I never heard back from Jongdae the other night, but I assumed he had solved any problems he had with his little super heroes. When Saturday morning came a couple days later, I found myself attending the meeting without my brother. His boss called him about some emergency (though I think he just forgot how to work the color printer), and he had to go in and work. I protested to him that if he didn’t go than I shouldn’t have to go either, but he told me to go for Kyungbin.

            “It’s good for him to get out and interact with the other kids, Yisoo.” He had started.

            “He loves going, you don’t want to take that away from him, do you?” He evolved.

            “C’mon, sis. Do it for Kyungbinnie, be a good aunt!”

            Darn my brother, he always knew what to say to convince me to do anything.

            “Do Kyungbin,” I lectured the little boy I was carrying on my hip as I walked to the meeting. “I give it ten minutes before it gets ridiculous in there. I don’t care how much fun you’re having interacting and what-not, but the second Sehun asks me about the nutritional value of grape juice versus apple juice, or Junmyeon tries to convince me to only feed you, I don’t know, organic gluten-free carrot supplements, we’re out of there.” I informed the little boy. As I stared at him with serious eyes, he looked back at me with a confused on his face.

            “Ugh, what am I even saying?” I muttered to myself. “I’m definitely losing my senses.”

            I hurried to the community center and met Jongin on my way in.

            “Hey Yisoo!” He greeted. “Where’s Kyungsoo?”

            “He got called in to work. Couldn’t come. So it’s just me instead.” I replied.

            “Oh, sorry.” He consoled. “If you don’t want to stay, that’s okay. I can make sure Kyungbin’s alright and you can just come back and pick him up later.”

            I was grateful for his offer, but declined.

            “As much as I would like to take you up on that, I really shouldn’t.” I sighed. “I should go, in case any of you have any pressing questions or something I guess.”

             “You’ve already helped us a lot.” Jongin said and his comment took me by surprise.

            “Really?” I questioned. “I feel like all I do at meetings is sit there.”

            “Even if you don’t say much, we still appreciate you being there. You’re great with the kids and I know they like having a big sister figure there.” He replied. “I worry about Hyein, sometimes. Because she doesn’t have a mom, I worry about her not having a female figure in her life. Even if it’s just for an hour a week, I really like her having you.”

            I blushed, not really knowing why. Over the past few weeks, the little girls had definitely started to grow on me. Jihye and Kara were always begging me to play dress up with them or color and I gladly obliged, but I never thought much of it.

            “I’m glad I can help.” I said as we got to the room. “I’m trying to be as helpful as I can.”

            “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re more help than you think.” Jongin said with a smile as he opened the door for me.

            “Thanks.” I said, starting to feel more comfortable. When we walked into the room, the other guys were just starting to separate the chairs into two circles. As Jongin went to go put Hyein next to Sehee on the carpet, I just stood awkwardly by the door, Kyungbin still on my hip.

            “Yisoo, where’s Kyungsoo?” Minseok asked, noticing I was alone.

            “Work, it’s just me.” I replied.

            “You still came even without him?” He asked.

            “Yea, he practically begged me to.” I replied honestly. Minseok chuckled.

            “Are you sure part of you didn’t just miss us?” He joked.

            “Yea, right.” I scoffed. “I really missed a room full of screaming kids. Oh yea, and their children.”

            “Hey!” Jongdae whined.

            “What?” I said, raising one eyebrow. “How did it go the other night, by the way?” I asked.

            “Awful!” I heard Chanyeol yell from his seat.

            “You were there too?” I asked.

            “Yea, and Luhan Hyung too.” He replied.

            “What he means,” Jongdae interrupted, “Was that it took a while, but your advice worked eventually.”

            “That’s good then!” I said.

            “Yea, but you didn’t have to spend two hours washing face paint and toothpaste out of your hair.” Chanyeol muttered. I shot Jongdae a confused look, but he just shook his head and rolled his eyes as if saying, don’t worry about it.

