“Daddy!” The little girl came running towards her parents. “Look at what Uncle Tao brought me!”

               Kris smiled at his beaming daughter as she brandished yet another stuffed panda, this one dressed in traditional Chinese clothing. “Which one is this? Your tenth now?”

               She nodded her head vigorously and smiled. “Yep! Uncle Tao always brings one back whenever you are back.”

               Tao walked up to them and Kris narrowed his eyes. “You better not be trying to steal my daughter away from me,” he warned his bandmate playfully.

               Kristina grabbed Tao’s hand and smiled up at him with admiration. “Uncle, can we go to the beach?” Kris watched her walk away clutching Tao’s hand and sighed in annoyance.

               He turned to his wife. “Do I have to start bringing pandas home to bribe her now?”

               She chuckled. “You’re just never home. And when you guys are off, SM always asks you to put in more time to promote.” She tapped his nose. “That’s the duty of the leader.”

               He sighed. “I just want my own daughter to love me.” She tiptoed to kiss him.

               “Of course she does.”

***

               “We have here a very special guest today. As you all know, the leader of Asia’s famous group, EXO-M, has recently revealed to us his daughter. In a special insider’s opportunity to know more about these members, we invited her here. Ladies and gentleman, let’s welcome EXO-M and Kristina Wu!”

               Kristina came out holding Kris’ hand and the entire audience went wild. The little girl hid her face behind Kris and he sat, placing her on his lap. “Hello everybody. We are one! We are EXO-M!”

               The interview continued until the reporter turned to Kris. He bent down to be at the girl’s eye level and addressed her. “What’s your name?”

               “Kristina.” Her voice was small and Kris rubbed his hand soothingly on her back.

               “How old are you?” She held up four fingers.

               “Wow, so cute! Can you tell us something about your daddy and your uncles? Who’s your favorite?”

               Kristina hesitated for a few seconds. “My daddy is so cool on TV but he is also really silly. He snores when he sleeps sometimes. Uncle Yixing is really forgetful and sometimes he would forget my birthday. Uncle Luhan tries to teach me soccer but now he’s given up and teaching me the Rubik’s Cube. Uncle Xiumin is my horsey. He carries me on his shoulders. Uncle Chen is also really silly. Sometimes he would forget and start speaking Korean and I would never understand him. Uncle Tao is my favorite. He takes me everywhere and sometimes he cries over fans and I have to hug him.”

               The interviewer winked at the camera. “So your dad is not your favorite member?”

               Kris paled and was about to cut in but Kristina was on a roll. “Nope. Uncle Tao always comes home and brings me a panda and plays with me. Daddy is never home. But I still love my daddy.” She turned to Kris and planted a kiss on his cheek and the situation was dropped.

               After the interview, Tao sidled up to his leader and apologized, “Ge, I didn’t know it was this bad. I’m sorry.”

               Kris waved it away. “It’s not your fault. I’m the one who has to try harder.

               When they went home, Kris found his wife absolutely livid. “This girl has gone overboard,” she seethed. “You are her father.”

               Kris led her gently into the bedroom. “Don’t,” and he started to cry. “I’m a failure. My own daughter prefers my band member over me.”

               She rubbed his shoulders. “Sh, you have a brief hiatus now. Make it up to her.”

***

               “Kristina? Daddy’s taking you to the amusement park.”

               The little girl turned from her dollhouse. “You are? Aww, but Uncle Tao promised to take me to the zoo.” Kris was about to give up when she continued. “But I rather play with daddy.” She ran to cling onto Kris’ long legs and smiled up at him.

               Kris leaned down and took her in his arms. “Isn’t’ my little princess so pretty today?” She hid her face in his neck but still beamed brightly. He patted her arm and strapped her into the car.

               When they got there, he took her on all the rides she wanted to go on. Even when she insisted on riding the merry go round ten times, he put on a brave face and went on with her. It was enough to see her happy.

               “Daddy, can we go on the big kid roller coaster?”

               Kris shook his head. “You need to be this tall.” He exaggerated, pointing at himself. “But you, my little pumpkin, are only this tall.” He pointed at her knees.

               She squeaked and stuck out her tongue. “I’m this tall!” She reached on her tiptoes and tapped his ribs.

               He plucked the ribbon in her hair. “Does the little princess want her daddy to win a plushie for her?”

               She held onto his hand and pointed at a basketball stand. “That one! Daddy it looks like you!” she pointed at a giant red angry bird. “Can I have this one please?” she blinked her large eyes at him. “My friend Jae said that you look like an angry bird sometimes on TV.”

               Kris chuckled and handed over the money. He walked a few feet away and prepared to shoot. A bunch of fangirls gathered and Kristina pouted.

               “Daddy, make them go away?” she tugged on Kris’ jeans. Kris turned to pose for a few pictures before asking them kindly to leave.

               Finally, he focused all of his attention on the ball and the basket. He bent his knees and shot it in. His daughter clapped and reached for the giant red toy, almost as big as her torso.

               Kris crouched down and placed the bird next to his face. He purposely furrowed his brow s and puckered his lips. “Looks like me?”

               She giggled and nodded. Kris laughed. “You better run, Kristina Wu, or this angry bird will catch you!” She started to run but Kris picked her up and flew her in the air. “Yeee, my little princess can fly like me now!”

               When they got back, thoroughly exhausted, Kristina tore up the pathway and ed the toy into her mother’s arms.

               “Look at what Daddy got me! He was so cool when he shot the basketball and he got rid of all the fangirls. Daddy also taught me how to fly!”

               Kris came up behind her and she continued to talk at ten miles a minute. His wife smiled at him and he gave her a thumbs up. She bent down to pick up their daughter as the little girl continued to babble on.

               “Come on, sweetie. It’s time to take a bath.”

***

               “And the dragon and the panda lived happily ever after. The end.” Kris closed the book and tried to get off the bed but a hand stopped him.

               “Daddy why is it that when Uncle Tao comes back, you’re still busy?” Kristina was tucked into bed and held tightly onto her newly received angry bird.

               “Daddy’s the leader and sometimes the company wants me to work more.”

               Her tiny eyebrows crinkled. “Oh. Well, Daddy don’t work too hard. Kristina wants to play with Daddy more.” She snuggled into Kris and tucked her small hand into his large one.

               “You know,” her voice was slurring as her eyes started to droop. “You’re forever my favorite everything.”

I've been wanting to write this for a while. And GAH.

UNCLE TAO.

AKLGHDKLHADK;GHA Forever ing Kris and his daughter in my world.