A Smile and a Chance

8 WISH JAR

*UNEDITED

 'Cute candy-man?'

The little girl said something I'm not supposed to hear. The embarrassed look on Maia's red face was just...adorable.

Maia thinks I'm cute?

"Maia? Is that you? I was thinking maybe you can ask the cute candy-man to make more candies? There's only a few pieces left and-"

A woman almost the same age as Maia appeared from the same room where the little girl came from and was more stunned to see me standing there. Looking at Maia's crimson face, she realized who I was.

"I think I...need to go to the bathroom...excuse me..." Maia's voice trailed off as she quickly put the little girl down and made a mad dash toward the bathroom.

I have never seen someone's face go so red like Maia's. She was so embarrassed I thought smoke would come out of her ears any second. What if she doesn't come out of the bathroom anymore?

"Sorry, I didn't know Maia brought a guest." The woman spoke.

"Don't worry about it...is she going to be okay?" I asked as the woman picked up Hana.

"Yes, she'll be fine. Just give her a minute or two. I'm Christina, but just call me Chris. This is my daughter Hana."

Chris is a woman? Why didn't it ever cross my mind? It was so pointless to have been anxious like that a few minutes ago. So Maia lives with Chris and her daughter Hana, not Chris the guy friend or Chris the boyfriend.

"I'm Liam, nice to meet you."

"He's the cute candy man!" Hana said in a high pitched, excited voice and all I could do was to give an awkward, shy smile, just like Chris did.

But really, cute candy-man? I shouldn't let this get into my head.

"I'm glad you liked the candy bars I made, Hana. I'll make some more next week."

"You promise?"

"I promise." I raised my right hand and that was enough to make Hana squeal in delight.

"Alright, it's past your bedtime cute bunny. Go to our room now, goodnight." Chris set down Hana and she ran to their room but came back out again to say goodnight to me.

It was after Hana closed the door to their room that Chris realized there was nowhere for me to sit, even the chairs at their small dining table were full of clothes that needed to be folded.

"I'm really sorry about the mess, Hana was playing with the clothes a few minutes before you guys came..." she said. "You can wait for Maia in her room; it's much, much cleaner there."

"Are you sure it's okay?" I asked, but the truth was, I was only being the polite guest. I wanted to see what Maia's room was like.

"Perfectly sure. Besides, I have no idea how long Maia will be in there, but I'll go and check if she's passed out already." Chris gave out an embarrassed smile and headed to the bathroom then knocked. We can only hear the water from the sink but that's about it. "Maia, are you okay?"

"...fine...just...to...self..."

I heard her muffled voice from the bathroom, but that was the most that I can make out from what she said. I decided to let myself in her room a few seconds after that. It looked like Chris will need every ounce of convincing power that she has to get Maia out of the bathroom.