[POI Doujin] In the Perfect World

In the Perfect World ([-])

Harold Finch opened his eyes suddenly and woke up from his sleep.

A few rays of sunlight penetrated into the room through the gaps in the curtains, and fell on the edge of the bed, printing golden patterns on the dark blue quilt with warmth.The sound of human voices and cars running faintly came from outside the window, messy but full of vitality, proving that New York City has already started a new day. Finch was still lying flat and staring at the ceiling in a daze, without any intention of getting up.

He couldn't recall the content of the weird dream just a moment ago, but he was always occupied by the residual sadness and depression. Finch let the cold sweat slip from his temples and drenched the pillowcase, and pressed his palms tightly to his chest, trying to calm his shortness of breath.

This is not the first time this strange dream has happened.Every time I wake up, I rack my brains and can't recall any details of the dream, but I always feel inexplicable and vaguely regretful; every time I wake up, I feel uncontrollable sadness, but it is mixed with subtle warmth and stability .Moreover, the period between strange dreams is getting shorter and shorter. Although it does not affect the normal work and rest, the resulting negative emotions begin to slowly affect his state of mind. Anxiety and a sense of loss for no reason often breed in Finch's heart, making him quite disturbing.

He took a long breath, trying to shake off the exhaustion in his heart, and turned his head to look at the pillow, where his wife Grace was still soundly asleep.Her red hair is scattered on the pillow, her arms are resting outside the quilt, revealing her snow-white shoulders, and there is a sweet smile on her mouth. She should be having a good dream.

Harold Finch, after graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, entered New York University to work, and went from a teaching assistant to a tenured professor step by step quite smoothly.He is deeply loved by students because of his simple teaching and humorous words, and he has also made a lot of achievements in professional research, gaining a certain reputation in the industry.Not only is he successful in his career, Finch also has a happy family.His wife, Grace, is beautiful and virtuous, and is a well-known illustrator.The daughter is bright and lively, and she is very attached to and respects her father.He is proud of his career and life, and he is really envious of others.

How can such a life be unsatisfactory?Where can I be dissatisfied? Finch couldn't help but think a little self-deprecatingly, to have such a strange nightmare, could it be caused by menopausal syndrome after middle age?

With such a barely plausible reason, Finch seemed to be in a much better mood. He decided to put this inexplicable trouble behind him for the time being. He had a graduate class this morning, so he had to go to the school office early to prepare.

Putting on his glasses, he got off the bed lightly, and carefully pulled up the quilt for Grace, so as not to wake up his beloved wife who was still sleeping, he put on his nightgown and walked into the bathroom.The bathroom in the suite has a door connected to the family cloakroom. After washing, you can go there to change clothes, and then go out through the main entrance of the cloakroom to the corridor. It is convenient and private. This is one of Finch’s favorite designs when decorating this duplex apartment .

Finch's favorite clothing is a three-piece suit, which may be influenced by his good friend, Nathan Ingram, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.In the cloakroom there is a high cabinet on one wall filled with his suits and matching shirts, ties, leather shoes and so on.The downside of having too many clothes is that Finch always spends about ten minutes choosing and matching them every day.And no matter how early or late he gets up, his baby girl Machine will come to give her dressing advice, and today is no exception.

"Father, the sun is very sunny today. I suggest you choose the cream-yellow pinstriped plaid suit, with a navy blue background and white striped red wide-striped tie. You can wear the pair of brown reversible Oxford shoes for leather shoes." With a shawl, wearing pajamas, leaning against the wooden door of the cloakroom, pointing seriously. Finch didn't want to spend too much time on such details today, so he followed suit and took out the clothes his daughter had chosen one by one.

"Father, your complexion is very bad, didn't you sleep well last night?" Machine wrapped his slender fingers around the ends of his hair, looked at Finch and asked worriedly.

