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It was a hassle walking to the nearby garden as the children can’t keep still. Joonmyun has to count every single minute during their journey while holding two baskets of food, and Tao isn’t helping by trying to run away from the children who are chasing him, in a way that the drinks in his bag are bound to pop once the cap is opened. Thankfully Kris is more mature than he seems, holding onto the hands of two children. Minseok and Lu Han are holding the hands of the youngest and swinging her around together, while holding a basket on their other hand. Chen is carrying a younger and more tired child, and Chanyeol is at the back trying to keep everyone in front of him, while wearing a backpack filled with plastic cutlery and blankets to sit on. Baekhyun is walking near Lili, who had promised that she would not wander off as long as she doesn’t need to hold hands with anyone. Inside his backpack are the children’s materials such as milk powder, bottles, pacifiers, etc.

Finally, they arrive at the garden, but Lu Han is ambitious, insisting that sitting on top of the hill is the best place to settle down. That had excited the children immediately, who then begin to run up the hill in a whole heap of mess. Lili forgets her promise and runs too.

Slowly, the adults move upwards too, with Joonmyun surprisingly being the fastest even with two whole baskets, muttering to himself and then shouting at the children to stay put. Chen is pushing the little child up the hill, giving him strength, and the rest of them walk up slowly.

Once there, Chanyeol sets out the blankets and then the rest of them place the food down. Having space to run, the children move away to play. Feeling more tired than usual, Baekhyun decides to sit down for a bit to rest, watching as Chanyeol runs over to the children to join. Lu Han does too, watching his relatives play around. Joonmyun is moving the food out of the baskets, a small pout on his face to indicate that he’s thinking of something, whereas Minseok jogs off to find a toilet and Tao is unscrewing the cap of one of the bottles. The cap comes off but the liquid leaks out.

“You shouldn’t have moved around so much!” Kris scolds, being a witness of both Tao messing around and Tao opening the bottle.

“It’s not my fault they kept chasing me!”

“So irresponsible, Tao-yah.” Kris takes the bottle away and starts cleaning it up.

So much is happening, but Baekhyun can only sit there and stare blankly at some distance in front of him. The light breeze feels good on his skin, and the air has a tinge of warmth in it. He doesn’t realise that he’s dozing off until someone sits really close to him, gentle hand touching his hair. Immediately he leans over onto the broad shoulder, deciding to rest a little.

Over a short distance, Chanyeol looks back, wanting to steal a little bit of food, but he finds his boyfriend leaning against Chen.

What the … He thinks to himself, jaw dropping a little. …They look so cute.

But I reckon I can look cuter with him.

Walking over, he stares down at Chen, who’s silently staring out over to the gardens at the bottom of the hill. The smaller notices him and looks up, mouthing ‘What?’

“… Nothing.” He mumbles before crouching down onto the basket next to Chen and then rummaging through it for something to eat.

When he stands up again, sandwich in his hand and another in his mouth, he stares down at Chen once more, watching as the older looks outwards again, long eyelashes and dark eyebrows making him look very thoughtful and dreamy – like the kind of man that girls in dramas picture in their dreams.

He’s so manly … Chanyeol thinks to himself. Lending a shoulder … and I’m here, eating bread.

At this moment, Joonmyun leaves to call the children down to eat lunch, and in a few minutes, the children are back, chattering excitedly.

Baekhyun shifts as he wakes up. Minseok moves over in front of Baekhyun like a child and crouches down in front of him, holding out chopsticks with kimbap on it. The younger stares at it for a bit, then opens his mouth to let the kimbap in. Minseok is chuckling and then he bounces off, giving one to Chen and then moving onwards to Chanyeol.

The taller stares at him, mouth full of bread, and Minseok shrugs, moving away swiftly.

Even after they wipe the children’s hands and faces for them to it, the children do not sit still. After one bite, they would go off playing again, and come back dirty once more.

Chen has gotten bored of sitting around so he grabs a plate of kimbap and runs off to the children to feed them one by one. Chanyeol finds this chance to sit next to Baekhyun, whereas Baekhyun stands up the moment Chanyeol sits down, bending over Joonmyun to wait for Joonmyun to scoop up some noodles on his plate. Chanyeol sighs to wait for his boyfriend to return, but just as Baekhyun grabs a hold of the plate full of noodles, Lili is tugging at his pants, wanting to eat. Baekhyun picks up the noodles with his chopsticks and then presses it to the girl’s mouth, who wolfs it down messily and then runs off to play again. Lu Han is now trying to prepare milk for the children with Kris, and they are failing horribly, so Chanyeol sighs and moves to help them.

