The boss showed Baekhyun how to pick the strawberries, then left the little one to the task as he went to the cart to get the basket. By the time the tall man made it back over, the orphan had a pleased grin on his face and both his hands full of the triangular fruit. The boss chuckled and helped put the strawberries on top of the few oranges and apples already in the basket. Baekhyun continued picking strawberries, but the boss stood up and began picking blueberries from the taller bushes.

The warm sunshine beat down on them and Baekhyun sighed. “I can see now why you said I would need a hat for today.”

The boss looked down at the orphan for a moment. “That’s a good one that Jun gave you.”

Baekhyun put more berries in the basket then tilted the brim of the hat to shield his face from the sun as he looked up at the tall man. The sunlight shining down through the trees had an ethereal effect on the silhouette of the tall man as he looked down at the orphan, and Baekhyun suddenly felt out of breath. He looked back down at the shorter bushes and cleared his throat. “Uh.. Y-you said you don’t know much about me. Was there something in particular you wanted to know, Sir?”

The tall man stooped down to put a handful of blueberries into the rapidly filling basket. “Well, I don’t want to pry into things you don’t want to share. And I’m sure you are curious about things too. Why don’t we ask each other questions and if we’re uncomfortable with the question we’ll just say so..” the boss said kindly.

The orphan stopped picking and put the last bit of strawberries into the small spaces left into the now full basket. He picked up the basket and stood up. “That sounds.. nice. You can go first, Sir.” 

The boss gestured to the cart and the two walked back over. “OK.” The tall man took the basket from the orphan and placed it on the cart, then held his hand out to help the smaller scramble back up onto the bench seat. This put him much closer to the tall man’s face as the man said. “Why do you only call me ‘Sir’? I know that you know my name..” 

Baekhyun couldn’t control the blush that crept onto his face. “I- um.. I’m sorry?” he said, not knowing what else to say.

“No need to apologize. I know you are trying to be polite, but I’d like to think we’re friends now. I don’t ask any of my friends to call me ‘Sir’.. That’s too formal.”  The boss responded.

The orphan nodded. “Ok.. Mr. Park.” he said a little unsurely.

The tall man smiled. “Or you can call me Chanyeol. That’s my name.”

Baekhyun knew calling his employer by his first name was not respectful, but he decided to leave that idea alone. As the boss climbed up and sat onto the bench, the orphan decided to change the subject. “My turn. Did you know that someone put a quilt made by your mother onto my bed the other night?”

Mr. Park waited as he picked up the reins and flicked them gently to guide the horse to start walking again before he responded.  “I put it there. I hope it has helped you stay warm at night..” he said, his eyes not leaving the horse as it pulled their cart down the road.

The orphan had been looking up at the boss but hearing this explanation made him look down bashfully and fidget with his hands in his lap. “I- Yes.. thank you.” he said carefully. 

The tall man chuckled. “My turn. What do you like to do for fun?” 

Baekhyun tilted his head a little as he thought. He was silent for long enough that the boss looked at him in concern. The orphan finally spoke. “I don’t really know. I haven’t had a chance to do many fun things in my life.”

Mr. Park nodded thoughtfully. “Hmm.. Well, maybe now you’ll be able to figure that out.”

Baekhyun smiled softly but didn’t say anything as he looked around at the orange grove. The sunlight filtered through the trees making fractured shadows on the ground and the puffs of dust kicked up from the horse rolled gently through the area as they rolled along. Every now and then he could see tall metal poles coming up out of the ground and rising up above the trees. Remembering what he had overheard some of the men talk about, he figured this was the irrigation system for watering the orange trees. 

The boss leaned over to slightly bump the distracted orphan on the shoulder. “Your turn.”

The little one had been lost in his thoughts, so he was caught off guard and he panicked inwardly. “Oh! Umm.. What’s your favorite color?” he blurted out, then mentally facepalmed at his knee-jerk