(POV: Ava)
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It all started on what was supposed to be a very normal Saturday. And by normal, I mean the kind where Ethan forgets his wallet, Sophia forgets what day it is, and I—somehow—am the only one with my life vaguely together.
We were all supposed to meet at the new bookstore-café downtown. Sophia had been hyped about it for weeks because apparently it had "aesthetic pastries." Ethan was just there for the free samples. And me? I was hoping to snag a new fantasy book and pretend I didn't have ten unfinished ones already.
But Leo wasn't answering any of our texts. Which wasn't super weird—he wasn't glued to his phone like the rest of us—but still. He always at least sent a little "…On the way" or something. Silence from him? Suspicious.
We were walking toward the bookstore when Sophia suddenly froze. "Guys. Don't panic, okay."
After hearing that, I obviously, started to panic.
She pointed through the big glass windows of the store.
There. Sitting at a corner table. Was Leo.
And next to him… was a small child.
A very cute, very serious-looking little girl. Maybe five or six. She had a juice box, a coloring book, and what looked like a very intense focus on staying inside the lines. Leo was just sitting beside her, like this was totally normal. No coffee. No phone. Just… calmly watching her color.
Ethan squinted. "Hold on. Is that—?"
"Is that his child?" I whispered, already halfway into full detective mode.
Sophia slapped a hand over her mouth. "OH MY GOD. Did Leo secretly become a dad?!"
"No way. He would've told us," Ethan said. "Right?"
…
We all stared at each other.
"…You know what? After knowing about that trip to Kyoto. No, he wouldn't have," Sophia muttered.
So obviously, we did what any sane, curious, and slightly nosey group of friends would do.
We stalked him.
Okay, we didn't stalk-stalk. More like hovered near the magazine section, peeking over a shelf of travel guides while pretending to argue about whether Iceland or Italy had better waterfalls.
Leo didn't notice us. Or maybe he did and just didn't care. He leaned down to the little girl and said something. She giggled and poked his cheek with a crayon. And Leo smiled. Like a full, genuine, tiny-smirk kind of smile. I've seen that smile maybe three times. Two of those were food-related.
"Okay. Who is she?!" Sophia whisper-hissed. "Do we ask? Do we wait? Is this his niece? Secret daughter? A baby he saved from a burning building?!"
"She looks too comfortable with him," Ethan said. "And she's not crying. Kids cry around strangers."
"She also hasn't thrown anything at him," I added. "Which is suspicious. Kids are basically tiny rage goblins when they're not happy."
"Should we just go up to him?" Sophia asked.
We agreed to approach, slowly, like we were sneaking up on a wild animal.
Leo looked up as we reached the table. "Hey. So finally decided to stop snooping around?"
That's it. Just hey. So he did notice and just didn't care. And he's acting like nothing was weird about him hanging out with a tiny child in a bookstore café like a part-time dad on weekends.
Ethan cleared his throat. "Sooo… new friend?"
The girl looked up. "Hello," she said politely, before going back to coloring.
Leo gestured at her. "This is Aiko."
Sophia blinked. "...And who exactly is Aiko?"
"She's not mine," Leo said quickly. Like very quickly. He definitely saw our panic.
"Okay," I said. "Then…?"
"Her mom asked me to watch her today. She's in the city for a thing."
"What kind of thing?" Ethan asked.
Leo shrugged. "Magazine shoot."
We all paused.
"Wait. Her mom is a model?!" Sophia gasped.
Leo nodded. "She's my friend's sister."
"…And you just… agreed to babysit?" I asked.
Leo looked at Aiko. "She's not hard to handle."
Aiko, without looking up, muttered, "Big brother Leo's better than my usual babysitter. He doesn't treat me like I'm a baby."
Leo turned to us with a completely straight face. "She bit her last sitter."
Sophia choked. "WHAT?!"
"On the hand," Leo clarified. "She said it was fair retaliation."
"...What did the sitter do?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious.
"Called her 'cutie-patootie' and tried to make airplane noises while feeding her soup."
