The Wrong Guy

Chapter 44 Red Cheeks

                I didn’t see Alex for the next few days. We weren’t really on the same classes, so we were barely able to see each other. Of course, it was depressing. I barely had the motivation I had before. The only thing that was keeping me going was the chance that I could’ve seen Alex. I did see him a few times, but he was with Winnie all the time, so it wasn’t such a pleasure to me. I hated the fact that she was taking over Alex like that! It was like he was completely captured by her, and I was stuck there, unable to do anything… more or less unable to do anything. I didn’t want Alex to think that I was jealous in any way. That’s why I didn’t do anything about Winnie and him, but it was hurting me real bad.

                It was the 22nd of January when I was on the way home after I left some new flowers on Sharon’s grave. The flowers were replaced from time to time with all her friends bring her new ones. Anyway, when I arrived home, I didn’t expect that I’d see dad in the house. He was sitting on the table with a kid. I didn’t know who he was, but he was like 4 years old.

                “Liyah.” He greeted me as I entered the living room.

                “Dad.” I threw the keys on the table and hugged dad as he approached me. “Hey.”

                “How’s my little angel?” he kidded as he hugged me, too.

                “I’m not little.” I walked to the table right after the hug. I gave a weird gaze to the young kid because I didn’t know who he was, but he looked really innocent and behaved. He was just sitting on the couch. He seemed a little different from the average 4-year old kids. I thought they were normally running around at that age.

                “He’s my son.” Dad said. I looked at dad and back at the kid. It was a bit foolish of me to not realize the slight resemblance of him and dad. “I told you I wanted you to meet him someday. I hope you’d like him.”

                “What’s his name?” I just looked at the kid. He was just sitting there and looking back at me. He wasn’t looking hostile or anything. Actually, his baby cheeks looked cute. I had a little urge to hug him since I never really had a younger brother or sister.

                “His name’s Red. I know there’s nothing Red about him, but we just liked that name.” dad said. He was right. There wasn’t anything red about him. His hair was black, so it was weird to give him the name Red.

                “He’s pretty quiet.” I chuckled.

                “Red, this is your step sister. You can call her Liyah.” Dad slowly said to Red. The kid just swung his head to dad with curiosity and looked at me. He seemed really like a kid. “Say hi to your sister, Red.”

                “Hi, Red.” I reached out a hand for him to do a high-five. “Give me five!”

                “Hi.” The little kid said as he reached and slammed my hand with his tiny little fingers.

                “Wow.” I stood normally and talked to dad, “He can already understand.”

                “You know, you and Red have something in common.”

                “What?”

                “Your first words are the same.” He said. I was a little stunned. I never knew what my first word was, but I was sure dad knew. “You probably don’t remember, but your first word was Dada, just like Red’s first word.”

                “Dada, huh?” I repeated and laughed. I could even sense that small tear on my eye. It was a little touching there for a moment. “He must really like you.”

                “Yeah.” Dad laughed. “To be honest, he’s much more quiet and calm than you were. You were crazy back then. You kept moving and standing up. You’d always disappear when we take our eyes off you for a second. But Red’s very calm. He just stares at people sometimes. He can walk, but he doesn’t go far like you did.”

                “Does that mean he’s gonna be a wimp?” I kidded. “Just kidding, dad.”

                “I feared that.” Dad said frankly. “Hopefully, he won’t be.”

                “It’s okay, dad.” I laughed. “Just be there for him. It doesn’t matter if he’s strong physically. If he’s strong in the inside, he’ll be stronger than anyone.”

                “Wow.” He reacted. “I’m sorry. You’re very right. But I’m sorry because maybe you got to that point because I wasn’t there for you before.”

                “Oh, shut up, dad.” I waved a hand and laughed. “It’s okay now. Just don’t fail on Red.”

                “I won’t.” he said. “I promise, I’ll be a dad to him.”

                “Good.” I smiled. “That’s good to hear.”

                “Dada.” Red tried to reach dad with his tiny arms, and dad reached for his hands and held them. He seemed to have really changed. It’s not that I was jealous. I was actually relieved to see that he could finally walk in the light.

                “He’s really cute.” I said, staring at Red’s cute cheeks. “I want to pinch his cheeks. Can I?”

                “Okay.” Dad laughed. “We do that all the time.”

                “Okay.”  I leaned and reached for Red. I through his small little armpits and lifted him to me. I placed him on top of the table right in front of me. Red didn’t seem to have reacted in any way. His facial expressions were the same. “Does this kid ignore everything?”

                “Sometimes.” Dad guffawed. “He just stares at people. He doesn’t even cry as much as the normal babies do.”

                “I guess he’ll be a smartass.” I bend a bit down to see Red clearer. I gently pinched his cute little cheeks as they were glowing red. I guess that was the only thing red about him. “Can you say Liyah?... Liyah.”

                “Li…” Red said and paused, and we both waited. “Liyah.”

                “Wow!” dad applauded in an overreacted way. I laughed at his ridiculous reaction.

                “You know, Red.” I talked to him even when it was unlikely that he’d understand. “Red is my favorite color. I guess it’ll be yours, too.”

                “Li… Liyah!” Red repeated as he stretched his short little arms and held my face. I didn’t know what that kid was up to, but I just went with it. He slowly stood by himself and reached my head. Then, out of the blue, he kissed my forehead. I was stunned. It felt the same. The same tender and warm feeling that I felt when Alex kissed me on the forehead came back when Red did. Flashbacks ran down my head. It was the same feeling I had. I didn’t know why. My face burned up red again. Somehow, he resembled the same spirit I see in Alex. I went up after he kissed me. I was all red. I just looked down at that kid as he slapped his thighs repeatedly. He kept smiling and laughing at me. I didn’t know why, but he felt the same as Alex. I didn’t know I had a kid like him as a brother. I smiled back and felt the tender again. I reached my hands around him and started hugging him. Red chuckled as I saw dad smiling from next to us. Dad walked to us and patted both Red and my heads.

                It was a different feeling. I didn’t know what it was. But when I hugged Red, I felt like that night when I hugged Alex. It was magical.