"Kids, dinner is ready!" Jaejoong called out. Jongdae skipped down the stairs. "Be careful!" Yunho warned. He followed behind the little boy, carrying Qiuyue in his arms. She had been crying when they had arrived home. The amount of emotional changes must have taken a toll on the pour soul. So they had gently rocked her to sleep first. It had been the same case with Jongdae. Jongdae had cried nearly everyday for three months. Kids took a longer time to adjust to a new environment.

Jongdae settled in his seat. "Are you okay princess?" Yunho asked. Qiuyue nodded as she rubbed her eyes. He set her down and let her stand on her own. Jongdae noted the nickname with a frown. Also, why was his father carrying her?! Why was she sleeping in their room?!

He frowned in distaste when Yunho made Qiuyue sit next to him instead of sitting there himself. "I made pizza bread!" Jaejoong announced happily and Jongdae lightened up. It was his favorite dish. Pizza bread was essentially bread and cheese. However there was a layer of finely sliced vegetables hidden underneath it. The mozzarella was thick enough to mask the taste and that was how Jaejoong tricked the otherwise fussy Jongdae into eating his greens. He was quite proud of the novel idea and he hoped Qiuyue would like it the way Jongdae did.

Yunho led the prayer before everyone dug in for dinner. "It's really nice appa!" Jongdae said happily. "Aww thank you. Do you like it too Qiuyue?" Jaejoong asked. She was a shy kid. Hopefully he could get her to feel more involved and hence feel at ease here. Qiuyue nodded with a small smile that instantly won Jaejoong's heart.

"Appa. Can you put some black pepper on it?" Jongdae asked intentionally interrupting the moment. "Okay honey. Do you want some too Qiuyue?" Jaejoong asked as he sprinkled it for Jongdae. She shook her head and responded with a small "No thank you". Jaejoong looked towards Yunho who shared a smile with him. 

Once dinner was over Yunho took Qiuyue to show the house to her. "Why does he always have to carry her?" Jongdae thought out loud. "Because she is tiny like you" Jaejoong said lifting him up. "I'm not tiny! I am a big man like Minseok hyung" he protested. "Yes you are. Want to go see the house?" Jaejoong asked tickling him. 

"I live here appa!" Jongdae cried laughing as he went. "Yeah but what if the house changed? What if a Snorlax stomped through it while you were in the room? Or what if we suddenly had an extra floor filled with minions!" Jaejoong asked. "Then we go steal the moon!" Jongdae said joyfully. "And we can all stay there! Appa and appa and minions and me!"

"And your sister too" Jaejoong reminded him. "Okay..." Jongdae said resigned. "She is a part of the family now. Be nice to her. Also she will sleep in your room tonight" Jaejoong told him. "Why?!" Jongdae asked indignantly. "Because we haven't set up her room yet. It's either your room or ours" Jaejoong told him. "She can sleep in mine" Jongdae agreed grudgingly. "Good boy. There is my good son" Jaejoong encouraged him by patting his hair. Jongdae smiled.

The kids had a glass of warm milk next followed by half an hour of colouring. Qiuyue had a new Pokemon colouring book Jongdae noted. It wasn't better than his Digimon book. Then they went to bed. Their parents tucked them in and gave them a kiss on their forehead. Jongdae loudly wished them goodnight and Qiuyue did so quietly. Yunho and Jaejoong left once they were sure everything was alright.

Jongdae immediately turned to face the other side. He hugged his Pikachu cushion tight. "Goodnight gege" she called out softly. Normally Jongdae wouldn't have replied but he did. Before drifting off he heard a small voice saying it missed gege. That was funny. He was right here.

"Mama said you have a sister now" Minseok said the moment he met Jongdae. "Yes" he confirmed.  He still wasn't happy about it. "You're lucky" Minseok told him. "Atleast you have a sister. I don't even have a sibling." "If you want her then you can take her" Jongdae said crossly. "But she will end up sleeping in your bed and your parents will lover her more and buy her many new things which you can't use because they are girly" he told Minseok. 

"Really?" the innocent seven year old asked. Jongdae nodded seriously. Minseok frowned. Yifan had a sister and he liked her a lot. But she was still a baby so maybe it wasn't as bad yet.

Jongdae hoped it would end soon. He really did. His sister was everywhere! She was at his home and now his school too. All of his teachers knew and they liked her too. This wasn't fair! And now while he and Minseok could have been playing at the playground, they were being dragged along to the orphanage so that Qiuyue could visit Luhan.

"Play nice okay?" Jaejoong reminded him. Jongdae felt a little annoyed. He could be perfectly nice. He scowled when he looked at Minseok who was talking to Qiuyue. The two of them had warmed up to each other instantly because he reminded her of his precious Luhan gege. He wasn't that bad a gege that she always talked about him.

"Qiuyue!" an excited voice called out. He looked up to see the aforementioned person come bouncing up to them. Luhan hugged her and started talking about everything she had missed in rapidfire Mandarin that neither he nor Minseok hyung understood. Then he stoppped when he noticed they had company. 

"Hello" he said shyly to Minseok. Minseok smiled as he greeted Luhan. Jongdae felt jealous.  Minseok hyung was his hyung! He should smile only at him! Luhan suggested that all of them go play at the playground. Qiuyue nodded in agreement promising to introduce them to all their friends. Jongdae didn't want more friends. He wanted some time with his hyung!

So instead of following them to the playground, he went back to his appa who was sitting on a bench nearby. "Jongdae? Why aren't you with the others?" Jaejoong asked. "They don't want me. Nobody wants me" he said with a small sniff. "Who told you that?" Jaejoong asked, lifting the little boy onto his lap. "All of you like her more. Everyone likes her more. Appa always carries her around and sits next to her. He reads all my books to her. Even Minseok hyung likes her. He didn't even call me to go with him. He went with Luhan instead!" 

Jaejoong gently wiped Jongdae's tears away. Jongdae hadn't even realized he had started crying. "Now now. He didn't mean to forget you" Jaejoong told him. "Why would he? He is your favorite hyung" he added with a smile. "But what if he does?" Jongdae asked fearfully. "He won't. Jongdae, getting a sibling only means that we have one more person to love. It doesn't mean we are forgetting you" Jaejoong assured him. "But..." Jongdae started only to be interrupted.

"Gege! We were looking for you" Qiuyue spoke up running down the hall. "You were?" Jongdae asked skeptically. "Yes! We need to hide quickly. Minseok hyung is it and he will come looking" Qiuyue told him. Realization dawned on Jongdae's face. That's why they hadn't come looking straight away.

"There you go. Your sister wants you" Jaejoong said meaningfully. He let Jongdae off his lap and watched the two new siblings run away. Qiuyue kept explaining best places to hide as they walked ahead. Jongdae listened to every word as he wiped his eyes clear, before they heard Minseok yell that he was coming. They rushed to the nearest spot to hide and Jaejoong thought he heard Luhan protest as they intruded his spot. He laughed despite himself.

This was surely an indication of good times to come.

-x-

A/N - I am inept at controlling word limits and grammar checking. Sorry ^^;