Three Plus One

This is a large supermarket in Long Island city where many people come to shop on weekends. A fair-skinned little girl with long blond hair stood in front of a shelf full of toys, staring at the rows of stuffed toys. She had her feet on the edge of the bottom shelf and clutched the shelf with one hand, trying to stretch out her other arm to reach for various stuffed animals placed on the top row. But she was too small, just a little higher than the second bottom row, to get what she wanted. People passing by her were discussing what kind of parent had left such an adorable girl alone in the supermarket. Because the shelf was so high, she had to give up and got off the shelf. She turned right quickly and bumped into someone's legs, legs in black leather pants.

"Lenny, what exact do you want to buy?" The little girl, called Lenny, looked up at the blonde man she had just bumped into who couldn't hide his scars even with his sunglasses on.

"I want that lion." The little girl pointed to the stuffed toy on the top row.

The blond man picked up a stuffed lion with the head like a sunflower on the shelf and looked down at Lenny again. "Did you say you wanna buy a stuffed giraffe?"

"No, I want the lion." Lenny said with great certainty.

"You sure? Don't change your mind any more." The man handed the stuffed lion to the little girl and she immediately held the lion to her chest.

With his lips curled up slightly, he smiled softly as he pushed the cart to buy goods in other areas.

"Mello, I forgot to tell you when you just went out. Buy some more butter and a box of olives. We're running out of laundry detergent. Buy some on sale."

He sighed and looked at the cart which had loaded a lot of things, deciding to go to daily necessities area first. "Lenny, we'll buy some good stuff and go home ... Lenny?" Mello looked back and found Lenny walking in the opposite direction.

"Lenny, what are you doing? Close up." Mello said with a little displeasure.

The little girl looked back and muttered: "Dad..."

"I'm tired." Lenny purred before Mello's expression changed.

"You were animated just now. Why didn't you get tired when you asked for toys?" Then Mello realized that he had been walking around the supermarket with Lenny for two hours, though he spent one hour looking for Lenny who ran around while he was picking out items. He squinted at Lenny and shook his head, picking her up reluctantly. He began to sigh inwardly, regretting he chose to come here with Lenny rather than leave Lenny at home.

Lenny held the toy in one arm and had one arm around Mello's neck, as she excitedly felt the change in her vision because she was lifted up. Mello thought that he should replenish some chocolate for himself after getting what Halle had just mentioned on the phone.

They took the items they had to buy and lined up by the cash register. Mello took the items out of the cart one by one. The cashier, a young girl, noticed bars of chocolate, as she looked at Lenny and said: "Sweetie , will you eat so much chocolate? Remember to brush your teeth after you eat."

"It's not me. I don't like chocolate at all. My dad does." Lenny argued as she looked at the cashier innocently.

Mello let his daughter down as he whispered: "Lenny, I'm gonna pay." Faced with the cashier's surprised and curious eyes, Mello coughed awkwardly and pulled his credit card out of his wallet. "How much is the total?"

On the way home, Lenny, sitting in the back seat of the car, remained silent as Mello caught a glimpse of Lenny's tired look from the rearview mirror. When Mello parked the car, he got out of the car and opened the back door to take Lenny down. She seemed to be re-energetic, running up the stairs with her stuffed lion in her arms, like a bunny out of a cage. Mello walked behind her with bags, wondering how quickly a kid's energy returned. If Lenny were not a four-year-old girl, he would suspect that she had deliberately pretended to be exhausted.