Some Conversations Must Feel Like an Interrogation

“Why didn't you get dressed earlier?” Hikaru asked worriedly, noticing the goosebumps on Hortensja's bare back.

“Speak for yourself. I'm doing it right now.” She was buttoning her pajama. “I wasn't cold earlier, since you were hugging me.”

She stood up and looked at him with a smile. He saw the mischievous fire in her eyes, but he shook his head. He dreamed of coffee and knew that the girl was only pretending to be offended and would forgive him when she got out of the shower, and the mug with the steaming drink was already waiting for her. Hikaru was preparing breakfast, but it was hard for him to focus when scenes from the previous evening kept appearing in his head. He tried to control himself, reminding himself that he was a grown, serious man, not a teenager pumped up with hormones. He was also grateful to the girl that, in no way, she made him feel that she was more experienced and took his emotions into account. It was pretty obvious that talking about intimacy wasn't taboo for her, since she seemed so open about it. He was afraid that, on the other hand, it would be obvious that for him this issue is not. However, he thought that this was the charm of their relationship, in their different approaches to certain matters. And they would find many more opportunities to work out a compromise.

“How are we going to go to your parents?” Hortensja asked after breakfast, staring out the window.

“By train. It's not the shortest journey, but the most comfortable.” Hikaru looked at his beloved for a moment. “Are you nervous?”

“Very nervous. You don't talk about them much, but I would like them to like me. I'm thinking about how to prepare for this visit. I don't have anything from Poland that I could give them as a gift. What do you think I could give them?”

“Fruit,” the man answered without hesitation. “You'll get a few points from my mother for that.”

“Fruit? Strange.”

“You probably noticed that they are quite expensive here.”

“Yes,” quite persuaded Hortensja nodded and fell into thought again. “Did you tell them about us?”

Hikaru could have expected this question, but it surprised him anyway. He looked away, because he hadn't told his parents everything. He omitted the fact that they had moved in together, and Hortensja was very different from the ideas they might have had about their future daughter-in-law. On the one hand, he wanted the whole world to know how much he loved her, but on the other, he felt that he would protect her when he didn't brag.

“I just told them that I wouldn't come alone.”

A few days later, Hortensja was nervously tapping her foot on the train and couldn't enjoy the journey and the views outside the window. Hikaru hadn't had the chance to take her out of town yet, and he regretted that her nerves were taking away her joy from her first such trip. He was already slowly thinking about what aspects of the country he wanted to show her. He had a hidden notebook with ideas on where to take her on dates and what to show her, but he couldn't find the courage to plan a specific date. The Japanese was afraid that his superior would again, whether consciously or not, ruin his plans. He squeezed the girl's hand, wanting to cheer her up, but he felt that until she met his parents, she wouldn't calm down. Apparently, in such a situation, her rather positive attitude didn't work.

They had another few minutes' walk from the station. Hortensja felt that she was out of town, and the atmosphere of a small town in both countries was similar, but everything else looked completely different. She had lived in the city all her life and couldn't call herself an expert on the Polish countryside, but it wasn't a completely foreign world to her either. She liked it and was starting to relax a bit, but now Hikaru's nerves were transferred to her.

He nodded to many people in greeting and hurried the girl along. He was seriously afraid that some friendly neighbor or his mother's friend would inform his parents about who he was bringing with him. After all, he had grown up in this place; he knew most of the people, and they knew him, and as befits a small town, of course they were interested in his life. He expected that his parents would have a hard time after he left, since the rumor had already spread that their only son had taken a woman from abroad. They had managed to get there before the others, but Hikaru's hopes that everything would somehow work out were brutally trampled.

He was happy to see his parents. His father's face remained rather expressionless, while his mother smiled broadly until her gaze shifted to Hortensja. Only out of politeness did she refrain from ostentatiously showing her disapproval.

“I'll kill him,” she threw to her husband, even before the young couple approached to greet them.

She accepted the gift, although it was hard for her to force a smile. The girl, who had brought her only son, bowed and introduced herself.

“Good morning. My name is Hortensja Kwiatkowska, and I'm Hikaru's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you.” She tried to hide her nervousness behind a smile, but her legs were shaking a little.

“Nishikawa Izumi,” the woman emphasized the correct order. “My husband, Seiji.” She pointed to her still silent husband, who only nodded in greeting. "It's nice to meet you, too.“

Hikaru's mother was getting more and more furious with each passing second. She was sure she would have to admonish the stranger to take off her shoes. Actually, she was waiting for an opportunity to do so, but she didn't have to. She didn't want to risk exploding at the very beginning, so she asked the son to help her in the kitchen and her husband to wait in the living room with the guest. She secretly hoped that her husband's behavior would make her feel a little uncomfortable, because she was sure that he didn't like her either.

Seiji Nishikawa rather agreed with his wife, but he didn't really like having heated discussions with her. So, he wasn't going to judge the girl until he talked to her, and he believed that Hikaru wouldn't bring her without a reason. They sat in silence for a while, but Hortensja, despite her nervousness, didn't look away. She knew that she couldn't show fear, since she hadn't done anything wrong to anyone and hadn't come here with bad intentions. She could only be honest with him and with herself.

“How old are you?” he asked shortly; as always, he spared words.

“Twenty-four,” she answered and focused on the interrogation.

“Where are you from?”

“Poland.”

“Mom and dad, let you come here?”

“They're dead.” The man frowned upon hearing this answer.

“Illness?” he asked with newly awakened curiosity.

“Car accident.” Hortensja was surprised that this topic had come up so quickly, but she endured this interrogation bravely.

“Do you like Hikaru?”

“I love him,” she replied without hesitation, which caused a hearty laugh.

“You're too young to know what love is.”

He quickly regretted these words. He saw in the girl's eyes that she did not agree with him, but at the moment she lacked the skills to express her disagreement. She also did not intend to repeat herself. For a moment, they silently measured each other's gazes. The man let her win; he couldn't say anything against the certainty with which she expressed her feelings for his only child. For a moment he was distracted by the raised voices of the other family members coming from the kitchen. He noticed that the girl reacted to them as well and became worried.

“Do you know how to play chess?” The man hoped that he would shift her attention to a topic closer to him and, at the same time, distract her from what was happening behind the door.

“Just a little.”

“And shōgi?” She denied it, which he expected, but he noticed in her behavior that she was interested in the topic. “Come, I'll teach you.”