Just as they were finishing their lunch a loud whistle was heard from outside. Baekhyun was the only one that jumped, startled at the sudden sound. 

“That’s Minseok.” Junmyeon chuckled as he explained, “Jongdae just yells.” 

Baekhyun nodded. “He is good at being loud.”

The three men laughed at the orphan’s comment as they all stood up from the table and took their plates to the kitchen area. Baekhyun felt self-satisfied at having made them laugh and he smiled broadly as he began to pump the water into the sink to wash their few dishes. Kyungsoo quickly joined him and the four plates and cups were soon washed, dried, and put in their places in the cabinets. The two then went out to the barn where Minseok had pulled the cart up next to the fully opened doors. The boss and his cousin were already working together with Minseok to lift large baskets full of oranges out of the cart. 

Kyungsoo noticed the orphan had zoned in on watching the actions of the men with their sleeves pushed up to their shoulders, muscular arms fully exposed and sweat starting to show. The chef nudged the little one and indicated with his head. “Nice muscles, don’tcha think..?” 

Baekhyun flushed, trying to recover. “Uh.. sure. M-maybe I’ll get muscles like that too after I work here a while.” He mentally patted himself on the back for coming up with a quick and innocent response.

Kyungsoo didn’t seem to think it was all that innocent. “Maybe… but it’s nice to have this view too.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

The orphan couldn’t contain his small burst of laughter, which the boss evidently heard. The tall man turned to him with a broad smile and paused his work, watching as Baekhyun gave a small smile back and rushed over to the baskets that now sat on the ground just inside the barn doorway. The orphan grabbed the handle on the side of one as Kyungsoo took the other handle and together they lugged the heavy basket further into the barn. Minseok and Junmyeon continued lifting the last of the baskets off the cart, but exchanged knowing grins seeing their boss’s obvious infatuation with the hardworking little orphan.

As soon as the last of the baskets were unloaded, Minseok headed back to the grove and the others got to work in the barn. Baekhyun quickly learned the routine. The boss would place an empty crate on a large scale, Kyungsoo and Junmyeon would carefully pour the oranges out of the baskets into the crate until it reached a certain weight, then the boss would lift the crate off the scale and set it to the side. As Junmyeon placed a lid on the filled crate, the boss would grab another empty crate from the stack and put it in place on the scale. The emptied baskets were stacked inside each other in groups of five and set to the side of the open barn doors. 

It became Baekhyun’s job to clamp a metal piece on two opposite edges to seal the full crates shut, and he made sure to hold the clamping tool level so the Park estate logo would show cleanly on the metal seals. As each crate was properly sealed, the boss would heft it up to stack it on top of the previously sealed crate. The metal seals would only be taken off the crates after a sale was completed with buyers in the market. Junmyeon explained that they always opened one crate after reaching the market so potential buyers could view the oranges and the occasional sale of one or two oranges could occur if a child or hungry passerby wanted one. 

About an hour after Minseok had driven off with his emptied cart, a friendly “Halooo!” could be heard along with the clip clop of horse hooves. The way that Kyungsoo immediately set down an empty basket in favor of running to the open door let Baekhyun know that the driver was Jongin and another full cart had arrived. This time, after all the full baskets were taken off the cart, the stacks of emptied baskets were placed in the back and Jongin drove back off towards the grove.  

Another hour and a half later, a loud echo of “HEYOOOO!” sounded out. 

Baekhyun looked at Kyungsoo. “Jongdae..” they both said in unison. All four workers in the barn grinned at each other and went out to greet the loud man and unload the cart.

The next time Minseok came back, there were not quite as many full baskets of oranges, but this was because he had Yixing, Luhan, and about five other men in the back all perched on the edges of the cart with the baskets full of picked oranges sitting between their legs. The men all jumped down and unloaded the baskets, then headed inside the large house to the showers. Just as the last man made it into the house, Jongin arrived with the next cart full of workers and more baskets of oranges. Minseok pulled his cart out of the way and brought the horse into the far end of the barn through a wide side door to the stable area. Meanwhile, the men on Jongin’s cart unloaded the full baskets and then went on into the house much the same way as the last group. Just as Jongin was pulling his cart around the side of the barn and helping his horse, Jongdae showed up with Sehun and the last of the workers in the third cart, and in quick succession that cart was also emptied and the rest of the men all piled into the large house.  

The sun was showing signs of setting and Baekhyun was feeling the strain of having been o