The scent of the candle was thick, it's incense like smell wafted throughout the warm space of the room. Accompanied by the soft embrace of the fireplace that crackled from a short distance.
Snow was raging violently outside, yet in this quaint room, there only laid a calm silence.
The audible sounds of a pen writing vigorously back and forth could be heard. The scratching sound of paper was a noise that was akinned to anger and frustration. One wouldn't be surprised if the piece of parchment was to break at any given moment from how infuriated the man's writing was.
"Hey Dad"
A small and delicate little girl called out to her father. She was sitting on the man's lap with a confused and hesitant expression on her face from observing her father's quote on quote 'job'. She could never fully understand what was the man's source of living. All she could really see were weird letters and large numbers that she couldn't even count up to yet. The limitations of her fingers would deem the notion so.
"hmm?"
The man stopped writing, too quickly in fact. He dropped everything he was doing, even the silent anger that was slowly prevading his mind. When he heard his daughter's voice, it was almost as if his troubles and worries all seemed to just go away. Off to a far distant place, as if it had never existed to begin with.
"Why do you work so hard?"
The girl sitting on the man's lap squinted her eyes in a perplexed manner. Still trying to desperately understand her father's works.
Taking a large sigh of recollection, the man put down his pen and turned his attention to the little girl that was sitting on his lap. He stared at that beautiful and enchanting hair of hers. A pure white color that rivaled any tinctures of snow. Strands of hair that seemed to perfectly reflect a cold winter snow, like the one outside.
His mind couldn't help but laugh wryly at the fact that she reminded him of a certain little girl who was fond of playing snow to. A beloved memory from a distant past. Times where he wished he could go back and relish every minute of it. To cherish the times he had with the sibling he had. Time was the one thing he hated, the one thing he always chased.
If only he realized it sooner.
He was snapped out of his regretful thoughts when he felt a light tug from his sleeve.
He looked down, only to see a pouting little girl who was waiting in anticipation for the man's reply.
Smiling fondly at the cute gesture, his hand began to make it's way onto the small girl's snowflake like hair. It felt soft, really soft.
If he were to describe the bliss he was feeling, it was like caressing a marshmallow.
"Well you see, Daddy has been given a really important job overseas, that's why I have to work hard"
The father hesitated for a bit, trying to think of a simple and understandable answer to give to his daughter. He closed his eyes in deep thought as he tried to make a probable response.
"Then... you're leaving me?!"
He opened his eyes worryingly after hearing the sudden whimper he heard beyond his thoughts. He looked down, with a pace that had fear lingering between it's worried expression.
What he found might have broken his heart, a small girl looking at him with sad and teary eyes. Eyes that were beaming in sadness and despair.
An emotion that he's seen all too much from his time, but to see it plastered onto the face of the ones he loved. To see it on his daughter's face no less.
That was something his heart could never take.
"No-"
The man's eyes widened he tried to stroke the girl's hair in reassurance but was only met with another heartbreak when he heard a sudden outburst from her.
"Wahhh!!!"
The girl's pleading cry resounded throughout the room. Almost like a cold winter night being violently tossed up and down from the harsh wind.
"W-Wait don't cry sweetie!"
The man smiled nervously at this. A nervous feeling that was smore akinned to a scared emotion. A feeling that any parent would feel when they saw they're own child crying in such a way.
"But you... said you're gonna leave to go over...the seas!"
The girl rebuttled to her father's assurance. Sadly telling her reasons in between occasional hiccups due to her earlier crying.
"Heh?"
The man's mind suddenly drew an empty blank. Was he hearing this correctly? Or was her bad grammar the reason to this miscommunication.
"Daddy's gonna turn into a fish now!!"
The girl squirmed around on her father's lap. Throwing her arms around in an annoyed and sad tantrum. Her cheeks were still dry from the crying she was doing earlier, although that damp moisture would soon turn wet again. If her new tears had anything to say about the matter.
"Heh?!!!"
