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“The council didn’t want the representatives to freak out, so they basically lied about aid the provinces would receive. Now, we have to schedule a whole new meeting to clarify the situation and take the heat for whatever complaints the representatives will have.” Kai deadpanned.
Cinder leaned against the chair and groaned. Despite dealing with the council for two decades, she was starting to wonder if any amount of time would fix their incompetence. They somehow created more work and became slower as time went on. Cinder looked at Kai who wore an amused expression. “What?” she asked.
He laughed. “You look pretty when you are upset.” She snorted. After years of marriage, he never failed to keep up with his sweet sayings. They had just hit their forties and now had wisps of white hair peeking from the layers. Kai’s face had developed laugh lines and slight wrinkles, but he always maintained a youthful appearance with the happiness that sparkled through his eyes.
“I should be upset more often then.” Through his black orbs, she could see that she maintained a similar complexion to her husband.
“Done. This is why you’ll deal with this while I take on the infrastructure bill.” He smiled sweetly. He quickly pecked her lips before dashing from his chair.
She followed quickly. “Hey! I didn’t mean it like that. Don’t you dare-”
“Permission for Princess Peony and Prince Jinsu to enter.” The voice system interrupted unapologetically.
Kai smirked and wiggled his eyebrows. “Even the universe wants you to handle this,” He turned back to the system. “Permission granted.”
The door slid open to reveal their daughter and younger son. Jinsu held Peony’s hand as he was trying to hide himself behind his elder sister. It didn’t take time for Cinder to glimpse at his face and realize that Jinsu had been crying.
“What happened?” she asked. Jinsu peeked at her and his copper eyes glistened with fresh tears. He wordlessly came up to her and hugged her tightly.
Peony scowled. “What happened is that you are about to get one less son to deal with. I am going to kill Rikan if it's the last thing I do.” She didn’t explain further as exited the office with a passion that made Cinder afraid if she was actually going to lose her eldest.
She rubbed Jinsu’s back. Kai came over to ruffle his head. “What happened, buddy?” He asked gently. His tone made it obvious that he wasn’t trying to set their son’s waterworks off again.
Jinsu meekly turned to face Kai while still clinging on to her. “Are you going to put me in jail, Dad?” He choked out.
Kai incredulously looked at her to confirm whether his son just asked if he was going to jail. She nodded which verified his hearing was definitely not broken. He let out a dry laugh, bordering on concern. “No, Jinsu, I would never put you in jail. Why would I do that?”
“I got a problem on my math test and Rikan said that you would put me in jail as punishment,” he blubbered.
Cinder pursed her lips in resignation. Rikan had a habit of messing with Jinsu sometimes. Jinsu was the more emotional and innocent one out of all their children, so it was easy to extract a reaction out of him. While they had spoken with Rikan multiple times to keep the teasing at a minimum, he seemed to be attuned to his teasing and sarcastic personality. On top of it, Jinsu was simply a six-year old boy. Peony hated it whenever someone messed with him. It didn’t matter to her if the person was a diplomat or simply her older brother, she would get justice for Jinsu. She guessed she was going to seek out Rikan and threaten him to apologize to Jinsu. She sighed. “Jinsu, dad would never do that. He loves you and would not punish you with jail time. Jail is only for bad people. Right, dad?”
Kai nodded and pulled Jinsu away from her. “Of course. You are a smart boy. As long as you try your best, you have nothing to worry about. Jail is far from your worries. Rikan is being ridiculous.”
Jinsu pushed himself from Kai’s hold, startling him. He shook his head furiously. “Rikan said you put Mama in jail for kissing you.”
Cinder let out a short laugh as Kai struggled to find the right words to assure their son that things were definitely not as he imagined and that his brother had completely twisted the story of Kai’s actual reason for putting her in jail. “Jinsu, I didn’t put Mama in jail for kissing me. I had to do it out of helplessness.” He admitted.
Jinsu’s tears returned as he hugged her tightly as if Kai decided to throw her in jail again. “You still put her in jail. What if you have to put me in jail out of helplessness?” He cried.
Kai looked at her with a defeated expression. “Jinsu,” she said softly, taking his face in her hands, “That was a different time. Dad is telling the truth, but he is never helpless when it comes to you. He loves you to the stars and back. One day, when you are old enough to understand, we will tell you the real reason why I had to go to jail. Do you understand?” She smiled. Jinsu nodded while she fixed his uneven bangs. He looked so much like Kai that it made her heart hurt. “Go hug Dad…”
Jinsu released her and hugged Kai. Kai returned the hug and patted his back. In the tender moment, the office door slid open.
