Baekhyun barely had time to react to the greeting before Jongin was walking around him to bound up the front stairs to the porch. “Ease up Sehunnie.. You’ll scare him off before you even get to see how cute he is..” The tanned man rolled his eyes at the man standing beside the porch swing. “And quit being jealous over me getting to drive the cart this week. It’s not my fault Boss didn’t choose you. You’re too reckless when you drive it.”

The tall man huffed as he stepped into the light, coming closer to the door. Baekhyun could see the newcomer had a handsome chiseled face and a lanky yet slightly muscular build with broad shoulders. He was wearing a clean short-sleeved shirt, loose pants tied at the waist, and slip-in shoes, and he had evidently just taken a bath as he was using a thin towel draped around his neck to occasionally rub his dark damp hair. He didn’t look like the man the workers had called “Boss” when the orphan watched them secretly a few days ago, so Baekhyun wasn’t sure who this was. 

Yixing gave him an answer without being asked.  “This wet baby is Sehun.” he said matter-of-factly as he indicated the man in question.

Jongin and Minseok cackled with laughter as the newly introduced man spluttered his protest. Yixing smiled with satisfaction. Baekhyun found the whole scene amusing but he didn’t want to seem rude so he only gave a small smile as he relaxed his hold on his bag.

At that moment the front door popped open and a man with laughing eyes stuck his head out. “C’mon guys! Dinner’s rea- AYYY! You brought the fruit mouse! That’s great!!” he said loudly and gave a wide curvy smile as he looked directly at Baekhyun. “Welcome! Come on in!” He hollered then turned and waltzed back in the house without closing the door behind him. Minseok followed him in and the level of conversation inside immediately became louder.

Yixing gestured to the stairs with an encouraging smile to the orphan. Baekhyun was still confused about being called a fruit mouse, but he smiled back and together they went up the stairs and in through the front door. Jongin and Sehun followed them in and closed the door behind them. 

The entryway was a small tiled area that immediately opened into a very large room. To the left was a spacious kitchen area with a few men loading up various dishes of food. On the far right of the room were four sofas, a few coffee tables, and two ottomans, all surrounding a tall fireplace. Separating the kitchen and living room areas was a large dinner table with several men of various ages already seated around most of it. The amount of activity and noise somewhat reminded Baekhyun of when he had lived in the orphanage, but this was much cleaner and no one was yelling angrily at each other so he already liked it better.

Jongin ran towards the kitchen, and Sehun went past the common area and disappeared down a hallway, still drying his hair. Baekhyun followed Yixing over to two empty seats at the table. As they sat down, Yixing introduced the orphan to the men seated around them. Baekhyun greeted them all with a shy bob of his head, his eyes still wide as he took in his surroundings. He learned that three of the other men were Chinese, as was Yixing. They all told him nicknames he could call them if he had trouble pronouncing their actual names. Baekhyun wasn’t sure how long he would be around these friendly people, but it was very heartwarming to him how welcoming they all were. 

Baekhyun looked up as he noticed movement coming from the kitchen area. Jongin walked over to the table and placed two small thick mats on the table as a shorter man wearing an apron walked behind him with a large pot of steaming food. As Jongin helped the man place the pot carefully on the two mats, the shorter man looked directly over to the orphan. Baekhyun gave a slight bob of his head in a tentative greeting and the man smiled. Baekhyun noticed the man’s mouth made a cute heart shape when he smiled, and for some reason the orphan once again felt a bit of comfort in this discovery.

Yixing continued to try to keep Baekhyun included in one of the many conversations that were flowing around the table. The talk was mostly of the recent dry spell and the rain that was expected later that night. One of the other men told him that the loud man that had greeted them at the door earlier had a sixth sense about weather. Baekhyun liked rain, b