By Zephyria Winston’s mind went blank for a moment. He stared at the child without saying a word, then belatedly opened his mouth.
“What do you mean? That, Santa only likes rich kids.”
Unusually, he was flustered. He thought he had been doing well so far, but he suddenly felt like he had been splashed with cold water. Angela wrinkled her nose and replied clearly.”Santa doesn’t give presents to poor kids.”
A cynical expression appeared on the child’s innocent face, disconcertingly so. It was an expression that suggested she had been hurt and disappointed countless times, and therefore no longer held any expectations. Winston felt a weight settle in his heart.
“Maybe there was a misunderstanding?”
Winston asked, trying to soothe the child’s feelings.
“There are so many children in the world, Santa must have made a mistake.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Angela firmly denied his words.
“Santa doesn’t come to poor houses, never.”
“Why?”
Winston asked reluctantly.
“Why do you think that?”
There must be a reason why Angela had such a firm belief. When Winston asked, the child looked straight up at him and answered.
“Because I saw it.”
“You saw it?”
At the unexpected words, Winston unconsciously repeated the same words, and Angela nodded.
“I waited to see Santa come. I fought off my sleepiness, like this.”
Angela made a gesture of punching her own face with a fist. Afraid that she might accidentally hurt herself, Winston reached out his hand without realizing it, but Angela soon lowered her fist and continued.
“But it was Daddy who opened the door and put presents in the stockings.”
Winston could only stare at the child, speechless. He could easily picture Angela, surprised and embarrassed, and Yu-jin, quietly placing the presents he had prepared for his daughter. Angela continued to speak.
“Daddy knew. That kids from poor families like me don’t get presents from Santa. But he gave me presents instead of Santa because he thought I would be disappointed and sad.”
Among the children boasting about the presents Santa had left on Christmas morning, Angela had simply kept her mouth shut. Her nose twitched, and she sniffled, then continued in a voice filled with determination.
“So I always wish for the cheapest things. Candy or chocolate, things that are easy to buy and cheap.”
Winston said nothing. He simply stared at the child’s face, her lips tightly pursed in stubbornness. Angela let out a sigh, as if releasing a breath she had been holding, then slumped her shoulders and frowned.
“You won’t tell Daddy, will you?”
Winston paused before nodding.
“…Okay.”
He wanted to comfort the child somehow, but Angela wasn’t crying, so there was nothing he could do. The fact that all he could manage was a weak sound made him feel pathetic, and his brow furrowed involuntarily.
It was then that Winston felt a sense of unease.
At first, he felt a strange chill down his spine. But it soon made his mind go cold and reminded him of a fact he had overlooked.
“…Angie.”
At the quiet voice, Angela, who had been distracted by the doll, looked up. Seeing the questioning look in her eyes, he carefully chose his words and asked.
“Did you buy everything you wanted today?”
“Yes, everything!”
The child answered immediately. The excessively quick response made the sense of unease even greater. He had never doubted the child’s smiling face until now, so why did it seem so unnatural now?
Since when had Angela become so docile?
A fleeting memory was followed by the answer.
Since Yu-jin had been hospitalized.
“Angie.”
When he called her name again, Angela tilted her head. After a pause, Winston opened his mouth.
“You can see Daddy whenever you want.”
The child was startled for a moment. Winston added in a slower tone than usual.
“It’s not that I deliberately kept you from seeing him. It’s because Daddy wasn’t feeling well, you know?”
“Yes, I know.”
Angela answered. But the child’s face, already cowering and looking around, had already entered Winston’s field of vision. No matter how cleverly she tried to play it, she was still a child. At the undisguisable agitation, Winston realized anew that his guess was correct. And he also realized what he had been thinking about Angela until now, and why he hadn’t noticed it until now.
He had never intended to get genuinely close to this child.
Only then did it feel as if the fog in front of him had cleared, but instead, his head went blank as if he had been hit.
* * *
In the darkened study, Winston sat alone, deep in thought with a serious expression. Angela’s words kept swirling in his head. Why hadn’t he realized it until now?
He knew that Angela was much more mature than other children her age.
He had thought of her easily as just a child. When he saw the child, who had stubbornly resisted at first, gradually begin to waver at some point, he thought it was as expected.
Was I wrong?
Looking back on it coldly, the child’s trick was too obvious. It was just that he was too arrogant to realize it.
It was also the result of looking down on her as just a child.
Feeling bitter inside, he recalled. The only reason Angela listened so obediently was to not upset Winston, to somehow get into his good graces.
Pretending to be happy with all her might.
Because she might be separated from Yu-jin again.
Weak individuals are that much more sensitive to survival. Children instinctively know. They recognize the person with the greatest power in order to survive. Angela had simply realized that there was no point in antagonizing Winston.
…Doesn’t it matter?
After all, the conclusion is the same. He wanted Angela to be obedient to him, and if she showed him that she was following him, even outwardly, Yu-jin would also be relieved. He had never wanted the child’s sincerity, so this was the same as the result he wanted.
But why do I feel so awful?
Winston frowned and thought again and again. The image of Yu-jin and Angela spending a miserable Christmas kept popping into his head. A hot sigh escaped him. And yet he sat there for quite a long time.
* * *
“Daddy!”
“Angie!”
As soon as he opened his eyes in the morning, Yu-jin saw his daughter coming into his room and opened his arms wide with delight. Angela ran excitedly to the bed, but hesitated right in front of it, unable to jump up.
“Daddy, aren’t you sick today?”
Seeing the child’s worried face, Yu-jin couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. Seeing his daughter so dejected made him feel terrible.
“I’m okay, Angie, come on up.”
When he said it with an effort to smile, Angela hesitated and looked around. Noticing the meaning of her gaze, Yu-jin gently coaxed the child.
“Mr. Campbell has gone to work. It’s just the two of us here.”
“Wow!”
With those words, the child opened her eyes wide and jumped onto the bed. As he hugged the small body that burrowed into his arms, he felt a sense of relief spread throughout his body. Yu-jin closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the child’s scent, then asked.
“Did you sleep well? Did you have good dreams?”
“Yeah. I slept well. Did you, Daddy?”
“Yeah, Daddy did too.”
Yu-jin continued to stroke the child’s back as he held her in his arms.
“You’re wearing a pretty dress. Did you like this dress?”
He asked, remembering that it was one of the dresses his daughter had worn countless times.
“Wasn’t there anything else you wanted? Winston would have bought you anything.”
Once he saw the child’s happy face, he couldn’t just oppose it unconditionally. He lowered the bar in his mind, thinking that it would be okay just while they were here, but Angela unexpectedly hesitated and trailed off. He looked at her questioningly, and Angela, who had been hesitating, raised her head as if she had made up her mind. When their eyes met, Yu-jin couldn’t help but laugh and let out a short chuckle.
“What’s wrong, Angie? Why are you looking at me like that?”
At the light question, Angela swallowed and carefully opened her mouth.
“Daddy, you know what? I don’t really like this kind of thing.”
At the unexpected words, Yu-jin blinked in surprise.
“What?”
I won’t be swayed by presents.
Remembering what Angela had said, his daughter said with a very serious expression.
“Isn’t it because I keep not listening and getting angry that Mr. Campbell won’t let me see Daddy? He must have thought I was going to do something bad to the baby…”