Chapter 15 #4
Once he has his footing again, he looks at Mei, then up at Randall. He doesn’t understand why she was fine one minute but now looks like she is going to burst into tears. Randall is too scared to move, and I try to step in, but Tracy stops me.
“Mei, he’s okay. Randall is really friendly.
” Theo smiles, looking at Randall, who offers him a smile back as the two of them then turn to look at Mei.
Her grip around Theo’s hand gets tighter as Randall slowly makes his way to her level.
He doesn’t attempt to touch her as he knows it’s too soon, but he does give her the kindest smile he can muster when I can’t hold myself back anymore.
“You can trust him; he won’t hurt you,” I say to her in Korean.
Then a few seconds pass; Mei doesn’t respond, but her facial expression does get softer; she no longer looks as if she’s going to cry and stares at Randall, who repeats my words in English, then offers her a hello in Korean.
We accept that this is enough progress for today as she and Theo run off into the playroom to play with the other children.
Whilst we adults gush about the new development.
Randal and I hug each other, crying with happiness.
Tracy, as always, is the rock; she just smiles.
Glad things were starting to work out, and happy she got to witness such a ground-breaking event.
****
The day went pretty quickly after that; the children played for a while, then we sat them all down to have lunch.
Mei eats with gusto, cleaning her entire plate, making it the first time she’d eaten a whole meal since she arrived here, and I know it was all because of Theo.
Those two have been stuck by the hip all day, and as the day went on, I was more and more grateful that I brought him along with me.
Who knew all it took to help Mei out of her shell was a friend she could relate to, however little. The two of them didn’t talk, but when you watched them interact, it was as if they didn’t need to; all they needed was to trust each other, and that formed a bond so simple that words weren’t needed.
While the children finish off lunch, Randall helps me set up the arts and crafts table. Something I did with them every week, where they can get them to explore different expressions of art; this week, it’s painting.
A messy recipe for disaster when it came to children, but they all have aprons, so their clothes won’t get dirty, and the good thing about paint is that it washes off. Surprisingly, the children sit for a good two hours painting their favourite things, laughing, and bonding with each other.
Whilst we adults clear away the mess and put their paintings out of reach so they can dry, the children watch Moana. The only Disney DVD that made them all sit still long enough and sing along for Tracy, Randall, and me to get things done.
Dinner came around quickly after that, and as a treat, we ordered pizza. The children were over the moon, jumping and cheering when the pizza delivery lady showed up at the door. After a full day of playing, of course, after dinner was devoured, everyone was tuckered out, including Theo.
Despite the difficult and emotional ending to the day, Theo, Mei and all the other children cried at home time, except Oscar, who wanted to show that he’s too strong to cry, but even his sad expression said everything.
I promised the children to bring Theo again soon to play. The tight hug he and Mei share almost made me let him stay for the night. Not knowing how Mei is going to act once we leave, and how heartbreaking it is to separate her from her new friend.
But if I did that, I wouldn’t be doing my job first and foremost. I have to get Theo home to his own bed, and Oliver mentioned he would be calling before Theo went to sleep, so I think he’d know if Theo wasn’t in his own bed.
The last thing I wanted to do was poke the bear.
So, as hard as it was, we left with the children waving goodbye on the doorstep as we climbed into our black cab home.
Was this cab gonna be expensive? Yes, but I was following Oliver’s orders, using his black AMEX card as he insisted, so there was zero chance he’d have an issue once he saw his bank statement.
I hadn’t thought about Oliver all day, not that I did daily, but honestly, today I forgot he existed, that he wasn’t even in the country, and I know it’s bad to think this way, but for a second, it felt like Theo was mine.
I loved getting to experience his first time on public transport together, bringing him to a care home and seeing him play with the children. It gave my heart a warm and fuzzy feeling I don’t think I’m ready for.
Getting attached to Theo isn’t a good thing to do, nor is yearning for children of my own or wishing he were mine.
It was the same feeling I got when I first met Mei.
How much I already loved her and wished that I had the capacity to adopt her, so I could protect her and ensure harm never comes to her again, but that is nothing but a dream at this point.
When it comes to knuckle and scrape it all, I’m not financially stable, nor do I have a place we could both live, and I’m aware how much harder it is to adopt as a single person.