Finch has long been used to his own daughter's maturity.For example, she never called him "Dad" like other girls of the same age, but used a more written address of "Father"; for example, she always liked to give various suggestions on some details of his life, including clothing, diet Healthy matching and so on; another example is like now, it is easy to find his strangeness. Finch can't remember when his daughter's intelligence and precocity were revealed, but he is obviously used to it now.

"It's okay baby, I was just having a bad dream."

"Do you still not remember the content after waking up like before?" The little girl squatted down in front of him with an extremely serious expression.

"Yes." I don't know why Finch is reluctant to discuss his weird dreams with others today, he raised the clothes in his hand, "Baby, you should go out."

Machine pursed her lips, seeming dissatisfied with Finch's attitude, and only at this time her expression and actions were as she should be at her age, "Okay, father, breakfast is ready for you, I Waiting for you at the restaurant."

Finch walked into the dining room, and the walnut wooden table was already covered with a sumptuous breakfast.On the snow-white porcelain plate is Finch's favorite egg ham muffin. The poached eggs are cooked just right, and the fried ham is slightly charred on both sides, exuding an attractive aroma.The glass on the side is filled with freshly squeezed orange juice, and the light yellow color is appetizing.The yogurt mixed with oatmeal and chopped nuts is loaded in a small porcelain bowl decorated with gold rims, and the juice cups are placed on both sides of the porcelain plate.

Wearing a white accordion pleated tie-lined shirt and a Scottish tweed plaid skirt, Machine sat quietly on the dining chair by the window, her hair tied into a ponytail with a ribbon, and she sipped a glass of milk.Seeing Finch coming, the girl stood up with joy and opened the chair for her father.

"I thought there would be double frosting donuts~" Finch teased, rubbing the top of the girl's head.

Machine wrinkled his cute nose and muttered, "Father, your blood sugar was already high when you checked your body last time. You should pay more attention to your diet, and reduce oil and sugar. You can't eat donuts anymore!"

Finch was noncommittal to the girl's complaints, tied up his napkin and started eating breakfast.The girl continued to drink milk, staring at her father quietly.

Speaking of it, this should be a somewhat weird scene. The mother is still sleeping soundly in bed, and the underage daughter wakes up early alone to cook a single breakfast for her father, while she just sits at the side of the table with a milk cup in her hand and watches him eat. .But Finch didn't find any of this strange, as if it was the way it should be.He concentrated on the food on the dinner plate, delicious ham, smooth poached eggs, and even the muffins on the bottom were quite delicious soaked in sauce.The sweet and sour orange juice just rightly dissolves the possible greasyness of the ham, and the oatmeal yogurt at the end completes the hearty breakfast.

Finch wiped his mouth with a napkin, and suddenly remembered something, "Machine, why haven't you gone to school yet? The school bus is almost here, isn't it?"

The girl rolled her eyes at her father, "Father, have you forgotten? The son of Uncle Nathan next door, Will, recently had an internship in the hospital opposite my school, and I take his car to school these days."

"Oh, what happened, I forgot~" Finch lowered his head and pretended to pack his napkin to hide his embarrassment. It was Will who asked for his consent first to send Machine to school, why didn't he remember it? Finch smiled wryly and thought of his father, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease when he was very young. It seems that he also has this tendency, and the recent strange dream may be one of the symptoms.

Because Finch kept his head down, he didn't notice the sadness and worry in the girl's eyes.But the girl quickly adjusted, with an innocent smile on her face again, she grabbed Finch's hand and said coquettishly, "Father, please give me a new name~"

Finch froze, "Why? Don't you like your current name?"

The girl pursed her pink lips in silence. Machine's appearance inherited more of Finch's features, almost no resemblance to her mother, but still had a sweet and pleasant temperament.The only thing that is special is the delicate tip of the nose, which is not similar to either of the parents, and I don't know who it looks like.At this moment, the tip of the nose is slightly wrinkled, and the blue eyes are blinking watery, as if full of grievances.

