Reading to a Child
Prompt: Akira and Qu reading a child reader a bedtime story.
- His neighbors ask him to watch over their daughter for the night, and he gladly accepts. Qu is rather fond of the sweet child, and every now and then, takes her shopping for outfits at her request – the girl finds his fashion taste appealing and wants to dress like him.
- As he tucks her in, Qu notices her staring at him as if she wants to ask him for something. He glances at her and smiles, “Good night, my dear. Sweet dream and-”
- “Qu…can you read me a bedtime story?”
- “Of course,” he chuckles and searches her backpack to see if her mother placed any book inside. Sure enough, he finds a child’s fairytale book hidden under her clothes.
- Settling into the chair near her bed, he begins reading in a melodious voice, almost sounding like he is singing. Even during exciting portions of the book, Qu maintains a calm voice as he wants to child to relax, not get excited.
- He constantly checks the child’s expressions to see if he needs to adjust his voice or lower his volume. His soothing voice lulls the child to sleep even before he reaches the halfway point of the fairytale.
- Qu quietly shuts the book, places it on the nightstand, and strokes the child’s hair. He whispers a good night and sweet dreams before turning off the lights and walking out.
- Akira decides to visit an orphanage, but not before buying a sack of gifts for the children. He ends up having so much fun interacting with the kids that he stays longer than planned. The caretakers even invite him to join them for dinner, and at bedtime, the singer helps them tuck in the children.
- “Big brother,” one of the younger boys calls out to him, “will you read us a bedtime story?”
- His words excite the other kids, and they begin to plead to him. Even though he is running late, Akira can’t bring himself to say no to those big eyes and sweet smiles. He picks out an action/adventure kids book and sits on a wooden chair.
- “Once upon a time,” he starts out the tale in a calm voice but ends up giving the kids a full story experience, changing his voice for every character, acting out the scenes, but still keeping his volume down. At some points in the book, Akira even sings but in a gentle manner. The singer continues reading the book until all the children fall asleep.
- For a while, he watches their sleeping faces with a content smile, hoping that each one of them has a good dream.
- After he leaves the room with the caretakers, the ladies thank him for spending quality time with the children. They even ask him to come back as the kids seem to really like the singer.