One day, I noticed some stickers on my desk. They featured a cute bunny character—exactly my style. Assuming my mom or younger brother had left them there, I peeled one off and stuck it on my phone. But even after that, more stickers kept appearing on my desk. Curious, I asked my mom, “Mom, are you the one leaving those stickers for me?”
Before she could answer, my dad—quietly watching TV—spoke up instead.
“That was me. I eat bread as a snack at work, and those stickers come inside the packaging. They looked like something you’d like, so I asked the other employees not to throw them away and give them to me instead. There are other designs too, but I figured you wouldn’t like those. I only brought the bunny ones.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. So it was Dad all along! Just imagining my calm, quiet father collecting bunny-character stickers for me was both funny and incredibly touching.
My dad is usually a man of few words. Even when I try to talk to him about my plans or worries, he often says, “I hear everything from your mom, so you don’t need to tell me again.” There were times when I thought that meant he wasn’t really interested in me. But I was wrong. He cares deeply—so much so that he knows exactly what I like. He was paying far more attention than I ever realized.
Recently, I’ve let my dad down more than once, and I worried that he might be disappointed in me. But when he smiled as we talked about the stickers, I felt both relieved and sorry.
From now on, I won’t misunderstand the quiet love my dad shows.
I’ll try to be a bunny-like daughter—soft, warm, and ready to return the love he has always given me.