[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Runaway

WinWin sighed when the cafe phone rang, his normal response to anyone calling. Once he realized that no one else was going to pick it up after two rings, he put on his best customer service voice and answered it.

"Limitless Cafe. Sicheng speaking."

"Who the heck is Sicheng?"

He sighed again as he recognized who the female voice belonged to. "Hi, Mrs. Lee. It's WinWin."

"Well why didn't you say that the first time?"

"I-"

"Nevermind. Have you guys seen Annie?"

WinWin looked around the cafe, highly concerned before turning to Xiaojun.

"Have we seen Annie?"

"Not since last night when we read her the bedtime story on video call."

Oh yeah, WinWin thought, they had seen her last night on Mark's phone. She still couldn't be convinced to wear clothes her own size.

"Not since last night," He replied, "Why?"

Mrs. Lee sighed. Either she was very tired or very upset. WinWin couldn't quite tell because it's not like he's spent much time with Mark's mom.

"We can't find her and we thought maybe she went to you guys."

"Were you playing hide and seek?"

She scoffed, "You think I would play hide and seek with a child that somehow ended up in Canada?"

WinWin raised his hands in defense even though she couldn't see him. "Just checking."

He paused when he saw a little girl running up to the cafe. He was pretty sure it was Annie, but that was confirmed before his eyed could confirm it when YangYang went running out to greet her.

"Yeah, she's here. We'll call you back later."

"Hey-"

WinWin hung up because he couldn't think of anything else she would say, putting the phone back on the charger as YangYang brought Annie inside the cafe. She was smiling as she sat on his hip, telling him about something WinWin couldn't understand because it was in English.

"Did you get lost again?" WinWin teased, but Annie just tilted her head.

"English." YangYang reminded him.

Sighing, WinWin took a moment to translate. Which he could've asked YangYang to do, but that wouldn't have been fun.

"You lost baby gorl?"

YangYang and Xiaojun both sighed, as well as the customer waiting at the counter, but Annie just shook her head.

"She said Mrs. Lee dropped her off nearby and told her to come her. Not sure if there was a whole plan she was supposed to play along with, but it sounds like it." YangYang explained as WinWin nudged Xiaojun to get him to deal with the customer.

"Did someone say Annie?!" Jaehyun shouted, running from the kitchen upstairs with the brightest smile.

"How in the world can you hear that but not hear us waking you up?" Shotaro mumbled from the stool he had been quietly sitting on in the corner.

YangYang passed Annie over to Jaehyun as if he had much of a choice, which is when he noticed the folded piece of paper placed in her hood. He grabbed it and unfolded it, passing it to WinWin because he didn't want to read.

"How the heck did you get copies of court papers for Annie's adoption?"

"I don't know! They were just in her hoodie. Not a very good place for keeping documents."

WinWin laughed slightly, "Remember that one time my mom taped the forms for the doctor's office to me because she didn't want to come in with me?"

YangYang snapped his fingers as he remembered the event from when they were younger.

"Didn't Mrs. Suh end up pretending to be your Mom and take you in?"

"Probably."

Jaehyun and Annie both sighed at the two of them, the only indication anyone would get that she could understand them. Either that or she was copying Jaehyun. Both were likely.

"Adoption papers?" Jaehyun asked.

WinWin nodded, "Yeah, they're just copies though."

WinWin and YangYang gasped and then WinWin hit him because they were in-sync and he didn't appreciate it.

"Ow."

"Annie got adopted!" WinWin turned to Annie. "You got adopted!"

She tilted her head like she didn't understand him, but you could tell by the smile on her face that she did.

Shotaro and Xiaojun jolted in their direction for a brief moment until they registered what they had just heard.

Shotaro got up from the stool so Annie could sit there as Xiaojun grabbed her favorite cupcake for her. It was a good thing Jaehyun always made sure they had them.

Jaehyun put Annie on the stool and gave her a napkin as Xiaojun carefully handed over the cupcake. YangYang was running between the basement and the kitchen to let everyone know of the good news, and suddenly the whole cafe was congratulating her and celebrating with the boys.

Alright, not the whole cafe. There were two people in there on a business meeting that weren't celebrating, and the grumpy old man that came in was rolling his eyes in the back, but other than that the whole cafe was celebrating.

Taeyong located Mark in the crowd and slung his arm over his shoulders with a smile.

"How's it feel to have a little sister?"

Taeyong laughed when Mark turned to him in pure confusion.

"Wait what?"