Eight years ago, if someone had told Won that someday he'd be taking non-holidays off, he would have told them to leave his shop immediately.
If that same someone had foolishly stuck around and said he'd actually be doing something domestic on those days, he'd have chased them out and banned them for life.
And yet, here he was, early on Friday afternoon, carefully slicing apples for curry while Claire ran errands in town. She wouldn't be home until six, which left him in charge of the house, and in charge of collecting Mei in about an hour. Their daughter was at the library, as she was every Saturday.
With more children living in Mineral Town, the library had been converted into something of a children's center on weekends. Mary helped them with their letters, read to the youngest children, and allowed the older ones to pick books to read privately. It was helping tremendously; the kids could learn reading, their parents had one less thing to teach them at home, the kids could socialize while their parents got a break, and Mary was becoming more and more confident about her own recently-announced child. After all, if she could look after seven children of varying ages, a baby ought to be no trouble.
And Mei... five-year-old Mei loved the library. She was always talking about the new stories she'd read at the dinner table, or gleefully shout-singing how to spell 'difficulty.'
Won couldn't help wondering what she'd be telling them about this week.
He never would have imagined it would be something bad.
There was a knock on the door suddenly. Won glanced up at the clock with a frown; they weren't expecting anyone, and nobody had ordered a package. Still, she wiped his apple juice-stained hands on his pants and headed for the door.
He opened the door a crack, squinting through the gap - and his eyes went wide at who it was.
"Mary?" Won blinked, opening the door wider. "What are you doing-"
And then his gaze fell on Mei.
His daughter's short brown hair was tousled and messy, a far cry from its usual neat bob. Her dark brown eyes were wet and shiny as she sulked, and... Won gasped, both in shock and rage.
There was a large, purple bruise on Mei's already-swelling cheek.
"Mei!" he cried, kneeling down to her level. He held his hands out as if to touch her shoulders, and was alarmed further when Mei turned away from him. "Mei, what happened?"
Mary cleared her throat anxiously. "I didn't see all of it," she said. "But there was... There was a fight between Mei and one of the other children."
"What?!" Won stood up again, dark eyes blazing. Mei - his little Mei - had been attacked by one of the other children?! And right under Mary's nose?!
(He quickly quieted that part of himself. No, no, it wasn't Mary's fault, she had several children to keep an eye on and read with, she couldn't watch everybody all the time. But still, someone had hit his Mei!)
"What happened?" he barked. "Who did this? Who are their parents?! Who hurt her? When I find out who-"
"A-Actually!" Mary winced, holding up an index finger to interrupt. "Actually... Mei was the one who started it," she murmured apologetically.
Won blinked, his rage immediately cooling, replaced by numb shock. "What?" He looked down at Mei, who seemed unusually interested in the scenery as opposed to the adults in front of her. "Mei?"
Mei said nothing. She simply yanked her arm out of Mary's grip, and ran past Won into the house. Won heard her running to her room, slamming the door shut. Fine. Fine, he could deal with that later. For the moment, he turned back to Mary, disbelief evident on his face. "What happened?" he asked again, in a calmer tone.
Mary blew out a puff of air, making her bangs float up. "I didn't see how it started," she admitted. "But I was helping Rick and Karen's boy with his reading. Mei and the other girls were on the rug, I thought they'd be alright for a few minutes. And all of a sudden I heard one of them scream. When I looked up, Mei was attacking Amelia."
"Attacking...?"
"She'd pushed her to the ground and was slapping her in the face." Mary's tone of voice made it clear she was not enjoying this discussion. "Amelia's sister was trying to pull Mei off of her. That's how Mei's cheek got hurt, Sammi had hit her by the time I arrived to stop it."
Won closed his eyes, sighing deeply through the nose. Mei had done this. Mei had started this. He couldn't believe it. Mei had been nothing less than an angel before, she'd always gotten along with the other children. How could she have possibly...?
