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IF you asked his wife, she would say that Liêm was a neat freak. He always liked to keep everything clean: every weed in the backyard should be pulled, every appliance empty should be refilled, every spot on the counters should be wiped away.
Okay, fine. Yes, he is a neat freak; and his habits don't have a pause button, even on Christmas day. While Maia keeps insisting that its a 'Dad thing'—where fathers tend to clean up the mess while gifts are being opened instead of after the matter—sometimes, he feels as though it's just a him thing only.
That's why, after getting home from meeting up with their other family members for Christmas festivities, he's found himself frantically grabbing at the bags and wrapping paper on the floor, which were products from all of their gift un-wrapping.
"Liêm," his wife, Olivia, tsks as she snatches one of the gift bags from his full arms. "Don't throw away the gift bags! We can rip off the name-tags and reuse them."
"Ah, sorry. I just want to make sure there's no trash left behind for Suki to mess with," he says, watching as Olivia folds up the gift bag.
Maia sighs endearingly, her new and sparkling earrings moving the directions she goes as she gets up from her spot on the couch, "You still need to open your gifts too."
Liêm nods, "Yes, yes, I know. I'll get to it when I throw these out!"
Maia lets out a small laugh as she passes by her father. Afterward, she runs upstairs with a smile, excited to show Suki a new cat toy one of her cousins had gifted to the family.
With a soft smile, Liêm makes his way to the front door and closes it behind him; even though his arms full of trash were making it more difficult than it needed to be.
Again, a neat freak.
This is just how it goes.
When he finally makes his way to the trash bin by the end of their driveway, he looks up to the house opposite of his own and sees a familiar young face putting some items in the trunk of a car that was a shade of orange so bright, it could be seen perfectly against the sky and its setting sun.
The man shuts the trunk, and before walking over to his own front door, sees Liêm with raised eyebrows.
"Hi, Mr. Hoang!"
Okay, okay, he's aware his daughter can have perfectly platonic friendships with people of the opposite gender, but man, he and Olivia always thought that her and Oscar would date someday.
Call it parental intuition, maybe, but whenever they've had a bad feeling about one of Maia's friends, they always turned out to be bad. So, maybe them both having a feeling about Oscar and Maia being a good love story meant that it could be true as well.
Though, back when the two were teens...
Does it matter? People can change, as long as Oscar apologized, which he did, according to Maia. But, the thing is; he knows his daughter. He knows the way she gets when people betray her heart, the way she would get when Oscar was brought up in conversation prior to their re-meeting.
Had she gotten over it? Did she really, genuinely put it behind her?
"Hello, Oscar!" He says happily, tossing the torn wrapping paper and other contents into the trash bin. "How did your Christmas go?"
He sees the young man nod as he speaks, almost a hint of hesitation in his voice as he looks down the empty street, "Uh, mine was good! How was your's?"
It's a bit funny looking, the way that they're both yelling at each other from across the street like this, but Liêm has gotten used to talking to Oscar's parents this way, so call it a force of habit.
"It was good! You know, Maia has been wearing those earrings you bought her non-stop," he says with a smile, and he watches as Oscar's own smile begins to creep on his face. "She loves them a lot."
The young man nods. "I'm glad to hear that. I wore the hat she got me earlier too."
Look, Liêm is well aware that parents—especially dads—tend to have a track record for never remembering anything that their kids tell them when it comes to their friends. Sometimes, he forgets who Maia's roommate is for college, and sometimes he forgets the names of her co-stars in her movies and whatnot, but he could never, ever forget about Oscar and Maia's friendship. Most likely it was because of the fact that the Piastris lived across the street, but it was also just because he thought Oscar was a good kid; a good man.
He knows that if Oscar were to date Maia, he would treat her right. But, as far as being her dad goes, he doesn't have much of a say into Maia's love life besides a seal of approval; and Oscar's got his—if he wanted it.
"I'll be sure to tell her about that then!" Liêm nods, smiling at the younger man.
Before he could turn and re-enter his house to see what presents awaited him, Liêm hears Oscar's footsteps from across the driveway.
"Actually, Mr. Hoang, could I ask you something?"
The older man slowly turns his head and stops in his tracks. "Sure."
"Do you know if...well..."
By the way that he's rubbing the back of his neck and not looking at him dead in the eye, Liêm is quick to decipher what Oscar was trying to ask.
It was the same sort of action he used to do in college when asking Olivia's friends if she was talking to anyone, the sort of action he had done before asking her out on a date.
"If you're asking what I think you're asking," he sighs out a small chuckle. "No, Maia has not been talking to anyone as far as I'm concerned."
Oscar's eyes beam, and for a second, it was almost as if there were sparkles shimmering around his face like an animated character.
"Oh! Well, that's, uh, good to know," the driver stammers out with relief washing over his face. "Um, so..." He quickly clears his throat and straightens his posture, like a young prince talking to a king. "Would you...be okay if I maybe...asked her out someday?"
If he were any other dad, he's sure he'd be having a fit.
But Liêm was—still is—a sucker for romance.
Maybe he's also a bit of an instigator, but, he'd never admit to that part.
"Well, before I agree," he lets out another chuckle as Oscar's eyes beam again. "I have to ask you something first."
The younger man nods attentively as he gets closer to the older man and says, "Of course. What is it?"
"Have you completely apologized to Maia for what you had done?"
And that's when Oscar gets silent, starting to piece together in his brain what to say.
He wants to give a good answer to the dad of the girl he likes.
Liêm gets it.
"I've tried, yes," Oscar finally says, nodding his head. "Every time I say so, she tells me to 'prove it,' so that's what I've been trying to do this winter break." The young man sighs and looks down the empty street once again. "I think I'm doing okay, but that's ultimately up to her to decide, how I'm doing, and I'm okay with whatever answer she has. If she wants to keep being friends, I'm good with that. If she wants to end this, I'll..." he clicks his tongue quietly. "I'll be okay with that too. But...if she wants to take this further than just friends..."
This is the part that makes Liêm approve more than he already did.
"I'll make it worth her while. Whatever time she gives me, I'll make sure it's well-spent."
Liêm hums at the response, a small smile never leaving his face.
"Well," he begins, head held high. "I'll hold you to that. I'll try and put a few more good words in for you with Maia. Maybe that'll better your chances."
And when Oscar's face lights up—that's about three times now—Liêm's smile only grows as he watches the boy spew out 'Thank you's into the night.
What a good kid.
What a good man.
NOTES!
really wanted to write an outside perspective away from oscar and maia so...here we have maia's dad!!
the asian father seal of approval....does oscar know how lucky he is...
xoxo, cas