Mesmerized

veintiuno. (según lo dicho de Mahdi)

Cairo called me at seven in the morning. I'd woken up an hour before in a disoriented haze before rolling over and looking at Arinze. It had been years since I'd shared a bed with someone, but as she nestled into me, all I felt was comfort and familiarity. I answered the call before the incessant ringing could wake her up and walked towards the bathroom as my daughter's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey princess! What are you doing up?" I smiled at her while quietly closing the door.

I heard my mother's voice before I heard my daughter's. "This little girl won't go back to sleep unless she talks to you." She planted a kiss on Cairo's head before moving out of the shot.

Cairo pouted. "I can't sleep probably daddy." Her eyebrows knitted together.

"It's properly Cairo. Tell daddy what's wrong." I listened intently as I felt my heart churn; I hated when she was upset.

She spoke quickly, "Me and nana and papa have sleepovers all the time, but I can't sleep this time and they don't know how to play with my hair right when I can't sleep." I laughed softly at her frustration.

"I think that someone just misses their daddy." I teased her, "Do you want me to help you fall asleep?"

Cairo held the phone so close to her face that I could only make out her unruly hair, "Can you play with my hair from there?"

"I can't, but I can talk to you until you get sleepy. How does that sound?" I asked her.

Her head bobbed up and down, "Yes please daddy."

"Alright, lay down and get comfortable." I waited for her to lay down and laughed as she waited for me to start. "There once was a princess who lived in a kingdom very far away." I chuckled under my breath as she tried to prop the phone up. "The princess was tough, she wasn't scared of anything, and she was smart. Many princes had tried to marry her, but she always said no--"

The inquisitive little girl interrupted me, "How comes?"

"Well, she felt like she had everything that she needed; those silly princes couldn't give her anything that she didn't already have." I replied, "You see Ro, everyone told the princess that a prince would complete her and make her happy---"

"Like nana and papa?" She interrupted again.

I laughed at the interruption, "Yes, but the princess didn't think that she needed a prince for that. She felt like she was happy on her own."

"Like you?" Cairo yawned.

My chest tightened, "I'm not on my own Ro, I have you." I told her, "Are you sleepy?"

"Kind of, can we finish the story later?" She asked me.

I nodded, though her eyes were closed. "Yes princess, we'll finish it when you come back."

My mother took the phone away and said goodbye before we ended the call. It was still very early, and they were three hours behind; I was sure that running around with a three-year-old was running them ragged, but neither of them complained.

Arinze was awake when I returned to the bedroom, she arched one of her eyebrows in question.

"There's a three-year-old in California who couldn't sleep." I explained as I tossed my phone onto the bedside table. "It's all under control now."

She bit her lip before stretching, "You're a good dad." It was strange, I'd heard the same sentiment countless times before, but it meant something more coming from a woman that I wanted to build something with. I laid on the bed and her head immediately gravitated to my chest.