Someone took your face in their hands and started wiping the tears away, erasing the little trails of water. You blinked your eyes open sending the last tears down your cheeks and looked at Hyunseung. "Are you crying because you're upset or because you're happy?"

Relieved.

Relieved. A simple word that described your outlook perfectly right now. They all laughed at your simple response.

"Well it's been a long, dramatic day, so let's all go get something to eat," Doojoon said. There were choruses of Yes! and everyone stood and moved toward the door. You stayed near the back as was proper to avoid getting lost. Doojoon walked up front with Hyunseung while Dongwoon went to join Gikwang. Yoseob walked next to you chattering excitedly. "You can sit between me and Hyunseung," he whispered. "We'll protect you from Kiki."

You tilted your head to the side in confusion. I sit with you?

He blinked. "Of course. why wouldn't you? You're part of our family now." He smiled brightly at you.

"Dongwoon, go get Junhyung please," Hyunseung called over his shoulder.

"Yes Umma!" he said mockingly. As he ran past Hyunseung, he got a swift smack on the back of the head. "Ow!"

Yoseob laughed. "He should know better than to mock the all-powerful Hyunseung umma especially since he's the youngest. We all know that even though Doojoon is the oldest and supposedly our leader, Hyunseung has the most power."

So Doojoon is the oldest and Dongwoon is the youngest?

He nodded. "Hyunseung is second oldest. Then, it's Junhyung, me, and Gikwang."

You're older than Gikwang?

"Yes, but I've been told I don't seem like it. Multiple times. By pretty much everyone. Although, I'm only older by a few months anyway, so I guess it makes sense." After this answer, Yoseob fell back into his stream of mindless chatter.

You noticed how familiar the path seemed. You wondered if that meant you were going to eat in the dining room. For a while, it looked like that was exactly where you were going, but then Doojoon and Hyunseung turned into the kitchen. You looked around since you had just left this room alone earlier.

It was filled with stainless steel appliances, and there was an abundance of counterspace. The kitchen looked big enough to easily feed hundreds. Pots and pans hung from racks above the counters, and there were at least three refrigerators in one line set into the cabinets.

Just then, Dongwoon and Junhyung walked in. "Can we eat now? I'm hungry," the younger said.

"Alright," Hyunseung relented. Then Yoseob tapped him on the shoulder. Wait- when did he move? You blinked in confusion. When you finally resolved to let it go, said blonde appeared back at your side to grab your hand and start pulling you toward a door off to the right.

When you entered the room, you could understand why they needed such an industrial-sized kitchen. There was a smaller table at the front and then rows of long tables behind it (think of the Great Hall but backwards and with more tables). There were three people sitting at one of the tables in the very back. When the guys walked in, the three looked up and waved with big smiles. Doojoon waved back, and they started walking over. He talked quietly to them for a minute, and then walked away. The three girls walked over to you.

"Hello! My name is Emi! You can't talk right?" the first girl asked. She was tall and had dark blonde hair. You nodded slowly to answer her. "Well that's okay! I'm sure we can still be friends~!" You blinked and nodded again kind of thrown off by her energy.

"Jie Jie (means older sister in mandarin) you're going to scare her. Hello, my name is Lingfei." She held out her hand for you to shake which you did. She was on the shorter side with very short black hair. You guessed she was Chinese by her language usage. "We'd like to welcome you to the house." She smiled. You signed a quick 'thank you'  and she nodded. "Your welcome. I watched enough children shows back on Earth to know that sign."

You looked to the last girl. She had brown hair down to the middle of her back. You waved at her. She waved back and said, "Hi."

Emi laughed. "Her name's Addy. Don't worry she'll warm up to you someday. If not, you two can spend long quiet afternoons together." She smiled hugely even though this would be a very strange way to spend an afternoon.

"Okay," Lingfei said. "I'm going to get her out of your hair before she scares you away. Have a good meal with the boys. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye! Even though we can't communicate, we'll use the power of friendship to strengthen our bond!!!! Fighting!!!" Emi yelled as she pumped her fist into the air.

"Okay, it's definitely time to get you away from her. Bye!" Lingfei started to drag the chipper girl away to your slight relief. You liked her, but her enthusiasm was a little too much to handle in one go.

Addy followed but turned to give you a wave before walking out and closing the door behind them.

You looked back to the table where the others had already sat down. Yoseob waved you over to the seat between him and Hyunseung. You walked over, and he pulled the seat out for you with a grin and a wink. You glanced at him and sat down not knowing exactly what to do now. While you were thinking, your plate disappeared from in front of you. You found it when you looked over and saw Hyunseung adding little bits of different foods you couldn't name.

"You need plenty of fruits and vegetables and a lot of meat to put some weight back on because you are no doubt severely underweight. However, if you eat too much you'll make yourself sick, so I'm only going to give you this much for now. If you're still hungry later, I'll give you a little more." True to the nickname, Hyunseung was mothering you and adding food to the plate before setting it in front of you.

Thank you umma, you started to sign until you stopped halfway through the last sign realizing your mistake. You stared wide eyed at the man that you surely just angered.

He leaned over and whispered in your ear, "I don't mind if you call me that. I mind when they do because they say it sarcastically most of the time. Besides, this place needs a motherly touch. Too much testosterone!" He accompanied the last statement with several girly hand gestures. Then he grinned at you. You turned back to your plate, your mood greatly improved.