Sitting back down, Baekhyun watches as the children play with huge smiles on their faces. Even though they cry easily, Baekhyun realises now that they recover easily too, and forget grudges in a second. There was one moment when one of the children accidentally hit another and they got in a fight then started crying, but in two seconds the crying stopped when a third child showed them something interesting, and now they’re back to being friends. It’s mysteriously interesting to Baekhyun, how pure children’s hearts are, as if what really matters in the world is having fun. In that world, it doesn’t matter who hurt you but it matters who’s fun to play with. Or … who cares about the bruise I just got if I can play with that cool new toy that someone just showed me? Maybe Baekhyun’s too old now, but he can’t remember what it felt like to have such a simple and straightforward mind.

Lili stops playing for a while and runs over to Baekhyun, who again lifts up the noodles for her to eat, and then she bounds off again.

Even though staying with children is so tiring, because they’re so full of energy, at the same time his heart is at peace, feeling more relaxed and free from stress than normal.

“All right, time to drink up!” Lu Han calls, shaking two bottles violently as he walks over to the children. Lili returns quickly whereas the other children wait to receive their milk bottles, or are already drinking the milk themselves.

“I’m too old for that.” Lili explains, and Baekhyun passes her a tissue. She grabs it and wipes her face, then passes it back to him.

Other older children come back to the picnic spot, panting and sweating, whereas the smaller children start walking back slowly while drinking their milk.

Kris is already sleeping on the blanket, and slowly the smaller children fall asleep on the blanket too. Joonmyun falls asleep leaning against a tree, and Minseok is pulled by Lu Han to play soccer. Tao drags Chanyeol to take him to the toilet.

“I’m bored.” Henry complains, pulling at Chen. Now that everyone else is doing something, the only person to pester is Chen.

“You all look really hot. Do you want something cold?” Chen asks warmly, ruffling Henry’s hair and then yelping at how sweaty it is. “Ice cream?”

“Yes yes yes!” The older children say excitedly, and Chen’s eyes widen at how loud it is before he moves them somewhere else, eyeing for Baekhyun to follow. Having nothing else to do, Baekhyun decides to help Chen in whatever he’s planning to do.

“I saw some shops at the entrance before.” Chen whispers as he leads the way, and the children follow him, making sure that there is some distance between them and Baekhyun, because even though they may not be as afraid of Baekhyun, they’re awkward with him, after not spending much time with him at all for the past few days. “If you learn to behave and listen to gege, then gege will buy you ice cream.”

On the way, the boys and girls bombard Chen with questions, making very full and successful conversations with him and Baekhyun trails a little behind, taking this time to admire the scenery by himself until Chen calls him over once they arrive at the food stores.

“Hey, these kids want to look around for food. I’ll buy ice cream for these ones left and you can take the others around?”

“Yeah.” Nodding, Baekhyun watches the children, who are watching him, and then he walks, waiting for them to follow. For a long while, the children look at the stores by themselves but don’t ask for anything, as if too afraid or feeling too awkward to voice out their desires, until Lili points at fairy floss and shouts for Baekhyun to buy her one.

“Can I have one too?” Someone asks timidly.

“Can I have that drink?”

“Can I have the twist potato?”

Remembering all that in his mind, Baekhyun buys it for them and then hands it to them one by one, grabbing extra tissues before bringing the children back to where Chen is. The children with Chen are eating their ice cream happily and Chen is eating one too. Baekhyun had forgotten to get himself anything.

Walking back, the children are easier to control now that they have something in their hands. At the back, Chen winds an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder and passes the ice cream to him. Baekhyun leans forward a little and takes a small mouthful, feeling quite warm and thirsty himself, but then he scrunches up his face, leaning away.

“What flavour?”

“Coffee.” Chen grins before taking another mouthful. Face still scrunched, Baekhyun opens his mouth and closes it, tasting the flavour that he doesn’t like at all.

“Do you think it’s funny how the children reflect your real relationships with others?” Chen asks randomly, the ice cream off his lips.

“What?”

“How Lili’s like Chanyeol, the only one who clings onto you and enjoys your presence.” Snickering, Chen laughs louder when Baekhyun frowns and pushes him lightly.