            After the two circles were made, I found myself sitting next to Jongdae in Kris’s group instead of Junmyeon’s. Besides Jongdae, Kris’s group consisted of Tao, Luhan, Yixing and Minseok. I hadn’t heard how Kris lead his meetings yet and was curious to find out. From the start, it was clear him and Junmyeon had different approaches.

            “Kris hyung, are you going to begin?” Tao asked. Kris, who had one hand wrapped around Ace sitting on his lap and the other clutching a blackberry, looked up from his email in surprise.

            “What? Oh yea, we can start now.” Kris said. “Um, how was everyone’s weeks?”

            “Excellent!” Jongdae cheered, clearly in a good mood.

            “And why was that?” Kris asked, semi-intrigued.

            “Minseokie and I took the boys to the first taekwondo class!” Jongdae answered, the smile on is face growing. “They loved it! And plus, I finally found a place where they can run around and try to beat each other up but it’s, like, encouraged!”

            “Um, yay?” Kris asked.

            “Yay is right! I should’ve done this a long time ago, they are really good at it too.” Jongdae continued. “Minseok, you and Jin liked it too, didn’t you?”

            “Not at all!” I heard a little voice pipe up. I turned to Minseok and realized it wasn’t him who had answered, but his nephew.

            “You didn’t have fun, Jin?” Jongdae asked, a hurt expression on his face.

            “Of course not!” The little boy replied. “It was barbaric!”

            Again, I was surprised at the words coming out of Jin’s mouth. I caught eyes with Luhan and gave him a look that said is this kid for real? But Luhan just chuckled at me.

            “Why didn’t you like it, Jin?” I asked the little boy. He had been sitting on the floor by the base of Minseok’s chair, a book in his lap, but at the sound of my question put his book down and stood up. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat.

            “There was no meaning to it, none at all!” He began. “All it was, was a group of heathens running around and attacking each other, but with no justification. Why run around and start fights if there is no logical motivation or purpose? I don’t see the fun in harming other people simply for the sake of entertainment or recreation.”

            Our group fell silent and I realized the other group had too, clearly having overheard Jin’s speech. Jin just stared back at the group of adults, hands on his hips and lips pursed.

            “Hyung,” he said, addressing Minseok, “I don’t wish to go back there.”

            Minseok let out a soft sigh and replied, “Of course not, Jin, not if you feel so strongly against it. We can find something else to do.”

            “Yea, like maybe attend some college lectures…” Tao muttered.

            “Minseok, are you sure Jin’s four?” Jongdae asked, still in disbelief. “I could barely keep up with what he was just saying.”

            “It’s an allusion to the downfalls of the human condition!” Jin replied in an exasperated tone.

            “A… what?” Jongdae asked, looking even more confused.

            “Ugh!” Jin sighed, rolling his eyes at the older boy before giving up on the conversation and returning to his book.

            “I’ll explain later.” Minseok whispered to Jongdae, making him look slightly less hurt and confused.

            “Um, ok,” Kris cleared his throat. “Now that that is out of the way, does anyone else have anything they want to share?”

            “Oh, I have a question for Yisoo!” Yixing announced. Startled, I looked his way.

            “What is it?” I asked, trying to hide my shock.

            “Well, I thought signing us up for dance classes would get Bing to open up to people more, but he’s still a shy as ever. How can I get him to interact with other people more?”

            “Yixing, I could’ve told you how to do that.” Luhan suddenly remarked, saving me from having to try to answer his question. (For the record, I had no idea even where to begin.)

            “Yes, Luhan! Tell Yixing what you were thinking!” I remarked a bit too enthusiastically.

            “Bing looks up to you in every way, and he copies everything you do.” Luhan began.

            “Yea, so?” Yixing said, not catching on.

            “And so, well, you’re not exactly the most social person in the world…”

            “What are you trying to say?” Yixing asked.

            “Well, if I may be blunt, if you want Bing to open up and socialize with people more, than you should too!”

            “I don’t know Luhan…” Yixing began, but Luhan would have none of it.

            “No. This is for your own good. You’re going out with me this week and I’m going to show you how to open up to people. How to live!” Luhan declared, pumping his fist for good measure.

