Chapter 13: Paper Cranes

In just an hour or so, the sky will turn dark. Most of the students and teacher of Sunflower Kindergarten has gone back to their home. In one of the classrooms, two girls were seen folding some animal-shaped origami in silence.

"I'm done!" Megan Xiao said with excitement as she lifted up her frog origami. She stood up and peered at her friend's paper. "Hazel, what are you folding?"

"Paper cranes," Hazel answered. Her focus was on the paper.

Megan tilted her head sideways. "Paper cranes? Isn't that hard?"

Hazel nodded. "En. But I heard that if I can fold thousand of paper cranes, God will grant my wish."

Megan's eyes went wide as she heard her friend's word. "Really?" she grabbed a stack of paper and sat beside Hazel. "Hazel! Teach me!"

Just as Hazel was about to teach her friend how to fold the paper cranes, the girls heard their teacher calling out Megan Xiao's name.

"Yes, Teacher Qian?" Megan put down the paper in her hand and turned around.

"Your mother is here to pick you up," Edith announced. She watched the little girl picked up her bag and walked her to the entrance, where her mother was waiting for her.

Edith bid the mother and daughter goodbye. She returned to the waiting room and found Hazel was sitting quietly folding some paper cranes. She approached the girl and sat beside her. She picked up a paper crane and inspected the folding. Although Hazel was still young, her work was very neat.

Edith looked at the girl with a smile. "You're folding paper cranes. Do you have a wish?"

Hazel replied with a nod.

"Can you tell me about your wish?"

Hazel paused from her work for a couple of seconds. She continued her folding and answered with a small voice. "I wish that my parents will rest peacefully. I wish for them not to worry about me."

Edith was stunned at the little girl's answer. She forced a smile and patted the girl on her hair. "Do you need my help?"

Hazel shook her head. "No. I want to do this by myself."

"Then, I'll be at my desk and finish up with my work. Tell me if you need anything, alright?"

Hazel nodded. "Okay."

Edith walked to her desk and started doing her preparation for tomorrow's lessons and activities. Once in a while, she would glance towards the little girl who was busying herself with her origami.

After a few days, she noticed all the changes in this student. The most obvious thing was that Hazel would no longer act as spoiled as she used to. She loved to sit alone to do her own thing, but she would not isolate herself whenever there's a group activity. She still got along with her friends well.

Sometimes, Edith would find Hazel would sit alone at the corner with her head tilted down whenever her friends weren't looking.

Soon, the other teachers started to leave the premises one by one. They stopped by the waiting room and bid her goodbye. The day has turned dark outside. Edith glanced at the clock and started to worry that Hazel's uncle has not shown up to pick up his niece.

The doorbell rang and Edith walked to the intercom and talked to the guard for a while. It looked like there was a problem.

"Hazel," Edith called. "Wait here for a while okay?"

"Okay."

Edith walked out of the class and walked to the guard room. A young man dressed in a suit stood beside the elderly guard. Although the guard can be said an elder, his body was still fit and strong.

Edith turned to the guard. "Guard Dan. Did you say someone come to pick up Hazel Mo?"

The young man in a suit stepped forward. "You must be Hazel Mo's teacher." He took out a business card from his suit and handed it to her. "Good evening. My surname is Zhong. But you can call me Assistant Shawn. I am Neil Mo's assistant."

Edith Qian took the business card and read the name. Shawn Zhong. As he had said earlier, he is an assistant slash secretary of President Neil Mo at MH Group. He was tall, thin, and wearing a black-rimmed spectacle.

"Good evening, Mister Zhong. You can just call me Teacher Qian."

"Teacher Qian, I'm here to pick Miss Hazel Mo," the assistant bowed and continued, "I'm sorry for my tardiness. There was traffic congestion due to a bad accident on my way here."

Edith returned the business card and turned to the elder guard. "Guard Dan, Assistant Shawn's name was really not in the list?"

The elder man nodded politely. "His name is not on the list. I would not trouble you if his name is in the list, Teacher Qian."

Edith glanced at the bespectacled man as she thought over the problem. "Is Headmistress Fu still around?"

"Headmistress Fu had left the kindergarten almost ten minutes ago," Guard Dan reported.

Edith Qian heaved a sigh and looked at the assistant. "Assistant Shawn, right?" she saw the man nodded and continued, "I'm sorry, but I really can't let you leave with Hazel Mo."

"Ah?" The assistant looked at her in surprise. "Why not? The president really sent me here to pick up the little miss. If you doubt my identity, you can ask Miss Hazel Mo to identify me."

"Even if Hazel Mo recognized you, I still can't let her leave with you. Your name was not registered as the authorized person to pick up the child. Unless if the child's guardian gave us notice first."

Assistant Shawn's expression soured at her words. "Teacher Qian, please don't make it hard for me."

"I'm not trying to make things hard for you," Edith said apologetically. "But this is for the basic procedure to ensure the safety of the children here. I hope you can understand."

Assistant Shawn frowned as he was deep in his thought.

"How about this?" Edith said after a brief silence. "Why don't you give your boss a call and tell him to contact the kindergarten?"