Spitting Image | Jeong Jaehyun

16

"You all ready for bed?" Kira asked, seeing the girl walk out of the bathroom fully changed into a fluffy pair of Christmas themed pyjamas.

"All ready" she smiled, continuing to her room with Kira trailing behind her slowly.

"Okay, close your eyes" Kira said, tucking her into her bed quickly before pulling out the thick book from her school bag.

"What is it?" Jihye asked, trying her best not to peak through her covered eyes as she heard the rustling

"Okay, tada!" Kira exclaimed, taking out the glittery pink book that she had brought from her apartment, having it as a gift from her grandmother that she kept dear to hell all this time. Jihye opened her eyes in an instant, staring at the picture on the book of the 12 princesses dancing

"A new story?!" She exclaimed in excitement and Kira nodded with a smile, tucking her back in nicely before sitting at the foot of her bed.

"Will I read it in english?" She asked but Jihye quickly shook her head, not wanting to suffer with another english lesson this close to her bedtime and Kira chuckled, opening the first page and translating every sentence before she read it

"Once upon a time, in a land far away, there were twelve beautiful princesses. The King kept his twelve daughters locked up every night in their bedroom, not allowing them to leave the palace grounds late. Yet every morning, the king found twelve pairs of shoes worn out, even if they were bought the day before. The cobbler—"

"What's a cobbler?" Jihye asked, interrupting the story

"A person who makes shoes" Kira said, silently reminding herself to keep it simple as she continued to read

"The shoe maker had to make lots of shoes for the princesses, but they were always quick to wear out. The King said to his soldiers that if anyone is able to find out within three days what the princesses were doing every night, he would reward them. Many princes came to figure out this mystery but—"

"Daddy!" Jihye exclaimed, cutting Kira off with a surprise as the girl sat up in an instant, looking behind her. Kira turned around to see Jaehyun leaning against the doorframe of the bedroom, looking like a deer caught in headlights as the attention was now placed on him

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt" he said sheepishly, walking into the room

"It's okay" Kira smiled, following him with her eyes as he approached the bed to greet Jihye who was calling him over

"Unnie is reading me a new story!" Jihye said happily, shifting in her bed to make room for Jaehyun to sit down

"I'll leave you both to it then" Jaehyun said, kissing the top of her head but Jihye was quick to whine and plead for him to stay with her, and he couldn't help but oblige

"What story?" Jaehyun asked, looking at the old-style glittery book that seemed nothing like the more modern ones he packed up onto the bookshelf

"The twelve dancing princesses" She said

"It's her favourite!" Jihye said, filling Jaehyun in and he nodded, smiling at Kira sympathetically since his daughter was now more awake than ever, completely defeating the purpose of a bed time story which now turned into a bedtime discussion

"So what were the princesses doing?" Jihye asked, expressing her interest into the story with wide eyes, getting her to continue

"So many princes cane to figure out what they were doing, but none of them were able to figure it out. The oldest daughter gave every soldier a glass of wine every night that put them to sleep so they couldn't disturb the princesses. The king was starting to grow weary, but then the cobbler—"

"A cobbler is a shoemaker, daddy" Jihye said, making sure Jaehyun was up to date with the newest and latest info. Kira chuckled at the girl who Jaehyun lazily smiled at before continuing on

"The cobbler decided to try figure out what was going on. But before he went, he met an old lady, who asked him for a penny which he generously gave. She warned him of the wine and gave him and invisibility cloak in return—"

Kira was cut off by the soft snores coming from the bed. Like father, like daughter, the two were fast asleep to the sound of Kira's voice and the unforgivingly long story. She smiled knowing that it did the trick.

"Maybe tomorrow night" Kira whispered, placing the book at the top of her bedside table, slowly standing to her feet to grab her belongings. Her eyes scanned over the two, sleeping peacefully beside each other, not another care in the world. Jaehyun was far too tired and Jihye was simply giving into her strict bedtime.

Kira smiled once again, turning off the dimmed ceiling lights before she stepped out into the hallway. She decided to wait in the living room as she begged Kai to stop gaming for two minutes and come pick her up which he eventually gave into.

She let herself out of the house, knowing the door would lock automatically, before getting the elevator down to the parking area, meeting Kai at the same spot where he'd usually pick her up.

"Long day?" He asked, noticing how tired she usually was by the end of all her shifts

"I read the kid our favourite story when I was putting her to bed" Kira said and he smiled, starting the journey home

"That long ass story mom would read to us? That's your favourite, not mine" he corrected

"Oh come on. We both danced around our room every night looking for a secret passageway" She chuckled

"Oh god...and we'd dress up in mom's dresses too" Kai laughed, remembering how much Kira would bully him if he didn't wear a long gown when they were doing these dance routines

"Remember when Kayden walked in on us?" Kira asked, leaning her head against the window

"Dude! We probably looked like we were starting a cult! We had to make him swear on our sibling bible to not tell mom" He laughed, shaking his head at the fond memories of when they were kids

"The sibling bible" Kira snickered, remembering the book of rules each sibling and cousin they had over took, promising not to spill each others secrets, along with a few other questionable rules.

"We need to look for that when we go to back" Kai said, reminding her instantly that her flight to London for Christmas was already booked and awaiting her. She sighed, remembering that the holidays were always hard for her, since they usually just resulted in family feuds. But she tried to stay optimistic about it this time.