Faia Raige: You have a son that you don’t know. He’s reaching for you, and he does not need a commanding officer, he needs a father.

– After Earth

It didn’t take long for Baekhyun to put two and two together. He gasped and looked up. “Wait. XiuMin and Sohee are siblings? Sohee’s big brother is XiuMin?” he gaped, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Sohee and XiuMin were gaping at each other. They could not believe they were seeing each other after that day. Sohee trembled as she cautiously walked over to him. "O – Oppa? Is that you?" she stammered.

XiuMin studied her. It was clear she was his sister, with her round eyes matching with his, her chestnut hair the same tone as his, her cheeks, everything. It was all the same. And she still looked like the eight-year-old girl he last saw of her, only with more maturity in her face, her physique changed obviously, and she was taller.

But he had no doubts that this wasn't her sister. It was Sohee, all right.

He took a few steps forward before he wrapped his arms around her lithe body, and gave her a huge bear hug. Sohee immediately felt that sense of security she always felt whenever she was with him.

"Wait, wait, you guys are siblings?" Luhan couldn't believe his ears but when he looked at them, he knew that it was true. You could see the resemblance. They were truly siblings. He gaped at them, not quite believing it even though he knew it was true. But . . . his gege actually had a sister?

A hot one, too, a voice said in his head and he blinked, shaking his head to dismiss the thought yet he silently agreed.

"But . . . how . . .?" Yixing shook his head. “I mean, I know how but Xiu ge, how come you never told us you had a sister?”

But only XiuMin had eyes for his little sister. "Saengie . . . how did you . . .?" he asked her. He struggled to find the right words. “I mean . . . you couldn’t swim; you were only a little girl. How did you manage to survive?”

"Sehun Oppa found me," she explained, gesturing over to the proud rainbow-colored haired boy. "I was drifted away, remember? Sehun Oppa found me while he was out swimming that day, coincidentally, and brought me back here." She laughed lightly. "I guess that's how far I'd drifted off to."

"I thought you were dead." XiuMin's face was pale, but he was immensely relieved yet shocked at the same time to see that his dead sister wasn't . . . well, dead. "For years I believed I lost my little sister to the seas that I vowed to know how to swim to be able to save lives whenever I see someone drowning."

"Well . . ."

"Why didn't you try to come back?"

"I didn't know how to swim. I was afraid. Sehun Oppa has been teaching me, though," she whispered.

“And she’s still scared of the water,” Chanyeol spoke up in a staged whisper.

Sehun darted him a glower and he fell silent, smirking to himself.

XiuMin’s eyes softened. "Oh, saengie." He hugged her tight again, kissing her forehead. He her back. "I've missed you."

"This is so cute. They're reunited once more," Yixing whispered to Luhan, sort of jumping giddily from where he was standing. "Wouldn't you agree, gege?"

Luhan shrugged. "Minseok, I didn't know you had a little sister."

"Now you do.” XiuMin hugged her. "I'm never letting you go ever again. I'm never going to lose you again," he whispered.

Sohee smiled tentatively. She pulled away a bit and glanced at her friends. "Well, um, guys, meet my brother, Kim Minseok."

"Call me XiuMin," her brother told the rest of them. "XiuMin is my nickname. I prefer to be called that, so yeah . . ."

Sehun was glad that he at least had one less guy to worry about. He shot a glance over at Luhan who was still looking at her with interest. His main worry was going to be this baby-face boy. He could tell the other guys weren't as into her as this baby was.

"Are you the only girl here?" Chen wanted to know.

She nodded. "Yeah . . ." She laughed. "I'm basically the person who takes care of them." She paused. "Well . . . besides the gramps." She glanced cheekily over at Suho, who grimaced, and the others snickered. "The six of them took really good care of me." She smiled warmly at each of them. She skipped over to them and Baekhyun ruffled her hair playfully.

XiuMin didn't know why but he felt this sense of . . . jealousy? It was kind of understandable, since he was her sister, but it looked like she was so much closer to the others than she was to him. That, somehow, disheartened him. He was supposed to be the only brother figure in her life but was now replaced by six.

Just then Kris and Tao, who no one actually noticed they were gone, came up to them. Kris had a dark frown on his face. "The engine's busted, it's going to take days for us to get it fixed to go back home."

