Brooding Little Troublemaker

Aria's daughter continued to mope even after Kai bought her food and everything.

With a pair of shades on his eyes and a mask over his mouth, he took her to a restaurant that didn't have too many customers. The last thing he wanted was for anyone there to recognize him. So, apart from putting on a disguise, he also had to avoid crowds to keep his visit there a secret.

At the moment, however, there's a different matter to attend to.

"Stop picking on your food," Kai gently chided. "This is the fourth time."

Even though the girl kept whining about how hungry she was just a while ago, she looked far from delighted as she ate her meal. She hadn't said a word since then, and she's frowning the entire time. Now, she was moping while playing with her food, looking not so hungry anymore, which made the man feel bad.

Kai leaned back in his seat. 'Okay, maybe I'd gone overboard earlier.'

He just didn't know what to say. He'd never taken care of a kid before.

Most children would be ecstatic to be in this kind of place. He'd expected she would at least brighten up when they passed by a toy store on their way, but instead, she'd just kept her head down until they made it to the restaurant. Some of the mallgoers even looked in their direction.

They probably thought he'd done something bad to her.

'She's really like her mom,' Kai thought helplessly. 'They're both too sensitive.'

He decided not to stay bothered by it. Not letting the kid starve was what's important. There's no reason to go to any more lengths. He was not even the father.

'Speaking of, I need to call Aria.'

He pulled out his phone from his pocket, at which point he noticed the girl look up at last. She was staring at the gadget in his hand, almost as if she was mesmerized by it.

Kai gave no more than a lift of his brow before looking back to his phone to dial Aria's number, but only to learn that he's out of load. He clicked his tongue, wondering what could be a worse timing than this. Aria's daughter kept looking in silent fascination, then after a moment of contemplation, Kai handed his phone over to her.

"Play some games here for now. I'll just go and look for a loading station," he told her before walking up to the counter and asking one of the staff to watch over her in the meantime. "This'll be quick. She has my phone with her just in case."

"Well, alright," the man at the counter said, though a bit reluctant. "But don't leave her alone for too long."

"Yes. Thank you."

But then, it took too long. At least, longer than expected.

Kai ran all over to place. He always sent his assistant or bodyguard to do this sort of stuff for him, so this was technically his first time buying load for his phone. With that being the case, by the time he got back to the restaurant, it was already packed with people. But that wasn't what shocked Kai.

Rather, it was the empty seat that greeted him as soon as he returned to their table.

---

'I knew it. Daddy's mad at Aria,' the girl brooded over as she waited for Kai to come back.

More people were coming in to eat. All of them looked happy as they dined together.

And yet, here she was, alone and abandoned.

She was intrigued by the object he gave her earlier. But she couldn't use the thing, didn't even know how. He was in a hurry to hand it over to her for no reason.

'Daddy's a jerk, leaving Aria alone like this.'