Meili was becoming more and more independent by the day. And Tao couldn’t help but be sad about it. At one year old, Meili would crawl all around the house and seem to make messes in the places that Tao had just cleaned up.
Tao had quit his job and decided to fully devote himself to bringing up their daughter. Kris was gone during the day at work, but loved to stay home and cuddle with his babies on the weekend.
“Mei, come here. We need to get you dressed!” Tao pulled the baby out of her crib and laid her down on the rug. “It’s cold~ isn’t it.” He cooed while taking off her onesie. She yawned and looked up at her Ba with tired eyes.
Tao was slipping her into a pink pair of pants when Kris poked his head in. “Babe, I have to go. I’m going to be late again.”
“Baba! Baba!” Meili playfully voiced at her dad that just spoke.
“Awwww, come here, Mei.” Kris walked over and lifted the now fully clothed girl. “I wish I could stay home with you guys all day.” He nuzzled his nose against his daughter’s.
“Well, someone has to pay for Mei’s clothes.” Tao giggled from the floor. Recently, Meili seemed to be happiest wearing the most expensive clothes and of course her dads couldn’t deny her.
“My other baby, come here~~” Tao stood up and walked to his partner. Kris reached his free arm around Tao.
They stayed like that for a couple minutes before Kris remembered something. “Yixing said he wanted to go sledding today. Call him. He won’t stop bothering me about it.” A half smile appeared on his lips.
“I guess we can’t avoid him anymore. Meili, are you ready to see your favorite uncle again?” When Tao made eye contact with the baby she started clapping her hands together because Tao was giving her a big smile.
“Alright. I gotta go.” Kris handed Mei back to Tao and kissed both of their foreheads. “Don’t let the unicorn corrupt our child…and be safe.” Tao laughed out loud waving at Kris.
When Tao heard the door lock, he walked over to Meili’s dresser and grabbed her favorite stuffed animal. A unicorn. Who would have thought that a simple white stuffed animal gifted to her by Yixing would become her favorite toy. Yixing had been nicknamed after his infamous gift. Meili knew that her uncle Yixing was the one who gave it to her, so whenever she saw Yixing, she totally forgot about her parents. Tao thought it was cute, but at the same time he was just a tad jealous. Maybe he should have given her a panda.
Yixing and Tao were very close. Out of Kris’ brothers, Yixing was the closest to his age, so they automatically felt connected. And Yixing was constantly pestering Kris and Tao to bring Meili over or to let him go somewhere with the baby.
There was a fresh layer of snow on the ground from the night before and Tao thought it would be perfect for Meili to have her first sledding experience.
“Mei let’s go do your hair.” Tao walked towards the bathroom and Meili followed. He set her on the counter and grabbed one of her elastics with a panda on it. He grabbed the top section of Meili’s hair and gently wrapped the elastic around. The final product was a cute Meili with a sprout on top of her head.
Tao set Meili down on the ground and pulled his phone out of his pocket. His scrolled to Yixing’s number.
“Hello?” Came Yixing’s voice.
“Xing, I heard you wanted to go sledding today.”
“Of course! I can’t wait to sled down the hill with my favorite niece!”
“Hahaha.” Tao laughed sarcastically.
“Oh, Tao. I am going to be bringing someone else too. I want you to meet them.”
“Oooohh~~ Who is it? A new love interest?” Tao teased.
“Maybe.” Yixing said all too quickly. “Let’s go to the hill by that cute café so we can have coffee after.”
“Mhmmm. Sounds good. I could do with some coffee.”
“Okay see you there in an hour.”
“Mmmm. Bye~” Tao hung up the phone and realized that he had taken his attention off of Mei when Yixing announced he would bring another person. Tao looked around the room and realized that Mei was nowhere to be seen.
“Mei. Mei!” Tao yelled through the family room. He spotted the laundry basket he had put down by the wall. The clothes in it were moving.
“Hmmm. I wonder where my Mei could be.” Tao slowly walked over to the basket and bent down. Meili suddenly poked her head out of the pile of clothes and started laughing. She clapped her hands together proud of the fact that she had scared her Ba.
“You are a jokester, aren’t you?” Tao questioned tickling her sides.
He picked her up and took her to the kitchen to heat a bottle for her.
*********************************
An hour later Tao was standing next to the tiny sled rental booth by the hill with a coat clad Meili in tow. She resembled a pink jet-puffed marshmallow. Yixing was always late but Tao prided himself on always being on time.
“Mei, look at that hill. You want to ride down?” Tao asked. Meili was looking around at all of the little children bundled up running around with their friends or moms.
“Tao! Tao!”
Tao looked over and saw Yixing running hand in hand with Kyungsoo.
What could Yixing possibly want to tell Tao about his own best friend? As far as he knew, Yixing and Kyungsoo were not close at all.