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“They’re so small,” Ye Qianyu’s voice was full of wonder as he cradled his son in his arms, his wife holding the other, soft smiles on their faces. The older, even if it was just by a few moments yawned, face scrunching up as he snuggled closer to his father. Yang Qinmei sighed out a smile, carefully tucking her son more securely in his blankets, an overwhelming love filling her.
Her husband tugged his chair closer to her bedside, one hand reaching out for hers and she could see the same all-consuming love in her husband’s eyes as they cooed at their children. Ye Xiu snuffled, Ye Qiu sneezed and Yang Qinmei could feel her eyes filling with tears.
“We’ve been blessed.” Her voice was a near whisper and Ye Qianyu nodded solemnly, overwhelmed by their children.
“Our children,” his words were full of awe, not quite believing what was in front of him, that he had two beautiful sons and his loving wife. Ye Qianyu leant over to press a kiss to his wife’s cheek and she offered a watery smile, overwhelmed by her fortune. “We’ll keep them safe.”
“Our Ye Xiu and Ye Qiu.” The two babies made a soft babbling noise at the words, tiny fingers reaching out for their parents and in that moment, everything was perfect.
Yang Qinmei walked silently into the kitchen, bare feet quiet on the floor, seeking out her sons. The cook’s eyes were knowing as she brushed up against a cupboard before leaving the kitchen. Yang Qinmei could hear muffled giggles coming from behind the door, followed by an exaggerated shush and an amused smile spread across her lips.
“Where could two clever children be hiding?” She mused out loud, deliberately facing away from their hiding spot, leaning against the kitchen counter, mock confusion in her voice.
She kept her gaze away from the cupboard, even as the door slammed open and she heard two little bodies flop against the floor. Yang Qinmei could hear Ye Qiu shushing his brother, little voice imperious as their mutters got closer and closer-
“BOO!” Two little voices shouted out and Yang Qinmei jumped theatrically, eyes wide with shock as her sons shrieked with laughter, clamouring for her attention, jumping up and down, arms waving as they spoke a mile a minute.
“Mama- mama- today we got to see three birds-“
“And then he was too loud and scared them away-“
“I wasn’t loud! You scared them-“
“No mama it was Ye Xiu’s fault-“
“Was not!”
“Yes it was!”
“Were they pretty birds?” The argument was stopped in its tracks when the twins switched tracks immediately, voices overlapping as they began to describe the colours of the birds, and how they had pretty feathers, and huge wings, wings that were just gigantic, bigger than a whole house-
“Bigger than a house?” Yang Qinmei gasped out as she ushered the two out of the kitchen, grabbing their box of art supplies as she went, “would you like to draw these huge birds?”
Both boys nodded enthusiastically, grabbing at paper, paint, glue and glitter, setting to work immediately while Yang Qinmei regretted not hiding the glitter before handing over the supplies. It had been three seconds and there was already glitter in Ye Qiu’s eyebrows and a sprinkling of glitter above Ye Xiu’s ear.
“At least they’re enjoying themselves.” She thought to herself, watching as her sons took to the task of recreating the birds with gusto. Ye Qiu had his tongue poking out in concentration while Ye Xiu was sneakily stealing his brother’s paint while he was distracted. By the time they were satisfied with their paintings, they were coated in paint, glitter scattered everywhere and their hands were covered in glue.
Of course, this was exactly when Ye Qianyu arrived home.
“BABA!” Yang Qinmei wasn’t quick enough to stop them as both boys made a beeline for their father, catapulting themselves into his arms, covering him in the mix of paint, glitter and glue. Ye Qianyu sent his wife a long-suffering look as his sons patted his face, decorating him fully in their mess.
“Have you two been painting?” They nodded enthusiastically, wriggling out of his grip to present their paintings to him proudly. Ye Qianyu looked over at his wife for help, unsure of what he was looking at only to see her mouthing “bird” at him over and over.
“What impressive birds.” Their faces lit up in matching grins, elbowing one another out of the way as they pointed to the different parts of their paintings, detailing how the glitter was to represent how sparkly the bird was, that the wings were huge because the birds had been bigger than a house and that the glue was- Well, Ye Qianyu missed the explanation for the glue but he could see it clearly played an important role in the birds.
“Ah boys, let your father rest, come with me to get washed up.” Yang Qinmei sent her husband a look that clearly indicated that he should go get washed up as well.
