met you by the pile of straw

family dinner can be without family

minho spend his entire day walking around the ranch, meeting new people, and just genuinely enjoying his time here.
he knew he had to actually start doing something tomorrow, so why not enjoy today, when he had no tasks?

walking into the house, he saw grandma in the kitchen, removing the peel of off potatoes.

she turned around.
"minho! it's good that you're here, can you please help me with the peeling?"

minho nodded and walked towards her, taking a place by her side, before grandma gave him a peeler.
"so, how has your day been so far? did you make any new friends?"

minho took a potato.
"yeah. I've been enjoying it here. you're right that there are a lot of young people. I was actually kinda surprised."

"well, it's a good deal for them, since they can balance their work here with school."
grandma shrugged.
"so who did you meet?"

"hyunjin, felix, san, mingi, jake, jay, yunho, yeonjun and...jisung."
minho said, smiling a little as he said the last name.

"ahh, jisung. he's my favorite. don't tell anyone tho."
grandma whispered with a chuckle.
"so the only person you haven't met yet is wooyoung."

"I also met a lot of older people. why do you need so many workers here? I think ten kids is enough."
minho chuckled.

"well, there are things I'm not comfortable with kids doing them. and someone needs to keep them in check, they are still teenage boys."
grandma said.

"it's so surprising that nothing changed around here."
minho said, looking around him.

"what do you mean nothing? I now own sheep's and cows! I didn't before."
grandma said, jokingly sounding offended.

minho chuckled, before looking to his right and mentally processed how many potatoes were already laying there.
"why do you need so many potatoes?"

"family dinner of course. everyone at the ranch is served a nice hot meal, and we eat together as a family. some of the kids don't have a good relationship with their parents, and this is my way of saying thank you for all the hard work they are doing here. it's our favorite part of the day, truly."
grandma said, smiling at minho.

"wow."
minho whispered, before he started peeling another potato.

•~•

"thank you for your help minho. the room you will be staying at is ready. your things are already there, so you can go inside and make yourself at home. I will call you when it's time for dinner."
grandma said, putting all of the cut potatoes into a huge pot.

"okay, thank you."
minho bowed, before going upstairs.

opening the door of the room felt oddly nostalgic.
nothing changed in there.
this was the same room he has been staying in when he was a kid over the summer.

he had a small smile on his face, before sitting on the bed, looking around.
he was never the biggest fan of older places, but this ranch was an exception.

when he was younger, he often imagined that he would live here. that he would inherit this ranch and take care of it until the day he dies.
that's how much he loved the ranch as a kid.

unfortunately, dreams change.
now, he wished nothing more then to be a professional choreographer, make a lot of money, and live in Seoul.

laying down with a sigh, he looked at the ceiling, just staring into space, listening to his thoughts.

he had no idea how long has it been, until there was a yell coming from the kitchen.

"minho! dinner is ready!"