The children watch them display their good, intimate relationship carefully and silently, then Lili walks up to Baekhyun, holding out her fairy floss.

Feeling it’s rude to reject the child, he bends down a little and takes some of the fairy floss in his mouth that washes away to an extent the taste of the coffee. Now another child is holding out his drink to him and Baekhyun, feeling that it’s even ruder to accept one child but not the other, takes a drink. Watching that, one by one the others walk up to him to offer him their food until Baekhyun has to kneel down to take it all.

“Why not me?!” Chen whines, and the children laugh before poking tongues out at him cheekily.

Now on the way back, the children are asking Baekhyun questions about himself, something that violates Baekhyun’s personal space, so he answers either as briefly as possible or as vaguely as possible. This, however, gives the children more chances to talk and therefore more chances to ask questions, which they do until they return back to where everyone else is.

Everyone is awake now, but some people are still missing. Chanyeol isn’t as he looks up and shouts ‘Yah! Where did you guys go?” Baekhyun doesn’t even have time to reply before the children hold his hand and drag him away.

Confused, Chanyeol stares at this new treatment as Chen walks over to sit next to him, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

“I guess in the end Baek’s just too popular, huh? No time for you anymore.” Chen says with another sigh. “No one can resist him … I think it’s time to say your goodbyes.”

“Leaving me just like he left you, huh?” Chanyeol shoots back, earning a loud whine from his ex-roommate.

“Go back to where you belong – with the kids.” Chen attacks savagely.

“I’m sorry I ain’t a grandpa like you!” Chen stands and grabs a bag and then pretends to slam it down on Chanyeol.

“Hey!” Joonmyun shouts, jogging over. Chen stops to stare at the older, and Chanyeol stops to blink up. “I don’t need more kids here. Go help out.”

“Yes.” The both of them say dejectedly as they start to pile up all the rubbish together in one pile. Chanyeol is sneaking the food in his mouth every time he sees it, and then he remembers: Has Baekhyun eaten?

“Man, I’m starving.” Chen says, sitting cross-legged as he eats the noodles. Before the shorter man can put it in his mouth, however, Chanyeol snatches the bowl off him and runs off.

“What the , you !” Chen whines once more. Chanyeol runs up to Baekhyun like a puppy, calling out his name. The smaller looks up and then stands up, staring at the noodles that Chanyeol is handing out to him, but then he shows his dirty hands – Chanyeol sees now, that there is dirt on his clothes and even on his cheek. This must be the dirty work of the cheeky children.

So Chanyeol feeds Baekhyun a mouthful and Baekhyun takes it in as much as he can with his small mouth. Grinning, Chanyeol can’t hold back his affection as he brushes his knuckles across the dirt on Baekhyun’s cheek.

“I’m hungry too!” The little ones are crowding around Chanyeol now, desperate to get a bite.

“Nope! This is for our Baekhyunnie!” Chanyeol says stubbornly, moving the plate upwards when the children start jumping.

“Let them eat.” Baekhyun says, moving backwards and giving the children more space to close in.

“Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol calls, annoyed, then turns towards the children. “Children, you’ve already eaten. It’s bad to be greedy when other people haven’t eaten at all! Can everyone be more thoughtful of Baekhyun-ge?”

Noticing the change in his attitude, the children stop moving, staring at him.

“Let’s give these noodles to Baekhyun-ge, hm? He hasn’t eaten at all.”

Silence.

Then someone starts crying.

That infects the entire crowd and the smaller children begin to cry. Even some of the older ones are crying.

“Aigoo …” Chanyeol melts, looking a little lost now that he’s scared the children. Baekhyun looks just as lost and possibly even more dejected, because even though Baekhyun has sort of come to terms that children crying is normal, that doesn’t mean he’s not scared of it. Thankfully, Lu Han jogs over at the right time, asking what had happened.

“I’m disappointed.” Lu Han says, tilting his head and looking slightly angry. “I thought you knew better.”

The kids stop making a sound, blinking up at him.

“I’m going to order fried chicken later. If you decide to eat these noodles now, you won’t have any chicken later. Who still wants to eat the noodles?” Silence.

“Is everyone in favour of giving this to Baekhyun-ge?” Slight nods. Of course, all this was said in Chinese, so the other two don’t understand a thing.

