“Mom?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Umm, why do we have different hair colors?”
“What?”
“Why, why do I have blue eyes and yours are green?”
“Elsa...”
“Why do you have freckles and I don’t?”
“Elsa, what do you mean by asking such question?”
The little girl stares at me with a demanding look. I am currently busy typing my article for tomorrow’s newspaper and have to stop my work because of this sudden interruption. She stands at the corner of the room, hugging her white teddy bear doll I gave as her seventh birthday present a couple of weeks ago. The bear is not even white anymore; it has been stained with dirt. Elsa ducks her head, then she starts to sob.
“Oh, my God...what is happening?”I quickly embrace her in my arms. Her tears make my shirt wet.
“Timmy said...he said I was adopted,” she stutters. I touch her cheek and kiss her forehead.
“He lied, don’t listen to him. You’re my daughter,” I whisper in her ear. She wipes her tears and calms down.
“Then, where’s daddy? Is he...dead?”
I know this will happen sooner or later. I have been waiting for her to ask, yet I do not know the answer.
“No, he’s alive. He lives abroad and will come back someday,”I say, giving her a random answer whichever crosses my mind. She frowns and opens her mouth to say something, but I put my finger on her lips to stop her.
“Elsa, wanna eat some ice cream?” I grin, pretending to be cheerful when actually my heart aches. She blinks her eyes in excitement and nods.
YOU ARE READING
One Big Sweet Mistake
Teen FictionWhen she took the babysitting job, she was expecting some cash. Instead, she got her own baby.
