Two Bowls of Noodles

I never really knew how to communicate with my dad, probably because he was busy at work and spent little time with me. I always felt awkward whenever I was alone with him. But my dad didn’t seem to notice my feelings.

He knew I liked noodles so he always asked me to dine out with him. “A new noodle shop has opened. Do you want to try the new taste?” “Your favorite restaurant has a new flavor! You’ll love it!” Even though I said no, my dad still insisted that we eat out together. While we were eating noodles together, my dad would keep asking me questions like “Have you been under a lot of pressure studying lately? How was your sleep? Is everything going smoothly?” I would mumble something to get it over with, all while hoping that the time would go by faster.

Time did go by fast. Before I knew it, it was time for me to go to college, 500 kilometers away from home. I thought my college life would be free, rich and varied. But in reality, many difficulties and setbacks bombarded me: conflicts with my roommates, a declining GPA, and so on. All of those made me physically and mentally exhausted. Whenever
something unpleasant happened, I would always talk to my mum on the phone for hours. I would drop all
pretensions in front of her and act like a pampered baby.  But I never phoned my dad. My mum would always
ask me, “Your dad is next to me, do you want to talk to him?” I always rolled my eyes, put on a look of utter
reluctance, and replied, “Maybe next time.”

But last year, I received urgent news of a sudden epidemic outbreak in my hometown. My heart suddenly sank. After a quick phone call to my mum, I confirmed that my family was currently safe, but my dad had a special
assignment to do, which was to transport supplies. At that time, I couldn’t help but worry about him even though I hadn’t talked with him for a long time. Had he eaten on time? Was he wearing his mask?

As I thought about it, I subconsciously walked to a noodle shop. The noodles there were not as good as the ones back home, but I didn’t care. Staring at my dad’s number for a long time, I finally plucked up the courage to make a video call to him. It took a long time to get connected but when we finally did, my dad was obviously a
little surprised to see me. “Have you been under a lot of work pressure lately? Have you been sleeping well? Have you encountered any trouble?” I asked him. He smiled, “Everything is good.” And at that moment, I noticed that my dad also had a bowl of noodles in front of him. It seemed he was at the restaurant we always went to. Although
I wasn’t beside my dad, I felt we were closer than ever, or perhaps we were never
really that far apart.

作者：邵欣悦 南昌航空大学