Chapter Text
Gentle.
With that scent—even gentler, more fragrant, more delightful—that pulled at his heart with a sudden, uneasy nostalgia, one so familiar it almost ached. It reminded him of his own and of…
Mydei opened his eyes, blinking a couple of times and glancing up at the clock on the nightstand. It was almost 5 a.m.
He let out a heavy, resigned sigh and tried to turn over, but his movement stilled at the warmth of a small figure curled up against his chest. A tuft of light white hair, skin soft and pale, pressed close for comfort.
“Kiana,” he called, causing the girl to murmur something and pout. “You’re supposed to be a big girl now; you should sleep in your own bed.”
“I don’t want to…” The little girl dragged out the words, clinging even tighter to his chest, like a little leech. The most beautiful leech in the whole world, perhaps. He chuckled at the ridiculous comparison and stood up, with the little girl still clinging to him. “Mama…”
“You have to go to school.” He reminded her, turning on the faucet to let the tub fill up. Despite her protests, Kiana didn’t complain when she was bathed in the shower; he left her in the tub for a few minutes to let her finish waking up while he took his morning shower.
“I’d rather stay with you, Mama…” he heard her say as he lifted her up with a fluffy white towel to take her to the bedroom and start putting on the uniform she wore to preschool. “Come on, just for today. I promise I’ll behave!”
“Nope. You have a test today.” Kiana dramatically flopped onto the couch, while Mydei walked to the kitchen to make breakfast for both of them. “Why don’t you go find your hair ties so I can do your hair?”
The little girl jumped up immediately, ran to her room, and came back with two hair ties that were identical in design and size but different in color. “Here you go—I want two matching pigtails, braided please!”
“The hair ties are different colors, Kiana.” The little girl immediately frowned, looking down at the hair ties in her hands. “One is purple, and the other is yellow.”
“Aren’t they the same color as my uniform?”
Mydei looked at her uniform—a pale blue with a pale gray vest—colors very different from the ones she was holding. He crouched down in front of the little girl and took the ribbons from her hands.
“No, sweetie.”
“...colors are hard.” She admitted after a few seconds, pouting slightly. “Can you help me pick them out, Mama?”
Mydei nodded, standing up to walk over to the little girl’s room, picking out two of the correct color. Kiana sat down at her vanity, letting him comb her hair into two braided pigtails, which Mydei made sure were the same height.
“What do you think?”
“Perfect!” Kiana stood up excitedly, the color issue forgotten as she cheered about the breakfast Mydei had prepared. The blond, however, remained pensive as he served and decorated the pancakes for his little girl.
Could his little girl really be so much like someone she had never met? Even if Kiana was colorblind, just like her alpha father, the look of frustration was exactly the same as that of the parent she had never met.
“...How do you think you'll do on today's test?” Kiana let out a soft sound as he bent down to put her shoes on after they'd both had breakfast and were ready to leave.
“Great,” she said, smiling and giving him a thumbs-up. “Mama helped me study! So I’ll do well!”
“I’m sure you will.”
“And if I don’t do well, I can do better next time, right?” Mydei smiled slightly and kissed her forehead.
“Of course, Kiana.”