Before dinner was served, Sia enlisted the help of the kids, Siwon, Donghae, Yunho, Chanyeol and Lay to set up the tables in the second dining room. Maeri was with Mrs Park getting all the food onto the buffet trays and setting them on the table that was against the wall. Maeri giggled to herself as she heard the men in the room grumble about doing chores despite being celebrities.

“Who knew it was this easy to make top stars cry?” Sia mused, sniggering as she watched the only 5 grown men in the room get hysterical over which way the table cloths went.

“It’s too long because the table is square not rectangular!”

“No, it’s not! You have it the wrong way!”

“I know what I’m doing! Don’t touch it, you giant!”

Siwon and Chanyeol both grab opposite ends of the tablecloth, glaring at each other. Lay decides to sneak away to the corner while Donghae and Yunho just stare at the two idiots before them, Sia and Maeri start laughing when Siwon and Chanyeol start tugging at the cloth, bickering like two toddlers. Taki leans over to Min, his hand over his mouth.

“These guys are supposed to be more mature than us?” He whispers, not impressed.

“I don’t think we should ever ask for their help again. Clearly the only good thing about them are their faces.” Min replies, rolling her eyes before catching Donghae’s gaze and smiling.

“Not even their faces.” Taki mumbles in distaste and jealousy.

Chanyeol was starting to get annoyed with Siwon, ever since they stepped into the room, the elder had been barking orders at him and frankly, he was tired of it. He tugged harder on the linen, he swore he could hear the fabric starting to rip but he kept tugging anyway.

“Just because you’re my senior, doesn’t mean you get to boss me around Siwon!” He barked at the elder.

Wow, this kid has balls. Siwon thought with raised eyebrows. He didn’t think Chanyeol would be the sensitive to being bossed around. He forgets that no group is trained the same way and apparently Exo weren’t given tough love lessons, only lesson in being backchatty brats!

“It’s because that I’m your senior that I can boss you around.” Siwon retorts with a smirk which only irks Chanyeol more.

Maeri stops laughing once she notices how aggressive it was getting, she shoves Sia to make her stop laughing and pay attention to what is happening.

“Maybe we should stop them now? The kids are hiding in the corner with Lay.” Maeri points out, gesturing to the corner, Sia looks over before nodding in agreement.

“Good point, I’ll take jesus freak and you take yoda.” She says as they both step forward towards Chanyeol and Siwon.

Maeri was about to touch Chanyeol’s shoulder when a loud rip was heard and the next thing she knew, she was lying on the floor with Chanyeol on top of her. Her eyes went wide in shock at the tall, brown haired male on top of her. Chanyeol opened his eyes, staring straight into Maeri’s, his cheeks turned pink as he realises the position they are in. Not a moment later, Chanyeol is yanked off Maeri by an angry looking Shin.

“What the hell are you doing on top of my sister?!” Shin demanded, glaring dagger at Chanyeol, who got flustered and started mumbling incoherently.

“Relax Shin, it was an accident.” Maeri told him as Sia helped her up, she looked at Chanyeol apologetically.

“He didn’t mean any harm and Maeri seems okay, right?” Yunho said steeping forward to his dongsaeng’s defense, placing a comforting hand on Chanyeol’s shoulder.

Shin pursed his lips, he knew he was making a mountain out of an ant hill but when he walked into the room and saw Chanyeol on top of his sister, he saw red. He sighed and held out his hand towards Chanyeol, waiting for the other to take it. Chanyeol was beyond relieved when Shin extended his hand and immediately shook it, a pleased smile on his face.

Everyone started coming into the dining room in two’s and threes’, Sia and Maeri went back to putting the food on the buffet tables while Shin went in search of Joon Dae after noticing he hadn’t come inside yet.

“Joon Dae!” He called as he searched around the cabins, the gardens and the fields.

He was starting to panic when he saw the lights on in the stables, he went inside and sure enough, Joon Dae was there feeding Hades and Khan some hay. Shin grabbed some hay and made his way over to Joon Dae, standing beside him as the two horses started eating the hay he offered.

“It’s not like you to be late for dinner, what’s up?” Shin asked his friend, who only sighed.

“How do you tell if someone genuinely likes you?” Joon Dae asks after a moment of silence, his cheeks turning bright red.

Shin was taken back by the question, this is a surprise, he thought as he stared at his friend. It was the first time Joon Dae has ever sought his opinion on this type of advice. He didn’t think he was qualified enough to answer, given his track record with dating but it wasn’t like he could say nothing to him.

“Well, they would take every opportunity to be next to you, make excuses just so they can touch your hair or your shoulder. Everything you say holds their interest and they can’t go a day without seeing your face or talking to you.”

