Miracle Cutie Chapter 39: No Kiss

No one else could land a peck on her.

Amelia had drummed it into her countless times: no random kisses on that chubby little face, and definitely no one touching or smooching any part of her body.

Having absorbed these lessons, Nina held her little face dear.

Offering it to Benjamin was her way of signaling that she'd welcomed him as her dad.

Unfortunately, Benjamin missed the memo.

Gazing at Nina's chubby cheeks, he just couldn't make himself plant a kiss.

Since he could recall, he'd never kissed anyone, save for Amelia that one fateful night.

"Any other parts of you hurting? Daniel's outside. Let's go see him," Benjamin said after a brief hush, steering clear of the kiss and shifting the topic to distract her.

But Nina was a feisty little thing.

First, she patted her head and mumbled, "Still... ouch."

Then she piped up, "Miss Un-coo Dan'el!"

After whining about the pain and her longing for Daniel, Nina inched her adorable face even closer to Benjamin, still waiting with bated breath for that smooch.

Benjamin just kept quiet, clutching Nina tight and picking up the pace, eager to be out of there.

Nina was utterly stunned, her big, round eyes brimming with confusion.

Perched on Benjamin's arm, she craned her neck up, giving him a long, hard look.

She was deep in thought!

With a dead-serious expression on her chubby face, she was a picture of cuteness.

Benjamin's eyes were fixed on the path ahead, oblivious to Nina's inquisitive stare.

Meanwhile, Nancy, trailing behind, was still reeling from hearing Nina call Benjamin "Daddy". The revelation hit her like a ton of bricks.

So, Nina wasn't some illegitimate child after all!

She was a bona fide Graham. And Daniel wasn't going to be a stepdad; he was the real uncle.

The realization made Nancy's knees go weak as she still quaked in her boots at the thought of the Graham family.

"Well—" Nancy started to say, but Benjamin shot her an icy glare that made her clamp her mouth shut.

The return journey felt like it would never end.

Before long, Nina, who'd been staring at Benjamin for ages, finally had a light-bulb moment in her little noggin.

"No kiss kiss?"

Nina scrunched up her chubby face and reached to pat her own cheek.

It was so squishy, just right for kisses!

She thought about why else her dad didn't kiss her.

"Daddy, no luve me," she declared, her tiny voice thick with sadness.

It wasn't even a question; it was a little heartbroken statement.

Just 'cause she was little didn't mean she was dumb.

When others kissed her, they always said they loved her.

Love meant kisses, right?

So no kisses from Daddy meant no love.

Once she'd worked that out, Nina's chubby face got all serious, and she started wiggling in Benjamin's arms.

"Me down! No hug!"

When Benjamin didn't let go, Nina leaned way back and started wriggling like a little eel.

"Whoa there!" Benjamin almost dropped her.

"Nina, be a good kid," he said, using that bossy tone he used at work.

His employees always nodded and said "yes, sir" right away.

They were scared of him. But not Nina.

At two-and-a-half, she didn't care about all that. She just had that same feisty temper as her dad.

"No good. Bad Nina!" she said, her voice all firm.

Benjamin frowned. To keep her from falling, he put her down on the ground.

"Don't you wanna go home? If I carry you, we'll get there quicker," he asked, squatting down.

Nina just huffed and didn't say a word. She took off on her little legs.

After two steps, Benjamin called out, "Wrong way. Left."

Nina just stood there.

Not knowing which way was left, she huffed again and picked a random direction.

"That's not left," Benjamin told her.

Nina was so mad she could've popped.

The dad she'd dreamed of wasn't like this cold guy at all.

"No want daddy," she murmured.

Nina fixed her direction and kept walking, but she clammed up and didn't say a single word to him.

There was food in Benjamin's backpack.

After a bit of walking, he pulled out some energy bars and a water bottle. He walked over to Nina, who was still plodding along on her own, and held them out.