The Ranch

The farm was in a small town an hour away from the airport, right in the middle of nowhere. On the way there, the two elderly women spoke about the town. They would mention positive things like the weather and the people but the girls would pitch it with the downside like no signal in the ranch and mosquitos everywhere. The boys could only cringe.

They soon reached the small town. They drove slowly with their windows down. Rhea and Aurora rolled down the windows. Rhea smiled as she inhaled the fresh air but Aurora was too busy waving at everyone she saw. 

"Hello Mr. Sakiyi! Hi Mrs Sukiyaki!" Aurora greets. Grammy Oki and Aunt Rebs laughed at this. The boys simply rolled their eyes and thought the girls were immature before returning to what they were doing. 

"So when are we reaching the house?" Minho yawned loudly.

Liz, who was unfortunately sitting next to him, made a face. "That's not very polite, now is it?" 

Minho chose to ignore this and asked again.

"We're nearly there" Grammy Oki yelled from the front seat

They suddenly noticed the road getting steep. The girls raised their hands in the air as if they were in a rollercoaster. The boys raised their eyebrows and looked out the windows. They gasped. They were riding up a mountain.

..

THEY WERE RIDING UP A MOUNTAIN.

"Why are we riding up a mountain?" Taemin asked nervously. He was terrified of heights.

"Yeah, wasn't it supposed to be a farm?" Onew asked patting the maknae, trying to calm him down. Taemin shrugged him off and looked out the window trying to act cool.

"The farm is in the mountains, duh~!" Rhea rolled her eyes 

The boys looked at each other in panic. "The mountains?"

"No signal! No signal!" Yesung said dramatically putting his phone in the air.

Akio rolled his eyes. "Tsk.."

"Will we even have anything that isn't from the 19th century?" Key asked, waving his arms around, much to Sam's discontent. He hit her a couple of times in the sides.

"I-It'll be freezing up there!" Taemin shrieked.

Aurora looked back at Taemin. 'Now who's scared?' she thought and smirked.

After a couple of miles of rocky roads, they finally arrived at the house. 

Th boys walked out of the car and gapped at the house.

"The house is beautiful, Ms. Okinawa" Onew bowed respectfully. As soon as he saw his friends looking around he turned around and gave them a sharp, icy look. They all slightly jumped at Onew's gaze so they all bowed as well.

"Just call me Grammy Oki~!" Grammy Oki said and hugged all of them tightly.

The boys turned red. Grammy Oki let them go and they looked for their bags. 

"Girls, Akio.. give the boys a small trip around the house while Grammy Oki and I go to the groceries store" Aunt Rebs announced.

"I am not ready to deal with them" Jazmin yelled as she pointed right at Jonghyun's face. Jonghyun looked at her finger and scoffed.

"Jazmin!" Liz nagged

Jazmin sighed and walked inside the house. "I know, I know.. When we get to the house.." she said as she walked inside the house.

"We will, Grammy and Aunty, don't worry" Rhea bowed her head slightly before heading inside the house. 

The group walked inside the house. The boys dropped their bags to their feet. They were completely speechless. The house was even bigger on the inside. The floors were wood and there were windows taller than them.

"Please follow us into the living room where you will leave your bags there" Sam said

"There is no way in hell I will leave all of my precious clothes like that" Key said. He, of all of the boys, had the biggest suitcase. His friends facepalmed.

"Calm down, fashionista. It's only until we find out which girl you'll be rooming with" Akio said

"Excuse me" Rhea said pushing her way to the front. "What do you mean rooming with a girl?" 

"Well, the parents of these boys' decided that it'd be best if you guys.. educate them" Akio said with a small smirk. "There's six of you and six of them. So you're rooming with them and that's the end of it"

"Don't you live here?" Minho asked

"I'm only related to Baby Ror here" Akio messed Aurora's hair. Aurora turned red. "I have to go back to college"

"Bwoah?! College? I thought you were Taemin's age" Jonghyun said

Akio chuckled. "I'm 22. I'm in my third year of college. Which I must go to now. Goodbye girls" he kissed each of the girls' cheeks and then waved at the boys before taking his car keys and leaving..

Elizabeth stared at his back while blushing until he disappeared. She slowly waved back then shyly put her hand down.

'Oh so she likes him' Minho thought with just a tiny pang of jealuosy.

"Can we show you the house yet or what?" Jazmin asked, annoyed.

The boys nodded and trailed after the girls.

