I get that a lot of people seem to hate Miya but god damn, if I waltzed into this train wreck between my middle aged old man and my high school friend after just
finally starting the healing process after losing my mother, I can't say I would be terribly receptive to it either. Especially when up until that moment, my father was seemingly still devoted to my now dead mother. In fact, a big part of the reason why she finally stepped outside her door to begin that healing process was because he made it clear that he's still grieving too, and lonely. Finding out that in his spare time he's sneaking out to meet with a kid would definitely feel like a betrayal.
Frankly, it's almost downright infuriating how little sympathy people have for the girl. People don't just "get over it" when someone dies, especially when it's a parent during their developmental years and they were especially close. It messes kids up and some people can't handle the loss. I had to hand hold my kid sister through it when she lost our mother at the age of 13. I felt like the father in this story in some aspects, having to be the person who holds everything together. Work all the jobs, pay all the bills, put on a happy face so everyone around me, especially her so she isn't any more depressed than she needs to be. It wears on you, when you also want to grieve but feel you can't openly because you have to remain strong and keep everything together.
Even still, what the dad is doing is sketchy as fuck midlife crisis level behavior. He's on the opposite end of spectrum as Miya. Where she became introverted and hidden away, he sought a connection and found one in a disturbing place. Even if he hasn't personally made a move on her, he is an accomplice by virtue of letting her do as she pleases with laughable resistance. He relishes in the attention this high school girl gives him, even if he doesn't want to admit it.
We all knew this was coming. Next chapter is going to be really messed up. I doubt she's going to try to subdue the situation. Rather, now that he's forced to confront it in the open, I bet she's going to be quite forthcoming about their relationship. It's debatable if she even really cares about him further than her desire to escape the harsh reality of her life. As he uses her to ease some of the burden of pressure placed on his life, she is doing much the same. The difference is she's still a kid and he should know better than to let a kid take him down this path.
@Reqqles I mean, the girl literally only just finally reached the point mentally where she stopped being a shut-in over the death of her mother. It's probably a bit much to expect she's at the stage being capable of empathy for her fathers situation. She doesn't even know how bad he has it because, surprise, he has never let on to that. We have an omnipotent look into his life as the reader, but she doesn't. She only knows what she can see, and she has only just seen her father apparently dating her friend, and admit that he basically desires to flirt with her. The fundamental missing piece here is communication. They need to communicate with each other, and they're finding it incredibly difficult to do so.
