

chapter 35

We walk around looking for my dad. I want to introduce Ryujin to him before he hears it from other people. I honestly don't know how my dad is going react compare to my mom. My dad is your typical man and he likes manly stuff as he claims.

In the process of looking for my dad, my mom took Eva from me. She wants to show off her granddaughter.

I finally find my dad with my sister and I roll my eyes. I can't believe it took me this long to find him. I should have looked for Karina instead because she always finds him so easily.

I grab Ryujin's hand and I drag her to where my dad is. Karina sees us and says goodbye to our dad. She gives me a big thumbs up and walks away.

I sit down in front my dad and Ryujin sits next to me.

"Hi dad" I say nervously.

"No hugs for your old man" he says smiling.

I hug him then I go back to my seat. He looks over at Ryujin and gives a weird look. He looks back at me and he seems to be thinking of something to say.

"Who's your friend?" He asks, sounding really curious.

"Oh uhm this is Ryujin, my girlfriend" I say.

Ryujin smiles at my dad and extends her hand for a handshake. My dad hesitantly accepts it then looks back to me.

"Your girlfriend? I thought you were with Dana?" He ask.

"We broke up. He wasn't good to me. I was so unhappy with him then I met Ryujin and I've never been happier with anyone. I hope you're not mad" I say in a low voice.

"You know Ryujin is a girl right?" My dad ask me.

I look at him, confused. I know she's a girl, she's sitting next to me. "Yes?" I answer, confuse as to why he asked that.

"And you actually want to be with her? Its your choice and she's not manipulating you, right?" He ask.

"What are you trying to say?" I ask instead of answering.

"For as long as I've known you, you dislike gay people so I'm quite shocked to see you say you have a girlfriend" he explains.

"I know but I fell in love with Ryujin. I can't help it. She's amazing dad and she already takes care of me better than Dana ever did" i say to him.

"Do you still hate gay people?" He ask.

"Not really. I still hate the people that made me hate gay people but Ryujin help change my perspective towards them" I grab Ryujin's hand and squeeze it. She smiles at me showing her dimples on her cheeks.

My dad smiles, "I'm happy for you, Yeji. I'm glad you found someone like her but I have something to share too."

"Okay?" I let go of Ryujin's hand.

"I'm gay" he says.

"What?" I stand up.

"Since when?" I ask.

"Since always. Your mom was my first and only girlfriend. I was still hiding and being gay is something my own dad would have killed me for. I got your mom pregnant so we got married then we had you but we would continue to fight then we finally divorced. I've always felt like I was hiding something even to myself. Then I finally accepted that I'm gay" he says to me with teary eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" I softly ask.

"Because you were very vocal about hating gay people. I didn't want my own daughter to hate me. I didn't want to lose you. I love you, Yeji. You and Karina are my pride and joy in life" he wipes off his tears.

"I thought you left to hurt mom. I hated you for years. All those years wasted now. You could have told me the truth then I wouldn't have hated you for hurting mom" I say feeling extremely emotional.

"Would you have accepted me back then if I said the reason I left was because I'm not sure about my sexuality? Would you have understood like you would have now?" My dad ask.

He lied to me. My dad lied to me. All this time, I thought they got a divorce because my dad just wanted to hurt my mom. It took some time for me to forgive him and have a relationship again. I don't know what to say so I just stare at him. I feel Ryujin wrap one arm around me and starts rubbing my arm.

"I hope you can forgive me, Yeji. I'm so sorry. I understand if you're angry and don't want to see me anymore" he says and is about to leave.

"Wait, sir" Ryujin stops him.

I give Ryujin a confuse as to why she did that.

"Yeji, are you really gonna let your dad walk away thinking you don't want to see him anymore?" She ask me.

I look at her even more confuse.

"Your dad was afraid to lose you, his daughter, he clearly loves you very much and cares for you. It's okay to be angry because he lied to you but you shouldn't let him walk away thinking you don't want him in your life" she explains.

I see my dad look at Ryujin in shock. "Thank you" he whispers to her.

"Dad, are you happy now?" The questions makes him speechless so he just nods.

"I'm still a bit angry you lied but I can understand why. I forgive you. It must have been hard for you to hide your true identity from your family."

Ryujin let go of me and my dad suddenly pulls me up for a hug. "Thank you, Yeji. Thank you for accepting me."

"I'm learning to see things from other people's perspective, thanks to Ryujin" I chuckle.

He let go of me then pulls Ryujin in for hug. "Thank you Ryujin. Thank you for caring, loving and understanding my daughter" he says crying now.

"Just to make sure though, you're okay with Ryujin and I?" I ask as he let go of Ryujin.

"More than okay" he smiles at us.

We spend some time with him. He does his dad interrogation thing with Ryujin and the more my dad learns about her, the more he seems to love her. Which I'm extremely happy, Ryujin seems to be fitting in well with my family. I look at them with the biggest smile on my face. I never thought this kind of happiness was possible.