Sehun showed them every nook and corner of the orphanage. The inside were similar to a nursery: long hallways, multiple doors. Plus, the bright creamy yellow colored walls with few fairy tale characters have that exact same relaxed feeling as in a nursery. There were eight rooms in total, 4 toilets big enough for 3 people and a wide kitchen.

It took Sarang by surprise that Sehun's father was the one running the orphanage. Accoding to Sehun there were currently 20 children. All were in the range of 7-12 years. It pained Sarang to see the children who ran around in the hallways. If it werent for her sisters, she would have had the same fate as them. It was for that very reason that she didn't like orphanges. It reminded her of her parents. She missed them dearly.

When Sehun was done introducing his humble home, he insisted them to have snacks. Both of them refused politely. They were starting to get restless. Sehun's "tour" took more time than expected and they couldn't stop him seeing how excited he seemed. Sarang noticed how the sky was beginning to darken. On top of that, the little girl who she saw earlier kept giving her judging looks. 

What was wrong with kids these days? They are so bipolar that they can beat Ahreum and Bori combined.

Her anxiousness grew more when it started to thunder loudly. Sarang heard Bori sigh quietly. Bori wasn't a fan of rain and neither was Sarang. Maybe that is why both of them distracted themselves by teasing the little boy named Seungyeol, the same boy whom Luhan was trying to catch when they first arrived.

One by one all the kids entered the house making it noisy and lively. The living room got congested and both the girls sat awkwardly when all the kids started bombarding them with questions. The obvious one had to be whethey they were dating the two boys. It caused a few seconds of silence before they had to collect themselves and act normal. It didn't help that Luhan was there. 

"Stop being troublesome. Don't you all have any home works to do?" Luhan asked.

"Nah. We have no home works," Seungyeol answered. "Right Taemin?"

His friend nodded as they high-fived one another. And while they were laughing and for no reason the little girl spoke up.

"They are lying oppa. We received home work!"

There was a pause before the each kid gave her a appalled look. 

That was funny.

"You just had to ruin it Sana," Seungyeol sneered.

"Tattle tale," Tamin remarked rudely.

Right then Sehun came in with two glasses of orange juice. Yes, that boy went to get them drinks even though they refused.

Bori's face distorted in disgust on seeing the orange juice.  

Sarang jabbed the girl. 

"What?" She said, looking at Sarang like she had betrayed her. "Fix your ugly face."

"Juice for two beautiful ladies," Sehun placed the tray on the table. "What were you saying?" 

After that the kids started telling him how Sana was being a tattle tale and the girl defending herself. Sarang wondered if it was just her imagination or the girl looked excited defending herself. Shouldn't she be angry? Tch. It is not like she knows Sana other than the way she glares at her. 

"Yeah. Do you remember how she kicked a girl in school because she said she liked Sehunnie hyung?"

"Scary!"

"I never did that!"

"You did!"

"You are just blabbing!"

"Stop!" Luhan bellowed.

"Tch," Seungyeol folded his arms. Where as Sana looked away in sass. All the kids shook their heads and scattered away from them.

Sarang smiled. Looks like Seungyeol and Sana are Tom and Jerry of this house.

"What if they end up together in the future? Oh! Wouldn't that be just cute!" 

And Bori has officially entered her la la land.

Soon Sehun excused himself to the kitchen with Sana trailing him happily saying that she would help. Seungyeol and Taemin joined their friends in their rooms. Bori also excused herself to go to the toilet despite Sarang's desparate looks. It was then that the living room became quiet. It was her and Luhan. He was scrolling his phone.

She wanted to talk about Baekhyun. Yes, she was still stuck on that. She felt dirty. It didn't feel right keeing something like that even if it was a small thing. Even though she wanted to, it wasn't as simple as she had imagined. 

She heard the main door open, footsteps echoing, some shuffles and more footsteps echoing.

"That must be uncle." 

As soon as Luhan said that, a man around his 40's entered the living room.

"Thankfully, there was a spare raincoat in the car," he said, removing his raincoat. He paused in dewilderment on seeing Sarang. "Oh. Hello..?"

Yup. Smile Sarang. Just smile.

"Dad!" Sehun rushed. "I thought you were going to stay over at aunt's home."

"Ah. I think i am needed here more. Forget about that, introduce me to this pretty lady here."

Haha... pretty lady. I am flattered.

"This girl is Sarang. She studies in our class."

Bori came running inside the living room talking to someone in her phone in a hushed tone. She seemes surprise on seeing Sehun's father. Quickly recovering, she came next to Sarang. 

"Mom called and she wants me home now." She whispered so that only Sarang could hear. 

! I forgot to call my sister!

"!" Sarang cursed under her breath trying to conjure up a nice smile infront of Sehun's father.

"And that is Bori. We got free food because of them."

"Good evening, sir," both the girls chorused. For young ladies in trouble, they were trying to act normal. "Sorry for bothering you sir."

"It's okay," he laughed and started hitting up conversations with them.

Sehun's father was so much like Sehun both in terms of their chiseled features to their light personality. They were easy to get along with. And he was kind enough to offer her and Bori a lift to home in his truck when he found out they were in a rush to go back. 

"The last bus will leave in five minutes and it is 15 minutes drive from here. I will drop you two."

Both of them looked at each other. "No need sir.  We can call a texi."

"It is late and dangerous," luhan said (much to sarang's shock). 

"Yeah," Sehun piped in. "I am preparing special dinner for you two. So please stay for dinner!"

"And i want no buts ladies," Mr. Oh said while walking into the kitchen.

"I said no buts," his voice echoed back. "Luhan, Sehun, help me here, won't you?"

"Coming!" Sehun replied back. Both of the said boys stood up and left but not before saying, "You can watch TV if you want."

