The squeals of kids playing in the nearby fenced-off secure area behind the school had him look over and watch with fixed attention for a moment before he spotted her. Glued to the tiny little girl dressed in a pink dungaree set today that made her seem younger. A striped t-shirt underneath, but what stood out was her fuschia glitter sneakers as she paraded around waving her doll in the air in a game of chase with her little friends. The girl always had to have sparkle, and it softened Kai’s rigid features into the ghost of a smile.
Kai couldn’t breathe. He watched in silence. His mind blanked as he focused on her delicate features and smiling bright face. He couldn’t deny she was probably the cutest kid he had ever seen. Happy and oblivious to the mess growing around her, he wondered if he was doing the right thing for a second. Invading her life, ripping it apart, and changing everything she knew. Guilt gnawed at him even though he wasn’t even sure she could be his.
He hadn’t expected to see her out in the playground like this. He had numbly picked the address, thinking of catching only a glimpse at her, seeing her face, and trying to end this agony of confusion and doubt. Maybe if he saw her again and evaluated every feature, he might be closer to finding San’s or his in there somehow. Instead, when he looked at her, he only saw Meilei. It was more obvious every time, and he didn’t know why he had been oblivious to it.
Another squeal of delight as Yue sailed down the baby slide pulled a lump to his throat, making him move upright to peer closely, and he watched with the attentiveness of a worried parent until she reached the bottom and climbed off. She seemed to have no fear. His eyes followed her as she ran back to the ladder to climb again, and he relaxed.
She looked like a little girl who had no cares in the world and knew only happiness. Guilt gnawed at his stomach at the thought of how this could completely change all three of their lives, but he couldn’t shake the twice he had met her and the lack of anyone taking care of her. No matter how happy she seemed, that carelessness couldn’t be overlooked. A kid wouldn’t know the difference between a careless parent and a good one, and there was no way he would tolerate his child being left in dangerous situations.
A flicker of a thought crossed his mind about those two interactions and the very real fact that he had caused the second one. She hadn’t been with Meilei because of him. Yue had expressed sadness at her mother’s lack of presence due to work… If he hadn’t kept her late and made her start earlier.. that ‘someone’ he had mistakenly assumed was a boyfriend wouldn’t have told him how sad it made her. He was so muddled and conflicted about all of this.
The internal ring of the car connected to his cell alerted him to a call, giving him a break from torturing himself inside out, and he glanced back at the center console to see his sister’s name. He hit the answer button without hesitation, knowing he should get out of there before someone spotted him watching the kids and reported him as some creep. He had been sitting for twenty minutes now, and it was a pretty quiet suburban street with plenty of houses dotted around.
“My flight gets in at seven, so pick me up.” She sounded as strained as him, and he knocked his head back against the headrest in agitation. He should have known she would do this, and it pissed him off.
This is why Kai regretted telling her in a moment of weakness and shock. That little kid in him who was close to his siblings would confide in his elder one anytime he was lost. He clenched his fist at the last sentence.
His mother was more aggressive than any of them, and she would want to fight with fire, trampling all over anyone who stood in her way. She wouldn’t consider Yue in it because, in her mind, the child would get over anything and everything once she was safe within her rightful family. He had grown up with her overbearing presence and knew it only too well.
Kai’s temper was growing, and he turned his head to see the last of the children being ushered back inside. Yue was already gone, and he gripped the wheel in frustration and irritation. He started the car, frowning with fury, taking it as a signal to go, and pulled out into traffic.
“Why wouldn’t I tell them?” Minhui was pitchy and snappy, emotions killing her too because this was something she had never seen coming. She was defensive because her brother was mad over her actions and couldn’t see they all wanted to be there for him.
He had no time for this. He also had no idea where he was going now. He had left work, telling no one with only the need to get out and breathe. Instead of improving his mood, one call had made him worse. Traffic wasn’t helping as he slowed into yet another mid-day jam.
Another beep alerted him to a second call trying to get through, and Chang Ho’s name appeared in the top corner of the screen.
“I have to go. My lawyer’s calling me. Do not come here. I mean it, Minhui. I won’t be glad to see you.” He commanded her with a warning tone that sounded exactly like their father’s and hung up before she could respond. He breathed to cool his mood, eyes on the road at his crawling speed, and then hit the call response for his second one.
“I pulled some strings, and first thing in the morning, I will have your declaration of parentage and an order for her to comply within ten days. That’s a good eighteen days shorter than standard. It won’t be stopped or delayed, and I don’t need you there for the hearing. It will be a closed-quarters meeting with the judge.”
Kai rounded his shoulders and arched in his seat to try to loosen some of his body’s knots and tension. It all rested on that DNA test, and he didn’t have the confidence that this would be something he wanted to know.
“Right,” Kai responded flatly. He had a headache brewing, and this car wasn’t the most comfortable ride for long road journeys. The seats were too low and cramped for his tall frame.
“Are you telling me to cut her loose and leave her alone in OTS?” Kai breathed out with disbelief that this had turned around completely.