“So..if they were flirting or trying to get with other people, they aren’t sincere?” Joon Dae gazes at Shin with a miserable look on his face.

“Then don’t bother wasting your time on them, they are clearly a player and you deserve better than that.” Shin replied after thinking about it, he couldn’t deny that Joon Dae’s questions had him intrigued about the identity of the “who” these questions were about. A few names popped into his head and he admitted that he was jealous that someone had caught his friends interest so quickly.

“Come on, let’s go otherwise there won’t be any dinner left.”

Shin took hold of Joon Dae’s arm and literally pulled him out of the stable to the main house, the dining room was alive with conversation and laughter as the two of them entered, sitting down in the empty seats that were next to Kyungsoo. Shin greeted his cousin as he sat down while Joon Dae gave a polite nod.

“What’s wrong with your friend?” Kyungsoo whispered in Shin’s ear.

“I’ll tell you later.” Shin says with a mouthful of food.

Joon Dae was moving his food around the plate, completely lost in thought that he didn’t notice Sora come sit beside him, tapping on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Joon Dae?” Sora asked him, lightly brushing his hair with her small fingers.

“Nothings wrong Sora, I’m just tired.” He said, taking hold of her hands and giving them a gentle squeeze.

“Make sure you go to bed early then since we have to plant the roses and gardenias tomorrow.” She reminded him with a smile, kissing him on the cheek before going back to her seat to finish dinner.

Joon Dae smiled, feeling much better and began eating with fervour, Shin also smiled having watched that sweet interaction. He knew Soar would notice Joon Dae’s depressed mood since she was practically in love with him, also because they spend a lot of time gardening together. Joon Dae was the first-person Sora attached herself to when she first arrived at the orphanage, she would follow him around everywhere.

“So, what is on the agenda for tomorrow?” Kyungsoo says looking at Shin, waiting for him to swallow his food.

“We have to build a makeshift stage because tomorrow night is our annual talent show.” Shin told him with a grin.

“Did I hear someone say talent show?!”

“What?! A talent show?!”

“Yah! How come we are only hearing about this now?!”

Shin looked around the now quiet dining room at the three eavesdroppers, Heechul, Key and Sungmin. Before Shin could say anything, another beat him to it.

“You guys can’t be in the talent show.” Joon told them, a small smirk on his face.

“And why is that?” Heechul questioned, daring the boy to answer.

“Because you are old, you might pop out a hip or something.”

The whole erupted into laughter, Heechul glared at Joon while picturing himself strangling the little boy for calling him old.

“But hyung, you don’t want to be in the show, otherwise you’ll miss Shin and Joon Dae dressing us as girls.” Taki informs them with a cheeky smile.

Shin and Joon Dae freeze as everyone stared at them, their cheeks going red. Shin shot Taki a look the kids know all too well and shrank down in his seat.

“Oh, my goodness! I completely forgot about the talent show. Shin, who are you and Joon Dae dressing up as?” Mrs Park comments excitedly, clapping her hands together. Sia only rolled her eyes, she never liked participating in the talent show since she was always Shin and Joon Dae’s backup dancer.

“Shin is Ailee and I’m Hyuna.” Joon Dae mumbles loud enough for everyone to hear, resulting in whoops and cheers.

“Okay, okay, let’s just eat.” Shin aggressively shoved a spoonful of rice in his mouth, ignoring the amused look his cousin was giving him.

After dinner, Shin, Sia and Joon Dae went through the tedious routine of getting the kids showered and dressed for bed. The boys were a touch more hyperactive than usual, which made it difficult for Shin and Joon Dae. Taking the boys to their cabins took longer as the boys wanted to say goodnight to everybody along the way.

The last cabin they visited had Kyungsoo, Key, Yesung and Chen. Shin sat on his cousin’s bed with Joon Dae as the boys took turns saying goodnight which ended up with them challenging the adults to a high note battle.

“Are they always so boisterous in the evening?” asked Kyungsoo, noticing how drained Shin looked and Joon Dae didn’t fair well either. His question was met with rigorous head shaking from the tired pair.

“No, they are playing up because you guys are here. If they were like this every day, I would kill them.” Shin told him, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“Why do you do this Shin? If my memory is right, didn’t you want to be a police officer when we were younger?” Kyungsoo gestured to the kids but Shin understood his meaning.

“I owe a lot to Mrs Park and the orphanage. I used to come here a lot when I was dating Hijae in high school and then I started to visit regardless if Hijae was here or not, I fell in love with everything. The new kids seemed to like me so after I graduated, Mrs Park offere