Spitting Image | Jeong Jaehyun

5

"You said a bad word" a small high pitched voice said behind her and she almost slapped herself in the face for forgetting exactly what her job was

"Ah I'm sorry" Kira apologised quickly to the kid but the kid only laughed, unable to keep her straight face

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone, only if you promise to being me a chocolate bar next time you come" the kid said and Kira chuckled

"Hopefully there will be a next time" she said, kneeling down to the ground to meet the kid at eye level.

"Of course there will be, I already like you" the kid giggled making Kira smile. For a young kid that was in a Balenciaga junior hoodie, she wasn't all that bad. Kira just hoped she didn't turn out to be evil, but she was still more relieved that she wasn't looking after a rebellious teenager instead

"So, what's your name?" Kira asked, straightening up the girls sweater

"Jihye, Jung Jihye" the kid said proudly and Kira nodded

"That's such a pretty name, my name is Kira, Kira Lee" she answered

"I know a lot of Lees!" She exclaimed with wide eyes and Kira chuckled, trying to match her expression

"Most of my uncles are Lees. I think you'll like them because you all say bad words a lot" she giggled

"Hey! I thought we weren't gonna bring that up anymore" Kira said, poking Jihye's stomach softly erupting more giggles.

"Come on I'll show you around!" Jihye said excitedly grabbing Kira's hand which was much bigger in comparison

"Hello Kira, nice to have you join us for dinner, do you have any dietary restrictions?" A woman asked, who she assumed was the cook.

"No, none. I just..hate celery" she replied and the woman smiled

"You should eat your vegetables" Jihye said but Kira shrugged

"Celery is just gross" She replied

"My dad once tasted celery juice when he was in America and he said it tasted gross as well" she said. Now, Kira was an experimental type when it came to food. She would always try it before she made a verdict, now celery juice..that was just a whole other level.

Kira tried to keep up with the excited Jihye who ran around like a bumble bee explaining in short sentences what each room was for and a small story about how she got in trouble for drawing on the walls or spilling chocolate milk onto the white carpet. Kira liked the oversharing aspect of this kid. It was easy to talk to her about anything. Maybe Taehyun was right, Jihye might just be her new bestie.

Kira's jaw almost dropped as she entered a big room with lots of space, a junior art easel laying at the centre as the walls were surrounded with large book shelves, a vinyl playing in the distance, some jazz song she hadn't heard before. But what really captivated her was the big painting on the wall, one she thought she would never see again.

"I can't believe this" she whispered to herself and before Jihye could question what she meant, a voice was heard, calling her down by one of the workers to go wash up before dinner time. Jihye promises that she would be right back before scurrying out of the room. Now all left alone and to her own thoughts, Kira lightly treaded towards the painting.

It was the biggest piece she had painted, a monochrome black and white painting of a genderless face, blurred out almost with the only thing in proper focus being the eyes, which were shut closed. The real pain of the painting could be seen from the dark red streaks of paint dripping down to the end of the painting which contrasted the greyscale face, showing agony, blood and never-ending pain.

It was a piece she did when she was immensely stressed during her final year of high school. The piece deserved so much recognition that it was sold to the highest bidder the day after it went on auction at the country bidding, without her consent. She was always spiteful of her mom who decided to give it up for the country auction in the first place. The money from that painting probably went into someone else's pocket for all she knew, but seeing as it was in a VIP's house right now, it could've been enough for her to get into art college.

Without thinking anything further, nothing but a sense of pride swelling in her heart, she opened her phone and clicked on the camera app. Snapping a picture of the painting to send to Kai.

"Were you not informed to not take any pictures while you were here?" A deep voice said, snapping her out of her trance and making her drop her phone onto the floor which was thankfully carpeted.

She turned around in shock and immediately took a few steps back as she saw the dominant male figure approach her.

He walked towards her, stopping to bend down and pick up her phone before continuing to walk towards her, and it was only then that she put her feelings of fear aside to look up and be eye to eye with the one and only-

"Jung Jaehyun?!"