Husband With Benefits

"Kitten? Kitten? Come here, wherever you are, or I won’t give you a treat." A man stood in the middle of the garden, hands on his hips, the sun beating down on his head. After one last futile scan of the surroundings, he sighed, "Alright, you keep playing in the hot sun. I’m out of here."

With a touch of dramatic flair, he scooped up his gardening tools and turned to head back, throwing one last call over his shoulder, "Come on, Kitten! Are you going to make me worry?"

Just then, a little girl raced over there, slightly huffing and her pigtails bouncing behind her. "Mister? What are you looking for?"

"I think she’s been naughty and fears that I will scold her."

The girl nodded sagely, a few delicate curls escaping her perfectly styled hair, and agreed, "Then it’s right she will hide. Even if she has been naughty, you shouldn’t scold her, or she will fear you."

The man furrowed his brows, looking at the girl with genuine worry in his eyes. "But if I don’t scold her, then she won’t understand her mistake, will she? I love her, so I must scold her."

The girl rolled her eyes with an air of worldly wisdom and spoke, "You sounded like my grandmother just now! She says the same thing when she scolds me and my cousins! ’I love you, my children, so I must scold you.’ What’s the logic in that?"

The man chuckled, the worry lines on his face softening as he bent down and spoke, "Your grandmother sounds like a wise woman. So, are you also hiding so that you don’t get a scolding?"

The girl gave the man a playful pout, crossing her lace-adorned arms. "Ha! Who would dare to scold me? I’ll simply cry so much, and they’ll know what it is to scold a tender little chick like me."