You started just pushing things around your plate until you finally took a spoonful of something and stuck it in your mouth. You were pretty sure you weren't hungry until you put it in your mouth. Now, you were starving and had to force yourself to chew, so you wouldn't immediately inhale your food. You knew that if you kept going like this, you were going to have a major stomach ache later. You slowed down to a normal pace and continued eating.

This time you looked around to help distract you from eating. Hyunseung was sitting at one end of the table with Doojoon next to him and across from you. Junhyung was sitting next to him, and they were talking quietly to each other. Yoseob was sitting on your right, and Dongwoon was on the other side of him. He was talking about some friends to Gikwang who sat across from him. Yoseob elbowed your arm slightly, and you looked at him. He smiled and just continued looking at you. You blinked in confusion and tilted your head slightly to the side. He held up a finger and then grabbed your fork off your plate. You were extremely curious and a little wary of what he was doing now. He grabbed a bowl of something you hadn't tried yet and used your fork to get a piece of what looked like meat on it. Then he turned back toward you with it. He held it in front of your mouth. You moved back slightly knowing what his intent was, he wanted to feed you, but you weren't sure how to react to it. He opened his mouth and pointed at it. You just stared him and pressed your lips together. You weren't trying to be defiant, you just weren't sure if you wanted to eat it.

The blonde pouted his lips and decided to change tactics. He looked at you with bright eyes, and  the most innocent smile and said, "Open up please~!" You were so surprised by the onslaught of cute that your mouth popped open without your consent. He plopped the food in your mouth and set your fork on your plate before sitting back and watching you with an amused smile.

Your eyes widened as the flavor hit your tastebuds. It was sweet but tangy and spicy at the same time. It was so tender and juicy that there was no way it could be human food. You didn't care what it was, you just wanted more.

"Seungie can I give her more of this? She looks like she really likes it," Yoseob chuckled.

You turned and looked at brunette hopefully. He thought for a moment and looked back at you. Then, he looked at Yoseob who you could only guess was probably using as much puppy-dog-eyes power as possible. "If you want to feed it to her, you need to ask her first. She is not your pet. But she can have more if she wants," he relented.  "Not too much, though," he added as an after thought.

You were pretty sure that you had never been so happy over something so insignificant before now. You signed Thank you! and looked back at the blonde who was grinning like a cat who got the cream. "Can I feed you? Please! I promise I don't think of you as a pet. I just want to mother you like Hyunseung." He whispered the very last part so quietly that you were certain no one else heard it. You didn't see any harm in the request other than it gave him more control over you than you liked. And you did want to make nice with the new masters. It was easier to survive that way. You nodded and the blonde lit up like a Christmas tree.

The next twenty minutes were spent with the blonde asking you questions while giving you bites of your new favorite food. The questions ranged from being about the house to your interests. You tried to answer anything about yourself as evasively as possible. After a while Hyunseung glared at the blonde who then put down the fork and stuck out his tongue. You looked around and noticed that Doojoon and Gikwang had already left. Hyunseung and Junhyung had been talking until he stopped to keep you from being given too much food. Dongwoon had been quietly watching your Q&A session with Yoseob, but it appeared that dinner was over.

"I'll walk her back to her room," Dongwoon offered. Hyunseung nodded, so you stood and bowed to the rest before following the maknae. He held the door for you, and you signed thank you before walking through.

You waited until he closed the door and was next to you before you started walking. He insisted on holding the next door for you too, but this time you just gave a small bow before passing through.

While walking back to your room, there was an uncomfortable silence, and  you could tell he wanted to say something. You looked at him and quirked your head to the side.

Is something wrong?

He looked at you in surprise. "No! I'm just trying to think of a way to make you smile. Even when you seem happy, you don't smile."

You blinked. You weren't aware that you never smiled. It was always just an assumption on your part that you smiled when you were happy.

"Are you happy here?" he asked. You were guessing tact was not one of his strong suits. You started to lift your hands. "And I want the truth, not a people pleasing answer," he said with a pointed look. You sighed. Then, you dropped your face to the ground and signed.

I don't know.

"If you're not happy, you can always tell one of us. We want to make you as comfortable here as possible." You had stopped walking at this point and were just standing in the middle of the hallway. "You don't trust us do you?" You flinched back at the slight harsh tone in his voice. You lowered your head further and let your hair shield your face. You heard him huff out a deep breath. "I guess that means my first goal now is to gain your trust."

A/N time:

Hi~! so i told you i would update again soon right? well i did!! and i still didnt get to the point i wanted to. so thats kinda not fun. My OCD is acting up now but thats ok. i can fill in the space.

So look! new people! yea! they're actually my friends but only one of them knew i was doing this. she's that one who managed to weedle a whole bunch of info out of me. yea i really need to work on my poker face. anyways i'll let them identify themselves if they want but Emi before you hit the comment button remember this. they all know that you have information. if they find out who you are they might swoop like vultures. lol jk. im sure you're all very nice people ^^ but seriously Emi, watch it.

still keep working on those guesses though people. definitely start guessing races. i plan on revealing some if you people start guessing. and i'm leaving hints all over the place so really try now. bye bye all~!