He suddenly felt sick, remembering Amelia. He didn't know her parents, as they were a family who'd arrived after the town had become even more prosperous, but that didn't change the fact they were owed an apology. "Is Amelia alright?"
"She will be. The worst she had was a swollen lip. I've already taken her home, and her family is visiting Trent right now. Her parents are upset, but they said kids fight all the time, so they won't speak to Harris about this."
"Good, good. Ayyy..." he muttered, swearing in Mandarin under his breath.
"If... I'm terribly sorry about all this, but I have to follow the proper channels regarding this incident. Mei won't be allowed back into the library next weekend."
"Yes, yes, of course..."
"She's more than welcome after that! I just... I am deeply sorry, but all things considered-"
"Yes, I know. Thank you, Mary. Claire and I will be speaking with her." Oh, they'd probably do a lot more than 'speak' with her, of course. But speaking would be a good start.
Mary winced again, this time in sympathy. "I'm sorry to trouble you with this."
"No, it's fine. You did what you had to. Thank you, I will see you later, Mary."
Won closed the door and waited until he was sure Mary had left the property to go confront Mei. He had to take a few moments to calm down, think rationally. He never shouted at Mei, he didn't think he ever would. But he was angry. He did not, could not, understand. His little Mei, attacking another child? Mei didn't even like swatting spiders!
Granted, that was because she would loudly insist that it was 'one of Charlotte's babies,' after Claire had read her some book about a spider and a pig but...
He took a deep, steadying breath through the nose, and then straightened. Alright. He could do this.
Won walked the short distance to Mei's bedroom door and rapped on it with his knuckles. "Mei?" he called. "Open this door."
"No," came the wet voice from inside.
"Mei, I'm not going to ask you again."
"You're gonna be mad at me!"
"Of course I'm going to be mad at you; you hit someone!" he retorted, shoulders slumping in disbelief.
"You don't understaaaaan'!" Mei wailed. But it sounded muffled. Evidently she'd hid her face in something.
"Understand what, Mei? Why did you hit Amelia?"
"She started it, Bàba! She said somethin' mean!"
Won's hand stilled over the doorknob. Something mean? Well, that could be anything... it could be something about Mei's hair, or her clothes, or... Won's heart twisted. Or she could have said something about Mei herself. About her background.
No, he told himself. Even if that was the case, Amelia was only five, and wouldn't know any better. And he knew everyone here, nobody was that cruel. It had to be something else.
He heard Mei sniffle loudly, and that made up his mind. Slowly, he pushed open the door and peered inside.
Mei was lying face-down on her bed, her little face hidden in her many plush pillows. She hadn't even taken her shoes off, and now melting snow was tracked from her door to her bedcovers. Won carefully avoided the wet spots as he walked up to her, sitting on the edge of the bed. Mei's sniffles paused, letting him know that she knew he was there, even if she didn't speak. He waited for a few moments, letting the remainder of her rage dissipate.
Once the tension left her shoulders and her sniffs had stopped, he asked: "What did Amelia say?"
"Somethin' stupid..."
"What was it, Mei?"
"I can't tell you. It was a bad word."
"Mei, you can tell me the bad word just this once."
Mei sat up and turned around, staring at Won with huge, startled eyes. "Really?" she whispered.
Won nodded. "Tell me what Amelia said to make you hit her."
Mei frowned darkly, rubbing at her nose with the back of her hand. When Won held his arm out, she scooted closer to him until she was pressed to his side in a hug. She stared at the floor for a long time, rotating her ankles. Won just waited for the metaphorical bomb to drop.
Finally, Mei took a shaky breath. "I was readin' 'Ol' McDonald' with Amelia an' Sammi... An' I told 'em that Māma has a farm, too. With cows an' sheep an' a horse an' a dog an' flowers an'-"
"Mei," Won prompted firmly.
"A-An' vegetables... An' Amelia said... Sh-she said Māma's vegetables were stupid!"