Ye Qianyu had to admit that his sons were resourceful, they’d managed to coat him in paint and glitter in a very short amount of time, it was nearly impressive. At least, it would have been impressive if he wasn’t on the receiving end of this ingenuity.
Once he was finished washing out the glitter- how did it make it behind his knees how??- and was dressed, he stepped out to wish his children goodnight. Ye Qianyu could help but stifle a laugh when he noticed that there was still glitter clinging stubbornly to the children’s skin, not that they seemed to care, arms outstretched for hugs.
“Baba did you like our pictures?” Ye Xiu seemed far more awake than his brother, Ye Qiu’s eyes kept fluttering shut as he tried to keep himself awake long enough to hear the answer.
“Of course, I like your pictures. Very impressive birds.” Ye Qiu clapped in hands together in tired delight as he yawned loudly, tapping his older brother on the shoulder as their mother switched off the light.
“Shh gege, sleeping time.” With that, Ye Qiu’s eyes slid shut entirely and Ye Xiu quieted down and tucked himself up tight, smiling as his parents kissed them both one last time before slipping out and shutting the door behind them.
Ye Qianyu startled when his wife trailed a finger across his neck and smiled at the glitter that had stuck to her finger while he groaned as they moved into their bedroom.
“We are never going to clear out the glitter now.” Yang Qinmei shrugged, the movement elegant as she changed for bed, lack of concern clear in her eyes.
“They had so much fun though.” Ye Qianyu thought back to the bright grins on his son’s faces, even his younger son who was a little more reserved than his brother and his wife smiled as he sighed. The endless glitter pockets were worth dealing with if it brought such brilliant joy to his sons and Yang Qinmei slipped into bed, pulling out a book and settling into the story.
“We are so lucky.” Ye Qianyu found himself thinking, the memory of his boys’ huge grins still in the forefront of his mind, “so very lucky.”
Ye Qianyu found himself at a loss as he stared at his two children, clinging to the tree branches as they wailed for someone to save them. It had been one minute, he’s turned away for one minute to get sun cream and in that time, his children had spotted a squirrel and both decided to chase it up the tree. Ye Qianyu found himself more surprised that Ye Qiu had followed his brother into the tree but that wasn’t important. What was important was that they were stuck in the tree.
“Baba!” Both boys seemed content to wail from their perch, Ye Qiu wiping at his eyes, sniffling as Ye Xiu tried to reassure him, as clumsy as that reassurance was.
“Didi we’re not going to be stuck, look baba is going to help us!” Ye Qiu sniffed, one hand clutching a branch, the other clinging to his brother’s shirt. “And look! Mama is coming over too!” Ye Qianyu wondered what his wife would make of this but her eyes were full of laughter and she aimed a look at her husband.
“They’re less than two metres off the ground.” Ye Qianyu looked back at the tree and realised that she was in fact right, he could reach both boys without much effort and Ye Xiu clapped as he was placed securely upon the ground once more. Ye Qiu was muttering quietly to himself as he was also rescued, looking remarkably like a disgruntled kitten.
“I’m not trusting gege anymore.” He announced gravely while Ye Xiu gasped, clutching at his brother’s arm, eyes wide with betrayal, pout overtaking his face.
“You don’t mean that do you didi?” When Ye Qiu folded his arms stubbornly, Ye Xiu pressed his face right up against his brother’s cheek, pressing their faces against each other. “You still love me don’t you didi?” Ye Qiu grumbled something out while Ye Xiu refused to let go, keeping his eyes wide and innocent.
“Fine I do, get off-“ Ye Qiu tried to push his brother’s face away but Ye Xiu wrapped his arms around him tightly keeping their faces pressed against each other.
“Didi loves me!” Ye Qiu shrieked as he batted ineffectually at his brother’s shoulder until Ye Qianyu tugged his sons apart, Ye Xiu looking up at him hopefully.
“May we get ice cream?” When his parents frowned Ye Xiu elbowed his brother who mimicked his older brother’s wide pleading eyes, lips parted slightly in hope.
“Please?” Against the force of two pleading stares, Ye Qiu and Ye Xiu knew their parents would cave and both cheered when their parents nodded and they bolted towards the ice cream stand, already plotting what flavour they were going to get while their parents ran after them.
