School Gossip

Sun Mei put on the set of clothes she had been wearing the previous night and walked out of the mansion with Mr. Wu. Together, they drove to a particularly nice part of town with lots of trees and flowers.

Mr. Wu parked right across the street from Lily's school and the two of them crossed the street. Outside of the building were about a dozen parents who were also waiting to pick up their children. Some of the mothers started shooting curious looks at Sun Mei. Soon, they turned to each other and started whispering.

"Sir, why are people pointing at me and whispering?" Sun Mei asked Mr. Wu shyly.

He looked uncomfortable as he answered, "They have never seen a woman accompany me before, so they probably jumped to the same conclusion as Vivian."

When Sun Mei frowned in confusion, he added, "They think you are my girlfriend."

"Oh!" Sun Mei exclaimed. "They are gossiping about us? That is so rude!"

"Now that you mention it, yes it is." Mr. Wu turned to one of the mothers and said, "At least lower your voice, Karen! My nanny and I can hear you!"

Karen, who was a blonde woman with big glasses, was taken aback. "Hi, Charles. Didn't see you there!"

Everyone laughed at her failed attempt to mask her embarrassment. "Sure you didn't," Mr. Wu said with a faint smile.

Suddenly, the doors of the classrooms opened and waves of tiny preschoolers spilled out. They were all excited to see their parents after a long morning away from them. Sun Mei spotted Lily, who was looking through the crowd anxiously for her dad.

"Over there, Mr. Wu!" Sun Mei pointed to the cute little girl.

"Daddy!" Lily screamed in delight as she ran over. Unfortunately, her smile turned to tears when she saw Sun Mei standing beside him.

"Daddy!" she said again before she buried her head against his legs and started to cry. Mr. Wu did not even get a chance to introduce them before she began to sob.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" he asked her worriedly as he hugged her tightly.

"You lied!" Lily said between long sobs. "You said… we were… going shopping… with someone special!"

"We are!" said Mr. Wu. "We are going shopping with Sun Mei!"

"I don't like Sun Mei!" Lily wailed loudly.

Mr. Wu's expression turned solemn. "That's nonsense. You haven't even met her!"

Suddenly, Lily started hitting his legs with her tiny fists. "I don't like her! Tell her to go away!"

Mr. Wu looked uncomfortably at Sun Mei and the group of parents around them, who had all stopped to stare at them. "Okay, let's go home. The shopping trip will have to be postponed."

Unfortunately, when they started to walk towards the car, Lily's screams got even louder.

"Tell her to leave! Tell her!" she screamed as Mr. Wu was carrying her in his arms.

When Sun Mei tried to open the car door, Lily yelled louder than ever, "No! Don't get in! No!"

Mr. Wu looked at Sun Mei with a tired expression. "Can you wait a second?" he asked her.

Sun Mei immediately stepped back from the car. She watched in horror as Mr. Wu strapped the screaming little girl to the backseat and tried to pull away. Lily wouldn't let him go. She held onto him so hard that her tiny fingernails left marks on his face when he dragged himself away. He quickly closed the car door, muffling his daughter's screams for a while.

Then, he approached Sun Mei and said seriously, "I'm sorry for this. It is entirely my fault. Can you please do me a favor? Can you stay here? I will drive Lily home and come back for you. I just need to calm her down first."

Sun Mei nodded numbly. "Yes, sir."

"I promise I'll be back for you," he told her before he jumped in the car and drove away.