Your room was silent. The only noise that you could hear was the clattering of pots and pans outside in the kitchen, but that was it.
Sitting by yourself on your bed, your shoulders were slumped and you were doing your best not to cry. "I shouldn't be crying," you whispered, wiping away the tears that pricked the corners of your eyes. "Especially for a stupid reason such as making eye contact...with him."
Taking a shaky breath, you slowly began to unbraid your hair as you stared out the window. The moon was in perfect view, shining a ray of light down into your bedroom. You smiled slightly at the sight, recalling the memories of whenever your father would bring you and Yí up to the rooftop to stargaze and sing lullabies.
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𝐅𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊
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It was 12:00 at midnight, and everyone in the house was asleep. Well, everyone but Yí, (Y/n), and their father, that is.
"Oh, what's this place, dad?" Yí asked, pointing to a picture of mountains in her father's scrapbook as she sat on his lap. The man chuckled and rested his chin atop her head, running his hand through (Y/n)'s hair as the other twin leaned against his leg.
"Those are the Yellow Mountains, Yí." Their father smiled and ruffled the ravenette's hair. "And it's another place that I plan on taking the entire family to see."
Yí laughed and began to swipe at her father's hand, trying to get him to stop messing her hair up as (Y/n) giggled and scooted away from their dad, not wanting to get noogied either. Their father instantly noticed this, and he grinned mischievously.
"And where do you think you're going, princess?" the man questioned as he grabbed (Y/n) by the back of her nightgown and pulled her back over to his side. (Y/n) laughed and immediately began to struggle out of her father's grasp as he started ruffling her hair up as well.
"Noooo!" (Y/n) giggled and turned around to tickle her dad's side, making the man quickly stop and begin laughing as her and Yí laughed along with him.
"Quick, (Y/n), run!" Yí yelled as she hopped off of the bench in their father's 'secret hide away' and grabbed her sisters' hand. (Y/n) giggled and hopped off after her and ran out onto the roof with her twin, just when their father had stood up.
"Oh, you think you can escape me so easily, huh?" The twins squealed at their father's 'serious' voice and quickly went to go hide behind a couple of boxes.
"Hm, let's see..." (Y/n) was giggling madly and Yí placed her hands over her twins mounth to silence her despite being in quite the giggling fit herself.
"Shh, (Y/n), shh!" Yí grinned and peeked out over the boxes they were hiding behind as (Y/n) clamped her hands over her mouth, her shoulders bouncing up and down due to her growing laughter.
"Huh?" Yí's brows furrowed in confusion and she stood up, looking around frantically. "Where did dad go?"
(Y/n) stopped laughing and stared at her twin in surprise before standing up as well to see what she meant. Just as Yí said, their dad was no longer in sight, making (Y/n) gasp and place her hands on her cheeks. She was beginning to tear up.
"Y-you don't think those scary men from dad's journal came here and took him, do you?" (Y/n) asked, making Yí's eyes widen in horror.
"We have to go get mom and rescue him!" Yí yelled, hopping over the box and beginning to make her way towards the fire escape.
(Y/n) quickly followed after her twin as well. However, as the two began to make their way down the fire escape, two hands suddenly grabbed them both by the back of their nightgowns and lifted them up, making the two sister's scream and begin to flail around.
"W-we won't let you get us like you got dad, you—" Yí stopped speaking and blinked when the 'stranger' chuckled. "Dad?"
(Y/n) instantly went silent and watched with wide eyes as her and Yí were set back down on the roof in front of their father, who was now crouching down to meet their eye level.
"I'm sorry, girls, did I scare you?" His voice held guilt, but it had a hint of teasing in it, too.
Yí and (Y/n) shared a look, when Yí suddenly huffed and turned away from their dad, crossing her arms. "I wasn't scared at all!" the ravenette stated boldly.
Yí then pointed to (Y/n), who jumped at the sudden attention. "(Y/n) was pretty scared, though!" she told, giggling as (Y/n) gasped and flushed in embarrassment.
"S-so what?! You were pretty scared too, you know!" (Y/n) said, pointing her finger at Yí accusingly, making her twin's eyes widen. "N-no I wasn't!" Yí stuttered, stomping her foot.
"Yes, you were!"
"Were not!"
"Were too!"
"Were not!"
"Were too!"
"Were not—"
"Okay, okay, settle down!"
At their father's voice, the two girls went silent and turned to the man, who sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You know, you two," he began after a beat of silence, "it's okay to be afraid."
Yí and (Y/n) shared a look before walking up to their father and hugging him, their expressions holding that of guilt. "We're sorry for upsetting you, dad," Yî whispered, snuggling into her father's sweater.