"Even the radio to communicate with people isn't working," Tao glumly added. "There isn't any signal at all."

"This island is weird," Chen muttered under his breath, hugging himself as if to keep warm. "And I feel cold. Why is it so cold?"

"It's almost night time, we need to eat dinner." Suho glanced over to Kyungsoo. "Do you think you can cook a meal for all thirteen of us?"

Kyungsoo nodded. "Sure." He looked at Baekhyun. "I need you to help cook for everyone. There are just too many of us."

"I can help cook," Yixing offered. "So can Chen."

"Okay good, we need as much help as we can," Kyungsoo said gratefully and the four of them walked away.

Kris sighed. "I guess it looks like we're staying here for a couple of days."

Chanyeol looked at his leader. "Where are they going to sleep?"

"Outside," Sehun replied.

Luhan glowered at him. "Excuse me, we're your guests."

"Outside have the best beds!"

But even Suho frowned. "No . . . we will sleep outside, and let the guests sleep inside." He glanced at Sohee. "You okay with sleeping outside?"

Sohee's eyes had already lit up. She grabbed Jongin's hand and spun him around. "Weee!" Giggling, she dragged him outside.

Sehun laughed. "Well, I guess she's more than okay with it."

Suho only shook his head and turned to the others, who all had a confused look on their faces. "Honestly, it's actually a good thing to sleep outside, but we don't, so Sohee's happy because she's forever begging me to sleep outside."

"What's so special about sleeping outside?" XiuMin wondered.

Suho smiled. "You'll see." He heaved a light sigh. "C'mon, we need to get your things to the burrow where you'll be staying."

"Burrow?" Tao repeated in disbelief.

"Yeah, burrow, it's like . . . there's a . . . oh, you'll see."

So they gathered everything and headed out where they saw Sohee and Jongin writing something on the sand. The two of them looked up and saw they needed help and went over to carry the luggage. They lugged it all the way to the burrow. Luhan, Tao, XiuMin and Kris gaped at the big tree standing before them. They were even more astonished with the others when Chanyeol pulled on a vine and a piece of bark opened — revealing the insides of the tree.

They blinked. It was empty.

Suho, Jongin, Chanyeol, Sehun and Sohee moved the luggage and bags into the middle of it before Chanyeol, Jongin, Sehun and Sohee ran out to the sides of the tree and began climbing.

"Wh – What the —?" XiuMin exclaimed, surprised when they all suddenly disappeared into some hole.

"Oh my goodness, the bags!" Tao shrieked when Suho tugged on another vine and the luggage all dropped down. Then he felt a push as Suho pushed him forward unto the hole and he found himself falling. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!"

His screams were echoed until he felt himself landing on something hard. He groaned, when his sides hit the edge a luggage. There were shouts coming from behind him and he scrambled to his feet. It was a good thing, too, if not Kris, XiuMin and Luhan would've crashed into him, toppling over him.

There were giggles and Sohee, Jongin and Chanyeol appeared out of nowhere. "Hi, welcome," they said. Sehun was trying to move the bags and stuff to a corner.

The newcomers gazed around in awe. It was like a little house for them, with rooms and toilets and even a worn-out couch, with its springs still working perfectly fine. They smelled something good and turned their heads toward it and saw Chen, Baekhyun, Kyungsoo and Yixing cooking their dinner in the kitchen.

Their jaws dropped.

This was really something.

"Where is this place?" XiuMin wanted to know.

"The burrow," Suho replied. He pointed to the six curtains in a row falling over what seemed to be rooms. "Your rooms will be there." He pointed to a single curtain at the opposite end. "You're not allowed to enter that one."

"Why not?" Luhan wanted to know.

"That's Sohee's room," he replied, just as Sohee went inside. "Even though she wouldn't be sleeping in the room, it's still out of bounds."

Tao raised an eyebrow when Chanyeol went inside. "How come he gets to go inside, then?" he wanted to know.

"Because she knows him. She trusts him. I trust him. I can't trust you guys yet because I don't know you."

"We're her brother's friends."

"We've been like brothers to her longer." Suho glanced over at XiuMin. “I’m sorry, but even I can’t allow you to go inside.”

“I’m her brother,” he flared up.

“By blood, yes,” Jongin agreed, “You may be related to her, but remember that you haven’t been around for the past ten years of her life. You’re nothing but a stranger who happens to be her brother. A lot of things had changed within those ten years.”