"This is the living room. Drop your bags here" Rhea said with an unamused face.

The boys looked out the window, their jaws nearly reaching the floor. Jonghyun threw himself on the couch and placed his feet on top of the table.

"This is perfect" he said placing his arms behind his head "One of you girls bring me some chips~"

"Uh.. no" Jazz said taking his feet and putting them back down. "Let us just show you the rest of the house"

The boys nodded and followed them into the kitchen (Jonghyun with a pout on his lips).

Taemin opened the cabinets. "Where's the cereal?" he asked

"We'll eat right after the tour. If you could please just focus" Elizabeth said obviously trying to keep her temper calmed. 

Taemin sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever"

"Deep breathes, Liz, deep breathes" Bella said placing her arm around her best friend's shoulder as they walked out of the kitchen.

"Anyway, this is the main kitchen. But we only cook or eat here on special ocassions. For example, Liz's and Aurora's birthday at the end of August, or when Liz wins her horse tornament, or when Bella wins the best grown plant-whatever-thing in the town fair, etcetera, etcetera" Rhea shrugged "We celebrate a lot so we'll be in here a lot"

"So, where do we usually eat, then?" Yesung asked

"Follow me, please" Rhea said walking out of the kitchen

"This is the wonderful kitchen. Yipee" Jazmin threw her fist in mid-air unenthusiastically. 

"This is where we usually eat" Aurora explained in a small voice "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a must in this house."

"But we usually eat lunch where Aurora works" Sam said

"You have a job?" Onew raised an eyebrow. 'This small, fragile, clumsy girl can't possibly have a job. Let alone as a waitress'

"I-I wash dishes s-sometimes w-when I'm not giving out orders" Aurora said

"Yeah, our little Aurora here works at a very fancy dinner. Pretty dashing, if you ask me" Jazmin said in what sounded like a sarcastic tone. 

"We all have jobs to do around here, really. But we'll move on to that later" Bella said

"Let's all go to the barn, then. We'll figure the bedroom problem when Grammy Oki and Aunt Rebs get home" Liz said

They all walked out of the kitchen by the back door to see a big field. 

"That's the barn over there" Aurora pointed at the barn while shading her eyes from the sun with her left hand. 

"The river's waaaay over there" she pointed to her right. 

"There's a river?" Jonghyun asked

"No, she's making it up" Jazmin said sarcastically

"You have a big imagination, kiddo. Lying isn't good" Jonghyun patted Aurora's head.

Jazmin hit her forehead and muttered, "Idiot" 

Jonghyun's friends simply shook their heads, used to this already. The group walked inside the barn.

"Well, now that we're here.." Rhea said sitting down in an old tire that was hanging from the ceiling. Jazmin, Liz and Bella started looking around. Sam was trying to get some signal in a corner and Aurora was petting the dogs. "Let's talk about the jobs while Grammy and Aunty get here"

"Let me stop you right there. You are wrong if you think I am doing anything around here" Key said looking at the barn in disgust.

"Listen, I am the boss around here, understood? I am the oldest, you aren't. I've been around here for longer, you haven't. We don't want you here and you don't want to be here but we might as well try to get along before this ends up in a blood bath with me on top" Rhea said

The last words made Aurora look up in panic. "Unnie.." 

"It's an expression, donsaeng" Rhea explained. Aurora sighed in relief and looked back down. Rhea turned her hard stare at Key.

Key simply rolled his eyes and looked away. 

"I still like the sending-them-back-in-a-boat-plan" Jazmin pointed out

"Jazmin, for the love of God" Elizabeth snapped

"Let me be, Elizabeth!" Jazmin yelled

"Can we talk about the jobs?" Bella asked swinging her tire from side to side.

"Yeah, you guys are giving me a headache" Onew rubbed his temples.

"Well, you all seem to be getting along pretty well" Grammy Oki said as she walked in the barn, Aunt Rebs trailing behind her.

The teenagers muttered and mumbled as they looked at their feet.

"Well, I don't know if you've already chosen jobs but you don't get to chose the jobs. You'll do the jobs with your roommate which we will announce now." Aunt Rebs explained.

The teenagers groaned, some stomping their feet, and others with a disgusted expression in their faces.

"Well, let's start off with the basics. If you could please just follow me into the house so we can see your rooms" Grammy Oki smiled sweetly at them before turning around and leaving the barn, Aunt Rebs' arms interwined with hers.

The teenagers looked at each other before following her. There was one thing for sure, though. It was going to be a very long day.