Ethan agreed, and he took me to my room, which was right next to his. He opened my door, and stepped aside, letting me enter first. My eyes widened as I looked around the room. It was fully painted white, and like the kitchen, it was bright and well-lit, with a huge window that looked onto the backyard.

There was a twin-sized bed in the corner of the room, with a duvet and lots of pillows and cushions. A white desk and chair against one wall, with a lamp on it and shelves right above it. Adjacent to it, there was a huge wardrobe, the same colour as the desk. Right next to it, a small table and a mirror attached to the wall.

"This looks amazing," I say quietly, taking in the contents of my room. There was a soft, white carpet on the floor which felt wonderful against my feet. I explored the room, a huge smile on my face. I had never had my own room before, especially not this nice. There were a few decorations neatly arranged, including a big wooden 'S' on my desk.

"I'm glad you like it. Mark put a lot of thought into it," Ethan says.
"What's that?" I ask, pointing to a door.
"That's your bathroom," he says.

"I get my own bathroom? Awesome!" I say, walking up to it.
"Yep, you get your own, Charlie and Lily share one. Me and Mark use the others," he tells me.
I sigh. "Charlotte doesn't like me very much, does she?"

He shrugs. "She will. This room was originally meant to be for her, so she got super mad when Mark said it was for you,"

"Oh," I say, feeling guilty.
"Don't worry about her, she's bratty sometimes. She'll come around," he says.
"Okay,"

Before he leaves, he glances at his watch. "Oh, it's breakfast time. Wanna come downstairs with me while I make it?"

"You make breakfast?" I asked, surprised.
He nods. "It's one of my chores. I make breakfast and dinner every weekend unless I'm sick or busy,"

I look at him worriedly. "I don't know how to cook,"
"It's fine, I like cooking, so it's one of my chores. You don't need to"

"Will I have chores though?" I ask. I hated doing chores at the orphanage.
He nods. "We all do, so probably."
"Great," I mutter.

"Well, you coming?" He asks me. I say yes, and we both leave my room. Once we did, I heard... smacking sounds? Coming from Lily and Charlie's room.

"What's that sound?" I ask quietly, pointing to their room.
"Charlie's probably getting spanked," he said.
"What? Spanked?"

"Yeah?" Ethan replied.

Where we live, spanking is honestly pretty common. Well not common, but it isn't unusual. But, I've never been spanked myself, and the thought of a large, 6"3 man spanking me was scary, to say the least.

"That must suck," I say, as we head downstairs.
"It does. You've never been spanked before?" He asks me when we enter the kitchen. He pulls out a chair for me.

I sit down. "No, I haven't. How bad is it?" I ask.
He shrugs. "It's embarrassing and painful, but it's not horrible,"

"Does he spank you too? Will he spank me?" I ask, my brain suddenly filling with questions.

He sighs. "He does spank me, but I rarely get into trouble anymore. Sometimes he takes my keys away and grounds me instead, but it depends. And he probably will spank you too," he says casually, cracking a couple of eggs into a bowl and whisking it.

"How bad does it hurt?"

He's clearly frustrated now. "I don't know how to explain it Savannah. Just don't get into trouble,"

"How's breakfast going?" A deep voice asks from behind us.
I turn around to see Mark come down the stairs and enter the kitchen.

Ethan sighs again. "Savannah heard you spank Charlie, and now she's freaking the heck out," he grumbles, turning to his eggs again.

"I am NOT freaking out!" I yell, but Mark quickly shot me a cold look that almost made me piss my pants.

"Don't raise your voice," he ordered.
"Whatever," I mumbled.
He goes to help Ethan with breakfast. "We'll talk about it later, Savannah" Mark tells me.

"Okay," I say. I silently sit at the dining table, watching Mark and Ethan cook.

"Savannah, could you call Lily and Charlie downstairs? I can if you don't want to," Marks asks me, wiping his hands with a dish towel.

I shake my head. "It's okay, I'll go,"
I head upstairs and knock on their door.
"One second!" I hear a little voice squeak. A moment later, Lily comes and opens the door.

"Hi, Savvy!" She greeted me cheerily, bringing a smile to my face.

"Hi Lily," I greet back. I can see Charlie standing in the corner of their room, with her head hung low. "Uhm, Charlie, it's time for breakfast," I say awkwardly.

She doesn't say anything, but Lily leaves their room and closes the door.
She takes my hand. "Let's go!" She says, and we both head downstairs.
"What's for breakfast, Daddy?" She asks Mark as we skip into the kitchen.

"Eggs," Mark replies, putting the plates on the table.
"Eww, I hate eggs," she says, as he picks her up and puts her in a sparkly purple Rapunzel chair, with matching cutlery in front of her.

He chuckles. "That's not very nice, Lily. And you had scrambled eggs last week and you said you loved them,"

"Oh. Okay!" She says, stabbing the eggs with her fork and stuffing it into her mouth.
"This good, Ethan!" She claims, smiling at him.

He laughs. "I'm glad you like them,"
"Uhm, I called Charlie but she was standing in the corner," I say, before Mark questions her absence.

