Baekhyun curled into himself a little as he kept his head down and his fingers working on his stitching. 

He was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to have heard what the two men in the kitchen area were talking about. He wasn’t really sure what their words meant, and the way they had lowered their voices meant that it definitely wasn’t his business. In the past it hadn’t turned out well for him when someone else thought the orphan was sticking his nose into conversations that weren't any of his business. Nope. It was better to act like he hadn't heard their conversation and keep doing the job given to him. There was less chance of getting into trouble that way. 

Baekhyun lowered his head a little more as he concentrated on keeping the small stitches in a straight line without pricking himself. He became absorbed in his work, not noticing when the two other men wordlessly left the large room.

The afternoon went quickly and by the time the sun was starting to set and the rest of the men came back from working, the little orphan had finished two more shirts and another pair of pants. The boss was nowhere in sight but Sehun came directly over to him after walking in the door and then bragged on the orphan’s sewing prowess to several of the other men as he handed the fixed clothing back to each owner. Baekhyun bashfully smiled and bowed as the men all thanked him for fixing the clothes. Each time he carefully responded that he had simply tried his best and hoped that the stitching would hold well for them when they wore the clothing. They all smiled and cooed at him for being so nice about it.

It turned out that Jongdae was the owner of the shirt that had been used for the patches, and after lamenting that he had one less shirt now, he loudly proclaimed that everyone should thank him for the use of his shirt for the patches. Baekhyun tried to apologize for not being able to properly fix the shirt, but Minseok just laughed and said it was fine since that gave the loud man something else to be loud about. The orphan tried to not show his smile as the other men laughed at Jongdae’s fake indignation at the comment.

Kyungsoo broke up the noisy group by banging on an empty pan to get everyone's attention then announcing he only needed one set of hands to help with preparing dinner. Baekhyun quickly offered to help. Junmyeon announced he would supervise, then promptly started shooing the rest of the men out of the room to go get cleaned up from their long day of work. With the colder night air starting to set in and another storm expected later, the windows were all closed and curtains drawn, and as Junmyeon went around lighting some of the lamps, the noise followed the rest of the men as they traveled out of the big room and up the stairs to the bedrooms and shared bathroom.

Meanwhile, Baekhyun was given the task of measuring out several cups of rice and water, and setting it to cook in a big pot on the stove. As he did this, Kyungsoo and Junmyeon busied themselves cutting up potatoes, meat, carrots and onions. All of the ingredients were put into another large pot of water and several savory spices were added as soon as the water began to boil. As the mixture continued to cook, Kyungsoo showed Baekhyun how to peel and core three apples. The chef then chopped up the fruit as small as possible until it was almost a mush before scraping it into the pot and stirring it in thoroughly. Then flour was added slowly to help the bubbling mixture thicken as the pot was stirred. Kyungsoo handed the wooden spoon to Baekhyun to continue stirring the contents as it simmered, then went over to check on the rice. 

By now, Junmyeon had gathered bowls and utensils for the meal, and the other men had started following the savory smells coming from the kitchen. A couple of them made sure the remaining lamps were lit while the rest of the men, along with the boss, drifted into the room and stood around making small talk as they waited for the food. Soon everyone was sitting around the large table, enjoying the curry dinner. It was another first f