The man's calculative mind couldn't help but stop working at this strange notion. Like the gears in his brain suddenly went out of order due to an unforeseen malfunction. A fish? Where did she get that idea? Was he just an underwater mammal in his daughter's eyes? Was that all he really was too her?
"I'll never see you again!!"
The firl threw her arms around like a squirming bee. Trying to desperately seek honey in an isolated field of grass.
Although this case was anything but isolated. The fact that she was trapped in her father's embrace had played a part in doing so.
"Heh?!!!!"
The man's expression turned from a blank and empty one, to a sudden perplexed and incredulous look. What did an underwater animal had anything to do with his 'leaving'.
"And I'll be alone...I don't want to be alone daddy.."
The girl whimpered, sadly even. Like a puppy who hasn't seen their owner for the entire day. Waiting in their empty and lonely apartments in desperate hope of reuniting with their loved ones.
That was what the little girl sounded right now.
A whimpering puppy.
"shh, It's alright.."
The man smiled blissfully at this. He couldn't help but do so. Despite his daughter's strange and childish thoughts, he couldn't help but be touched by her sudden teary outburst. All because she was worried about him, worried about being left alone. A notion that he dared to not cross. Ever.
"I'm not leaving"
The man cradled her daughter's head in a tight embrace. Hugging always seemed to calm her down. A gesture he would never get tired of. Her small yet warm body prevented him from saying otherwise.
A warmth that he swore the would protect. Always. No matter the cost.
No sacrifice would be too great in order to preserve this soothing and loving warmth.
"But you said.."
The girl hiccuped while she laid her head on her father's shoulder. Her crying had seemed to calm after being embraced ina. warm hug from her father.
It would seem that the man was right afterall.
Hugging does work on her.
"Earlier you asked me about why do I work so hard right?"
The man mused slightly at the concerned and childish tantrum of his daughter. He pulled away from the warm embrace and held his daughter's face in front of his. Gently caressing her teary cheeks in the process.
"Yeah..."
The girl mumbled meekly, she couldn't give a proper answer when her father was playing with her cheeks.
"well you see... I didn't want to leave you here all alone"
She saw his father's eyes stare at her with an enveloping warmth. A warmth that seemed to make all her worries and doubts dissapear without a trace. Her concerns all seemed to fade away, to a forgotten and distant land.
"Then why?"
The girl pressed on with a determined expression, making her cheeks flush in a deep red color from her sudden embarrassing question.
The man couldn't help but giggle at her cute face.
"So I made a deal with my boss"
The father pryed his right hand away from his daughter's cheek and pointed it playfully towards the warm air around the quaint and dimly lit room. As if he was trying to prove a point.
"Deal?"
The little girl tilted her head to the side in a confused and questioning expression.
"yep a deal."
Visibly smirking, the man crossed his arms in silent victory. An act that could only make the intrigued desire of his daughter grow more and more.
"what was the deal?"
The girl's tilted head, could only tilt more downwards in a curious and innocent gaze towards her father. She sure had one weird dad.
"It was kind of long, but the short story is if I work twice as hard as I do right now,...then I won't have to leave you.."
The man tried to keep his explanation short and simple. Simple enough to make his daughter understand.
He knew that his daughter would only grow bored and uninterested in the logistics of things. If her young age could even understand it in the first place.
"Really!!!"
The little girl's eyes gleamed in happiness. Gone was her earlier scared expression. Her tears all seemed to drift away in a river of forgotten memories. Instead, it was replaced with a happy and innocent smile of a child.
"Yep! Really!"
The man hummed in accordance to his daughter's happy reply while nodding his head vigorously. As if to cement the fact he had just declared, to the little girl.
"so cheer up already...as If I could leave you all alone here"
"Yay!! Daddy's not leaving me alone!"
Clapping her hands like a child, she got out from her father's lap and started twirling around on the red carpet of her father's office. Dancing happily with a blissfully ignorant look on her face.
