TRUE COLORS

INSECURE, BUT HAPPY

POV YUE
I love Dylan's back.
I love to caress it and see the chills that run through it. 
And I love his broad shoulders.
I love to leave tender kisses where I left bites the night before.
"Good morning, Little Idiot" he whispers hoarsely, turning to me.
Under the sheets, I feel his hands brush against my hips.
"Good morning, Big Idiot" I smile at him.
"This night was mag ..."
Before he can finish the sentence, the bedroom door opens wide and our little girl starts jumping at the foot of the bed, agitated.
"WE MUST GO TO THE KINDERGARTEN!"  she yells.
Me and Dylan, well covered by the sheets, exchange a terrified look.
We turn to the alarm clock on the bedside table.  It's 9:22 am ... We had to be at the kindergarten at 8 am.
"Shit!"  exclaims Dylan.
"The language!"  me and Wang Yan Se scold him.

POV DYLAN
While Yan Se is sitting in the kitchen eating cookies, Yue and I dress up ourselves running around the house, while we prepare our daughter's backpack.
"Where are the pencils ?!"  asks Yue, agitated.
"I don't know! Maybe in the cupboard in the living room," I reply, looking around for the bib for lunch.
"They're not here! I can't find them!"
"It doesn't matter! It's the first day, for sure they won't draw!"
"I can't find my shoes!"
"How can you not find your shoes ?!"
"Didi! The snack! Did you put the snack in the backpack ?!"
"No, wait!"
When we are finally ready and we are about to leave, Yan Se stops abruptly and bursts into tears.
I cast an alarmed glance at Yue, who kneels before her.
"Hey, love ... What's up? Do you feel sick?"
"I don't want to go to kindergarten! I want to stay with you" complains Yan Se between sobs.
Ouch.  This is bad for the heart.
Yue hugs her tight and she strokes her hair.
"But kindergarten is a beautiful place! True, daddy?"  she whispers, turning to me for support.
"True! There are lots of games and children and ... of books!"  I exclaim.
Our little girl nods and wipes her tears with a hand.
"Daddy ...  Can you put the dinosaur head on?"  she asks me with her big brown eyes.
The dinosaur head is a T-Rex-shaped mask I bought at Halloween.  Whenever I wear it Yan Se laughs like crazy.
"Er ... Love, I can't go out wearing the dinosaur head!"  I answer.
Her eyes fill with tears again.
"Put that mask on," Yue tells me softly, with a bad look.
"Ok, ok!"

POV YUE
As we walk to the kindergarten, I suddenly realize that I'm not wearing shoes, but my pig-shaped slippers.
In the hurry to get out of the house, I didn't think of anything other than Yan Se.
"Didi! My shoes!"
"Yeah ... And ... Um ... Your hair is a mess," he replies, holding back a laugh.
"Idiot! You could have told me before!"  I mumble.
"Language, mommy!"  Yan Se scolds me.

POV DYLAN
When we get to the kindergarten, the caretaker goes to call Yan Se's teacher.
As soon as she leaves the classroom, a heart attack almost happens to me.
"Sun Qian" I whisper, surprised.
Yue pulls my arm.
"Don't take off your mask," she whispers.
She puts on a pair of sunglasses and pulls up the hood of her sweatshirt to hide almost half her face.
"What are you doing?"  I ask her, confused.
"Didi! It's Sun Qian! Yan Se is the daughter of the boy who left her and the girl she was left for! If she finds out we're her parents she could be bad with her," she explains, agitated.
I nod and take a long breath.
"Good morning! Is she Wang Yan Se?"  asks Sun Qian, once she arrives in front of us.
"Yes. Sorry for being late, we had some problems with our car," I answer, trying to disguise my voice.
"Hmm ... could we talk looking at each other?"
"Actually not ... I have a bad skin disease and my wife has conjunctivitis. Better to avoid".
The woman studies us with suspicion, then her eyes become severe.
"There is absolutely no tolerance for  delay in this kindergarten. Children must have fun and play, but above all they must learn the discipline. I hope you have understood," she says.
"Absolutely yes! Sorry again," Yue replies, bowing her head.
Sun Qian greets little Yan Se and accompanies her to her class.
Yue and I go out and finally discover our faces.
At the entrance of the kindergarten, some mothers are chatting ...
For a moment we stop to listen to them.
"I never let my son watch television! There are cartoons too foolish!"
"I never let him eat sweets! If he starts at this age, his teeth will be ruined when he grows up!"
"I never let my daughter sleep in our bed. She started sleeping in her bedroom as a baby."
"I never let myself be corrupted by her sweet eyes. If you do it once, you're screwed."
"My daughter and I never arrive late! I want her to understand the importance of time!"
"I often let him play alone. It's important!"
"I think we're all great parents!"
Um ...
I turn to Yue and, as I imagined, her eyes are misty.
3, 2, 1 ...
"We're bad parents!"  she exclaims, bursting into tears.
I take her by the hand and push her away from the kindergarten.
"Yueyue ..."
"We let her watch cartoons! In fact, we look at them with her!
I give Yan Se a candy every morning!  She's so happy when she eats it!  How can I tell her No ?!  Sweets give happiness!  But I'm ruining her beautiful teeth!
And then we never say no to her when she wants to sleep with us and we hold her all night!  We arrived late on her first day of kindergarten!  I always play with her!  I love playing with her!  Didi!  What kind of mom am I ?! "
"Hey! You're perfect! I'm the one who always says Yes! Maybe ... Maybe we should be more strict ... I don't know ..."
I embrace her strongly.
When it comes to Yan Se, we both become so insecure ... It's crazy.
"Didi?"
"Yes?"
"In the bookstore there are books that talk about how to be good parents ... I think I should read them".
"We'll read them together," I smile at her, kissing her on the forehead.