âYou stay out of it,â said Jiang MingYuan with a nonchalant look. âI have my plans.â
âAlright, not my kid,â said Zhou HengYuan as he rolled his eyes at Jiang MingYuan. Turning to XingXing, he asked passionately, âHey, little kiddo, where is your mommy?â
âSheâs over there.â XingXing turned around and pointed at the direction of the cash register.
There was nothing between where they were sitting and the cash register so they could see Cheng Huan right away. Zhou HengYuan took and look and asked again, âWhereâs your daddy?â
His question came so abruptly that Jiang MingYuan wasnât able to stop him. He glared over at him, trying to get him to shut up.
Zhou HengYuan chuckled a couple of times but didnât shut up. He was rolling his eyes inside. He was only doing it for Jiang MingYuan, not for himself.
âMy daddyâŚâ XingXing took a look at Jiang MingYuan then turned his head and looked over at Cheng Huan over by the cash registered. There was an at loss look on him but he didnât say his father was superman again.
Kids were simple but they also liked to compete with each other. The kids in class would always get together and talked about their toys, their clothes, their snacks, and sometimes their families.
Most of the kids at school still have their grandparents around and they were doted by their parents plus four other elderlies.
XingXing didnât have paternal or maternal grandparents. He only has his mother, and his superman father whom he had never seen before.
He talked about his mother so much that the other kids had lost their interest and theyâd ask him where was his father. XingXing thought about it long and hard and finally told them that his father was superman.
He was made fun of the very next day.
The other kids, upon hearing how mighty XingXingâs father was, fussed to their parents after they had gone home. Cheng Huanâs lie was only good enough to placate kids; it was but a big joke to other adults. Most of the parents just smiled and let it go. But there were almost those few who had to break it down and explain everything in details to their children.
And kids were bad at keeping things to themselves. After they were bragged to the day before, theyâd want to retaliate through mockery the next day.
XingXing was called a liar and that his mother said there was no such thing as superman; and that XingXingâs father didnât want him anymore; and that XingXingâs mother was just lying to him.
As soon as the first kid had said that, many others chimed in and agreed with him. They all said that there was no such thing as superman. There were also those who still believed in superman and stood up and stated their opposite opinion. They made the point that there was superman in cartoons. Neither group backed down and finally they ended up in a fight.
The teachers at the kindergarten quickly came over to break them apart but what was said had already been said and there was no way they could be taken back.
XingXing wasnât really hurt in the incident nor did he cry. He was dumbfounded for the rest of the day and didnât even feel like playing his videogames that night. Several times, he wanted to ask his mother whether she had lied to him. But the term âfatherâ was such an unfamiliar term to him that he had forgotten all about it after feeling blue for a couple of days.
Now that Zhou HengYuan had brought it up, XingXing was reminded of the incident again.
Jiang MingYuan wasnât happy about Zhou HengYuan asking random questions, but he didnât say anything. He still remembered XingXingâs answer from last time and his answer made him happy.
It was certainly something to be prideful about as a parent when they were looked up to as an omnipotent superman by their children.
Nevertheless, XingXing gave a different answer this time.
The little kiddo looked at his mother who wasnât too far away and, as though he had summoned up an unlimited amount of courage, he looked at Zhong Yuhuan and said nonchalantly, âI donât have a daddy.â