Things went relatively smoothly for the next 3 weeks. Siwon, Hyukjae and Ryeowook had adopted Leeteuk as their umma with no more questions asked. Donghae, however, still seemed cold towards Leeteuk at times, but the adult tried not to take it to heart too much. As it was still summer break, they spent a lot of time together as a family, trying to take the children’s wishes of activities into account when planning what to do for the day.

“I want to draw!” Hyukjae declared with an excited smile on his face.

“Dwarw!” Ryeowook chirped happily as he clapped his hands and jumped up and down in the seat of his highchair.

“Do you two want to draw too?” Leeteuk asked Donghae and Siwon. Donghae just shrugged and moved closer to Hyukjae while Siwon nodded.

“Appa, you want to draw with us too?” Siwon asked hopefully. He had very much liked spending more time with his appa these past three weeks and he hoped that he could continue spending more time with him in the future now that they had an umma to help with everything.

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve drawn,” Kangin said with a smile as he gathered the plates and cups and began filling the dishwasher. “The drawing stuff is in the cupboard to the right in the playroom, could you go find them, Teukie?”

“Sure,” Leeteuk agreed easily and went to the playroom, crouching down at the said cupboard to find what was needed. He scrambled around for a bit, trying to find all the colouring pens and markers as well as the art aprons for the kids, only to jump in surprise when a small hand shot over his shoulder into the cupboard and grabbed one of the aprons.

“Will you help me put it on, Teukie umma?” Siwon asked sweetly.

“Yes, of course, Siwonnie,” Leeteuk said, heart still racing in his chest at the little shock; he hadn’t heard Siwon following him. “Could you carry the other aprons? I’ll get the pens and paper.”

Siwon nodded eagerly and gathered the aprons in his arms before he made his way to the kitchen with a certain skip in his steps. He was proud that he could help his new umma.

“Dwarw gwiraffe!” Ryeowook demanded while looking sternly at Kangin just as Leeteuk came into the room with all the drawing utensils; the toddler was trying hard to convince his appa of the importance of drawing a giraffe for him.

Kangin had laid a wax tablecloth on the table that could easily be wiped clean afterwards if one of the kids accidentally drew on the table. He was shaking his head with fond amusement while trying to help the squirming toddler get his apron on before he placed a piece of paper in front of him. “What colour do you want, bunny?” he asked.

Ryeowook looked like he was faced with a life-changing decision as he tried to make up his mind. “Gween,” he then decided and reached his hand out towards the pot with all the pens in.

Meanwhile, Leeteuk helped Hyukjae get his art apron on and turned around to help Donghae.

“No! I want appa to do it!” the younger twin yelled as soon as he realised that Leeteuk was going to try to help him.

Once again Leeteuk felt like he had received a slap to the face. He understood from what Siwon had told him that Donghae had been the closest to their umma so it was very natural that Donghae was still trying to be loyal to his mother and acted with rejection towards Leeteuk, even if she had not returned that loyalty and left them instead. Kangin sent Leeteuk an unreadable look before helping Donghae put on the apron. The two adults then sat down to join in the already industrious production of drawings.

“Look!” Ryeowook exclaimed, waving his drawing around happily.

“It’s very pretty, bunny,” Kangin praised, having absolutely no idea what the six different-sized blobs were supposed to be. “Do you want me to write what it is?” he asked, sneakily thinking he could get the toddler to explain what it was by doing so.

“Is appa and umma and Wookie and Wonnie and Hyukkie and Hae!” the toddler explained, pointing to each blob with enthusiasm.

Kangin dutifully wrote the names under each appointed blob and then Ryeowook’s name and the date in the upper left corner. “Want to hang it on the fridge?” he asked to which Ryeowook nodded furiously.

Once Kangin had hung the drawing on the fridge with a crocodile magnet, Ryeowook beamed proudly. “Gwiraffe!” he then demanded of his appa.

“Yes, I am trying,” Kangin laughed as he turned back to his attempt at drawing a giraffe.

“What are you drawing, Siwon?” Leeteuk asked the oldest boy.

Siwon’s tongue was poking out in concentration as he used a darker green pen than the one Ryeowook had just used. “I’m trying to make a turtle for Yesungie,” Siwon said, not losing his concentration for even a second as he drew the pattern of the turtle’s shell.

“It’s very pretty. I love that it’s smiling,” Leeteuk commented, causing Siwon to look up and smile proudly at the compliment.

“Umma, loo-“

“He is NOT your umma!” Donghae yelled, interrupting Hyukjae as he slammed the pen he had been using down on the table.

Hyukjae only looked surprised for a second before anger welled up in his expression. “He IS! He said he wanted to be my umma!” Hyukjae yelled back, equally angry at being told that Leeteuk was not his umma when the man had agreed to be.

“Boys, cut it out!” Kangin said sternly over the argument.

Donghae turned towards Kangin, looking completely furious before he turned to Leeteuk instead. “You are not my umma! I HATE you!” he screamed and jumped off his chair, pushing it over before running out of the kitchen.

The outburst had come like lightning from a clear sky, rendering Leeteuk frozen in place for a second, completely shocked by the youngest twin’s outburst. He snapped out of it when Hyukjae began crying, which caused Ryeowook to start crying as well, even though the toddler didn’t understand what was going on; he just didn’t like it when his brothers fought. Leeteuk quickly lifted Ryeowook out of his highchair and then beckoned Hyukjae to come over, lifting him up so he had a child on each thigh.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Kangin said once he was sure the situation in the kitchen wasn’t worse than Leeteuk could handle.

“Shh, it’s okay, don’t cry,”