“Now apologise to the geges.” This time, Lu Han speaks in Korean, glaring at the children sternly. The kids apologise immediately, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol blink at each other, still at a loss. The children then turn to Lu Han. “All right everyone, let’s go to the toilet together.” He makes the children hold hands and walk in a line, then he leads them away.

After the chaos is over, Chanyeol walks over to Baekhyun and passes him the noodles.

“Everything would’ve been easier if you just gave it to them.” Baekhyun mutters, but accepts the noodles, anyway.

“It’s the best things that are worth fighting for.” Chanyeol replies smoothly, grinning.

“Really, missing one meal won’t hurt.”

“You have to teach kids to be considerate from when they’re younger, Baekhyun-ah.” Chanyeol explains. “So they can grow to be kind and considerate in the future. Look who’s spoiling them now.”

“Good point.” The smaller mumbles before taking another mouthful of noodles, as if he’s too busy eating to say anything else. When he’s done, he shuffles towards the basket and blankets, standing there and staring down at Joonmyun.

“Are there any more noodles?” He asks.

“Nope.”

“Really, there’s no more?” Baekhyun tries again, staring in disbelief. Chanyeol has just caught up to them and chuckles.

“Such a fatty.” The taller mutters, and Baekhyun turns around throwing a fake punch at him. Immediately, Chanyeol falls over, clutching his chest.

“Assault!” He moans. “I’ve been assaulted.” He lies down on the ground for a while, expecting Baekhyun to laugh and lift him up, but when there’s no response, he peeks open an eye and lifts up his head … and finds Baekhyun jogging off to Minseok and Tao in the distance.

“Oi!” Chanyeol calls, trying to get up himself, and trips in the process. Chen is laughing at him, and Chanyeol throws a glare, face red.

After a while, Baekhyun, Minseok and Tao return holding boxes and Chanyeol can smell the chicken. Baekhyun is already eating one with his chopsticks in his bowl, the sauce painting his lips an orangey red. Chen waddles over and so does Tao.

Joonmyun picks up a whole box in one hand and chopsticks in his other as he grabs a chicken and presses it to Chen, Tao, Minseok’s lips, making them hold the chicken in their hands. Then he hurries over to Chanyeol and prepares to pick one up.

“It’s oka -” Chanyeol says quickly, but then he is silenced when Joonmyun pushes a chicken leg in his mouth and then walks away. Hurriedly, Chanyeol grabs the chicken so it doesn’t fall down, and then eats it, satisfied at how good it tastes. He only realises that Joonmyun’s doing this because he’s picking and placing the chicken on new plastic bowls for the children, that concentrated pout once again on his face.

The children return with Lu Han and Kris, running over when they see chicken. Each of them take one bowl in their hands and they start to eat happily. Baekhyun is munching as he picks out another chicken for himself and then for Lili and a few other. This time though, instead of eating it himself, he scoots over towards Chanyeol and holds it out towards his lips, and the taller takes a bite and twists his head to separate the piece away from the chicken leg. Baekhyun takes a bite himself, the sauce off his lips. Jun walks up to them.

“Are you best friends?” He asks.

“What makes you think that?” Chanyeol responds, leaning down to meet the boy’s height.

“Because you share food.”

“Well, yes, Jun, yes we are best friends.” Chanyeol laughs, but then his laugh turns into a choke when someone pushes him and he falls.

“No, Junnie, I’m Baekhyun-ge’s best friend.” Chen comes over, replacing Chanyeol’s place. “Isn’t that right, Baekhyun?”

“Yep.”

“Chanyeol-ge … you’re a liar.” Jun accuses, pouting. Chanyeol sweats nervously.

“Chanyeol-ge’s my best friend too.” Baekhyun says, saving the day.

“You can’t have more than one.”

“You can have as many as you want as long as you think them worthy.” Staring at the three of them, Jun shrugs and then bounds off.

“I’ve been replaced.” Chen whines as he walks away. Chanyeol catches Baekhyun grinning at him and he grins back. Looking around to see if anyone’s watching, Chanyeol quickly steps in and hugs Baekhyun in his chest tightly, squeezing him and kissing the top of his head before letting go, grinning madly.

“Inappropriate.” Baekhyun hisses, glaring at him but otherwise looking slightly flustered.

“I do it for the thrill.” Chanyeol whispers back, heart racing because damn, now he understands why people do stupid things. Looking around, Baekhyun steps forward and sends a pretend kick at Chanyeol’s shin. Chanyeol holds his shin and jumps around, pretending to be pained, and then he falls down, lying on the ground and softly.

