“Why do I need to help pick out a toddler’s gift? It’s not like they remember birthdays this young.” Kai hated places like this and had little to no patience for kids. He found them noisy and sticky.
“You are so infuriating. She’s my niece, and I know if I didn’t send her a gift. She won’t remember, but I will.” Anna was used to the grumpy and non-compromising side of Kai. No matter how much you pouted and fluttered your lashes, he was a man you could not bend to your will. She had to trick him into this store by telling him she suddenly needed the bathroom or she would explode. It had taken mega pouting to get him in the door.
“You should have bought one before leaving then.” Kai was not in the mood for retail therapy, especially in some busy city center toy store bustling with grubby-fingered sugar high mini humans. He had already taken time out of his schedule to pick her up at the airport and had a mountain of paperwork back at his office awaiting him.
“Stop glaring. You look incredibly hostile when you do that, and people will think you are some abusive, unkind husband.” Anna jested.
Kai slid his arm out of hers almost impulsively at the mention of the intimate title and took a step faster to separate them. It made it painfully obvious to her that their romance was still a mute subject. Kai was a hard rock to break, and her perseverance had not paid off yet.
Anna tried to ignore the reaction, kept her hurt inside, and instead plastered on a bright smile and tugged his sleeve jacket to get him to stop. He was still all Mr. Business in his office suit. A look she found devastating on him and a little proud to be seen with someone so handsome and built.
Relieved to feel his cell buzz inside his jacket like a saving bell, he saw an immediate escape.
“You go. I have to take this. I’ll catch you up.” He pulled it out with a little wave to indicate a call and turned on his heel before she could argue.
Anna watched him walk off, her heart sinking a little. He had been weirdly scratchy since he picked her up and unusually moody. She didn’t know why, and after two months of separation, she was disappointed by his lack of excitement about reuniting. It felt like he didn’t want her here.
Kai wandered down the next aisle, where fewer people were milling, and spotted a clear space at an end display with no one around it. He put his cell to his ear and headed to the quiet corner.
“What is it? I only just saw you an hour ago.” He was in a prickly mood, even though he didn’t know why, and he was eager to return to work.
“No, I did not forget. I am with her now. She’s conned me into toy store shopping.” Kai stopped before a tall shelf display of garish sparkly dolls, turning his back on them to carry on his call. At least this spot was free from tiny goblins.
“Hmmm.” Kai was only half listening as a tiny little girl wandered right before him, wearing a puffy floral dress and a plastic tiara on her head. She had big doe eyes set in an unusually adorable face that stared up and locked on his in some weird silent battle that distracted him from his call. He stared back, unsure what she wanted, until she gestured with a small hand wave, motioning left for him to move aside.
It was gently done, with an innocent blank expression on the smallest over-sparkled princess he had ever seen, and he faltered in his response with a chuckle. She looked so serious for a small fry that barely reached his knees.
He looked over his shoulder, seeing he was blocking the shelf of dolls, and stepped out of her way. Pulling his cell closer and turning his attention back to his sister. Amused that she had wordlessly moved him, yet he didn’t find her rude, just cute.
She was a pretty little girl with long black hair in braids past her shoulders. Immaculately groomed with crisp, clean, expensive clothes. Cute chubby cheeks ripe for squishing, and yet she had the kind of face you knew concealed a stubborn little diva.
He leaned over, lifting one of the boxed fashion dolls, and lowered it towards her without breaking contact with his cell. Looking down at her with a raised brow and chin nod to urge her to take. She didn’t take it but stared up at him with that same expression of nothing and shook her head. Refusing his offering.
God damn kids.
“You know I love you and only have the best intentions for you.”
He reached to grab a third of the same doll in a different colored dress and was stopped by a tug on his sleeve. Glancing down at her over his shoulder, he saw the head shake, refusing that one too, and pointed at the next. He wouldn’t have bothered if he had known that this simple act of helping would become a whole thing.
Another shake.
For the love of god. Where was this kid’s mom when she needed her?
He pointed to the shelf above at another row and another identical doll with a different outfit.
Another head shake. Even poutier and a dramatic petted lip and accusing eyes accompanied it. Somehow, this was his fault.
Kai dropped his cell to his side, gazed at the rows of endless dolls, then returned to the quiet watching kiddo and sighed.
He motioned to her and then the shelf with a ‘pick you up’ gesture, wondering if this kid was mute or deaf and couldn’t speak. So far, she was commanding him with only hand signals and facial gestures.
She seemed to ponder it for a long time, lifting that tiny hand and finger, calling him to come closer. A little childish summons that even someone with a heart of stone couldn’t refuse. Her big eyes were wide with that baby innocence young kids lose after a certain age.
For the first time in his life, Kai was melted by a child and bent down obediently to match her head height and come eye to eye.