An hour later, the meat was all cooked and ready to eat. 

It was past 7 at night and everyone was outside in the backyard waiting for Baekhyun and Xiumin to serve the meat. 

"Honey, can you go to the kitchen and get the drinks out from the fridge?" Mrs Byun tapped your shoulder. You gave a quick nod and headed inside. 

You opened the fridge and saw the four 1.5 litres bottles of drinks and sighed. "How in the world am I going to bring them all out by myself?" You took two of them out and placed them on the counter and took out the other two. 

You attempted you take all four bottles at the same time. You were doing well so far but you didn't notice a small puddle of water on the kitchen floor and slipped and fell on your bum. "Ouch." You pouted when you saw your red hand. 

You were about to heave yourself up when you saw a hand in front of you. "Are you okay?" 

You looked up and noticed that it was Chen. His face was full of concern when he saw you on the floor. You blushed a little and took his hand and he helped pull you up. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a real klutz, that's all." 

"Your mom told me to come help you." Chen said. "And it looks like you do need help." He let out a small laugh. 

You felt a little offended at first, but laughed along anyways.

"Come on, I'll take two bottles and you'll take the other two." Chen said as he picked up the bottles from the floor. 

Chen handed two bottles to you with a smile and you took them. He took the other two and headed out of the kitchen. When he noticed that you weren't walking behind him, he looked back into the kitchen. 

"Aren't you coming?" Chen asked. 

"Oh, yeah." You took a step forward but as the clumcy person you are, you slipped and fell again. 

But luckily, Chen was quick on his feet and caught you by the waist before you could hit the floor. "Be careful," He whispered. "You almost fell again back there." 

You looked up and notcied how close his face was to yours and you quickly got out of this arms. This happened with Luhan as well. 

"I-I'm sorry." You muttered, not daring to meet his eyes. 

"It's alright," Chen smiled. "Just be more careful from now on, okay? Wouldn't want you getting injured, now would we?" 

"R-right." 

Quickly, you got the two bottles and left the kitchen to escape the awkward situation. 

When you got out to the backyard, you noticed that everyone was already sitted and the only two empty seats left were those beside your mom. You mentally cursed as you realised you had to sit next to Chen. 

"Oh, there you two are!" Kai spotted you and Chen who was close behind you.

"Hurry up and sit! We're all waiting." Chanyeol whined as he eyed the meat with hungry eyes. 

Quickly, you took the seat next to your mom and Chen sat next to you. 

Coincidentally, the two of you made eye contact and you quickly looked away. Chen chuckled softly, Cute.  

The barbeque party went on smoothly. Soon, you didn't  feel as awkward as you did before but you still didn't talk to Chen as much. As usual, he would always try to start the conversation but you would always try to end it. 

"Oh man, I'm so full." Chanyeol patted his tummy. 

"That was a great dinner, Mrs Byun." Xiumin smiled as he also pattted he almost exploding tummy. "Thank you."

Mrs Byun smiled back in response. 

For half an hour, everyone talked and laughed and teased each other. Throughout it though, Chen never said anything. Well, he never said much anyways. Mostly, his gaze was on you as he watched you laugh. Although your laugh was loud and not exactly lady like, he found it adorable. 

Mrs Byun noticed this and smiled knowingly. I guess this kid really likes Haerin. She thought to herself. 

On the other hand, Baekhyun, who also noticed the way that Chen was looking at his sister, frowned a little. He was hoping that that "loving stare" didn't have any hidden intention behind it. 

*

After everyone was done eating, it was time to clean the place up.

You and the other guys chased your parents away from the backyard to prevent them from cleaning up because they had paid for the food. So without a choice, Mr and Mrs Byun went to the living and the televisoin while the teenagers cleared the backyard. 

Of course, being teenagers, nobody wanted to do any chores. So in the end, everyone played rock paper scissors and decided that 2 of them would clean everything up instead. 

It was down to three people now and it was you, Kai and Chen. 

While the other three were cheering, the three of you battled it out once more. 

"Rock, paper, scissors!" The three of you chanted. 

"YES!" Kai cheered as well when he saw that he had put out scissors while you and Chen put out paper. 

You face palmed yourself, "Damn it." 

Chen, on the other hand, didn't feel a tiny bit upset. When he had realized that he was supposed to clean up with you, he was glad. At least he could spend some alone time with you. 

"Enjoy cleaning, little sis!" Baekhyun stuck out his tongue at you and patted your head. 

You pouted as you watched the other boys walk back into the house happily. I hate cleaning up. You turned around to see Chen looking at you. But it's not like I can leave him alone to clean everything up by himself. 

"Staring at me like that won't get this place cleaned up." You said and Chen snapped out of his thoughts. 

"Right," He said and the two of you started throwing the disposable cup and plates into the garbage bag. 

It was silent while you and Chen were cleaning the place. And it wasn't a comfortable silence either. It was the most awkward silence you've ever experienced and it was probably because of the scene that happened earlier in the kitchen. 

Chen, on the other hand, didn't feel awkward at all. Weird, but yeah. He was actually contented enough that he could spend some alone time with you, even if it was a silent one and you both were cleaning. 

While you were quickly trying to clean up the place to, once again, escape the awkwardness, your hand coincidentally touched Chen's when the two of you reached for the empty cup. 

You felt a zap through your spine when your hands came into contact and you imediately pulled back. "I'm sorry," you muttered and went to clean the other side of the table. 

Did she feel it too? Chen wondered as he watched you. He tossed the cup into the garbage bag and continued cleaning.

When you were done bagging the rubbish from the back yard, you stacked up the non-disposoble dishes and brought them into the kitchen. You went back out to check if there were anything else to wash but on your way out, you bumped into Chen.

"You really are a klutz, huh?" Chen lightly laughed and you made a face.

"Maybe. Or maybe you're just purposely standing in my way to make sure I bumped into you." You snorted, not knowing why you even said that.

"Huh, you're funny." Chen chuckled. 

Without another word, you went back out to the backyard and noticed that everything except the barbeque pit had been cleared. The tables were still there too but the chairs were stacked and put to one side. 

You went back into the house and into the kitchen where you found Chen washing the dishes. 

"Hey hey hey! I'll do the dishes. You can just go and rest." You said as you lightly pushed Chen away from the sink. 

"It's okay, I'll just do this. It's no problem, really." Chen smiled and continued doing what he was doing. 

"No, I'll do it. You're the guest so go find the other guys and play with them or something." 

"If you want to do the dishes so much, then help me." Chen said as he passed you a dry towel. "I wash, you dry." 

You stared at the towel. "Well?" He said. 

"Fine." You took the towel from him and started drying the dishes before placing them in the cabinets. 

There was silence again while the two of you washd the dishes. As always, it was an awkward silence for you but for Chen, it wasn't awkward but neither was it comfortable. 

Soon, the two of you were done with washing the dishes and you were relieved because you could finally free yourself again from the awkwardness. 

As soon as you washed and dried your hands, you went out of the kitchen, up the stairs and into your room.