"...Mom lied to me."
Even someone as innocent as the child could tell from the woman's silence that something was up.
"No."
The child's mom immediately replied.
"How could Mom ever lie to Yaya?"
"Yaya really does have lots of strengths that are all her own."
"What are they?"
A glimmer of hope returned to the child's eyes.
"Yaya is well-behaved and adorable. She's Mom's precious little sweetheart—"
"Not like that."
The child cut her mom off.
Those kinds of words might have worked on her before.
But now that she was a little older, they couldn't satisfy her hopes anymore.
"Like that kid who's really good at playing the piano..."
"Is there something I'm really good at too?"
The child widened her eyes.
The child's mom was taken aback.
That kid who's really good at playing the piano...
This child...
She was still thinking about that kid.
This child...
Unexpectedly...
Seemed to be quite a competitive little girl.
The child's mom gently smoothed the child's bangs. "Yaya doesn't play the piano."
Why compare herself to that kid?
The child puffed out her cheeks.
Of course she wasn't comparing her piano playing to that kid's.
She'd never learned to play the piano, and she had no talent for it.
What she meant was...
Did she have a talent as impressive as that kid's piano playing?
Drawing?
Singing?
Running?
It seemed like none of those.
The more the child thought about it, the more discouraged she became.
"Of course you do."
The child's dad spoke up.
"Didn't Yaya see the big leopard?"
Huh?
The child looked up.
"Isn't that a one-of-a-kind ability?"
The child's dad smiled.
The child's mom looked at the child's dad.
Wait...
Even if he was just trying