title : where's my daddy?
pairing : none
genre : spine-chiller; tbh idek what i was going for
originally published : april nine, twenty-fourteen
originally completed : april nine, twenty-fourteen
short summary : mingming needs a change of pace in his life, and he decides that moving to a different country will give him what he wants. what more can you ask for when you're given free board and a decent paycheck for being a live-in babysitter?

Yao Mingming had moved from his humble homeland of Shanxi, China, to the new, and exciting urban city life in Seoul, South Korea. It was a pretty big move, but once he rose up to his third year of high school, he absolutely needed to get out of the slow, boring lifestyle he was leading. He eventually (against his parents' will), enrolled to a local high school, and found a job on Craigslist as a live-in nanny; free board and decent paycheck, why not, right? There were two kids that he had to watch; twin girls – Jinli, and Jinri who were both five years old. Since he didn't exactly have a stable job yet, nor did he actually have any idea of how he would be able to afford housing, he decided to email the mother. It was after a few phone calls, a choppy Skype interview, and one plane ride over until he had a job, and somewhere nice to live. Mingming was ecstatic.

The Chinese boy arrived in Korea about two weeks later, and he took a cab from the airport to the house he was going to be staying at. Thoughts about being a student and a full-time nanny ran through his mind; would he be able to do it? Was this a stupid idea? Should he have just stayed in China? Well either way, it was too late to turn back now. He was going to be starting a new life here now, and he was going to make the most of it. Not too long after, when the cab pulled up to the front gates, his jaw dropped. It was a huge house, unlike most of the ones he had seen on the way there. Most of the buildings were small, almost run-down looking apartment buildings, but this place obviously had it good. And what's more as that it was bigger on the inside. Newly remodeled hardwood floors, new furniture, marble countertops – he even had his own bathroom to himself. Coming from his quaint little apartment that he shared with his six member family, Mingming didn't come from money by any means.

His thoughts were interrupted shortly when the mother, Kiyoung, welcomed him warmly and offered to give him a tour of the place. He especially took note of where the cleaning supplies were located before she trusted him with the rest and headed off for work, saying to make himself at home and she would be back soon with the kids. Mingming wasted no time in getting the already-spotless house cleaned; he scrubbed the floors, dusted every little knick knack, and made the beds in all 15 rooms in the house. Kiyoung had explained to him earlier that she would be providing dinner as part of the contract (seeing that Mingming was only but a boy), so he settled in and began unpacking in his new room. He had brought about four medium sized bags with him, but that was only the essential things. He had left a majority of his possessions back home since he didn't want to risk losing or breaking any of his belongings during the move.

All that work had Mingming's heart at work. Sweat formed at his hairline, and he tried to make his body cool down by rolling up his sleeves. Sadly, that wasn't satisfying. Looking up from his spot on the floor, Mingming noticed that the ceilings in the house were extremely high; each one measuring at least fifteen feet from the floor. Stepping onto his bed, Mingming turned off the ceiling fan, ears perking up at the sound of a light tapping. Startled, he turned to see the headboard shaking slightly from his mini jump on the bed. He chuckled to himself, then shook his head at how weak he was being. Assuming it was the bed that was tapping the wall, he didn't think much of it. Who was he to be picky about something as ridiculous as a headboard scratching against the wall?

As soon as the twins arrived, they were immediately drawn to Mingming's childish charm. Everyday they looked forward to seeing Mingming waiting for them outside of their school gates, still in his high school uniform as he had just gotten out of school as well. They quickly fell in love with the boy, and he treated them like they were his own children. Even though he didn't have kids of his own, he did have a younger sister back home who was three years younger than him which he had much experience taking care of as he was growing up. Mingming would brush their long black hair that was similar to his sister's, and help them pick out outfits for their weekly outings on the weekends. During his free time at school, he would be at the library looking up stories to tell the kids at night. Every evening he would tell them a different story before they went to bed. But one night, after Mingming had been with the family for a few weeks, Jinri turned to look at him while he was reading.

“Where's my daddy?” she had asked, innocence laced in her words.

As he was in the middle of turning a page, Mingming froze for a few seconds, leaving the page held in the middle. Now that Jinri mentioned it, he recalled that Kiyoung didn't wear a wedding ring, and she hadn't mentioned anything to him about a husband, or a boyfriend. There were a few photos he had spotted throughout the house when he was cleaning that displayed Kiyoung and a man her age, but Mingming had never met him. So Mingming just smiled that the little girl and continued on with his story, hoping he would drop the subject. A few minutes later, much like the usual time, Jinri eventually rolled over and fell into a deep slumber with her sister following. Closing the boo