After four years at USF Elaine’s stay there had finally come to close after her graduation ceremony weeks a couple weeks ago.  Since then Elaine had bid her goodbyes and moved back to Chinatown to live with her parents. She felt like she spent four years independent of her parents, their rules, their drastic hold on her, yet here she is back at square one.

It wasn’t that she hated her parents, she loved them dearly but they always wanted her to be this obedient daughter. Her mother wanted her to be this business CEO and her dad hoped she would be a corporate lawyer. However that just wasn’t in the cards for Elaine. She wanted to go globetrotting catching international criminals on the loose. But she could never tell her parents that.

They would say, “You want to be a spy? Do you want to go and get yourself killed? We work tirelessly to make sure you had all you needed to go to college, and you want to WHAT?!”

Elaine knocked her head against her door. Her dad and her just finished another shouting match about her getting a job. She finally told them that she was going back to school and that she would be moving out tomorrow. They were furious. They thought she would be going to business school like she promised, or what they thought she promised.

Through the door he shouted,  “Li Li! Open up this door right now!  We discussed that you were going to business school not this what you call it…this this ACME academy! What will you study there? Huh? No one has ever heard of that school Li Li! Why not go to USC? They have a great business school. Even UC Berkeley!”

Elaine replied, “ACME academy Baba. it’s  the world renown academy for international affairs and other professions.  It’s also an international agency that focuses on catching criminals. I’ll be going to school and working Ba.“ She couldn’t believe her parents were acting like this. She told them early on that she wasn’t going to be that business tycoon they always dreamed of. That wasn’t her. Didn’t they see that?

“Well Mama and I have never heard of it! How can I go to my friends and tell them you’re going to this ACME academy? They won’t know Li Li! Do you want to embarrass me even more? It’s enough you didn’t go get a degree in Business but now this!”

“Ba…” Elaine groaned, “Why can’t you trust me? It’s even here in the city! Aren’t your proud I’m not like all your other friends' kids. I’m different! I’m not  going to be that typical doctor, that typical lawyer, that typical daughter.”

Her dad tiredly replied, “No I rather you be like other daughters. “ Dejected her father walked away feeling defeated.

Elaine stood against her door crying knowing she disappointed her father and mother. She disappointed her mom so much that she refused to even talk to her. But this was her dream. As much as she loved her parents she need to follow her dream. Despite their reservations though at least she knew she would still be close, and that was enough comfort for her.

Notes**

Ba = Mandarin for Dad

Li Li = In Chinese culture a way to give a nick name is to repeat the last character in one's name. This is very common for parents to give their children nicknames this way. So Elaine's Chinese name is Lin An Li(林安理 ) hence Li Li.