“My mummy told me to give you cookies,” was Taeyong’s greeting when Mrs Kang, done up in a chic dress with a pale blue pashmina around her shoulders, dropped him off at the door.  “She says they don’t have nuts.”

“That’s good,” said Xiumin, crouching down so that he was on the same eye level as the six-year-old.  “Semi noona will be very sick if she has nuts, and that would upset me.”

Taeyong presented him with the tin of cookies.  Semi had to admit the way he giggled when Xiumin reached out to ruffle his hair was extremely cute.

“Please make sure he doesn’t eat anything after seven or he’ll go hyper and get no sleep,” said Mrs Kang anxiously.  “And he needs to be in bed before eight-thirty—”

Standing up, Xiumin nodded and held out a hand to Taeyong, which the little boy took with a squeal and two little jumps in the air.  He clearly loved Xiumin.

“Don’t you worry, Mrs Kang,” Xiumin assured her.  “Just go and enjoy your night out.”

She nodded briskly and beamed before hurrying away down the hall.

Semi closed the door as Xiumin returned his attention to the little kid, already suggesting building a pillow fort in the dining room.

“I want to explore!” Taeyong burst out excitedly, bouncing down the passage and dragging Xiumin along with him.  “I want to find the dragons and the treasure!”  One of his hands waved above his head as though he had a sword in it.

“Okay, we’ll explore first and choose a place to build our fort,” Xiumin agreed.

“I wanna big fort!”

Just before the pair turned into the kitchen, Xiumin looked back over his shoulder at Semi and mouthed “he’s adorable!” at her.  For some reason, Semi found herself blushing.

Semi knew from the time they’d gone over to the Kangs for dinner that Xiumin was good with kids, but as she watched them tearing about the apartment and play-fighting with a pair of swords made from rolled up paper, she found herself wondering if it was Xiumin who had Taeyong under his spell or the other way round.  The man looked genuinely lost when he tried to extricate himself a couple of hours later on so that he could cook dinner and Taeyong burst into tears, wailing that he couldn’t defend the pillow fort without him and that he didn’t want the dragons to destroy it.  Semi had wrapped herself up in several layers and a couple of blankets and gone out onto the balcony to read at the time, because she hadn’t been out all day and wanted some fresh air, but the balcony doors were open and Taeyong’s voice and Xiumin trying to calm him down and promising him a delicious meal began to distract her.  She reluctantly set aside her book and came to see if she could help.

Her appearance apparently gave Xiumin inspiration, because he turned Taeyong around to face the piano.

“Hey, Taeyong, Taeyong,” he said in a chirpy voice, “you see that piano over there?  Semi noona can play that piano reeeaally well, and when she plays all the dragons go to sleep and stop attacking.”

Taeyong blinked and shut up as though somebody had pressed a mute button.

“If you ask her nicely, she’ll play a song just for you,” Xiumin encouraged.

Semi was on the brink of opening to say something modest when both males turned to her.

“The dragons will go to sleep?” Taeyong checked.  Xiumin nodded vigorously.

“Just ask Semi noona to play a song.  Like this – Semi noona, will you play me a song?”

Taeyong looked a little dubious and began fiddling with the hem of his top.

“Noona,” he began, looking down at the floor and twisting from side to side, “I want a song.”

“No, no, no, that’s no good,” Xiumin admonished.  “You have to look at her and go ‘noona, please can you play me a song?’”

Shyly, Taeyong looked up, pulled out a killer pout and even more detrimental puppy eyes, and continued twisting from side to side.

“Noona,” he said in almost a whine, “please can you play me a song?”

“Magic!  It worked!” Xiumin exclaimed before Semi even had time to respond.  He ruffled Taeyong’s hair and disappeared before either of them could register that he’d gone, leaving a hopeful Taeyong still pouting at Semi and Semi wondering what exactly she could play for the boy.

Dinner was calm and uneventful, apart from Taeyong trying to steal noodles from Xiumin’s plate and Xiumin pretending to cry over it.  The boy was less pleased about going to bed, but when he discovered that his bed was king-sized and Semi promised to sing him to sleep, he was in his pyjamas like a shot and sprawled out on the covers pretending to be a starfish.  Xiumin left the two alone because he didn’t want Taeyong insisting on playing again when he was supposed to be winding down for the evening.

After two songs, Semi had to deal with the boy asking when his mummy and daddy were going to be back.  There were a few tears and pleas of “but I want them now!” before he finally settled down, and Semi was distinctly relieved when he began yawning midway through the third song.  Singing an extra one for good measure, she planted a kiss on his forehead and arranged the covers around him before stealing out of the room.  He made no move to hold her back, so she assumed all was well and good and returned to the balcony to collect her book.

“Is he sleeping?” Xiumin asked her, almost making her leap out of he