(Y/n) nodded, copying Yí's actions. "Yeah, we're sorry." She said.
Their father sighed, but a small smile played along his lips as he looked up at the night sky above. He hummed and laid down, gesturing for his two daughter's to join him. The twins hesitated, at first, but they relaxed when they saw the comforting look their father gave them, and they laid down on opposite sides of him; using his arms as pillows.
"You know, when I was younger, your grandfather used to tell me stories about how our ancestors could once fly above the clouds and could almost touch the stars of the night sky," their father told, chuckling at the shocked looks he recieved from his children.
"Our ancestors could fly?!" Yí whispered excitedly as (Y/n) sat up and grinned. "Did they have pixie dust, dad?" the (E/c) girl asked, recalling the movie titled 'Peter Pan' and how the Darlings were able to fly thanks to Tinkerbell's pixie dust.
Their father chuckled and shook his head, pushing himself up. "Well, not really..." he trailed off, still staring up at the sky.
(Y/n) faltered a little, feeling a tad bit disappointed. But, the girl quickly lit up again and scooted closer to her dad and leaned against him.
"Then how did they fly?" (Y/n) asked. "Yeah, dad," Yí laid her head down across her father's lap and joined him in looking up at the stars. "How did they?"
Their father chuckled and pushed himself up more before wrapping his arm around (Y/n) and using his free hand to move some hair out of Yí's face. "You two really wanna know?" he asked.
(Y/n) and Yí nodded excitedly, feeling as if they were on edge with anticipation.
Their father smiled and gestured for them to lean closer to him, which they did. And when they did, he cupped a hand around his mouth and looked around to make sure they were alone before whispering one, simple word:
"Dragons."
Yí and (Y/n) went wide-eyed as they gasped in shock. "Dragons?" Yí repeated, wanting to make sure she had heard her dad right.
Their father nodded. "Dragons."
Yí and (Y/n) looked at eachother, before grinning widely and jumping up from where they sat and beginning to bounce and spin around; holding eachothers' hands.
"Our ancestors were dragon riders!" (Y/n) squealed. Yí laughed. "They were!"
As the two girls spun and hopped around joyously, their father smiled and watched them with a hint of pain in his eyes, before coughing into his fist and looking down at the palm of his hand.
Oh, if only they could both see it. They would have known so much sooner.
"Dad, tell us more about our dragon riding ancestors!" Yí yelled from their secret hide away. "Please?" (Y/n) added.
Their father didn't give a response for a good while, which made the twins' brows furrow in worry as they stepped out of their little hideout and stared at their father in concern.
"Dad?" Yí spoke, her voice barely a whisper.
The man didn't say anything at first. But then, eventually, he chuckled and stood up, making the two girls smile with relief.
"Sorry about that, girls," their father wiped away the splash of blood on his hand off with his pants.
"I'll tell you both all the stories you could ever want."
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𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓
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You didn't even realize you were crying until you felt something warm hit your hand, making you look down to see that a tear was now resting in your palm. You sniffled and quickly did your best to wipe all of the upcoming tears away, but more were quick to replace them. A frustrated sigh escaped your lips, and you finally finish undoing your braid; allowing your long hair to fall to the floor.
Most people would get a haircut if their hair almost dragged across the floor, right? Well, not you. Not anymore, at least, because...it was your dad who would usually cut your hair and...you just didn't want to allow anyone else to do that. It sounded stupid, you knew, but you felt as if your hair was somewhat of a...a memory of your father, and you wanted to keep it for as long as you could (even if that meant having to braid it before ever going out so that people wouldn't step on it while you were doing your own thing).
A yawn escaped your lips and you rubbed your tired eyes, just now realizing how late it was. "I guess I should head to bed..." you murmured, walking over to the lamp on your nightstand and turning it off.
Pulling the covers back, you were just about to slip into the warm comfort of your blankets and your soft mattress, when a familiar 'ding!' came from your phone.
You blinked and looked at your desk, where you phone sat, before yawning again and walking over to it to see who had messaged you. Though, you weren't very surprised to see that it was Yí — seeing as how she was the only person you ever really talked to.
However, what did surprise you is what her message said.
[Yí] Come to the roof. I found something you aren't going to believe.
You sighed and set your phone down before picking up a hair tie and tying up your hair into a low ponytail so that it wouldn't drag across the rooftop or make you trip over it.
"Okay, sis," you opened your window and began to climb up the fire escape next to you.
"I'm tired, so what you have to show me better be good."
Oh, if only you knew...