Yet, to the father, all that appeared in his eyes were the sweet innocence of his only daughter. An innocence he would always protect. No matter the cost, like the earlier thoughts he told to himself already.
"Mhm! So from now on be a good girl so that daddy will have the motivation to work twice as hard!!"
The man grinned happily at his daughter's happy waltz. If it could be called a waltz to begin with. It looked more like a dance to him. Like a shooting star that visited the earth's vast night sky.
A rare yet mesmerizing opportunity for anyone to lay their eyes on
"Yeah!! I'll be a good girl from now on!!"
The girl raised a thumbs up to her dad to show her determination, but that wasn't the end of it seeing as she closed her eyes in total focus shortly after
"What are you doing?"
This time, it was the man's turn to tilt his head in a confused and perplexed manner. He seemed to be curious and most importantly, confused, as to what his daughter might be up to this time. He could never truly know or guess as to what goes on in her head.
And he probably never will.
"I'm turning on my good girl mode!!"
The girl's brows furrowed in total concentration. Her face was a mask of a focused and determined expression.
"..Huh.."
The man managed to give n offhanded answer. Still confused to the little girl's strange and weird behavior.
"Well is it working?!"
The girl asked her dad, all while still trying to 'turn on her good girl mode. Like it was a switch that she had to focus entirely in order to flip.
"Yeah... something's definitely working..."
The man muffled out a restrained laugh. Trying to hold on his laughter as to not hurt his daughter's feelings. Making sure to not undermind her determined actions. The clock suddenly made a loud ticking noise, soon a loud and large piping sound resounded throughout the room.
The man's expression softened at the noise as he payed his heed to the time that was reminded to him by the clock on his office's wall.
"Ah,it's already you're bed time"
The man slowly stood up, scooping up the little girl soon after. Yet all he got in response from her was a rebellious pout.
"No! I don't want to go to sleep! I wanna stay here with you"
The little girl protested, raising her arms and throwing it around in the process. All while being held above ground by her father.
"Hmm? But you know,"
The man hummed in a pleased manner when he heard his daughter's wishes. Any father would love the thought. In doing so, the man smiled lightly at this before letting out his final verdict over her desire.
"Good girls always follow their bed times"
The man whistled happily when he saw his daughter's squirming disposition soften from his reply.
The little girl's arms backed down, while she stared at his face in silent and deep thought.
"R-Really?"
The girl asked with a hesitant look. Her eyes gleamed with a hint of disappointment.
"Yes, really."
The man affirmed while whistlijg with a strong and stern resolution. His decision was final.
"Th-Then I don't want to be a good girl anymore"
The man was suddenly taken back by the little girl's strange reply. That wasn't the answer he was expecting from her.
"why?"
The man looked at his daughter with a concerned and worried look.
"If being a good girl means that I won't get to spend anymore time with Papa then I'd rather not be one!"
The girl confirmed her resolution with a rebellious pout, while crossing her arms in protest.
'Huh..My daughter being a bad girl...'
The man's mind couldn't help but imagine a scene where his daughter would be wearing a leather jacket while dying her beautiful hair in a delinquent like blonde color. All while chewing her gum and spatting it out on the street's cemented floor with a rugged look.
'Tch, bug off old man'
"Oh god please no."
The man suddenly blurted out, still in fear for what might happen if he didn't take action now.
"Daddy?"
The girl's expression suddenly softened when she saw her father give out an unusual reply.
Her expression was filled with curiosity and concern.
"Bed."
The man said with a strong and commanding voice, all while looking intimidating to the little girl's innocent eyes.
"Huh?"
The little girl asked in fear for what was about to come.
"It's your bedtime now, go to sleep"
The man's eyes were brimming with an intimidating aura lurking behind it. His daughter couldn't help but rebel at her father's verdict.
"But-!!"
The small girl tried to protest and rebel for a last ditch attempt, but was proved futile later on. Once she saw her father's eyes, she knew that she no longer had a say in his decision.
"Bed."