“Have you got the cake?” Ye Qiu nodded, eyes full of concentration as he ensured he kept the plate balanced in his arms. “Have you got the presents?” Ye Xiu nodded, hoisting the bag up proudly and waving it. “And I have the balloons! We’re ready!” Yang Qinmei smiled at the eyes that followed their little procession up to her husband’s office.
Her sons were leading the charge, excitement radiating off them as her husband’s secretary eased the door open, humouring the twins as they made shushing noises. Yang Qinmei smiled as Miss Yu giggled at the boys’ theatrics, bursting into their father’s office with loud shrieks of excitement, placing the cake and bag down in favour of clambering into their father’s lap.
“Baba, baba! We’ve come to say happy birthday!”
“Because it’s your birthday today!”
“And you said we spend birthdays together!”
“So, mama helped us bake a cake!”
“And we decorated it!”
“And we brought candles and balloons look!” Yang Qinmei walked over to press a kiss to her husband’s cheek, laughing at the confusion in his eyes, his sons’ rapid back and forth disorientating.
“Happy birthday Qianyu.” Ye Xiu was already scrambling to get the presents, pressing them into his father’s lap before he got distracted by a picture on the wall.
“Those are our pictures!” Ye Qiu’s head snapped up from where he was pushing candles into the cake and he looked over to see the…he frowned, trying to figure out what the drawings were supposed to represent.
“You used so much glitter,” Ye Xiu’s voice was full of wonder as he admired the childhood pictures, each piece of paper caked in a mix of paint and glue, topped off with an abundance of glitter.
“Do you remember what we were trying to draw?” Ye Qiu mused aloud, still unsure of what the mix of colours was supposed to depict.
“Birds.” Yang Qinmei chimed in from where she was sat with the candles and the two boys darted over to help prepare the cake, cheeks flushed with excitement as they presented the cake to their father.
“Happy birthday! See we helped bake the cake!”
“And we decorated it!”
“I- I see.” Ye Qianyu looked at his slice in trepidation, the cake was oddly lopsided, with more icing than cake. His sons were eating it with gusto but they were seven and were willing to devour anything sugary with ease. His wife was delicately picking at her slice before placing it down and pulling out the bag of presents, successfully distracting the boys once more, cake pushed aside.
“Look baba, we went shopping and picked out scarves for you!” Once again Ye Qianyu was faced with the uncomfortable reality that his children truly had terrible taste. One scarf was bright, glaring neon green, covered in paw prints and dog faces. The other had tassels- multicoloured tassels- attached to nearly every inch, as well as the fact that the tassels clashed with the bright orange colour.
Yang Qinmei offered her husband a helpless shrug, her eyes clearly conveying the fact that she’d tried to stop and redirect their choices and lost the battle. Her gift was a very tasteful tie which their sons immediately dismissed as boring.
“It doesn’t have tassels, look baba my gift has tassels-“
“And mine has dogs baba, you like dogs right-“
“You’re both right, these scarves are lovely.” The reality that he’d end up wearing one, likely both scarves out of the building was softened by the delighted grins on Ye Qiu and Ye Xiu’s faces, turning to their mother happily.
“We said! We said baba would like exciting scarves!”
“You were right, your baba did like interesting scarves.” Yang Qinmei took her loss with grace, hiding her laugh behind a graceful hand as her husband wound the very loud accessories around his neck and offered a hand to Ye Qiu.
“Birthday meals are just as important as cake.” His distraction was successful and the children abandoned the cake in favour of grabbing his hand, tugging their mother along behind them, chattering away about what they were going to get to eat.
“A good birthday?” Ye Qianyu could see that his wife was laughing at him, endlessly amused by the contrast of the sleek suit and the bright clashing scarves.
“An excellent birthday,” he murmured as he kissed her cheek before glancing at his gifts once more, “but perhaps we cultivate their fashion tastes from now on.” Yang Qinmei’s laugh was bright with joy and the two chased after their children who were endearing themselves to the employees, offering sticky sweets from their pockets. Miss Yu smiled sweetly as Ye Qiu pressed a half-unwrapped sweet into her hand and she took it with grace before their parents caught up to apologise.
Ye Qiu was still standing outside his parent’s study when Ye Xiu got home from his extra English lessons, frown gracing his brother’s face.
“Why are you still here?”
“I want to ask mama if I can buy this,” Ye Qiu pulled out a picture of a little suit, sized perfectly for a dog. “It’s for the next time we have to do a picture, I want to have Little Dot matching us.” Ye Xiu’s face lit up at his brother’s words, in full agreement, joining him in the vigil.
