‘Harry lost them both, didn’t he?’

If there’s one thing I madly adore about Hazel, it’s her ability to bring smiles to my face when I’m really, really down. Right now she was doing just that, by telling me how Hadi burnt today’s toasts and omelets and how she’d fixed breakfast for both of them, just like a hero. Being six and highly curious plus glazed with a little pomposity, she was simply adorable. And everyone knows I have a thing for kids with that attitude. My attitude.

So yes stupid Ig had forgotten my birthday and had actually requested for me to let go of my presents because his girlfriend wanted the same titles. The presents are books, if you’re wondering how serious the matter was. I was not going to talk to Ig for the next two weeks. Forgetting my birthday is one thing, and to give my presents to someone else is another thing entirely. Yeah. Two weeks. No text, no talk.

Sitting across from me was Hazel who had just finished her epic 'I Saved Breakfast' tale. She slurped her banana smoothie, while her eyes were fixed on mine. And then she spoke, as she pushed the tall mug aside, ‘Last night, dad read the first chapter of the Philosopher’s Stone to me.’ Her smile brought peace to me. The Boy Who Lived. Hazel finally had that read to her.

‘Yeah? So, do you like it?’ I asked, smiling. Yes, I was excited.

‘Harry lost them both, didn’t he?’ she asked in reply. Uh-oh. That didn’t sound so nice. Her brown eyes narrowed slightly, and I felt a pierce at my heart. But I nodded. Then I reached across the desk, and took her small hand in mine. Giving it a gentle squeeze, I returned her stare, lovingly.

What is it, princess? Why the question?

I had always, always loved this kid since I first saw her, a year ago. I adored every single thing about her, and every single side of her. The good ones, and the bad. The innocence. The stubbornness. So she talks back when I told her she should go to bed, and she did tell me I read too much to interest any guy, but she also told me how beautiful I look when I was reading her a bedtime story. The straightforwardness. The honesty. Everything. ‘Yes he did,’ I said, and I remembered how she’d cry into her pillows at nights when I was babysitting, holding the picture of her mom as she drowned into slumber in her tears. I wanted to hug her.

‘But I still have dad,’ she said, almost breaking my heart in the instant. God. It’s one thing to try to look tough, and it’s another to really make yourself so. She was so small. And she was so hurt, I could tell. Watching everyone else holding to the hands of both parents on Parents’ Day, one hand for each, and at the same time having to place both hands in just dad’s was very, very hard for her. The pieces of her broken heart were scattered all over her face, and her painful smiles. She was a wonderful kid. And brokenhearted. But her being thankful of the blessing called dad, and being only six when she does that, just rocked my world. She did. ‘I’ll smile more, Nina,’ was what she said. ‘For dad.’

She promised. It was one of the shortest talks I’d ever had with her. One of the most unbelievably mature ones, too. ‘I know you would,’ I said. I really knew she would. On her face, there was the heaven-sent smile of an untainted love, of a six-year-old heart. That was one of the best birthday gifts I’ve ever had.

Then she got off her seat and took my hand. So I walked with her hand in mine, towards the bookstore where Hadi promised to wait at and he actually was. He waved at us, and Hazel grinned. She was keeping her promise. She really did smile more, which made me proud. I was about to tell her so when she suddenly looked up to me and said something I was not prepared to hear. Like she had dropped a bomb in my face.

This is Hazel, people. The name, in my world, is another word for 'unpredictable'.

‘Last night, Nina, I dreamed that you were my mother,’ she said, with a look that I would never have mistaken for anything but hope, which sent my brain spiraling into a void, as my jaw dropped, slightly.

What?

And my speech system went dead, just like that.



To be continued -


Previous chapters HERE.