I pulled out my headphones and entered the zoo. It was almost nine in the morning as I knocked on Kris’s office door. “I’m here.”

Kris opened the door. He looked very sleepy. “Hey.” He let me in and went to grab the supply case from the side of his desk.

“Hi. So…is everything alright after last night? Who was that man?”

“He’s taken care of, don’t worry.” He handed the supply case to me.

I took the case. “Good. The last thing we need is for the pandas to get kidnapped, right?”

“Don’t worry, he wasn’t there to do that.”

“Then why was he there?”

“You should probably get to work now. Last time I checked, the pandas were pretty hungry.”

“Oh...right.” I stared at Kris strangely. He was definitely hiding something from me…

“Hey everyone!” I entered the exhibit and quickly locked the door behind me. The pandas all glanced at me. “Wow, you guys need to stop eating so much!” The bamboo piles were pretty much devoured. I moved to the first one and put fresh ones down. Out of the corner of my eye, the smallest panda approached me slowly. When I looked at him, he walked right up to me and sniffed my hands and arms.

“Aww, hello there. You’re so cute!” I laughed and petted his head. The baby leaned his head into mine and grunted softly. “Give me a few minutes, okay? I need to clean up this place.” I ruffled his furry head and moved to the dirtiest part of the exhibit. As I worked, the little panda continuously followed me and made adorable grunting noises.

After about ten minutes, the entire habitat had been cleaned and I collapsed on the ground and rubbed my forehead with my arm. Another grunt caused me to look to my side. The little panda was pawing at my hand and arm.

“You really like me, don’t you?” I grinned and rubbed his belly.

Then I heard a deeper grunt in front of me. It came from Tao who was standing outside of the exhibit cave.

“Oh? Are you jealous? I have plenty of love for all of you, don’t worry.” I chuckled in surprise.

Tao’s gaze was fixed on the little panda. I held out my free hand toward him as an invitation to come closer. Tao grunted at the little panda. The little panda’s head turned in the direction of Tao. Tao grunted louder, almost sounding like a low moan. The little panda grunted softly and pushed himself back to his feet. Tao stepped forward and the little panda suddenly stumbled away toward one of the woman pandas. I watched him leave and looked back at Tao surprised. Tao came right up to me and carefully laid down at my side, resting his head in my lap.

I stared down at Tao with wide, surprised eyes. “Wow…you really were jealous.” I his head.

Tao grunted once more and seemed to calm down. His head raised a little and our eyes met. I was about to look away, but his eyes captivated mine. They were so deep and brown. But I saw something in them that I never saw in the other pandas. I saw so many emotions running through those eyes. Fear. Uncertainty.  Curiosity. Fatigue.

At one point my hand stopped his head. The emotions I saw were undeniable. How could this panda have those kind of emotions? They seemed so…human.

“Oh no, he isn’t…”

My head jerked to the side. Kris had entered the exhibit and I didn’t even hear him. “Oh, Kris! I just finished cleaning and was taking a break.”

A small grunt came from Tao as he also glanced in Kris’s direction.

“Great, how about you go take a break for lunch. Away from the cage.” He sounded a little too enthusiastic.

I blinked. “Um, yeah, okay but…I kind of have a panda on me…”

“Yes, I see. Tao, get off of her.”

Tao grunted. It almost sounded like a “no.”

“Come on, get off of her! I need to talk to you.”

I looked at Kris strangely. “You talk to them?”

“…Yes, pandas are smarter than you think. Tao, get off her. Now.” His voice raised a little.

Tao shifted but didn’t stand up.

Kris glared hard. “She has to eat. You’re making this hard for her.”

Tao slowly started to get up, and grunting lowly.

“I-it’s okay, really…” I glanced at Kris.

“Go eat, Jill. I can see how tired you are.” Kris moved to Tao’s side.

“Alright…” I stood up once Tao’s head was off of my leg.

Tao pushed his head into my leg softly. I looked down at him in wonderment.

“Back off Tao.”

Tao slowly took several steps back.

“Enjoy your lunch break.” Kris moved in front of Tao so his eyes weren’t meeting mine.

“Okay.” I slowly turned around and left the exhibit feeling very confused. Why is Kris acting so harsh toward Tao? And why is Tao suddenly so friendly toward me?