The rest of the day passed as usual. After snacks would be study time. The kids would get cleaned up and grab their back-packs while you and the guys help Auntie clean up. Some liked to work at the big table, while others liked to stay in the rooms and study there. If the kids had any questions though, they'd always come to the big table where you and the guys would be.

You groan as you flip through your .math homework. Seriously, whoever says that all asians are good at math should swing by to check what's wrong with you.  It's not particularly difficult, you just found it extremely boring. You could calculate the price totals with tax and discounts at the local supermarket in under a minute, so you failed to see why you would need to learn something like factorization and solving identities.

Youngjae, of course, was whizzing through his chemistry questions. Zelo was concentrating deeply in reading his english textbook, silently mouthing the words over and over. Better get to work. You sighed, reaching for a pencil. Even the younger kids were working harder than you, being careful while they carried numbers to subtract, multiply, and do long division. You look back at your trig identities and wish they'd move themselves.

"Having trouble?" Himchan looked over your shoulder and saw you had barely written anything down. You shake your head and read the questions again, determined to get it over with. He laughs a little, patting your shoulder. "The rest of us will be upstairs if you need us ok?" You nodded, not looking away from the textbook. He laughs again and you hear his feet padding up the steps. Groaning inwardly you force your hand to move, to write down some sort of answer so you would still look like a good role model.

It seems to take forever, but you finally finish all of the work you had been procrastinating on for the entire week. You stretch and look up. Outside the sun has dropped quite a bit. You look at the clock, surprised that it's already been three hours. 

"Finally snapped out of it sweetie?" You see Auntie at the stove stirring a big pot of what smelled like spaghetti sauce. "Mhmm" you say, getting up. You tend to block out everything around you when you focus really hard. You wash your hands and take over the stirring for her. "Where's everyone else? It's really quiet." "Oh, they all headed to the park about an hour ago. They all wanted you to go too, but no one dared to disturb you" says Auntie as she starts taking out dishes. You sigh a little. At least you would be an example of what happens when someone doesn't finish their homework on time.

The guys come back with a bunch of laughing kids in tow. Everyone washes up, devours the spaghetti with a side of brocolli (Auntie is very particular about everyone getting proper nutrition), and then the kids start to get ready for bed. It's always busiest at night. You handle the dishes while Auntie makes sure each kid washes properly and brush their teeth using little, scrubbing circles. The older ones help out too, so it doesn't take too long before the kids are tucked into bed and given a good night kiss on the forehead. 

After cleaning up the dinner mess the boys had gone their seperate ways. Since Zelo and Yongguk live in the same neighborhood, Yongguk would always walk Zelo home. And since Himchan lives with Yongguk he'd tag along too. They said their goodbyes first and, after getting mobbed by the kids in what appeared to be a giant hug fest, put on their shoes and left. Next to go was Daehyun. He slipped out right behind the trio to avoid getting mobbed, but not before smiling in your direction and telling you "see you at school tomorrow!"

Auntie asked you to go buy some detergent at the store a few blocks away. Since Youngjae is the only one left, he offers to go with you. You tell him it's fine, but he insists.. "You're a girl after all. According to studies and statistical findings-" you cut him off with an eye roll and tell him that you'll just leave without him. It gets him to quiet down long enough for you two to get to the store and buy the detergent.

"Good thing it's on sale," you say happily with a big bottle of the liquid in your arms. Youngjae's beside you, carrying two big bottles in his own arms. "Aren't you going to thank me for coming along? If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be able to get all of this home!" He sends you a little glare over the tops of the bottles. You giggle and, trying a bit of aegyo, say "thank you Youngjae~." A few steps later you realize he's no longer beside you. Looking back, you see him frozen in place with a literal O__O on his face. "Youngjae?" you call out to him. He kind of snaps out of it with a shake of his head. "Sorry Ji Dae, it's nothing. Nothing..nothing.." And with that he ducks his head low and walks quickly past you. One of your eyebrows rises, but you shrug it off and hurry to catch up to him.

"Thanks again for your help Youngjae" you tell him as you put down your purchases on the big table. "Oh, n-no problem," he replies, scratching the back of his head. "Why are you embarassed?" you ask, looking at him closely. "Me? Embarassed?" He laughs it off. "Why would you think I am?" "Well," you say, slowly approaching him, "you rub your head like that when you feel that way." Immediately his hand stops and he shoves it into his pocket. "Well, umm, you know, it's just that I don't see you do aegyo very often. I was surprised, that's all!" After a mmoment you laugh, surprised. "Ohhh I see. You know I don't like aegyo very much Youngjae. I thought you don't like it much either, which is why I don't try it often." He perks up and looks up, relieved. "Yeah, I don't find it cute when girls sound so whiny and desperate." He looks down again. "But yours isn't like that. It- it was kind of cute, actually." Another moment of silence filled the small kitchen. You didn't know how to react, or what to say, for once. Luckily it was him who broke the silence. "Well, it'd be nice if girls did aegyo like you. Then I wouldn't find it so annoying!" he said, laughing a little. His hand had gone back to ruffling his hair. You find yourself smiling too. He excused himself then, and you walked him to the door. "See you tomorrow!" "Yeah, see you!" And with that, you were left with the silence of the orphanage and your heart feeling a little lighter.

*Message* : Hi hi! Since I said there'd be something more to this chapter, but not much really happened because I have to push it to the next chapter, I'll tell you a funny little tidbit. Since this is my first fanfic, this is also my first time getting the "new comment" and "new subscriber" notice. So whenever I see the notice, I find that I do this weird little clap. Seriously, it's similar to what trained sea lions do. I walked by a sea lion show today and it's legitly what they do. So what this means is that I'm your very own personal, trained sea lion :D Moving on~

Thank you to my subscribers and/or commenters, as well as any silent readers out there! Be sure to leave comments about how you want things to go, or what you want to happen between certain characters. Ahhh I'm in a real bind, but I'll elaborate on it in the next chapter's message. Take care, and thanks for all the fish ^__^