Won sat there, staring blankly. That... that was all? No, that couldn't be. "And then what happened?"
"A-An' I said no they weren't, they went to all the other towns an' into the inn's food an' everyone's fridge! An' Amelia said vegetables are all stupid an' gross, an' so are Māma's! An' then I pushed her."
"You pushed her."
"An' then I hit her." Mei shrank into herself, pointedly staring at the floor.
"...when did she say a bad word?"
Mei looked up, frowning. "I already told you! She said 'stupid!'"
Won just stared, his expression blank. Then slowly something started to shift. He lowered his head, shoulders twitching first, then lightly shaking. The hand that wasn't resting on Mei's shoulder went to his face, slowly dragging down to cover his mouth as he faced the floor. The entire time, he trembled with suppressed... laughs.
This was why? Because someone hadn't liked Claire's vegetables? Well, considering this was a small child, it probably didn't matter whose vegetables they were really, but - this was why? "M-Mei..." he finally said, voice tight as he tried not to let the dam burst. "First of all, 'stupid' isn't a Bad Word - it's not nice, but it's not - ahem, second of all, you shouldn't have hit Amelia. It's okay if she doesn't like vegetables-"
"She said Māma's vegetables were-"
"Gross and stupid, yes, but it's okay! Lots of people don't like vegetables! You don't like vegetables - just last night you refused to eat the gravy off your hamburger steak because it had mushrooms and those were yucky. Remember?"
"Y-Yeah, but..." Mei's face twisted into a look of sour indignation. "Only I'm allowed to say that! Māma's my māma an' she knows I don' mean it! Nobody else can say mean things 'bout Māma's stuff!"
So it came down to defending Claire, in the end. In a strange, childish way, of course. Won supposed that made sense. He himself was rather indifferent when it came to most of Claire's produce, but if someone had tried to tell him they were inferior quality, not even the Harvest Goddess would be able to hold him back.
He supposed he didn't blame Mei for her anger. And in the end, this was just a childish spat - Mary had even said Amelia was fine.
But still, she'd attacked another child, and this had to be prevented from happening again.
"Mei," he began, squaring his shoulders. "Just because Amelia didn't like Māma's vegetables doesn't mean she doesn't like Māma. And it doesn't mean you had to hit her. That was very wrong of you. You know that, yes?"
Mei nodded slowly, sighing.
"Māma doesn't need you to defend her - she can do that on her own, and her vegetables bring in a lot of money for us. So who cares what someone thinks? It shouldn't matter to you. And even if it does, hitting people is never okay. So I don't want to hear about this happening again. Understood?"
"Yes, Bàba."
Won lowered his sunglasses, peering at Mei over the tops of them. When Mei didn't look at him, he lightly jostled her by pulling her close and then easing his hold, making her laugh. "I said 'understood?'" he repeated, smiling faintly.
"Yes, Bàba!"
"So you're sorry?"
"Uh-huh!"
"I don't know if I believe thaaaat..."
"I'm sorry, Bàba!" Mei laughed again.
"For...?"
"I'm sorry for hittin' Amelia, an' I won't do it again."
"Good." Won hugged Mei close, petting her hair to smooth down the tangles that were still there. He couldn't help feeling relieved, all things considered. Nothing terrible had happened. This was just a silly childish fight. Nobody was badly hurt. And it was over vegetables, of all things, not something more serious as he'd feared.
Everything was fine.
Won gave Mei one last squeeze, kissing her forehead. "Now, about your punishment-"
"Bàba!"
"In addition to not going to the library next week, you're grounded for three days-"
"Bàba-" Mei began to protest before she sighed. "Okaaaay..."
"And we're going to Amelia's house to formally apologize after you've cleaned up..."
Mei nodded. "Okay."
"And..." Won's eyebrows slowly rose as he considered his next sentence. "And...when Māma gets home we're telling her what you did."
"What?! Bàba, noooo!"
"Do you want to be grounded for a week instead of three days?"