Coffee and Bliss

He saw something flickered in his eyes. But it faded away quickly. He smirked at him and started cooking. Mia asked many questions though. She was a nice and smart girl. They interacted as if it was only the two of them were in the kitchen.

“I am here too, you know?” He just glanced for seconds at Tristan and saw him pouting.

After a while, the food was already done. “Little girl, wash your hands first before eating, okay?” he said. He arranged the food nicely on the table. He just added some toasted bread, ham, and orange juice.

“You looked like a mother to me, P'Harris.” Mia’s sudden outburst echoed in the kitchen. She had an innocent smile without knowing what her words mean to him.

No one talked after that. They fell into silence. He was trying to regain his composure, Tristan seemed tense and was rolling his spoon on the food and Mia was being herself, eating innocently not realizing the effect of her statement.

But he was curious. He wanted to know where it came from. Why did Mia say it? After thinking thoroughly, he cleared his throat. “Why did you say that, little girl?”

He could sense the tension radiating from Tristan. Maybe something happened before.

“P'Gia always did that to Erin, her daughter, you know. She was cooking for her because she said that it’s what mothers do to their kids.” The fact that her smile didn’t reach her eyes, his heart clenched at the sight. 

“Little bun, I always cooked for you!” Tristan glared at his niece. 

“But either burned, the food did not taste good,” Mia answered, then stuck out her tongue to her uncle.

“Little girl, it’s bad sticking out your tongue to someone older than you. And you should thank your P' because he cooks food for you.”

He expressed that Tristan and Mia looked at him. Well, he just thought that the tan man was the only one who took care of Mia. He hasn't seen other people home since he came here yesterday.

turned to her P'. “Sorry

Tristan with amusement. Because the tan man got teary-eyed. But before it fell, he smiled at Mia and patted her head. “That’s okay, my little bun. Let's just eat. Foods getting cold.” He murmured, a smile formed on his

after all. He just got carried away because

***

in the kitchen while Harris was acquainting Mia on how to do little things to help. He was teaching her to wipe the table after eating. It was a good start to his morning. Never did he imagine that he would have someone to guide Mia besides Gia. Harris knows how to handle a kid, that’s for sure.  He was tender and smart. And Mia was right, he really looked like a mother figure. He smiled with that

know? How many times do

man leaning on the

Mia?” He asked after noticing that they were

a bath by herself because I kinda help her if

take a bath by myself, no worry.” He said only to receive a smack on his head,

I mean is how about you, are you going to mop the floor until midnight or care to

part of his head where Harris smacked

her room. Harris looked at him and flicked his forehead

asked himself. He left

came out of his room, he nearly tripped from what he saw. Harris was doing Mia’s hair. He tied them up with pink curly tails. 'Was he a woman before?' He left his question in his mind because he was afraid for another smack from the

before because Harris really knew how to handle kids. He saw him knelt fixed Mia’s

your shoelace tightly. Because it’s your guide for a better future. If you encountered your only chance in your life and your shoelace was not tied

shoes without lace instead.” Mia pointed to her

he was around to laugh hard on Mia’s debut. He didn’t know why Harris suddenly connected the lace for her niece’s future. Well, his niece was right. She had many shoes because he loved to buy them for

lesson. Not every time, you can have choices to choose. So better

and mind. He jotted them down mentally. Fuck! Harris was really something. Even Mia might not understand it well because of her age but he knew that she would remember it. Especially him. Because he felt that those words were intentionally meant for

but then again they ignored him and talked again