Choosing to Trust an Unreliable Acquaintance, Over His Daughter

My father, had a wide social network and liked to seek help from unreliable acquaintances, in almost everything.

For the college entrance examination, I had already filled in the local university, but he told an acquaintance whom promised to get me into Queensland University.

As a result, I failed and had to repeat the entrance examination.

When I went home for summer vacation, he kindly arranged for someone he knew to pick me up.

Not only did I pay for the gas and highway tolls, but my father also sold my computer to treat him to a nice meal.

I tried to get the money back, but my brother accused me of being naive.

"He's so kind to bring you home, how could you not treat him to a meal? You've been hanging around books so much that you don't even know your manners."

Dissapointed and angry, I went to the doctor for my breast nodules.

My father's acquaintance immediately leaked my privacy.

I was about to report them the police, yet my family still said they were family and we perhaps had to ask them for a favour in the future - so let me bear with it.

Fine, I didn't care.

Let's see what else my father's good acquaintance could do!

——

Welcoming the summer holidays, I had already booked a train ticket.

My father, Patrick Dempster, called.

"Dear, I've asked someone I know to pick you up. Get ready to ride back."

Thanks to his outrageous behavior before, now I trembled hearing him mention "someone I know."

I was about to say I had already bought my ticket back home when he hung up without giving me a second thought.

In just a matter of seconds, he sent me the license plate number.

I had to go. I had no choice but to refund my ticket.

Vince Hamlet, my father's acquaintance, was a thug from the same village. I usually called him, Uncle Vince.

He enthusiastically helped me carry my luggage up.

Once I got in the car, I only found a small gap to sit in and the rest, full of boxes.

I knew Vince were always unreliable, but not to expect him to be so unreliable.

His car wasn't only smelly and tattered, but a fuel guzzler. We stopped at a gas station a few kilometers from the starting point and he ordered someone to fill up the tank.

He said with a smile, "Miss Dempster, I took my time here for free to pick you up, so you should pay for the fuel for the car, okay?"

Looking at the over twenty-eight dollars fuel bill, I forced a smile.

The train ticket was only over eleven dollars, enough for a round trip, but I still paid.

Because I knew if I didn't pay, he'd definitely complain to Patrick, who would not only give him the money but also make my summer restless.

So, I paid for the fuel and the highway toll before returning home.

Suddenly, Patrick and Vince were chatting, shoulder to shoulder, like close friends.

Vince said, "Patrick, I've brought your daughter back safely."

"Thanks to you, Vince. I don't know, without you, how worried I was about her the whole way."

Yes, without him, I would have come back long ago and spent less money.

"Today, the two of us should have a good drink."

The two of them were talking to themselves and the car, which had not yet turned off, drove away in the blink of an eye.

"Dad! My backpack is still on the car."

As I watched the car drive away, I quickly called him and got an impatient response.

But when Patrick got home, the laptop was gone from my backpack.

He chuckled and said, "Don't worry. I found someone he knows and sold the laptop for that amount."

"You can trust my connections."

He patted my shoulder.

"Dad!"

I saved up for ages to buy the laptop.

I could no longer suppressed the rage inside me.

"Dad! I paid for him to drive me back home, the fuel and tolls and even treated him to a meal when he got hungry on the way."

"I don't owe him anything!"

"I saved up for ages to buy that laptop. It cost over four hundred twenty dollars and you're selling it for seventy dollars?"