Hyoyeon's POV:-

The next morning I woke up very late. It was almost 9am and I assumed Jong-In will still be sleeping being such a sleepyhead. I yawned several times before getting up from bed, still feeling very sleepy and decided to woke Jong-In up. I went to his room opposite mine and knocked but didn't get any reply. I went inside and found the room completely empty. Where was he? I went downstairs and found my step-dad sitting on the dining room but my mother no where to be seen.

''Hyoyeon, Good morning!'' he wished, ''Do you want breakfast?''

''Uh! No, do you know where Jong-In might be?'' I asked him, I still feel awkward talking with him as I hardly knew him.

''He is in the barn with your mother'' he replied.

I gave him a small smile and quickly left for the barn which was just a few feet away from the house. As I came nearer, I could hear faint talking from inside. I opened the big wooden door and peeped inside. There he was with my mother surrounded by chickens, hens, cows etc etc.

''What are you doing?'' I asked coming inside. Both of them looked at me.

''Feeding the chickens'' Jong-In replied. ''Here, you can feed them too'' he extended his hand.

''Don't you dare touch me with those filthy hands of yours'' I said and moved back.

''Its not filthy, its clean here''

''Yeah? Look who is talking, who never cleans his room and right now standing on chicken poops'' I snapped at him. Jong-In looked down and quickly moved away from that place.

''Stop complaining Hyoyeon. At least he is helping me out, not like you'' my mother protested.

''Not like me. Well, you have no idea how dirty he is. I have to clean his room and do his laundry, he can't do anything by himself. Its not my fault that I am a clean freak. How can you even stand this place? If I could I can help you too'' I raised my voice.

''I would like to see you try instead of complaining'' she said handing me the bucket she was holding which had a very little water inside.

''What's this for?'' I asked.

''Feed the chickens, clean their coops and collect the eggs, me and your father will leave soon. We have to go to the grocery store'' She said and started to leave. ''And don't worry, Jong-In will help you''

I was stunned. Didn't I made it clear that I was a clean freak? I looked at Jong-In and he was grinning from ear to ear. Well my mother did said he will help me so its better to make him do all the work.

''Here'' I said, handing the bucket to Jong-In. But Jong-In handed it back to me again.''I don't wanna do this'' I murmured.

By then the chickens were surrounding me and I kept jumping here and there with the bucket in my hand to get of them. I tried to shoo them away but they kept pecking on my bare feet and surrounded me closer. It was a bad idea to come here, barefoot. ''Jong-In, Jong-In, help me! Get them away from me'' I screamed and he just stood there laughing at me.

''Just put down the bucket, idiot'' he said between his laugh. Before I could put down the bucket and get rid of the chickens, I stumbled backwards and fell on the ground.

''Ewwwwww'' I screamed at top of my lungs. Jong-In stopped laughing and quickly came to help me stand up. My whole night suit was dirty. I stood their for quite sometimes without moving. Then I kicked the bucket hard and stormed out of the barn without another word followed by Jong-In. Later, I did cleaned the chicken coop with the help of Jong-In. Both of foot had small cuts because of the pecking by the chickens and Jong-In applied bandaids all over them, 20 bandages on both the feet. In the noon, we went for fishing as Jong-In kept bragging about his fishing skills a lot but to my surprise, he was really quite good at it. He did tried to teach me but I had trouble handling the fishing rod. My mother was really happy that we caught so many fish after we reached home. She even decided to sell some in the fish market. After dinner, I crashed into bed with no more energy left in me. As for Jong-In, he was busy gossiping with my mother and helping her out with the house chores which my mother appreciated a lot. I didn't mind him helping my mother out at all but I just wished he wouldn't say anything about school.