"I know, she'll come down in a minute when her timeout is done," he says, pouring all of us water. "Do you want something else to drink?" He asks me.

"It's okay, I'm good," I say, and we continue eating.

A minute or two later, A puffy-eyed Charlie meekly comes down and joins us at the table.
She glared at me and sat down roughly in her chair, but she immediately yelped and stood back up, before carefully sitting down again.

"Have you learnt your lesson?" Mark asks her, raising a brow.
She ignores him and pokes at her eggs, but Ethan nudges her slightly. She let out a frustrated breath and mumbled a yes.

We finished up quickly, and it looked like it was Charlie's chore to do the dishes, since she started washing them once we'd put them in the sink.

"Let's go to your room to talk, okay Savannah?" Mark asked me. I nodded and we headed upstairs to my room.

"I forgot to ask whether you liked it or not, do you?" He asks, seemingly nervous.
"Of course, it's beautiful!" I say, and he grins. "I'm glad,"
He pulls out the chair from my desk and sits on it, and prompts me to sit on the bed.

"Are you familiar with spanking?" He asked me, and I nodded.
"I guess... I've never been spanked before though,"

"Well, I just wanted to ask if you've ever been abused before. In any sort of way," He asked, and I immediately shook my head.

"No, I've only ever been fostered a few times... they weren't great, but I was never abused,"

"Alright then. I just want you to know that you will never be abused here. You are completely safe. I might be strict, but I'm fair. If you misbehave, you'll be punished, but not unjustly." He explains.

"Okay..."

"There will be basic rules you'll be expected to follow. Your curfew is at 9 pm on school nights, and 10 pm on weekends. If you want to go out, you'll need to ask me permission first. You're expected to do all your homework and assignments on time and perform well in school. Let me know if you're struggling with anything. You'll have a set of chores you need to do as well," he says.

I groan inwardly. "What kinda chores?" I ask.
"Well, your room always needs to be clean, as well as your bathroom. On weekends, Ethan cooks, and Charlie does the dishes. Lily usually helps set the table. They take turns vacuuming, so you can handle that instead. Is that alright?" He asks me.

I nod. "Yeah, that's fine"
"Okay, good. On weekdays, the three of you will take turns getting the mail, taking the trash out, setting the table, cleaning up the living room or kitchen, and basic stuff like that. But unless you're sick, or very busy, you need to complete your chores,"

"I understand," I say. "Will I get spanked if I don't do my chores?" I ask worriedly.
He shakes his head. "No, you most likely won't. Unless you refuse to do them for multiple days, or you lie about it, you won't be punished. Ethan and Charlie just get them done because they know It's better than me pestering them about it," He explains.

I nod. "Okay,"
"Do you have any questions? You're always free to ask me anything, you don't need to be afraid. I'm here for you, Savannah," he says, giving me a warm smile.

I smile back. "Thank you, I don't have any questions, I guess I'm just worried about the spanking," I admit, feeling embarrassed even talking about it.

"You don't need to worry, you just need to stay out of trouble, and you won't get spanked. Even if you misbehave, I might instead punish you by taking away your phone, or grounding you until you're completely comfortable with me. A spanking is meant to discipline you, not scare you,"

"Okay, thank you," I say, feeling slightly better.

"Just do well in school, come home on time, complete your chores and be respectful. Then you won't get punished," He tells me as if it were the simplest thing ever.

"Does Charlie hate me?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "No, she didn't mind that I was adopting you, she was actually excited to have an older sister. She's just upset that she didn't get her own room, that's all,"

"Oh.. and why does Lily call you dad?"

"Well, she barely knew our parents. Well none of us knew our dad at all. I only started acting like a parent to Charlie and Ethan when Mom died, but it's all Lily's ever known. So she calls me dad,"

I smile. "That's sweet,"

"It is. Charlie does most of the time too, but she calls me Mark when she's mad at me," He tells me, rolling his eyes.

"What do I call you?" I ask.
"You can call me whatever you're comfortable with,"
Suddenly, the door of my room bursts open, and Lily walks inside.

Mark crosses his arms. "What did I tell you about knocking, young lady?" He asks her sternly.
"...to do it?" She answers, looking up at him with her big blue eyes.

I see him soften slightly, a smile appearing on his face. "Then why didn't you?"
"I forgot!" She announces, climbing onto my bed.

"Let's play!" She insists, tugging on my arms.
"Later Lily, We're talking," he tells her firmly.

"But I wanna play now!" She whines, still tugging on my arm.
"Lily, I said no! Let go of her, now!" He scolds.
"NO!" She screamed, stomping her foot while still tugging on my arm.

"Lily, that's enough!" He scolds, standing up and pulling her off of me. Before she could argue more, he delivered a sharp smack to her butt.

"When I tell you no, I mean no!" He chides, holding onto her wrist.
"Oww!" She whined, rubbing her butt with her free hand.

He sighed. He took her to the corner of my room, and stood her there. "You can stay there until I tell you to come out,"