"She has complained to me many times, saying that she didn't feel anything when she was a child, but now she is often ridiculed by some classmates because of this strange name in school." At some point, Grace in a light-colored nightgown appeared In the restaurant, she walked slowly to Finch, leaned on his shoulder and softly persuaded, "You should get her another one." The girl beside him kept nodding in agreement with her mother.

"This matter won't be resolved in a short period of time. Let's discuss it in detail when we have time!" Finch suppressed the inexplicable irritability in his heart, and calmly pushed away his wife's arm that was pressing on his shoulder and stood up.

He can no longer recall why he gave his daughter that name in the first place. No matter how you look at it, "machine" is more like a code name.But for some reason, Finch didn't want to rename his daughter, even though he couldn't say any reason, just because of some stubbornness in his heart.

However, this was only a small part of the reason why he felt irritable. What's more, the moment Grace leaned on his shoulder, the severe pain and numbness instantly spread from his spine to his whole body like an electric current.Obviously I have always been healthy, this pain cannot come from real injuries, but the pain is so real, and there is a sense of familiar nostalgia, as if this pain has been with me for a long time.

Finch sighed secretly, and decided to take the time to meet with his colleague Professor Groves, a psychology major. His recent mental state seemed to be a big problem.

The disappointment in Machine's eyes was obvious, but Finch was in no mood to comfort his daughter at the moment, "There's still class in the morning, I'll go to school first." He kissed his wife and daughter on the cheeks, picked up his briefcase and walked to the hall.

"Ding dong", the crisp doorbell just rang. Finch opened the door, facing William Ingram's bright and frank smile, "Good morning, Uncle Harold, I'm here to pick up Machine."

William Ingram, the blond young man in front of him, is the only son of Nathan Ingram, Harold Finch's only best friend in his life, a college classmate and now his boss's boss.

Finch could clearly remember Will's pink and round appearance when he was born, and how happy his old friend Nathan was.He also remembers when Nathan and his wife Olivia agreed to divorce. The angry young man blamed his father who was addicted to work for all the responsibility for the broken family. How disappointed and frustrated Nathan was when he ran away from home in anger.Fortunately, in the end, the child turned around and completed all the theoretical courses of the medical school with the No.2 grade of the same class. Now he is undergoing the final resident training at the Municipal Hospital in Manhattan.

Finch had always liked the child Will very much, even regarded him as his own, so even though he was in a very bad mood at the moment, he still managed to force a smile.But before he opened his mouth to greet Will, Machine was already carrying his schoolbag, brushing past his side like the wind, and flew into Will's arms, "Will, why are you here so late, I'm going to be late for class!"

"Dad went to school early in the morning. After I woke up, I had to clean up the living room he messed up last night. I wasted time. I'm really sorry." Will was hugged by Machine and returned an apologetic smile to Finch .He seemed to want to say something more, but before he could speak, the Machine dragged him away, "Stop talking, it's too late! You must drive faster later, or I will be taught by that fat man again." The director has spoken!"

It was rare for his daughter to act so anxiously. Finch smiled wryly and shook his head. He watched Machine bouncing down the steps. He quickly added, "Be careful on the road!" I heard it myself.

"Harold, come back early, remember I'm still waiting for you at home." Grace walked to Finch, leaned forward and pressed a light kiss on his cheek.The soft touch of the lips and the light body fragrance merged into a thick warmth that circulated in Finch's chest, and even aroused the hidden guilt in his heart.

Finch grabbed Grace's palm with his backhand, "My attitude towards you and the child was a bit harsh just now, I didn't mean to..."

"I know, you've been busy with work recently, I shouldn't let Machine bother you about such a trivial matter." Grace is always so gentle and considerate, comforting her husband with a sweet smile, "As you said, this matter The matter will not be resolved in a short while. Although it is not necessary to change the name, since the child has made a request, you might as well think carefully, okay?"

"Okay." Grace's soft words made Finch unable to refuse, not to mention it was just for him to reconsider, Finch nodded and temporarily agreed.

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Updates from time to time, although the full text will not be long

June 6th: Merge the beginning of the original part11 into part2, because it belongs to the same scene.