Peony was glaring daggers at Rikan. Rikan, motionless, seemed ready to cry himself as he was at Peony’s mercy while her glamour controlled him. Kai sighed. “Peony, please stop manipulating your brother and not override the door panel when you want to come in.”
Peony released her brother and leaned against the wall as she tilted her head. Rikan straightened his shirt. “Before Peony and Mother combine forces to kill me, let me explain myself.” He breathed.
“Stars above Rikan, you couldn’t just control your teasing?” Kai asked.
“No, no. Jinsu had a math problem on his test that even I couldn’t remember how to solve. It seemed difficult for his age and he solved it correctly so I said “It’s criminal that you’re this smart” and “If being smart were a crime, Dad would lock you up—just like he did Mom for loving him.” No teasing involved. I was just praising him for his skills, but now I am realizing it came out the wrong way.” Rikan scratched his neck in embarrassment. He looked at Jinsu. “I didn’t mean it like that, man. I was basically saying good job. Sorry,” he mumbled.
“You’re going to be a terrible emperor if you keep using words like that.” Peony grumbled. “Next thing you know, Rikan accidentally declares war with the African Union because he didn’t mean it like that .”
“Peony.” Cinder says sternly. “What he did was wrong, but it doesn’t give you a free pass to disrespect your brother.”
Peony relaxed, exasperation weighing on her shoulders. “Of course, mom.” She turned to Rikan. “Sorry for mocking you.” Her lips twitched.
“And manipulating me,” Rikan added cheekily.
A pause. “And for manipulating you.” She sighed.
Kai clasped his hands. “Now, since all parties have exchanged apologies. Hug it out.” Cinder smiled as Rikan and Jinsu pulled their begrudging sister into a hug. Despite how she hated physical contact, she accepted it and pulled them closer.
“See what happens when everyone works it out.” Cinder said.
“Yea!” Jinsu exclaimed, “We got to be in a bastard hug!”
Kai, who had elected to drink water during this moment, suddenly had to reel back as his urgency to question where Jinsu had learned that word caused the liquid to travel down the wrong pipe. Cinder patted his back as he coughed out and tried to regain a sense of clarity.
She, almost regretfully, asked, “Jinsu, where did you learn that word?”
Jinsu, her poor, innocent son smiled and looked up at Rikan and Peony who were frozen on the spot. Although Cinder didn’t need anymore confirmation, she knew her elder children had no filter as much as they did when Kai and herself were at their age. However, they got into constant trouble because Jinsu had neither the ability to keep a secret or have a filter himself.
Kai cleared his throat. “Peony? Rikan?...” He questioned, looking for any explanation.
Peony pursed her lips. “He heard it when we were talking about technically being bastards since you married Levana, y’know, Mom’s aunt before you married Mom. That would technically make mom your niece and you mom’s uncle…? And you had kids, which would be us, so….”
“You do know that marriage was annulled right?” Kai pinched his nose.
Rikan gulped. “It still happened, so it’s a nice complexity to think about.”
“Okayyy,” Cinder suddenly weirded out by the nuance despite Throne teasing her about it before. “Peony, Rikan, both of you please watch what you talk about in front of your brother. And Jinsu…” she patted his head, “Let’s never say that word ever again. Saying it once is enough for a lifetime.”
“Oh, but I said it in class when we had the family tree presentation. So, I said it two times!” To drive his point home, he held up two fingers. Cinder’s metal hand went over her mouth as Kai’s hand went into his hair.
After her initial shock, she zeroed her eyes on Peony and Rikan. “Perhaps jail wouldn’t be the worst idea”
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*After the kids leave*
Kai sighed. “We’re going to get a phone call from Jinsu’s teacher, aren’t we?”
Her lips curled. “Most definitely.”
“What are we going to say? How do we even explain that?”
She laughed as she slowly gathered her papers. “That’s for you to figure out, darling.”
“...What?” He said slowly.
“Remember? I got a council’s mess to clean up and representatives to deal with.” She kissed his lips. “Unless… you want to switch?”
His eyes lit up. “I’ll switch.” He reached for the papers before Cinder pulled away.
“Nope, the universe wants me to handle this. Let me know how the call goes!” She grinned as she neatly stacked the last paper. His expression molded into defeat as she walked happily out of his office.