Mira

She shouts loud enough for her voice to travel throughout the studio.

A response comes in the form of a groan from Cheng Xiaoshi as he is ambling down the staircase. His hair is down, and it's a mess; he has clearly just been woken up by her voice.

“What are you shouting about so early in the morning? you witch…" 

Despite it being early, he at least has the decency to murmur the last bit under his breath. 

Qiao Ling is generous today, so she decides to let it slide. 

“Wake the sleeping beauty upstairs too; we are going to the amusement park today. My treat!” 

It takes a second for Cheng Xiaoshi to process, and then his face lights up in pure joy. 

“Wait seriously !? You better not be joking, we have been wanting to do this for ages and what about —“

"Of course I'm not kidding; we can take a couple photos there and call it a day. Now shoo, go start getting ready." Qiao Ling pushes her brother in the direction of the bathroom and decides to go upstairs to wake Lu Guang up herself. 

She enters the bedroom and sees her target—the lump under the sheets of the top bunk—she ascends the ladder and starts poking at it.

“Heyyyy Lu Guang, time to get up; I’m treating you guys today. We are going to the amusement park. “

Lu Guang pops his head out of the sheets and squints at her through bleary eyes. 

“We are…? ” His voice is scratchy from sleep and probably a little annoyed at being woken up against his will.

Well, tough luck. He’ll be glad for today, I’m sure of it. She thinks and then starts tugging at one of Lu Guang's limp arms lying on the bed.

He instantly bats her away and says, “Alright, alright, I’m up." He huffs.

Once Qiao Ling is satisfied Lu Guang is actually up, she leaves the room and smiles as she hops down the staircase. 

Today’s going to be fun. 

——————————————————————————

She was right. Ofcourse she was , she is rarely ever wrong. 

That's what she thinks as she fondly smiles down at Cheng Xiaoshi's crumpled form on the ground. 

They were at one of the arcade shooting games, and Cheng Xiaoshi had proudly claimed that he would easily be able to win her a plushie. As it stands, he was only able to win her a bunny keychain as a consolation prize. 

Qiao Ling giggles as she pats Cheng Xiaoshi on the back. “It’s alright; c'mon, we should take a photo together before the sun sets and there won’t be any light anymore." 

Cheng Xiaoshi scoffs and says, "You just want to document my moment of misery."

Qiao Ling rolls her eyes as she tells him, "I'll buy you your favorite for dinner."

Cheng Xiaoshi lights up for a second and then turns suspicious as he asks, "Wait, what’s the catch?”

In response she brandishes her phone and tells him, “Just give me the biggest smile you got, ok? And Lu Guang, you too!” 

With that, she holds up her phone camera and takes her last photo of the week

6/7<- 7/7

———————————————————————————

And with that Qiao Ling week is done!!!!

After almost a week full of going to different places to capture photos of her, they decided that the rest of it can simply be done in the comfort of their own home. 

Which she had taken to mean the time photo studio. Clearly, that was not the case.

Cheng Xiaoshi is trying out one of the photography trends he had seen floating around on social media. He says it's to ‘capture the multiple sides to a person through reflections, Qiao Ling!!' And we all know you have many different sides to you—’

She made sure to nip that statement in the bud before it could reach its conclusion. 

Her cheek and neck are starting to hurt a little, but at least she made sure she deep-cleaned her room before she agreed to this.

Lu Guang is standing over them, adjusting the lighting so it falls on her face just right without obscuring her face’s reflection in the mirror. 

The mirror is an old thing she has owned since forever. Despite its age, it still holds a shine with an antique quality to it. She usually just used it when she wanted to get a look at the back of her head using her dressing table mirror.

Well, I guess I found a different use for it now, she thinks with a sigh. 

“Oohhh, good expression, Qiao Ling. Do that again for me?” Cheng Xiaoshi directs her as he lifts up his camera again. 

The rest of the day was spent taking multiple shots of her in the mirror through different angles, changing the focus and adding things in the foreground. 

———————————————————————————

Qiao Ling remembers the day clearly. She found the photos again while she was tidying up her room. She was desperately trying to keep herself busy with menial tasks until the boys came home later that week.

From the hospital, she reminds herself.

This wasn’t just a runaway trip to Bridon they are coming back from. They are hurt, and they need her to be firm, strong, and most importantly, normal. 

Despite the reminder, looking into the photos now, she can’t help but see a different girl with pink pigtails looking back at her in the glint of the mirror. 

She gasps and lets go of the photo, letting it flutter to the ground. She is out of breath and just stands there staring at the photo for a few more moments. She blinks hard and sees the photo is back to normal; it’s just her own face in the mirror. There was never anyone else. 

Qiao Ling quickly tidies up the photos and puts them back where they're supposed to be in her album of precious memories. 

She shakes her head and takes a few steadying breaths to bring herself back to normal. 

It’s fine. Everything is fine. Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang are fine. 

Li Tianxi is not.

Qiao Ling stands alone in her bedroom, with the weight of a corpse in her arms, and convinces herself that that’s fine too. 

They were at a field, a ways away from the studio. They had to take a bus to get here. Even Cheng Xiaoshi didn’t know where Lu Guang was taking them, but both of them were pretty used to Lu Guang's cryptic nature by now. 

Qiao Ling likes to call them moments.™️

Literally moments where Lu Guang says, does, or reacts to innocuous things that don’t seem to make any sense. At least not without context. 

But she doesn’t ask, partly because she is slightly afraid of what it may be but mostly because she just doesn’t want to pry. She has spent most of her life fighting off prying remarks and rumors about Cheng Xiaoshi's home life. She isn’t interested in perpetuating it further. 

If it was something important, Lu Guang would tell them. Or at least tell her, she was sure of it. 

On the literal bright side, it is an especially sunny day, and the huge shoulder bag Lu Guang had been lugging around starts making sense. 

"Oh my god, Lu Guang, are we here for a picnic?"

"Lu Guang, did you pack us good food?!"

Cheng Xiaoshi exclaims at the same time she asks her question. 

Qiao Ling nudged him and playfully asked, "Seriously, Cheng Xiaoshi, is food the only thing filling that head of yours?"

Cheng Xiaoshi indulges her, “Hah? Food is an important part of a picnic, you know? Otherwise it’s just all of us sitting on a blanket outside!”

As they start to bicker, she notices Lu Guang setting up the picnic sheet from the corner of her eyes.

She shares a meaningful glance with her brother in all but blood, and she is sure they are having the same thought: This is surprisingly sentimental coming from Lu Guang, and they should make the most of it. 

And so they get moving. 

She pats Lu Guang on the head as she says, "You already brought us here, Lu Guang! We'll take care of the rest."

Cheng Xiaoshi has already bounded his way to the bag, essentially stealing it from his hands to start taking things out. 

Snacks, drinks, utensils, and a camera that he decides to hang around his neck. 

“Wow, Guang Guang, you packed for a whole family in here." 

“Well, you basically eat for three people anyways," Lu Guang huffs. 

Before Cheng Xiaoshi can craft an indignant retort back, she cuts in.

“Hey, are those the apples you got from the last client?”

“Yes, they are. We had some leftover, so I thought we could share them.” Lu Guang responds back.

She picks one up from the pile on the sheet; it was apparently grown directly in their client’s family’s orchard. 

Just as she decides to eat one, the wind picks up, and she has to hold onto her hat so it doesn’t fly away.

Just then, behind her, she hears Cheng Xiaoshi call out to her.

“Qiao Ling! Turn around and give us a biiiggg smile." 

She can hear the grin in his voice and turns around to give her best performance for the camera.