            “This is a good idea for you, Yixing.” Minseok added.

            “Yea, get out there!” Jongdae put in.

            “Alright guys, if you think it will help Bing.” Yixing agreed, still looking a little concerned.

            “Trust me,” Luhan charmed, “This will help both of you.” He gestured to Bing, who was playing with toy cars on the carpet, as always, by himself.

            “Bing-ah!” Yixing called over to his son, who looked up eagerly at his dad at the sound of his name. “Why don’t you go play with Kyungbinnie?”

            I waited for Bing to at least turn to look at Kyungbin, who was rolling around on the carpet next to him, but all the little boy did was shake his head defiantly and resume making vroom noises at his cars.

            Yixing let out a defeated sigh. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

            As the meeting began to wrap up, Junmyeon called Kris’s group over to make an announcement.

            “Okay guys, we still need to finish the babysitting schedule for this week.” Junmyeon announced, only to be met by groans from the other boys.

            “Oh come on, it’s not that bad.” Junmyeon said. “Now, I have Tao and Kris down for watching on Monday… Chanyeol has Wednesday afternoon… Jongdae, did you say you were free Thursday?”

            “Thursday? No I said the only day I couldn’t do was Thursday, that’s Taekwondo day!” Jongdae replied.

            “Ok, than how’s Tuesday?” Junmyeon asked.

            “Hyung, why do I always have to take the most shifts?” Jongdae complained.

            “Because no one pays us to watch your monsters when you drop them off, and that’s a full time job even without another five kids in the room.” Baekhyun huffed.

            “Oh, like Baekha’s any easier!” Jongdae shot back. “No one can get her to quiet down when she’s in a fit besides you, and last time she started wailing while it was my turn to watch them I had people from three stories up run down to ask where the dying cat was!”

            “Don’t insult my daughter’s natural born talent!” Baekhyun yelled.

            “Talent??!” Jongdae fired back. “Tell me how impersonation of a possessed howler monkey is a talent…”

            “Guys stop fighting!!” Sehun suddenly yelled, stopping the two boys who looked about ready to rip each other’s hair out.

            “I think I can take the shift on Thursday.” Sehun announced, drawing worried looks from everyone in the room.

            “Sehun, that’s a big responsibility, I’m not quiet sure if we feel like you’re ready yet…” Junmyeon began. As the words came out of his mouth, I felt a sudden urge creep up within my chest.

 No, Yisoo. I tried to tell myself. Don’t do what I think you’re thinking of doing. It has trouble written all over it. Bad idea. Abort. Abort.

            “Yea, maybe someone can do it with you?” Kris suggested. “Luhan? Tao?”

            I gulped.

All you have to do is volunteer. One part of me said.

No! What makes you think you would be any help anyway? I tried to retalk sense into myself.

            “No, guys, I can do this.” Sehun stated. “I’ve been feeling more, how do I put this, manly? No, mature, lately. I think I can handle watching the kids.”

            Don’t do it, Yisoo!

            “Sehun, it’s not that we don’t admire your sudden request for responsibility, it’s just that…” Luhan began.

            Don’t you dare—

            “Some of us still may not think you’are ready…”

            I swear Yisoo, if you do what I think you’re about to do--

            “I can help him.” I heard myself blurt out. Mentally, I was slapping myself over and over as I tried to ignore the twelve surprised sets of eyes suddenly peering my way.

            “Really!” Sehun giggled. “You would come and help me?”

            “Um, I mean..” I stuttered. “If you think you need the help, I mean I’m free then, so I could stop by if you wanted me to, I guess…”

            “Great!” Junmyeon said, a relieved look on his face. “So it’s settled. Yisoo and Sehun will come in Thursday afternoon to watch the kids.”

            “Thanks Yisoo!” Came the chorus of relieved fathers, happy to know their child wouldn’t be left with a boy who was still a child himself.

            “It’s no problem.” I lied.

Why did I volunteer to do that? I questioned myself, pinching my thigh and putting on a smile.

When did I ever think that would be a good idea? Could these twelve fools really be growing on me that much?

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