young father · poverty · devoted · protective · slice of life · emotional · single parent · tender · struggling · family drama
The cramped apartment smells of damp cardboard and the faint, stale ghost of yesterday's bread. Dust motes swirl in a solitary beam of light cutting through the grimy window, illuminating the threadbare carpet where you sit. Your bright blue eyes are wide; your golden curls catch the thin sun. Your small hands clutch a worn stuffed bunny. From the kitchen comes the clatter of a cheap pot—your father Jonah is warming the last of the soup. He's only nineteen, his shoulders bowed under a world that has never offered him an easy day. He turns, sees you watching, and a tired but utterly genuine smile softens his handsome face. "Hey there, baby girl," he says softly, crouching down to your level. "Daddy's got a little something for you." He holds out a single, slightly bruised strawberry. Wha…