Imperfect Desires

"I'm your mom, not a punching bag!" said Xiu to the ever-energetic little bun before her. She ticked him making the little baby giggle non-stop. Darren looked up from the laptop and saw mother-son teasing each other. His eyes softened immediately at the sight.

Little tiger made incoherent sounds making Xiu smile as she said, "I know I'm awesome. You don't have to tell me, dear son."

Darren pursed his lips, "Sweets, I don't think that's what he said."

"But I think that's exactly what he said," she retorted. 

The little tiger stared at his mother's face as if amazed by how shameless his mother could get. But was he surprised? No way! Even the little baby was familiar with his mom's shamelessness. 

As he played on the bed, Xiu was laying down beside him. Little Rowan crawled his way to his mother and laid down on her stomach with much effort. Xiu didn't pay any attention to him and allowed him to play all he wanted. 

Finally, little Rowan managed to reach her neck and buried his face. He was tired and seemed to be taking some rest. After he was done resting, he starting putting his paws all over his mother's face. 

Xiu smiled at her son and kissed the palms of his hands. "What is it? What does my son want to do now?" She kissed him all over the face but since she put him down from her body, the little baby seemed displeased.

After all, he made so much effort to get there, and yet she easily brought him back to square one. But since mommy was kissing him all over the face, he felt like mommy was playing with him and started giggling happily.

In the silent room apart from the sound of Darren's fingers running over the keyboard, one could only hear Rowan's laughter that was louder and instantly melted anyone's heart.

Finding the game fun, little Rowan tried to kiss his mother as well. But ended up leaving a whole lot of saliva on Xiu's face. But Xiu didn't mind it and let him do whatever he wanted. Seeing how mommy stopped playing with him, he opened his mouth and bit Xiu's jaw. But his toothless jaw couldn't possibly hurt her.

If anything, Xiu felt like something was ticking her jaw.

"It seems mommy tastes good to you," said Xiu as she left another kiss on her son's face.

Rowan's cute little face was tender and soft. His cheeks looked so chewy that anyone would want to take a bite. Especially if that someone was Xiu. No one had anything idea how hard she tried to stop herself from biting his cheeks. They look so inviting after all.

"Sweets, what are you even doing?" asked Darren.

"Nothing," answered Xiu. "I'm just playing with my son."

"But I feel like you're purposely teasing him."

"I'm not," refuted Xiu. "Right, little tiger?" Rowan babbled something in baby language and she nodded, "Yes. Just as she said. Mommy is not teasing him at all."

"You're a real talent," remarked Darren. "After all, no one else can understand what he said." Or more like no one was shameless enough to interpret Rowan's babbling into whatever they felt like.

"But I'm his mother," argued Xiu. "Of course, I can understand what he said."

Darren shook his head at her, "By the way, what gift did you buy for Mama?"

"I'm sending her on a cruise," said Xiu. "A whole three months cruise for honeymoon."

"Even we have never gone on a honeymoon," reminded Darren. "Why is everyone else going? I can't believe I'm suddenly jealous of my own Mama. Besides if your father recently came from his honeymoon."

Xiu smiled at Darren helplessly, "Father and mother go on a honeymoon every year on their wedding anniversary. You shouldn't be jealous of them." Even Xiu was surprised when she learned that Xin Zemin and Zhao Huan had such a tradition. No wonder they had been so content and happy as a couple for so long even without a child. They always had each other to depend on, why would they need another person between them?

Darren also thought of something, "Then how about we also go on a honeymoon on our wedding anniversary? It can become our tradition as well. You know, one should inherit something from one's parents. We can take their tradition."

"We can't go this year," said Xiu. "I've told Mama that Ashley will stay with us when they aren't around. By the time Mama comes back, our wedding anniversary would have passed already. Besides, we can't leave Ashley all alone here."

"Then when should we go?" asked Darren.

"Let's go on Rowan's second birthday," suggested Xiu. "By then, this little one would be bigger. And won't be so much trouble as he is now."

"Can't we leave him behind altogether?" 

Xiu looked at him, "You're already tired of your son?"

"No, I'm tired of him coming between us," said Darren helplessly. How could he not be aggrieved? Their son had come to love sleeping between his mom and dad at night. Darren couldn't even hug his wife at night because of this obstacle in between them.

"He is young," said Xiu. "Bear with him for a while. Once he grows up, it'll be better. Then we'll be one running after him to come to us."

Darren looked at his son thoughtfully as he muttered, "I highly doubt that." His intuition told him that his son was always gonna stay between him and his wife. 

Poor him didn't know that it was absolute truth in the future!

If he knew his intuition would come true, he'd have long distanced his son from his wife. This troublemaker only knew how to snatch his wife's attention even at this age. One could only wonder what he'd be capable of doing once he grew up.

Meanwhile, Rowan was oblivious to his father's worries and even now, was busy playing the you-tease-me-I-tease-you game with his mother that he loved to play. As for what his father thought, he didn't care at all!