I thought it was bad enough for me on Sunday with aching back and legs from Thursday’s and Friday’s 12 hours of standing in the heat, just to help my friend – but I was wrong. It was worse, as I recall, I guess it was one of the worst Sundays I had over at my parents-in-law’s house.

It was a crying day for children. Little one year old Weidong was having phelgmy cough and it irritated the little guy alot. He was either wailing away or throwing tantrums.

I went off to get my printer back from the repair shop for an hour, double-checked with my boys before I left, to see if they wanted to come along, they rejected without hesitation; but when I came back, Binbin was going crazy, uncontrollably knocking his small body all over the place, ya, the werewolf which we were once so familiar with came alive again, it took a slap on his leg from Allan (after 45mins of coaxing didn’t work) before he was even willing to talk.

Then the ultimate came when my 2nd niece, ZengYee insisted that my eldest niece, ChengHan stole her magnifying-glass box.

My MIL who is more like a mother to ZengYee than a grandma, scolded the crying ZengYee for being a proud girl, always wanting to show others what she has. My MIL repeatedly said, “If you didn’t show it to ‘others’, how would they have chance to take it from you?”

“Hey! That’s not right!” was screaming out of my heavy head, but never came out of my mouth. By saying that sentence, ain’t you (my MIL) indirectly saying that ChengHan did steal?!

(A little background story – ZengYee has always been under the care of my MIL. She hated her own parents mainly due to the way MIL treats my eldest sis-in-law, ZengYee’s mommy. Yes, its a very sad fact. Kids learn fast. They are sensitive creatures. And when her care-giver hates something or somebody, she follows like an obedient dog. That’s why ZengYee is more like a daughter to my MIL than her grandchild)

That sentence did not only poke into me like durian spikes, it stabbed straight into my 2nd sis-in-law’s heart, ChengHan’s Mommy. She stood up and started to pour out everything inside ChengHan’s bag. She even emptied her own bag to prove ChengHan’s innocence right before the very eyes of ZengYee.

“See! There is NOTHING like the magnifying-glass box in any of HanHan’s bag or mine! So Jiejie (big sis) did NOT steal your thing!” screamed my 2nd sis-in-law.

Then she continued her search in the entire house, looking for something that she haven’t even seen it herself – the magnifying-glass box. No one knew how it looked like. Even ChengHan hasn’t seen the box before.

My MIL knew my 2nd sis-in-law was pissed and quickly remarked, “Aiya, don’t need to look for it already. I must have swept it away and threw it into the dustbin. Don’t need to care about her (ZengYee), it must have been swept away by me yesterday lah.”

But that was not comforting to 2nd sis-in-law at all. She feels that MIL was just covering up (she told me during the 1hour chat over the phone yesterday) She was determined to find the box! She was determined to prove that ZengYee was lying. She wants to stop ZengYee from maligning ChengHan once and for all. Yes, ZengYee did put blame on ChengHan several times before, but the word ‘STEAL‘ has never appeared and that word is Serious! A word that should never be said without prove.

I told ZengYee to show me the magnifying glass, so that I know at least how big the box is. The thing about ZengYee is, when she starts to cry, she doesn’t talk or rather, she could NOT speak properly when she is half choking at her own tears, so nothing could be understood, hence there was no way to ask for a description of the box.

Then I saw something reflected the sunlight. It was a translucent rectangular box which looks like a perfect fit for the small magnifying glass, smaller than my palm. It was lying there motionless, hearing all the commotion, watching quietly at the chaos that was going around, right below Weidong’s Sarong bed.

I semi-ran over and picked it up. Shove it infront of the still-crying ZengYee, “Is this the box?!” She nodded without a word or a smile, took it from my hand and kept it in her bag.

“Aiya, you didn’t keep properly. It was not JieJie who steal it lah. (OMG! She actually did believe that ChengHan steal it!?) Quick! Go say sorry to Jiejie.” But ZengYee never did say sorry till 3 hours later, just before ChengHan left, in a most unwilling tone.

Oh my! I’ve loved ZengYee like my own ever since she was born. And Yes, I’m ranked number 2 in her heart (she told me herself). But she has changed ALOT ever since she started Primary 1. She has become very petty, uncooperative, more stubborn than before and worse, she starts to tell lies and put blame on others for her own negligence.

I used to be the only one who could open the door into her heart, because my MIL is either scolding or hitting, but now, she has even shut herself from me. I’m worried for her emotional growth. I’m concerned about her mental well-being. But till she opens up again…only then I can help her…

Now my 2nd sis-in-law has given up on her. She told ChengHan that she should never touch ZengYee’s things and if ZengYee refused to play with her, just don’t play with her. That shouldn’t be the way cousins should treat each other, isn’t it? Furthermore, it’s only once a week.

I understand that 2nd sis-in-law is just trying to protect her own child, but….there are other ways to solve this problem…there are…but her mind and heart is locked towards ZengYee.

It’s going to be ugly, awkward and really uncomfortable for future Sunday Family Day….and THIS coming Sunday is my Father-in-law’s ‘Lunar’ Birthday…..*sigh*