Being a guest is one thing but being an uninvited guest...that's another story. Sarang tried to penetrate the kitchen and help. Even Bori tried to help the but to no avail. Those three men looked like housewives at work, concentrated and irritable with slightest of distraction. At the end, Sarang and Bori gave up and look around the house once again.

Looking into each room, they saw children busy sketching or playing building blocks. The girls were busy dressing up their Barbies.

It was still unbelievable that this was an orphanage. It felt more like a home. Perhabs she had biased ideas about orphanages.

"Hey, isn't that Sena?" Bori pointed at the aloof girl, sitting all by herself. While other girls were playing dolls, Sena was in her own little world. "I was wondering where she went. That girl is really arrogant. Plus, she kept glaring at me the whole day."

Sarang gasped. "she kept glaring at me too!" 

"Tsk! She must have thought we were trying to steal Sehun," Bori said as she shut the door close.

"Food is ready!!! Everyone come out!" They heard Mr. Oh's voice.

 

 

 

The rain had stopped yet, the night sky was clouded. It was disappointing that to see another star less sky. The night seemed incomplete without one.

Dinner had ended just a moment ago. Bori and Sarang insisted to help with the dishes before they go home and Mr. Oh agreed. Unfortunately for Sarang, she broke a plate and a cup which resulted in Bori chasing her away.

"What are you doing here?" Luhan asked, walking near her. He had his hands in his pocket and even with a simple white hood, he looked great.

Some people have looks that can make even a tackiest dress look the trendiest, haven't they? Not that Hoods are tacky. The point is, Luhan has the looks. Sigh.

"Searching for the stars," Sarang craned her neck to see the sky again. "It was the only thing that make nights special."

"Tch," Luhan tilted his head towards the sky. "If it's special, it will always be special."

Snapping back at him, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I don't think there's any appealing quality about a night. With or without stars, it will always remain mundane to me. But for a person who likes night skies, should it matter if there is a star?"

He was like a distant star too, Sarang thought. She thought he didn't care about others until she saw him trying to break the door open. She thought he was cold hearted until she saw him smile at Sehun. She wondered if he was the same person who had accused her of stealing his necklace.

"Luhan, do you always come here?"

"I stay here," he said it in a scary, calm tone.

"T-that means..."

He didn't say anything after that. Sarang felt she drifted a million steps back from him after making one step forward. Being near him in this silence with only cicadas singing and winds dancing had never been this distant.

"Earlier..."

"Huh?" She asked.

He sighed. "Earlier when we met in front of the restaurant, you were trying to avoid me."

Sarang choked on her breath. To think she had forgotten about the incident with Baekhyun, it confirmed her attention span was really small as her friends claimed. More shockingly, she didn't know he noticed it.... This was embarrassing.

"Ugh... Um well...ugh," she stuttered, "you see um I-I was...how do I say this."

"Is it about Baekhyun?"

"No. I mean yes. I mean it's about Baekhyun but it's not about him," Sarang groaned under her breath. What was she doing? She took a deep breath. Come what may, she is going to say what she wanted to say.

"I was actually going to say this before, but then your phone rang," Sarang sighed. "I wanted to admit that Beakhyun's near to death experience was also because of my carelessness. I had the store room keys and I lost it. If I-"

"It's okay."

"What?" Sarang thought she heard him wrong.

"If Baekhyun survived, it's because of you. You don't have to feel guilty for something you didn't do intentionally," he shrugged. "It was partly Baekhyun's fault for hiding this in fear of looking uncool. Partly my fault for giving in to his request to keep it as a secret. Partly Sungjae's fault for playing that prank when he had Baekhyun's locket all along. We all had our fair share of mistakes in this incident. It would be better if we move on rather than mop over the past."

"Thank you." Sarang smiled genuinely at him. The relief that she felt cannot be compared to anything. "I was so scared for a moment."

"Tch. I guess there is nothing you are good at then."

Talk about ruining the moment.

 

 

 

 

PLANK!!!

"Seriously! You are worse than Sarang! That's the fourth plate you broke."

"I am sorry!"

Bori growled making Sehun cower more. 

"Sarang's clumsy. I thought you would be better compared to her but no! You had to be worse than her!"

Bori grunted. 

Sehun quickly grabbed the broom which was kept behind the kitchen door and started cleaning off the mess he created.

"Do you cook all the time? What about your mother?"

"My mom died when I was just 9," Sehun collected the pieces of glass in the dust collector before it went in the bin. Putting the broom and the dust collector back in it's place, he went back to helping Bori. He helped her dry the utensils washed by the girl.

"Does that mean I am the only normal person here?" Bori sighed. "I have no life."

"What do you mean by that?" Sehun laughed. He was glad Bori didn't show him pity. 

"Luhan is screwed in the head to ve considered normal. Where as you and Sarang-" Bori stopped abruptly when she realized what she was saying. She groaned internally. Sarang's family matters were not hers to disclose. Especially when it was not a happy matter. 

After clearing , she tried distracting the topic.

"Since when have you been friends with Luhan?" 

“i dont remember," he answered. Bori didn't know if he had simply ignored her previous comment or if he hadnot heard it at all. Whatever it was, she was thankful he didnt probe about it.

Sehun was maintaining a safe distance from the dishes Bori had washed. "We have always been friends."

"Even Baekhyun? Is that why he got so worked up? But i don't see you guys spend much time together."

To that Sehun shook his head. 

"Not really. We met Baekhyun in middle school and became close. Well... we used to be until some certain things happened. We don't hang out a lot now."

Bori raised a brow. "Certain things?"

Sehun simply gave her a plastic smile. "Certain things."

She didn't ask further.