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chapter 29: ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
"babe, what are you doing?" yeosang yells from jongho's living room, noticing that jihyun has been in the kitchen for quite a while now. the boys cringed at the pet name while san rolls his eyes, wanting to puke.
"i'm making cheesecake. jongin loves mine so this has kinda become a habit of mine; making cheesecake for jongin whenever i come over. i made more so you guys can have them but extras will go to jongin okay."
"can't your baby have them?" yeosang acts cute, pouting at jihyun as he gives her the puppy eyes. the boys freak out, disgusted by yeosang's aegyo. jongho stands up and lifts the extended part of the couch, glaring at the older boy. "yeosang, i'm going to chuck this couch at you if you don't stop."
yeosang laughs and raises his arms as if surrendering and leans back against the couch, focusing on the tv where wooyoung and san are playing a game.
jihyun pours the batter into a baking pan and places it in the oven. she cleans up the kitchen and washes her hands, drying them before going back to the living room where the boys are.
"you know ji, sometimes i think your dream is to be a baker and not a singer. you bake almost all the time." seonghwa says over the screaming of san and wooyoung.
"ah, i'm jealous of seonghwa hyung. he gets to have whatever jihyun bakes and jihyun always bakes the best things." yunho sighs, thinking back to that one time the girl made bread pudding when they slept over.
jihyun chuckles. "just come over and i'll be willing to bake anything for you guys. oh wait but not anytime soon though, my parents are back so.. uhh maybe next time, yeah?" she offers, giving an apologetic smile to the taller boy.
a few screams and accusations later, wooyoung finally wins against san and san falls back dramatically, whining about how wooyoung cheated. the door in the hallway suddenly opens, revealing little jongin rubbing his eyes sleepily, looking at all of his brother's friends that's occupying their living room. the boys cooed at the sight of the little boy looking so adorable after his mid day nap.
jihyun gets up from the couch and waits for him to reach the living room where all of them are. "hey buddy, are you hungry? do you want to have your dinner now?" she squats down to his height. he simply nods, smiling up to her.
the boys melted at his cuteness and wooyoung being the closest to him started pinching his cheeks. he was surprised when jongin didn't push him away like he usually does. "jongin doesn't hate me anymore!" he cries out.
"it's probably because of jihyun noona. jongin's always so well mannered when she's around." jongho says, making wooyoung slump back down against san.
"alright, jongin. noona will prepare your dinner so you go wash your face, okay?" he nods eagerly and makes his way to the bathroom to wash his face.
jihyun then proceeds to plate the food the boys had brought, making sure she used jongin's favourite doraemon plate for him. the guys helped her out as they too want to have dinner with the little boy.
the dinner was noisy and cheerful as jongin's loud laughter was heard throughout the whole house. the boys tried their best to make the little boy laugh and they weren't failing miserably. jongin has never been that loud around the boys and they think that he's starting to warm up to them.
"jongin, noona made your favourite cheesecake for you. go wash your hands and then you'll have your dessert." jihyun tells him and the little boy excitedly gets up to put his dirty plate in the sink and washes his hands before quickly returning to his seat. "i'm ready for cheesecake!"
the girl laughs and takes out the cheesecake before slicing them into pieces, giving a slice to jongin who gobbled it down immediately when it is served to him. "woah, buddy slow down there." mingi says, resting a hand on the little boy's shoulder. jongin nods, slowing down and continues to eat his cheesecake in a civilised manner, contrast to how his brother is chomping down the dessert like someone who hasn't eaten in days.
"jongho! show some good examples to your brother, will you?" hongjoong scolds the younger boy. jongho looks up to see the whole table staring at him as they try to hold in their laugh, and his own brother is next to him, laughing at how comical he looked with all the cheesecake around his mouth.
"sorry," he mumbles with his mouth full. "this is just so good." he gives a thumbs up to jihyun to which she returned with a smile. yeosang feeds her some cheesecake and she gladly accepts, not knowing that a certain choi san is at the end of the table, glaring at the couple.
wooyoung laughs at him and smacks his back. "try to be less obvious, will you? at this rate, yeosang's sweater will burn from your gaze throughout this whole day." he whispers. san huffs and continues to silently eat his cheesecake.
once they had finished eating, they cleared the table and mingi groans looking at the mountain pile of dishes he has to wash due to losing a game of rock paper scissors against them all.
they all go back to the living room where they spent most of the time playing games and entertaining jongin until he gets tired. "alright, jongin. let's go to bed now, okay? noona has to go home soon." the boy pouts, whining and asking whether jihyun can stay here forever to which jihyun just laughs before telling him that she'll come again soon.
jihyun tells the boy to brush his teeth before going to bed and the boy complies, quickly brushing his teeth. when he's done, she goes to put him to bed and tells him a bedtime story until he falls asleep.
when she goes out to the living room, she almost laughs seeing all the boys look at her expectantly. "is he asleep?" she nods and plops down the couch, tired of taking care of him for the day.
"noona, you are amazing, you know that? how are you so good at taking care of him? the only time he listens to me is when i offer him candy!" jongho exclaims. "it's just my specialty, i guess." jihyun shrugs her shoulders, resting her head on her brother's lap. the boys nodded their heads in acknowledgment, now understanding why jongho calls jihyun the best babysitter he's ever known.
"well, it's getting late now, we better go." seonghwa taps jihyuns shoulder and she lazily gets up and the siblings stand up, preparing to leave. the boys do so too and they all made their way to the door, jongho following along to say goodbye.
jongho runs to jihyun and gives her a bear hug and the girl taps on his arm repeatedly, complaining about not being able to breathe. "thanks for coming, i don't know what i'd do without you. you're the best!" he gives her two thumbs up as she puts on her shoes. she chuckles, "no problem. call me whenever you need help with jongin, yeah?" the boy nods, smiling and waving at his friends as they all walk away.
jihyun sighs at the thought of going back home where her parents are.
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a/n: sorry for the boring chapter lmao just a filler chapter before the real deal yeah yeheee
