“Okay boys and my baby girl, what do we do today?” Yunho asked as he thumbed the milk stain on his daughter’s cheek.

They just finished their pancake breakfast-courtesy of the housekeeper- and the men were brainstorming ideas to keep the children occupied.

Moonbin gingerly lifted his hand up, like he learned in school, “daddy?”

“yes Binnie?”

“Present for mama.”

“hey, that’s actually a good idea.” Yoochun commented.

“true. The girls deserve something nice. Being called to this thing is nothing short of an achievement.” Siwon surmised, “but what do we give them?”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Luhan copied his older brother, only he was more frantic and impatient waving his short arm in the air.

“Yes Lulu?” Jihoon granted him permission.

“when Lulu is good boy, granma make cake.”

“mama makes cake too…..when Binnie won drawing contest.” Moonbin added.

“Umma gives sweet to Whannie.” Inwhan added more as one-upmanship than anything.

“the midgets have spoken.” Yoochun declared when Jiyool bounced happily, though she didn’t get any of it.

~~~                

“err….. so where do we start?” Siwon asked unsurely.

4 grown men and 3 small boys stood in the pristine kitchen, determined to make the best cake their wives have seen (hardly possible). Neither of them knows how to make one though. Jiyool had crawled away to play under the watchful eye of a maid.

“let’s start with getting the ingredients.” Jihoon suggested and the others nodded. Yunho and Siwon looked for the ingredients in the pantry with the kids and Yoochun and Jihoon searched for possible utensils.

“let’s see what goes into making this cake and get the ingredients accordingly.” Siwon said as he showed Yunho a packet of processed slice cake.

Yunho took the packet and rolled his eyes, “great! Now where do we find self-rising flour? We only have regular flour. And what the hell is oxidising agent? It’s like high school chemistry.”

“the one you failed?” Siwon teased.

“shut up!”

“uncle Yun, this!” Luhan patted a sack of flour with a little too much force which made some flour escape in the air. The boy enjoyed the soft smoke so much he did it again and again until the sack disappeared from his view.

“are you sure it’s this?” Siwon questioned while observing the huge bag.

“yes! Yes! I saw mama use it.” Moonbin confirmed.

“let’s just take it.” Yunho said, “and we need eggs and butter too.”

“uncle Yun chocolate!”

“that too.” They  gathered the ingredients and placed them on the kitchen island where the other two had kept the utensils to be used.

“what the hell is this thing?” Yunho asked holding the hand whisk like it was an alien instrument.

“dunno.” Yoochun shrugged.

“I’ve seen Hyori use it.” Jihoon supplied.

“why did you take out the punch bowl?” Siwon asked looking at the large, expensive, crystal bowl.

“to make the cake stupid!” Yoochun blurted, “we can make a bigger cake this way.”

“I don’t think you can back in glass. My high school physics says otherwise.” Siwon said apprehensively.

“what do you know! Changmin’s the science geek.”

“but glass expands and it could break.”

“Siwon’s right. Let’s use this for the sake of safety.” Yunho said holding up the metal baking tray Moonbin had unearthed.

At the entrance of the kitchen, the old housekeeper watched fearfully. She had been asked by the men to sit back and let them do this for their wives. The concerned woman she is couldn’t help but keep an eye on them, especially since she knew that were all hopeless in the kitchen.

She winced when Siwon dipped his hand in the punch bowl which was now being used for beating eggs. Yoochun was arguing that the eggshells will make the cake crunchier while Siwon said otherwise and scooped out the handful of shell bits.

Their wives will either kill them or hit them with their cake.

~~~         

Jiyool crawled slowly on the carpeted floor. Every now and then she would sit down and frown at her red knees.

She had sneaked away from her caretaker when she had gone to fetch Jiyool her milk. Jiyool was an impatient baby and took off to somewhere. She had been crawling for more than an hour since she woke up and her knees were bare because she was only in a frock instead of a onesie. The carpeted floor was soft at first but after the prolonged crawling, her knees were sore.

She was curious though and the only open door intrigued her. She crawled her way inside and walked without looking in the front. She was more fascinated by the red chandelier that hung from the ceiling. She had been just as fascinated by the blue one in her parents’ bedroom, but that is old now. This red one was new and more exciting.

Her eyes were fixated on the red chandelier that she didn’t see where she was going and bumped into something hard. She whined while rubbing her injured forehead looking accusingly at the offending object that attacked her.

Tiny hands slapped the wooden bedside table for hurting her till she felt something grab hold of her dress. She squealed when she was hauled mid-air and placed on a soft surface. It was warm and cosy, especially with the comfy sheets placed over her. Before long she rolled on her stomach and closed her eyes, letting the gentle patting to lull her to sleep.

Changmin watched the gentle rise and fall of the small body and smiled. Earlier he had woken up by the meek whines of his niece. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what happened. But he was too sleepy to attend to Jiyoo