About ten minutes later Ye Xiu broke the silence, ruffling Little Dot’s tummy as he spoke, their dog blissed out on his lap.
“Have they come out today?” Ye Qiu shook his head and Ye Xiu frowned, unhappy with that response.
“Do you think they’re sad?”
“If they’re sad what should we do?” Ye Xiu mulled this over in his head until his eyes fell on Little Dot and the answer came to him all at once.
“We should send them Little Dot!”
“And a flower!” Ye Qiu was just as enthusiastic as his brother, “and a nice note!”
Plan decided upon, they bolted in different directions, intent on gathering the materials they needed to execute their plan. Little Dot, the key piece in their plot, the most important player, rolled over, tongue lolling out as she fell back asleep, legs twitching as if she were running.
Once the flower was collect, ripped out of the garden roots still attached along with a good amount of dirt, and the note was written, it was time to explain Little Dot’s role to her. Of course, first they had to wake her. Then they attached the note and the flower, oblivious, as most children were, of the fact that there was now a long trail of soil in their house, before easing the door open and pushing their dog through the gap.
Ye Qianyu and Yang Qinmei were pouring over the contract they’d just been offered, unsure if the benefits outweighed the heavy costs taking on the new project would entail. Particularly the increased time away from home. Ye Qianyu took a moment to rub at his temples, headache building from pouring over the documents all day.
They were interrupted by a soft woof from beside the desk and they looked over to see Little Dot sitting peacefully, tail thumping against the floor as she waited to be praised for succeeding at her mission. Yang Qinmei knelt down and ruffled her fur while her husband tugged the note from her collar.
Written down, likely by Ye Qiu judging by how neat the characters were, was a short note about how they should be happy and that the flower was to keep on the desk to look at. The flower was drooping, not taking to being ripped out of the soil very well but the sentiment was sweet.
Ye Qiu and Ye Xiu perked up when their parents came out of their study, eyes delighted as they were thanked by their parents for the note. As they headed down for dinner Little Dot jumped around, clearly proud of her accomplishments and the two boys grinned at getting their parents smiling once more.
It was their father’s birthday once more and Ye Xiu had been home for a few months, relaxed and content, enjoying spending time with his family. Unlike some of his father’s birthday, this one was spent at home, and while Ye Xiu and his brother were old enough to not be bouncing at their father’s feet in excitement, they were still waiting for their father’s reaction.
Ye Qianyu opened each gift slowly, achingly slowly as he watched as his sons twitched, desperate for him to hurry up. Yang Qinmei huffed out a laugh, eyes crinkling in amusement as she watched her family, nudging her husband to stop tormenting the children.
There was a long silence once the gift had been open.
Like that birthday all those years ago his sons had gifted him two scarves. However, while one of his children had evidently developed a good fashion sense since he was five, the other- the other clearly hadn’t. And from the smug grin that Ye Xiu was trying to pass off as an innocent smile, he was fully aware that the scarf lacked any style.
For one thing, it was neon pink. For another thing, it was emblazoned with a great number of emojis, something Ye Qianyu had learnt about when his wife had started using them. For another thing, Ye Xiu had clearly enjoyed the tassels as this scarf seemed to have more tassels than the last one and once again, none of them went with the pink of the scarf.
“Unlike Ye Xiu, I developed a sense of taste.” Ye Qiu’s gifted scarf was a soft muted red which would go well with most colours. Ye Xiu stuck his nose in the air, mimicking many of the socialites they’d met as children.
“Unlike Ye Qiu, I remembered that baba likes fun scarves.” His brother scoffed, pointedly ignoring his brother, leading to Ye Xiu poking the younger one, causing Ye Qiu to ignore him even more, turning his attention to Little Dot who stretched out between the two, pleased that her two favourite people were home once more.
Yang Qinmei tucked herself against her husband’s side as they watched their sons bicker quietly amongst themselves, both scarves already hanging over Ye Qianyu’s shoulders and her voice is pitched low, for his ears only.
“We are lucky aren’t we?” Ye Qianyu looked at the scene once more, all of his family together once more, falling into familiar routines as if they’d never left and he couldn’t agree more. He turned his head to press a fond kiss to his wife’s forehead, murmuring softly in her ear.
“So very lucky.” He replied, settling in to bask in his family’s warmth, content and at peace with the world.