Chapter 12 - Call My Dad

Indeed, little kids were easy to coax. At the word ice-cream, his screams lessened in volume, his eyes opened wide and he hiccuped. He still looked like he’d been wronged and bullied against, but there was a spark of interest.

While he made effort to calm himself down, Li Xia waited patiently, patting his back to comfort him. After a time, he stopped sobbing, but his little chest heaved and tears were still running down his face. Li Xia reached out and wiped them away with her thumb.

“I - I want a cake too,” he said.

Was the little boy bargaining with her? Having a tantrum one moment and bargaining for snacks soon after... seems the kid was a con-artist. Humph. She didn’t know anything about raising children but she did know they couldn’t be allowed too much sweets.

“Baby,” she petted his hair to soften her rejection, “you can have ice-cream or the cake but not both.”

The child looked at her for a long time. She was looking down into his pretty eyes so she saw the deep thinking he was doing while he sniffled the last of his tears. This child was so well behaved and cute! Look how seriously he considered his decisions! She wanted to hug him and give him all the cakes and ice creams!

Finally, small hands wrapped around hers. His brows furrowed. "Ice cream is difficult for me to eat. I choose ice cream."

"Alright!" Li Xia couldn't resist one second longer. She bent down and hugged him up. He was so short and cute and sweet, and soft! This adorable child deserved all the hugs! The feelings in her chest was too much to understand and too big to contain. She just wanted to hug this little boy and squeeze him so tight!

His shorts arms wrapped around her neck as she brought him up, and with flushed cheeks, swollen eyes and a wide grin, he hugged her back. "Mommy!" he yelled. Until sometime later, he wiggled happily, "Mommy, you're squeezing me too much!"

Li Xia gave him one last squeeze, "You're so cute! Of course I must squeeze you!" Her words made the child so happy that he leaned over and gave her a kiss.

If Li Xia's heart hadn't been stolen by this lost child two times this morning - once at the academy and once when he hugged her leg - it would have been stolen at this moment. She, a stranger, took advantage of his parents' absence and kissed his little cheeks.

"Psst! Li Xia," Su YiWei disturbed their two-person world from the side. She and her strange fake son turned.

Su YiWei gestured with her eyes to look around the place. Li Xia looked around; once again, she'd forgotten this was a restaurant and she was in the middle of work.

"Move over there," Su YiWei hurriedly motioned to one of the private rooms. The restaurant had an open dining area but was upscale enough to have a few private dining rooms as well. “It’s out of the way. You’re attracting too much attention and it’s bad for business. I'll handle your work until the parents come over.”

Li Xia nodded. With a soft word of “Thanks,” to her friend, she hurried over to one of the unoccupied rooms to get the child away from curious onlookers.

“I’ll bring the dessert menu. At the back, the manager is calling Taiji Academy,” Su YiWei said as she went ahead of them to open the private room’s sliding door. She had been speaking quietly, but her efforts not to draw attention was defeated by a little guy’s yell.

“Auntie!” He shouted. His little fingers gripped Li Xia’s arm with urgency and he was looking at Su YiWei with childish panic.

Su YiWei: “...” Child, who is your aunt?

“Don’t call my school.” He put on a sad face, “I’ll get in trouble.”

At the open doorway to the private room, Su YiWei looked straight at the child. She’d always been a strict person and no cute little face could stop that. “You are already in trouble, Little Friend. You did a wrong thing and made so many people worry about you. Do you think your cute face is going to stop the beating you will get?”

In Li Xia’s arms, the child’s body went stiff with fright. He looked from Su YiWei to Li Xia with hurt and tears in his eyes. Then he buried his head in Li Xia’s neck.

“Alright, Alright,” Li Xia said to her friend while she patted her Little Dumpling’s back to comfort him again. “Don’t scare him, he’s only a little boy.”

With another disapproving glare Su YiWei moved to get the ice-cream menu.

Li Xia entered the private room and sat at the low table. She lifted the boy to sit at her side, whispering, “Auntie Su isn’t bad. Don’t cry.”

The little con-artist’s tears were already dry. “My Daddy doesn’t beat me.”

Li Xia looked away: Little One, your dad might be angry enough to beat you this one time.

The Little Dumpling shook her arm. “Mom! Don’t call my school.” With big eyes, he explained his logic: “I can call my father myself. You call school, school calls Dad but I can call my Dad by myself.”

In Zhao YuShi’s little head, his thoughts were simple. If the school found him first, they would take him from his mom. If Dad found him first, Dad would take both him and his mom.

“Mom! Give me your phone. I will call Dad.”

So Li Xia, curious at the thought process of the little strange guy, took out her phone, unlocked it, brought up the keypad and gave it to him. She watched him press numbers with no hesitancy - he knew his father’s phone number very well which was impressive for a child his age.

Even the best phones on the market leaked sound and Li Xia's phone was a good brand but not the best brand. She could hear on the other side when the device made only a half ringtone before it connected.

“Daddy!” The little boy shouted, joy on his face and excitement in his voice. “I found my Mommy!”