Guilt Trip

As soon as she rounded the next corner, she saw Mr. Wu standing in the corridor. He was leaning against the wall and holding his head in his hands.

"Mr. Wu?" she said tentatively.

Her boss turned to face her with red eyes. For a moment, Sun Mei thought he did not recognize her. His eyes were so vacant and distant…

However, when he took a good look at her, his face broke into a sad smile. Before Sun Mei could say anything else, he walked over to her in a flash and hugged her tightly.

Sun Mei felt all the air get squeezed out of her. Mr. Wu was hugging her so hard that she was afraid he would crush her bones, yet she did not give a damn.

His arms felt warm and safe around her, and his shirt smelled like strawberries.

So what if he suffocated her? They were already in a hospital. Sun Mei supposed there was no better place to have a near-death experience.

When she got over the initial shock of being so close to Mr. Wu that she could feel his beating heart, she pulled back slightly to look at him.

"Mr. Wu?" she whispered. "Please tell me Lily is okay."

He slowly pulled his arms away and sighed deeply. Sun Mei kind of regretted ever asking anything and ruining this moment.

"I'm so pathetic," she thought. "I'm happy that he hugged me, even though he is obviously just worried sick about his daughter."

Mr. Wu slowly regained his composure and said, "She's okay now. But she gave me quite a scare…"

Although he tried to laugh this off, Sun Mei could tell how terrified he was at the idea of losing his daughter.

"What happened, sir? You said on the phone that she had an allergic reaction…"

"Yes... She apparently has a nut allergy that I wasn't aware of. When she had some pecan pie at the party, she…" Mr. Wu paused.

It was obviously hard for him to recall this. Sun Mei, who understood, waited patiently for him to continue.

"She went into anaphylactic shock," he said quietly after a while. "She almost stopped breathing. I panicked so much that I couldn't even drive. If one of the other moms hadn't driven her here, she might have…"

"Mr. Wu, don't finish that sentence," Sun Mei told him sternly. "Everything went okay, right?"

"Yes, but I… I should have reacted faster. I should have known that she had an allergy!"

Suddenly, Sun Mei felt her temper flare. "How could you have known?" she said in a slightly raised voice. "Allergies can develop at any time. This is not your fault, so quit acting like it is!"

She immediately regretted yelling at him. He was a father who had just gone through an ordeal. How could she be so insensitive?

She quickly opened her mouth to apologize, but Mr. Wu raised his hand to stop her. "No, don't take it back. I deserved it."

Sun Mei nodded. "You've been irrationally blaming yourself for something that was out of your control."

"You are right."

"Good," Sun Mei said firmly. "Now that we've established that Lily is alright and no one is to blame…"

"She's actually already sleeping. I just couldn't stand to see her with those tubes in her..."

"Because you were blaming yourself for her state. But you are done doing that now, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Mr. Wu said obediently.

"Okay, I have one last question before we go in to see her."

"Shoot."

"Please don't tell me Karen drove you here."

"That wasn't a question."

"Oh my god, she did, didn't she? You owe a favor to Karen!"

Mr. Wu sighed. "Do you have to remind me?"

"I knew there was another reason you were so sad!"

"Sun Mei, you are possibly the most insensitive person I've ever met." Mr. Wu paused and smiled slowly. "But I don't know what I'd do without you…"