“Why are we so childish …” Baekhyun mutters, chuckling to himself as he stretches out a hand for Chanyeol to take. The taller groans and rolls around a bit before finally accepting the hand and getting up.

“Hyungs! Stop playing!” Tao shouts. “Or there’ll be no chicken left!”

At that, they jog towards the others, making sure to fight for the last chicken.

“Lemme carry that for you.” Kris says as he grabs the baskets from Joonmyun’s two hands in his own one, hosting it over his shoulder. When Joonmyun catches his eye, Kris winks playfully, but then trips a little, almost falling. Joonmyun laughs at him, clapping his hands delightedly before his elbow rests on Kris’s tall shoulder.

The children are walking uniformly on the pathway on the way back, chattering quietly, as if the day’s events had just tired them out and taken away their cheekiness and energy. Tao is piggybacking one of the boys and wearing a bag at the front. The boy is pulling his ears and hair playfully and making him yelp. Walking behind a group of children, Chen grins at them eating potato twists, knowing that using a bit of money will lessen the effort he needs to put out, so he stuffs his hands in his pockets and watches the children preoccupied in eating their food. Lu Han, wearing a bag on his back, is also playing with a soccer ball in his hand and talking to Minseok fast, as if he’s excited about something, while Minseok is listening intently and holding one of the sleeping children in his arms.

One of the children that had suddenly become close to Baekhyun asks to hold his hand and Baekhyun lets her. The girl is one of the younger ones and is quietly eating her lollipop as she walks with Baekhyun. Chanyeol notices how small the girl’s, whose nickname is Apple, hand is, covering Baekhyun’s slim index finger. It warms his heart and at the same time fires up his passion to see Baekhyun being such a great parental figure.

“Is this a physical effect of survival that I can’t stop myself from feeling?” Chanyeol mutters to himself. “Because it’s a survival instinct to have a family and right now he’s acting like such a good dad right now?”

“Huh?” Baekhyun asks, interrupting his thoughts. Shaking his head, Chanyeol waves his shaking hand and then stuffs it in his pocket, gulping.

“Gege, I’m tired.” The girl says softly, so Baekhyun stops in his place to see how she is, and Chanyeol stops with him. The smaller picks up Apple in his arms, and the way he does it is awkward but so damn natural? At least, that’s what Chanyeol thinks.

“Is that better?” Baekhyun asks, just as softly with the gentlest smile on his face, and the girl nods timidly. Suddenly, an arrow hits Chanyeol straight in the centre of his heart – the arrow of I’m-going-to-ing-melt-you-right-now-and-you-can’t-do--about-it. Being the dramatic man he is, Chanyeol clutches his chest and gasps softly, squeezing his eyes to contain his overwhelming feeling of adoration.

God, you’re so dramatic. He can hear Baekhyun say, if Baekhyun noticed.

“Let’s go.” Baekhyun says to Chanyeol, and he recovers immediately and follows.

“Hey –” Chanyeol starts, but catches himself. Hey, if your arm gets sore or tired or anything I can carry her for you is what he wants to say, but when is he ever going to see this side of Baekhyun again? Horrible, he is, for wanting this, but Baekhyun can suffer a little longer if it means Chanyeol can appreciate fatherly Baekhyun for longer.

“It’s all right.” Baekhyun replies, knowing exactly what the other is thinking. Chanyeol can’t tell what Baekhyun is thinking, though, because the smaller’s face is leaning towards the little girl’s, as if checking to see how she is.

Every now and then, the girl would whisper something in his ear, and Baekhyun would laugh softly and respond in the MOST! FATHERLY! WAY! POSSIBLE! and then Chanyeol would melt inside even more. And the way Apple giggles is doing the exact same thing, because Chanyeol loves happy children and he loves Baekhyun and to see them together is goals and the ultimate dream.

They arrive back just in time for a later dinner or an early supper, and the girl has her arms wrapped around Baekhyun’s neck. He finally sets her down and she runs to the other children.

“Is anyone hungry?” Kris asks in Chinese, but it’s easy enough to understand for the other adults.

“No!” The children reply excitedly, as if energised now that they’re back home.

“I have an idea!” Minseok speaks up. “Since it’s our last night, let’s play together – adults and children.”

