"What are you doing?" Mark stopped you when you were about to grab a spatula from its place.
"I'm going to cook some breakfast," you deadpanned.
"Uh-huh.. No," he quickly picked up the spatula from your hand, putting it on the kitchen island and steered you away from the stove. He grabbed your shoulder and gave it a soft push and settled you on one of the stool around the kitchen island. "There's no way you're lifting a finger today. It's mother's day, so you just sit there nicely and wait for your breakfast. I'll cook today," he planted a kiss on your forehead and went back to the stove. "Pancake right? Regular one or choco chip one?"
"Choco chip one, please, daddy," your daughter suddenly answered and Mark's face brightened when he saw your daughter. You smiled as you saw Mark picking up your daughter and gave her a kiss on her nose before setting her on the stool beside you.
"Okay princess," he gave her his gummy smile. "One choco chip pancake for my princess and I believe you want the choco chip one as well?" he turned to ask you and you nodded.
"Okay my ladies," he bowed, "Choco chip pancakes, coming right up!"
Mark was really serious when he said that you wouldn't lift a finger. After cooking the breakfast for everyone, he washed the dishes and gave your daughter a bath. You were about to help dressing her up but Mark prevented you. He quickly put on a pretty dress on your daughter and told you to play with her while he was taking a bath. It wasn't even ten minutes past when he re-entered the room and dragged you out of the room. You just stood there in the hallway with puzzled look on your face. He grabbed your hand and put something in your palm.
"What's this?" you raised the stuff in your hand and took a look carefully. It was a spa voucher.
"Spa voucher. It's a rare occasion that you got a day off, so you should enjoy it to the fullest. Go to the spa and enjoy the massage. I'll be here and my sister will drop her kids later so you go enjoy your day," he pushed you toward your bedroom so you could get changed and waited until you went inside the car.
"Are you sure?" you asked once again for the last time.
"100% sure. Just go," he planted a short kiss on your lips before pulling back and waving goodbye to you. He was right. You seldom got a day off, so you were surprised to get the special treatment from Mark. You didn't worry about leaving your daughter with him as he had a lot of practice with his nieces, and so far he's been doing great, so you were sure your daughter would be in good hand. Plus, his nieces were coming over later, so you were sure that they were going to have a great time today.
You really had a great day that day. After being pampered at the spa and getting a full body massage, you felt recharged. When you parked at the car port, the house looked quiet. You wondered where everyone was. Mark texted you earlier to report that your daughter ate her veggies at lunch and then swam with her nieces all afternoon. Just before you went home, he reported that the girls were going to get pizza for dinner and ice cream for dessert. Considering that it was a rare occasion, you didn't mind the special treatment for the girls as well. They deserved to have a good time as well. When you walked past the door, it was surprisingly silent in the house. Usually you would hear giggles and laughters or the sound of TV playing Disney movies. You put away your jacket and your bag before going upstairs.
Right outside your daughter's bedroom door, you heard people talking inside. You peeked and you saw Mark and the rest of the girls were inside. His eldest niece did your daughter's hair while Mark was sitting around the round table with his two other nieces. You stayed silent as you were curious what they were doing.
"I want white with red hearts, can you draw red hearts here?" you heard Leila said while handing Mark the nail polish bottles.
"Um.. Only on one nail, okay? I'll see what I can do," Mark answered then silence followed as you saw him concentrating applying nail polish on her nails before he shouted in joy when he managed to draw one heart on her nail.
"Yayyy!!" you saw Leila dancing around, flapping her hands in the air as Mark panicked and told her to sit back down so she wouldn't ruin his nail art.
"Can you do mine next, daddy?" you heard your daughter asked once she got her hair done.
"Of course. What color do you want?" Mark placed her on the chair that Leila used to sit before and grabbed the tray of nail polishes.
"I don't know that you have lots of nail polishes, daddy," she made a comment as she saw the arrays of nail polishes bottle.
"Not all of them are mine. Some are your cousin's. Mine is just these two, he picked up the black and blue one from the bunch of nail polishes and your daughter scrunched her nose as she saw the colors.
"I don't like them," she declared. "What about mommy? Does mommy have nail polishes as well? Which one is hers?" she continued.
"Um," Mark stuttered, "Mommy doesn't have nail polishes because she's not allowed to color her nails at her work. But mommy loves blue."
"So, you're allowed to put on nail polish while mommy cannot?" your daughter looked confused. "But my friends' father never paint their nails. Their dads told my friends that nail polishes are for girls. You're not girls," she pointed out and you wanted to laugh.
"Well, nail polishes are not just for girls. Me, Uncle Will and Uncle Bambam did our nails and you thought it was nice, wasn't it?" he paused to see your daughter nodded. "If your friends' dad doesn't want to do their nails, then that's their loss," Mark answered. "Because I have lots of fun doing your nails as well as your cousin's. That why I can play with you and make you look pretty. Don't you like that?"
Your daughter thought about it before nodding her head again, "Yes. I like that very much," she decided. "I guess you're a cool dad. You can play princess with me and paint my nail. I love you a lot, daddy." She proceeded to kiss Mark's cheek and then announced her pick. "I'd like pink for my nails, please."
"Here," Bailey interrupted. "I have some nail stickers. You can use them if you like." She gave your daughter some of her nail stickers and she immediately found the one that she liked.
"Oh, this unicorn. Put this on my nail, daddy," she requested and Mark was happy to oblige.
You were about to announce your presence when the bell rang. You saw Mark standing up from his seat, "I think that's the pizza," he told the girls that he would get the pizza and paused at the hallway when he found you there. "What are you doing here?" he whispered as you gestured him to keep quiet and gently tugged you toward the stairs to fetch the pizza.
"I'm just watching you and the girls. You guys seem to have lots of fun," you made a comment and he grinned.
"Yeah, we do. Wait a minute, I'll get the pizza before the pizza guy's angry," he quickly rushed toward the front door to get the pizza before coming back to your side in the kitchen.
"I can see that. Who knows that you'll bond with our daughter through nail arts?" you teased him.
"What can I say?" he wriggled his fingers in front of your face. "I'm better at nail arts than you. I'm more experienced as well."
You rolled your eyes as you knew it was the truth. Somehow, in your house, Mark was better in playing princess and other girly stuff, probably because he got a lot of practice with his nieces, while you on the other hand, were awkward at beauty stuff. Mark even could painted nails better than you. Well, it wasn't your fault as you were inexperienced as you couldn't put on nail polishes since you went into nursing school and then worked as a nurse. And even until now even though you weren't working as a nurse anymore.
"Yeah, whatever," you waved your hand. "Let me get the girls," you offered but he pulled you until your back was pressed to his chest.
"Did you have fun at the spa?" he whispered right to your ear. Suddenly you lost the ability to speak. Somehow, even after all these years, Mark still had that effect on you. You just nodded and looked over your shoulder to see his face.
"Then good. I hope you get some rest while being massaged," he let you go but it was your turn to be confused. He grinned before dipping his head and whispered right to your ear, "Because you won't be getting much sleep tonight. I think I deserve a reward after taking care of the girls all day," he pulled back to wink and laughed at your blushing state before gesturing you to get the girls. Geezz.. You were lucky the girls were still upstairs, out of earshots, or you couldn't dare to imagine what would happen if one of them happened to hear him.
