Jongdae’s first reaction is to stare.

“Who are you?” He asks the little dark haired person standing in his doorway, slipping off his shoes and placing them aside.
“I’m Sehun.” The child says, his eyes surprisingly expressionless.

He stands straight, towering over the little boy, tugging off his scarf and jacket, hanging them on a hook by the door, strangely intrigued and a little afraid that this unfamiliar small person is motionless and staring at him whilst clutching a stuffed monkey.

“Jongdae.”
He looks toward the door leading to the kitchen and sees his adopted elder sister Hyori standing with her hands planted firmly on her hips.
“Noona.” He replies, sensing her annoyance.
She’s still in her black button up work shirt and wearing her high heels, which suggests to Jongdae that she’s rushed home for something urgent. Something urgent that is most likely to do with that little boy.
“Sehun, sweetheart.” She squats down, presenting the child with a warm smile, “Why don’t you go watch some more TV? I’ll bring you something to drink and eat in a while, okay?”
“Okay.” The brunet boy nods, adjusting the plush monkey in his arms before he toddles off to the living room.

Jongdae looks back toward his sister, she’s glaring a hole into the wall behind him, “Come.” She commands, not waiting for an answer and turning back into the kitchen.
With a small sigh, Jongdae follows, his eyebrows shooting up in confusion at the grave faces of his family who are seated around the dining room table.
“What is going on…?” He mumbles, taking a seat next to his mother, who has a tissue pressed to her nose, eyes puffy and wet with tears.
“Son, there’s been an accident.” His father says. He’s in the same state at Hyori, still in his button up and tie he wears to work, “Your mother’s sister and her husband. Head on collision with a truck… They died instantly.”
“They died?” Jongdae ignores the hiss from Hyori to lower the volume of his voice and frowns, “So that boy is their kid?”
He doesn’t really remember ever meeting Sehun, but he recalls a few years back when his mother showed him photos.
“Sehun has been bought to us because he has no one else to take care of him. His dad’s family refused, so he’s come here.” Hyori sighs, and Jongdae can clearly see that the fact the little boy has been abandoned is what is irritating her. She hums and starts to pick at her decorated nails.
“We all have to put in a little effort, okay?” Their mother says, speaking for the first time in a soft, frail voice.
“Does he know? That his parents have passed away?” Jongdae asks, rubbing his nape.
His father shakes his head, “He doesn’t understand. But he’s been told they aren’t coming back.”

Jongdae sits in silence, letting out a long sigh, “Wow… This is heavy stuff.”
“You know you’ll be taking most of the responsibility over him, right?” Hyori says, leaning forward, her elbows on the table.
It takes Jongdae all but three seconds to process her words, “What? Why?”
“Think about it. Dad has work from morning until late night. Mum teaches from morning until the afternoon. And I work from lunch through to six.” She raises an eyebrow, “All you have to do is go to school.”
Jongdae rolls his head back and groans. There’s no point in arguing with Hyori when she’s completely right. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be happy about being saddled with a child.

~

If there’s one thing Jongdae hates it’s waking up early.
Hyori helps in the most abnoxious way by standing at his bedside with her phone in her hand, blaring Super Junior’s Rokkugo at top volume.

“I called Baekhyun, since you with directions.” She tells him, holding out a piece of paper with a jumble of words Jongdae doesn’t understand in his half-asleep state.
“You called Baekhyun?” He yawns, rubbing his eyes slowly, “Why?”
“He’s going to walk you and Sehun to the primary school, . You have to leave at eight. Mum already made Sehun a lunch.”
With a wave of his hand, Jongdae shuffles into the bathroom to take a shower.

Byun Baekhyun is Jongdae’s eccentric fake blond best friend. He apparently loves kids too, because as soon as his eyes land on Sehun, he can’t stop fawning over him.

“Look at his little jumper and his little pants and his little tiny bag, oh my god! Jongdae, he’s so cute!” The seventeen year old coos, brushing his fingers though Sehun’s fluffy brunet locks, “How old are you?”
“I’m four.” The child tells him, his usually blank eyes sparkling with curiousity at Baekhyun’s dyed hair.
“Four! You’re so big already for four!” The blond smiles, standing up straight, “Your daddy must be tall.”

Jongdae steps down on Baekhyun’s foot, hissing for him to shut the up, eyes flickering down to Sehun who apparently hasn’t heard anything.

After recovering and restraining himself from screeching at his best friend, Baekhyun reaches for Sehun’s hand and smiles, “Let’s get you to school.” He says, and they begin their journey.
The little boy walks with a bounce in his step and hums happily, clutching Baekhyun’s larger fingers in his own.
“Am I starting a new school?” He asks, tugging at the hem of his jumper. He directs the question at Jongdae, looking up at him with those wide brown eyes.
“Yeah, that’s right.” The black haired teen nods, his hands pushed deep into his jacket pockets.
Sehun purses his lips and nods, “Oh. Okay.”
“What’s wrong?” Baekhyun asks, sparing a glance from the paper with the directions to look down at the child.
“What if they don’t like me?”

Jongdae almost melts into the sidewalk.

“Of course they’ll like you! What’s not to like? I like you.” Baekhyun grins, giving Sehun’s hand a little squeeze, “Don’t you like him, Jongdae?”
Jongdae swallows under the eyes that turn on him, he’s never really been great at saying nice things, “Yeah, sure I like you.”

Sehun seems to watch him for a few seconds more, but then finally flashes a smile all for Jongdae.

So here is the revised chapter one!
The changes are pretty drastic, if you were tuned in since the original version... I changed the dissapearance of Sehun's mother to the death of both parents (I think it just works better that they died, even though it's not incredibly original), and I added more Baekhyun so we actually see more of Sehun's attitude toward different adults and you can see how estranged Jongdae is with kids.

It's not as long as the original chapter -- I am sorry about that -- but I wanted to post it so I could get the new version going already!
I think you all will enjoy this revised story better.

Thank you so much for sticking by the story and giving your full support... It's because of you guys I still have the will to write!

Much love,

Tea x