“Yes yes yes!” The children chant, jumping in excitement.

“No!” Tao moans, pretending to look reluctant and disappointed. In retaliation, the children run up to him, pulling at his pants and his clothes.

They start off first with hide and seek after dinner, except the rule is that everyone has to have at least one partner to be with – as long as they’re not by themselves. Chanyeol stands, waiting for a child to ask him because that’s exactly what he wants. But they seem to get bored of people easily and find new people interesting, so for the moment no one asks him. At least, that’s what he tells himself. Dejected, he watches as they all look for a new person they had recently talked to, and because Chanyeol had spent the second half of the day talking to adults most of the time, no one asks him.

In the end, Lili walks up to him, mumbling ‘I see you have no one else’.

“You have no one else either.” Chanyeol roasts back, crossing his arms, offended. Lili sticks out her tongue and then walks away, so Chanyeol has no choice but to follow. Over a distance, he finds that Baekhyun is once again holding Apple’s hand, and Apple seems quite attached.

“Maknae counts first!” Lu Han shouts, and before Tao can argue, everyone scatters. Chanyeol has already thought up of a good place to hide, which is a really good blind spot in the kitchen.

“Let’s go, Lili!” Chanyeol whispers fiercely, reaching down to grab her hand. They move, but end up moving away from each other simultaneously. Chanyeol’s larger strength pulls Lili backwards.

“I’ve got a place!” He says softly, just as Tao and the cheekiest child is counting loudly. “Come with me!”

“No, I know a better place!” Lili whispers. “Trust me, no one will be able to find it.”

“… Okay then.” Chanyeol lets Lili lead him away and she takes him away into a bedroom where into an open drawer facing away from the door. The space is just small enough to fit her and she squeezes inside, hugging her knees. Chanyeol stands there awkwardly.

“What about me?” He asks dumbly.

“You can just hide yourself somewhere here.” She says, turning her head as if she’s trying to find some place for him. Having no time to complain about this, Chanyeol contemplates whether he should jump on the bed and pull the covers over him, but in the end decides against it because he knows he would’ve hated it if some random person who hasn’t showered had dared climb onto his bed like that.

So he moves towards the curtains and tries to cover himself with the cloth.

“I can see your feet.” Lili deadpans.

Well, I can’t hide anywhere else, can I … Chanyeol thinks to himself, mentally sighing. Then he can hear voices from a distance so he tries not to move.

“Over here!” Tao shouts, and soon after footsteps bound over.

“I see feet.” The boy, called Henry, says.

“Come out, curtain man.” Tao says, and Chanyeol steps out, sighing.

“That was the worst place to hide in.” The younger comments, while Henry suddenly shouts, ‘Look, ge, there’s someone there!”

“Where?”

Even though all of this is in Chinese, Chanyeol can understand it the moment he turns and he sees Lili’s reflection on the glass.

He facepalms.

“Found you, Lili!” Henry says as he rushes over to the girl’s side and grins cheekily. “You’re so easy.”

“Not fair.” Lili says as she climbs out. “He told you where I was!”

“What? No I didn’t.” Chanyeol denies, lips almost forming into a pout.

“Come on, let’s look for the others!” Henry says and then rushes off, Lili rushing off after him.

“Wait … were we the first ones?”

“Yep. It was too easy.” Mentally telling himself never to trust Lili again, Chanyeol splits off to look for the others.

Finding the others takes a much longer time than when Tao and Henry found Chanyeol and Lili, so Chanyeol starts questioning the girl’s hide and seek skills.

Still though, eventually they manage to find almost everyone except Baekhyun and Apple.

“Where the hell might they be?” Tao asks himself aloud, just when everyone else is gathered around the main living room. “Wait, Chanyeol, you must know!”

“Why the …” The taller sighs, feeling too tired to finish his sentence.

“You’re dating him, you should know.”

“Can a boy date a boy?” One of the kids whispers, giggling. Tao covers his mouth, eyes widening like a deer caught in the headlights and Lu Han is glaring at him, mouthing ‘NO’. Chanyeol reddens.

“Shut up! You’re pressuring me …” The taller squirms. “I don’t even know this place that well …”

“Time is nearly up … aish, I really want to win this …”

This time, everyone tries to look for the last pair, but even until the time is up, no one is able to find them, so in the end, all of them give up and return to the main living room to wait for the pair.

