"Uncle Zee!!"
A cute voice, along with rattling footsteps coming from upstairs. Pan sighs as she hangs the apron at the hanger and walks out from the kitchen.
"Uncle Zee!" Shu calls out the name again. There's a strain of happiness on her face. Her eyes glow brightly and her chubby cheeks lift up.
"Morning, bunny!" Pan greets Shu with a smile, hiding the storm inside her. She feels guilty for not stopping Zee from leaving the house last night. She knows, Shu probably feels devastated if she finds out that Zee is long gone.
"Ma, where's Uncle Zee?" as Pan's verdict, the little girl inquired of curiosity.
"Oh, he was here waiting, but the college called him for an important appointment so he had to go," Pan tells a lie so Shu won't get frustrated and asks more questions.
"Ah... Busy man! Nevermind, I can still meet him up at school," Shu casually replies.
"School?" Pan is shocked. Shu smacks her mouth, realizing that she already spills a confidential matter to Pan.
"Ah.."
"Zee is doing social service at my kindergarten. It's been months now," Mei replies, leisurely descending from upstairs. Pan watches her in a puzzling mind.
"Months? So... They already meet each other for months?" Pan grabs the side of the table so tight, that her fingers turn white.
Mei nods subtly. She ruffles Shu's messy hair, making the girl swats her with a sharp side eyes.
"Go take a shower. You'll be late if you don't," says Mei. Shu hops down from the chair and goes straight back to her room.
Pan switches her sight to Mei. The girl casually grabs a cup of coffee from the kitchen.
"So, this is why you always backing him up? Because he provides to your kindergarten? How much does he pays for it?" Pan asks Mei in a frustrated mode.
"Social service is free, Pan..."
"You know about our past and who is Shu, and yet you still create a space for them to bond!"
"Pan... I believe I've done nothing wrong. He's there to finish his probation time. He feels comfortable around those kids, with me as a familiar figure. He has rights to choose," Pan grabs Mei's forearm and yanks it so the girl can stands closer to her.
"He has no rights to get close to my daughter!" Pan hisses.
Mei smirks, glaring at Pan.
"Zee is her father, Pan. Stop being selfish!"
"He can fathered other kids with other women! But, Shu is only mine!" Mei softly pulls her hand from Pan, standing still after her with a deep gaze staring at her friend.
"So did you, Pan. You can have a child with other men too, right? But, you have to remember something. No matter who you get involved with, the fact that Zee is Shu's father remains still. Even if he gets remarried in the future, HE is still the father of YOUR child," Mei pokes Pan's chest with her slender finger.
"Don't you realize, once he finds out, he has rights of custody towards Shu?! He can snatches her away from me! Legally, he has all his rights to take care of her, physically and financially!"
"I don't think he's too cruel, unlike you," Mei replies to Pan, sarcastic but straightforward at the same time. She can see how her friend unconsciously turns sour after that.
"I am not cruel!"
"Pan, what's wrong with Zee? Aside of the fact that he used to treat you like a trash, he's better compared to other men that ever exist in your life. He's being possessive because he loved you. Besides, the separation happened because that time, both of you were childish! Just because of that, you wanna forgo all the kindness and love that he used to gave to you?" Mei straights up her friend with some factual remarks. She puts the coffee mug into the sink, grabs the corner of the sink and sigh, trying her best to ease her mind.
"You don't understand, Mei! I only have Shu in my life! If Zee takes her away, what's left for me then?"
"Please stop being paranoid, Pan! If he wants to take Shu, he's had it done ages ago!"
"He never intend to do it because he doesn't know that Shu is his daughter!"
"So, you want me to chase him out? Avoid Shu from getting too close to him? Snatching away the one and only happiness in her life? Broke her heart?" Mei tilts her head, looking at Pan with her firm expression. "If you say yes, then, you're just as same as Zee. The man that you hated the most," Mei throws a sharp glance at Pan and left the kitchen at once.
Pan grunts out of frustration, almost smack the wall with her fist. She scolds herself for not being resonable. She should keep it calm and have more humane talk instead of flip out like a mad person. Slowly, she regains some logic and ease herself.
Besides, she already promised Zee. She won't stop him from meeting Shu.
Again, she curses herself for being evil.