XiuMin kept his mouth shut. He had nothing to defend himself in this. What Jongin said was true. He actually doesn’t know who his sister was anymore.

But can everyone stop reminding him about it?

“Dinner!”

Four boys whooshed into the dining table, followed by an amused Sohee. But then she turned to the guests. “Are you guys coming?”

Luhan eagerly stood up. “Coming,” he said and walked over to her side.

XiuMin quickly stood up too, wanting to sit next to his sister, but to his disappointment, it looked like Chanyeol and Baekhyun had reserved a spot for her between them. He sighed and took a seat in between Chen and Tao.

“I’m hungry,” Tao beamed happily. He glanced over at XiuMin. “Hi.”

“Hi . . .” XiuMin looked straight in front of him and cheered up slightly when he saw that he was sitting directly across from Sohee.

“Well, let’s eat,” Suho told everyone cheerfully and soon the burrow was filled with silence except for the occasional clattering of spoons clanking against plates and the chewing sounds of the food.

Sohee glanced up and gave her brother an eyesmile before she offered him what seemed to be chicken. “Here, try some,” she told him.

XiuMin reached out for it but a hungry panda snatched it away from him instead and took a huge chunk out from it. “Mmm, thanks. It’s delicious!”

She laughed. “That was for my brother, Tao-sshi.”

“Oh.” He turned to his gege and grinned, giving him a meaty grin. “Du bu qi, gege!” He waved the chicken in the air.

Kris chewed slowly on the meat. “Hmmm, this is really delicious. I would say this was nicely cooked. Right in the spot, mmm.” He his lips to show his appreciation.

“Baekhyun-sshi made it,” Chen told everyone.

Baekhyun shrugged. “It was nothing, really.”

“I like chicken,” Tao added helpfully.

Suho chuckled lightly. Sehun and Jongin snickered under their breaths. Chanyeol blinked. Kyungsoo and Sohee exchanged amused glances. Even Yixing and Chen stopped eating to give Tao a look.

Baekhyun coughed. “How do you feel about squirrels?”

Luhan choked on his water. XiuMin’s face paled. Kris’ eyes widened in horror. But Tao’s eyebrows furrowed together, taking yet another huge bite. “Why?”

“That’s what you’re eating,” Kyungsoo smiled.

Tao immediately darted for the toilet.

XiuMin watched as everyone tittered and continued eating. He glanced over at Sohee, who was eating her food like it was normal to eat squirrels every day. He noticed she had finished her vegetables on her plate and was about to offer more when Suho had dumped a generous serving on her plate.

She grimaced but Suho gave her a stern look and she unwillingly sighed and ate her veggies, muttering and complaining under her breath.

He didn’t know his sister didn’t like veggies.

“Look at it this way,” Baekhyun was telling her, “it’s green — your favorite color.”

He didn’t know she liked the color green either.

“I’ll get some bananas and mango later for you, as a reward for eating your veggies,” Kyungsoo promised her. “I know how much you love those fruits.”

Nor about the fact that bananas and mangoes were her favorite food.

“We’ll cancel swimming class tomorrow.”

“Oh my gosh, yes, I love you, Sehun Oppa!” Sohee immediately cheered up and shoved a huge spoonful of veggies into . Then her eyes widened and her cheeks puffed out. She started to choke.

Jongin sighed, handing a glass of water to her. “Steady, saeng, slowly,” he said to her.

She took a gulp and smiled sheepishly while Chanyeol messed her hair up again. “Heh, I guess I got carried away,” she replied sheepishly and six boys chuckled lightly.

XiuMin felt lost and a little left out. He used to do everything for Sohee. Now she had six other boys to do it for him. Where does he fit?

Would he even fit in anywhere in her life as her brother?

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D'awww, poor baozi ):

And otl I'm sorry, I trolled some of you guys, who thought Chen was the brother. Hehehehehehe :P

Anyway I apologize for the late update asdfhjkl in the midst of stupid writer's block i TAT .... okay no I just spend too much time on Twitter otl /smacks self tbh.

I'm working on the next chapter nowwwww

Anyway, doing a little shoutout for my sister. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @leongkarlyn because her tweets are awesome and s and I think it'll be worthwhile ^^

follow me, too, on Twitter, if you want @PocketSizeMii