A few minutes later, Baekhyun and Apple appear.

“Where’ve you been hiding?” Chen asks loudly, still in disbelief.

“In the blind spot in the kitchen.” Baekhyun says.

“Oh my god Lili that’s where we were going to go!” Chanyeol sighs exasperatedly, turning to the girl with an ‘I-told-you-so’ expression.

“They would’ve gotten there first anyway.” She replies savagely.

“Okay, now it’s your turn to count, Chanyeol and Lili.” Kris says. Feeling disappointed that he had lost, Chanyeol closes his eyes and starts counting.

After they finish, Chanyeol is reset and ready to go and win this .

“Let’s go!” He shouts, but then Lili catches his arm.

“Ge, I’m hungry.” She says, stopping him in his tracks.

“… We gotta win this, Lili-yah.” He says, staring at the clock.

“But I’m really hungry.”

“…” Sighing, Chanyeol slumps and grabs the girl’s hand. “Okay, let’s go get some food.”

He spends 20 minutes cooking and 10 to 15 minutes eating with Lili, because yes, he’s not going to just stand here and watch Lili enjoy her food and not eat any himself.

“Yummy?” He asks her, and she nods fervently before eating more. Game forgotten, Chanyeol stuffs more food in his mouth, feeling very content and peaceful with life.

Just as he finishes, he realises that he only has 15 minutes to find everyone, and he turns to Lili, determination in his eyes.

“Are we ready to catch them?” He asks passionately.

“Yes.” She replies.

“Say it again!”

“Yes!”

And off they go to find the others. However, no matter where they look, they can’t seem to find anyone.

“Lili-yah, didn’t you say you knew this place upside down?”

“Ge, maybe they’re not here …”

“That can’t be true … you’re not allowed to hide outside … They must be here somewhere …”

“I think they are better hiders than we are …”

“Lili-yah, are you sure that you know this place well? Because if so, then why can’t we find anyone?”

“…”

In the end, they give up and return to the living room, blinking in surprise when they find that everyone is there.

“What the hell …” Chanyeol mutters in disbelief.

“You lost, Chanyeol-ah.” Kris says, standing up from the sofa.

“Now you have to buy all of us jjajangmyeon for supper!” Tao’s voice is delighted and he laughs excitedly.

“What? No, we never promised this ...”

“Sorry, we made it up now while you were looking for us.”

“It’s time to accept your fate, Chanyeol-ah.”

“We’re waiting.”

Admitting defeat, Chanyeol grabs Lili’s hand. “Let’s go.” He says, sighing once more as he leaves the house.

Returning with jjajangmyeon as promised, everyone crowds around the dining table to eat it, hungry after the day’s events. Chanyeol isn’t even that hungry anymore now that he had eaten earlier, so that sours his mood even more – the fact that everyone’s enjoying himself on his money and he’s not.

“I think you deserve to know the truth now.” Chen says seriously, even though he doesn’t look serious with the sauce on his face.

“… What?”

“We were outside so you couldn’t find us at all.”

Silence.

“What?! Then we didn’t lose!”

“Exactly!”

Silence.

“Mm, this is yummy.” Tao says, grinning to himself until he finds everyone staring at him.

“Wow, I felt like such a loser before.” Chanyeol complains, feeling much better now. Maybe it’s because of the fact that he’s often good at games that losing is so harsh for him.

“That’s ‘cause you are.” Everyone else deadpans.

“Whatever, at least I’m not a cheater.” Chanyeol shoots, letting a grin pull over his face as he then crouches down and holds Lili’s arms.

“We didn’t lose! Yay!” He whispers excitedly.

The next day, it’s time for them to bid their goodbyes.

Last night, the parents had all returned from their trip and had pulled all their children to their own bedrooms to sleep for the night, whereas the other boys had camped out in the living room where the children had slept the past few nights. The hellos to the parents were teary as the children had missed them a lot even though they didn’t realise it themselves, and the goodbyes to the geges were just as tearful as the children weren’t sure when they would see them next.

Even though it had only really been three days, the group is so worn out that none of them talk in the car on the way back home. Even so, being with the children for the past few days have seemed to re-light the feeling of simplicity and purity in themselves, something that has faded away the more they are faced with the complexities of adult life, and although this experience was challenging and exhausting, it definitely had been rewarding to say the least. Especially to Baekhyun, who had rediscovered completely what it’s supposed to mean to be just a child.