Masking Reality

They were truly adoring little children. The mother who was with them at the shopping center was busily tending to a small notepad, perhaps her grocery list?

”You have incredibly cute kids,” I commented politely. My mind had a fetish for the small and the young.

She laughed at me, a typical teenage high school student. So I guess she wasn't so freaked out by my peculiar encounter. I supposed she thought they were immensely endearing too. Why wouldn't she? She was the parent, right?

”Want to know their names?”

Instantly I beamed at this great opportunity. I could recall that there were three of them. Two girls and one boy. One of the girls had very short, dark-brownish looking hair. So did the son. The middle child, however, was blonde, and I could tell that she must have received the majority of her traits from her mother, picking up the similarities.

”This is Clementine, the oldest,” she introduced, gesturing to the tallest girl with a very small smile and curly locks of dark hair. “And this is Fiona, our second oldest. Finally, our youngest son, Ben.”

I laughed with delight, hearing such cute little names for all of these children, not caring to pay any closer attention to the similarities of their traits. All kids looked liked their parents in a way almost all the time.

Those are such adorable names!” I commented under a tone of such anxious excitement. “Did you come up with these names?”

She shook her head, looking sheepish and very bashful. “Oh, no. It wasn't me. It was actually their father who convinced me. Apparently he had some sort of attachment to those names and persuaded me into naming them as so.”

”Do you like these names?”

She nodded with great enthusiasm.

”Oh yes! I quite think they're adorable. They’re strangely befitting, too.”

Ben, who always seemed to keep a straight face, began to whine and fret about, tugging on the edge of his mothers dress. Taking this into account she scooped him up into her arms and began to kiss his cheeks as an attempt to calm him down.

”I should get going. My husband is supposed to meet up with me, but I’m not sure where he…”

I followed her gaze behind me as her words trailed off into the air. A tall and very modest looking young man with azure eyes smiled, waving casually from afar. I suspected he was the father, since I noticed that Fiona had such uniquely pretty looking eyes just as he did— and not only that, but the nature of his hair color and style matched with Clementine’s and Ben’s traits.

”Oh! There you are, dear. You took so long!”

Clementine immediately ran into her daddy’s arms as he hugged her tightly with Fiona calmly following behind.

”I’m sorry I took so long,” he apologized sincerely. I couldn't help myself but smile. The picture of a loving family always touched me.

”Now. Who’s ready to go home?”

Ben began to cry again, and the mother tried desperately to keep him quiet before he caused enough attention. The father immediately came to her side and tried his best to coax Ben out of his fretting tantrum. His voice rang very deeply, almost into very soft and alluring murmurs. It was unbelievable as I watched Ben instantly fall asleep after a few hiccups here and there.

The mother turned to me and wave goodbye. The father, however, stopped to take a good look at me and I stood still, questioning whether to be worried or not. He grinned, and held out a fist gently towards me. I did not know how I came into such an absurd conclusion, but I took my own fist and nudged it with his. I felt weird doing that with him. It made me feel as if we were brothers or something. Regardless, the young man laughed at me and said “take care, friend,” before turning around to catch up with his waiting family. 
I made it a goal one day to raise a family as loving as that one. I was entirely sure that they were the perfect one.