Baby Steps - Chapter  Three

“Can you tell me about Cara?” I asked Chanyeol. I sat outside with him on the balcony after I put Camellia down for a nap.

“Whoa, nice timing. If Kris was here he’d kill me for mentioning her.” He chuckled. Chanyeol pulled out his phone and went through his photos. “I think I have a picture of them from their first date.” He said.

He showed me a sixteen year old Kris hugging a girl that was a little shorter than him.  I smiled. “She’s beautiful.”

Chanyeol nodded. “They met in middle school and every since, they’ve been attached to each other like glue. Cara supported Kris and told him he’d do many great things in the future unlike most of the people around him who laughed at him.”

“They started going out freshmen year of high school. I think it was around junior year when Kris knocked her up. Then halfway through the pregnancy, Cara started getting sick. Two weeks before Camellia arrived, the doctor announced she had terminal cancer, she had the baby and then she just…yeah.” He sighed.  

“Kris cried a lot after she passed away. He stopped going to school, he stopped eating, and he stopped…life basically. He only had Camellia left, at one point; he hated her because she reminded him of Cara so much. He found a letter hidden in his bookshelf when Camellia was around three months old, it was from Cara. That letter just…brought Kris back to life. Although he stopped believing in love, everything he did was because of Cara.”

“He eventually got his life back together and got into the fashion industry. Kris started to raise Camellia, but after he opened his clothing line…he simply couldn’t make time for her. Ever since then, he’s grown distant to her. Camellia has never spoken before but I think she figured out that she doesn’t have a mother. I think she knows she has a distant relationship with her father.”

“I think Camellia is afraid of Kris.” I said.

“How so?” Chanyeol asked.

“I just...every time you mention Kris or the word “daddy”…Doesn’t she tense up?” I ask.

Chanyeol thought about it for a few minutes. “Well…I never really considered this …Yeah.” He nodded. “It’s a shame. Kris has never really hugged his daughter, Camellia has never heard “I love you” from her own father. I don’t think Kris is ready to let go yet, of Cara. It’s been two years since she passed away but he really loved her.”

I nodded. “That’s so sad…”

I flinched when I heard Camellia crying. “I’ll get her.”

“Camellia? What’s wrong?” I asked. I saw the little girl fumble with her sheets, her eyes were teary and she looked sad.

I chuckled as I picked up the stuffed alpaca that was on the floor. “Are you looking for this?” I asked.

Camellia instantly stopped crying when I handed her the toy. I sat down and looked at her. It’s crazy how much she reminded me of Kris, they had the same nose, cheeks and eyes. She was gonna grow up to be a beautiful lady.

“Camellia…” I said her name. She looked up at me.

“Do you love daddy?” I asked.

She looked at me with a blank face. “Ah…never mind. It’s time for a snack away, what should we do today? Strawberries over vanilla yogurt?” I asked as I picked her up.

The little girl gave me a smile and nodded.

I sat next to Camellia and fed her yogurt.

You know how mothers feel when they see their kid do something for the first time? Camellia held her spoon and fed herself, I almost flipped out.

“Aww! Good girl Camellia!” I clapped.  

Luhan sat at the other end of the table and snapped a few pictures. “Camellia’s first steps, and now her first time feeding herself. If only she’d talk…” He frowned as he looked through his pictures.

I chuckled and turned back to Camellia. “Will you talk someday?” I teased.

Camellia smeared yogurt on my check before feeding herself again.

Luhan laughed. “Well played, well played.”

I saw Kris from the corner of my eye. I turned around and caught him smiling, he watched Camellia learn how to feed herself.

“H-Hey…” I frowned when he walked away. “I saw that…” I mumbled. 

I turned to Camellia when Kris walked away. “Hey Camellia…daddy smiled at you.” I whispered.

She gave me this look, her head was tilted and her eyebrow was raised. If she knew how to talk, she’d say “really?”

I nodded. “He did…Don’t you wish he did that more often?”

Camellia only pushed her yogurt around and gave a sad smile.

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