Aiko made a face. "Disrespectful."
Honestly? Fair.
"You're surprisingly good at this," I said.
Leo just shrugged. "I treat her like a person."
"You are terrifyingly calm," Sophia muttered. "Like a kindergarten ninja."
Aiko looked at Leo. "Can I have another cookie?"
Leo pulled one out of a small brown paper bag like a magician revealing a trick. "One more."
She took it, nodded respectfully, and went back to coloring.
I leaned toward Sophia and whispered, "She just thanked him with a nod. No tantrum. No chaos."
Sophia whispered back, "I don't even act that politely around cookies."
Ethan watched the scene, utterly baffled. "Okay, but why you? Like why did this friend's model sister ask you of all people?"
Leo tilted his head. "She trusts me."
"Sure, but like… how does that friendship even work? She's a model, and you're…"
He trailed off.
"An enigma," Sophia supplied.
Leo looked mildly amused. "We met during a college seminar. I helped her get out of a very awkward photoshoot where they tried to make her pose with raw fish for 'artistic expression.'"
"What even is your life?" Ethan muttered.
"Unexpected," Leo said calmly.
Aiko reached over and tugged at Leo's sleeve. "I'm done coloring. Can we go look at the cat books now?"
Leo nodded. "Alright. Let's go."
He stood up, carefully picked up her little backpack, and turned to us like this was just… another regular day.
"Don't worry," he said. "Not adopting any children."
Then he walked off with the kid trailing beside him like a very disciplined duckling.
We just stood there, watching them disappear into the children's book section.
"I…" Ethan began. "I don't know how to process this."
"I feel like if I had a kid," I said slowly, "they'd probably listen to Leo better than me."
From a distance, we heard Aiko's voice again: "Leo, do you think tigers can read if they had glasses?"
"Probably not," he replied. "Too big for regular reading chairs."
She giggled.
---
A few hours later, we were on our way out of the bookstore—bags heavier, wallets lighter, minds still absolutely wrecked over Leo's secret babysitting side quest—when we spotted her.
A woman standing by the fountain outside, casually scrolling through her phone. Tall, dressed in effortlessly cool street fashion, sunglasses perched on her head, and holding a smoothie like she was waiting for a limo to materialize out of thin air.
Aiko ran up to her, yelling, 'Mama!"
The woman looked up, smiled, and knelt to scoop her into a hug. "Did you behave?"
Aiko nooded like a professional. " Very."
We hovered awkwardly nearby as Leo—without so much as a word—just casually turned and walked off.
"Hey! Leo!" Sophia hissed.
He raised a hand in a lazy wave without turning around.
And that was it. Man really exited his own story like a foggy legend.
Aiko's mother finally glanced up at us and grinned. "So... you must be the chaos squad."
Ethan blinked. "The what now?"
"Chaos squad. Leo said if anything ever happened to him, it'd either be your fault or you'd avenge him in the most emotionally confusing way possible."
"That's… weirdly accurate," I muttered.
"I'm Yuna, by the way. Leo's kind of sister-in-crime." She introduced herself while straightening up with Aiko still clinging to her leg.
"Honestly, I expected him to just be reluctantly tolerating kids," I said.
"Oh, no," Yuna laughed. "Aiko only listens to like, two people. One of them is me. The other one is Leo. And between us, he's the one she listens to without making dramatic fart noises."
"...Huh," Ethan muttered. "He's got main character big brother energy."
Yuna looked at him with mock seriousness. "He also once caught her mid-tantrum, looked her in the eye, and said 'I don't speak dragon. Try again in human.' And she stopped crying."
We stared at her in silence.
Aiko looked up. "Can I have another play date with big brother Leo next week?"
Yuna ruffled her hair. "We'll see if he hasn't gone off the grid again."
We waved them goodbye—still a little stunned—and started walking.
We all glanced back toward where Leo had disappeared down the sidewalk.
We'd always known Leo had secrets.
We just didn't expect one of them to be a toddler whisperer.
___
End of Chapter 31.