At first glance all he saw was a pile of blankets wrapped together and thrown on his doorstep. When you looked closer though, you could see the small almost unnoticeable motion of breath coming from the form. The little tips of curls that escaped from the confines of the blanket. Tiny palms that continuously rubbed at bare skin. The more he reached to cover freezing skin, the more he revealed the blotches that covered his body.

Minho tries to get closer to  the small unwrapped bundle on his doorstep. He stops though, not because he's scared. But rather because of the screams that leave the small form.

"Minho?"

So call him a coward if you want but he did the only thing he could think of at the moment. Bring the child inside his home. Ignoring the boy's struggle to be set loose he carries the bundle inside.

"Minho?" His neighbor calls out again but before she can stop in front of his door. Minho shuts it.

Minho doesn't know what to do. His lips are sealed shut. The boy's cries in front of him kick all traces of slumber away. Blinking twice he looks around before reaching toward the boy. That though, only succeeds in making the cries intensify.

"Ba!"

Minho can feel his fingers twitch ever so slightly.

Quickly he places the boy back on his feet, next to a reappeared Yoogeun. A dark brow raises when he hears Yoogeun start talking to the boy. "Hi." His response though is another scream. Yoogeun disappears again before Minho has a chance to explain.

As tears continue to fall. "Um..." Minho can see nervousness flicker through the boy's eyes.

Minho watches, with his back pressed against the door, as Yoogeun appears before him again. This time in his grasp theres a stuffed toy. A toy Yoogeun had dubbed the Frog Prince. The small toy had been a gift from Mr. Kim when Minho had first gotten custody of Yoogeun.

Yoogeun's feet though stop in front of the tearful boy, a question starts at the top of Minho's lips. But as soon as he's is about to explain to Yoogeun why there's a crying toddler in the middle of their living room, he surprises him.

"Hyung, what's Xing doing here?" Yoogeun asks while gently handing the boy his stuffed frog.

Round eyes blink twice, watching as Yoogeun reaches out and ruffles the smaller's hair. "X-Xing?"

The small boy turns back to Minho when the word, his name, leaves the older's lips.

"Xing?"

Yoogeun nods "Yeah. Xing?" He ruffles the boy's dark locks, a smile tugging at his lips. "W-what are you doing here, Xing?"

At this Minho raises a brow but before a question can threaten to leave his mouth, the boy speaks.

"Where's my baba?"

He watches as Yoogeun's nose crinkles before his eyes widen. "Oh, I know! Do you mean ge?"

The small boy lifts a hand to rub at his eyes "G-ge?"

Yoogeun laughs a small fist raised in front of him. "Yeah! He should be at the school now."

"Yoogeun?" Minho moves closer to the pair, vaguely aware of how the strange boy has now completely stopped crying. But what was keeping Minho speechless was the fact that Yoogeun was now fluent, or at least close to it, in another language.

Mandarin, to be exact. If his hearing could still be trusted.

"Okay, again. Repeat after me." The brunette points to the textbook. "Wǒ de míngzì shì Minho Choi."

"Excuse me, but your the one that said" the brunette clears their throat before speaking in a deeper tone. "'I can see why you picked Mandarin instead of French. Its way easier isn't it?'" A brow raises mockingly as a smirk places itself on full lips.

Another muffled response fills the air, "Well, no one told you to take that bet with Jonghyun. This is your own fault."

A groan is heard again as fingers ruffle straightened hair. "Come on, I'll help you. You just need to get into the flow of things."

Minho shakes his head "Nothing's going to help."

The brunette sighs, "How about we do something easier?"

Lifting his head Minho frowns but nods anyway. "Fine."

Brown eyes twinkle "Good." Leaning closer, fingers place themselves on slumped shoulders. "Wǒ."

Their gazes lock and Minho feels his heart beat speed up "W-wǒ."  

"Ài" Brown locks brush against blushing cheeks.

Minho tries to look away, only to stay captured in the endless pools of brown "Ài"

"Nǐ." Lips touch lips in the gentlest way. Caressing each other as if this was their last day.

I Love You, lies inbetween.

Minho watches, back pressed once again to the door, as Yoogeun tilts his head.

"How do you two know each other?" Minho watches the smaller as he grabs Yoogeun's hand.

"Hyung, Xing doesn't know like you and me."

Minho's brows furrow as he tries to understand what his brother means. "Doesn't...know?"

"Yeah, he's a...what was the word Mr. Kim used?" Yoogeun turned to the boy and out came a string of words Minho wished he would've studied harder to understand. His brothers eyes light up though when the still trembling boy leans away from him, having already finished speaking. "That's right! A foreigner! That's what he said!"

At Yoogeun's outburst though the small boy lets go of his hand and falls to the floor. A small thud as his bottom hits the cold wood.

"Hey, don't do that." Minho moves forward, arms outstretched "The floors too cold for that." The boy though as Minho finally notices, has wide brown eyes. Eyes that felt so familiar. His hair swept in a mass of brown curls. Cheeks bright red, most likely due to the time he spent standing outside. A dreadful thought climbs into Minho's head before he can stop it "Aren't you...cold?"

Yoogeun opens his mouth, probably to translate, but before he gets to speak the boy answers.

The small boy, Xing, raises his head to lock eyes with Minho. "N-no...W-well, a-act-tually....m-maybe." he lowers his gaze, tiny palms rubbing at his arms. "But, why do you care?"

Yoogeun jumps in front of Minho before he gets too close to...Xing. "Oh my gosh! Xing, you know? You know what I know?"

Minho doesn't really understand whats going on. He watches as Yoogeun now sits beside the small boy as he waves his hands around, speaking animatedly. But the least he could do was take care of the kid until his parents came back. If, no, until they come back.

Minho kneels down to the both of them, "So Yoogeun, you know you have a lot of explaining to do right?"

The boy nods absentmindedly as he continues to play with Xing's hair. "Mmhm."

Rolling his eyes Minho smiles softly at the picture of the two boys sitting calmly together. Yet he can't help but feel curious as to why Xing let him in so easily. He could've kicked, ran, screamed, and left them. After all, he was only a stranger in the boy's eyes. The only one he knew was Yoogeun. And that was most likely through school. Could it really be that simple?

"Hmmm... Xing, huh?" The small brunette looks up at the sound of his name. "Seems like your going to be staying with us for awhile." Minho reaches out and places a hand on the boys head. Smiling even wider when he finds that he's no longer trembling. "We'll take care of you until your parents come back."

After the incident from earlier, Minho can't tell if the boy is understanding anything of what he's saying but... the turn of lips that becomes slowly evident on his face, brings an overwhelming joy in Minho that he didn't know was possible. Feelings that seemed too impossible, for a strange five year old boy that he found abandoned on his doorstep at the brink of winter, to cause.

"I promise."