Seungcheol didn't return home that night leaving Jeonghan in a tight position so he had to call his boss at the restaurant and beg him for another leave. Thankfully, he agreed.

He and Seungcheol needed to talk but until then, he was going to work. He went back to the house and cleaned up the dishes. The living room was quite messy so he fixed it up and headed upstairs. There were four bedrooms. Two at the far left, one at the center, and another one at the far right. Jeonghan already knew who slept at the one on the far right. The first room he entered belonged to the two oldest kids. It was messy with clothes littered at every corner. Their books and shoes were scattered as well. Jeonghan didn't know how long it took him to fix their room but by the time he was through, he was damned tired. He swept away the huge piles of garbage he had gathered from the room and went to the next one. 

It was less messy but still quite an eyesore. He wondered how the kids managed to breathe in here. It was damned stuffy. There was a double-decker against the wall and a single bed close to the window. He cleaned up the room and it took him a  long time to finish. As he cleaned, he saw a tiny photo poking out from a textbook. Jeonghan pulled it out and looked at it. It was a picture of Seungcheol and a small Vernon with a strange small man with a cute smile. They seemed to be in front of an old building and Vernon looked as young as Chan was now in the picture. What caught Jeonghan's eyes was the look of happiness on Seungcheol's face as he placed one hand on Vernon's shoulder and the other on the shoulder of the small man. Jeonghan found his finger tracing the old photo.

"This must be Jihoon" He whispered and sighed pitifully.

"Seokmin was right, Seungcheol does have a wonderful smile"

Jeonghan's eyes lingered on Seungcheol's image for far too long so he shook his head and kept back the picture. After a while, the room was cleaned to his satisfaction. It was time to take away the trash. He packed them up in the waste bag and left the house. He was quite confused as he looked for the public dustbin. He finally saw it and heaved a huge sigh of relief thankful that it wasn't that far from the house. There was a young woman there already throwing away her trash. She bowed when she saw him. Jeonghan bowed back and proceeded to throw away his trash. 

She stopped and looked at him pointedly. She was really pretty with thick and long black her and her bangs fitting perfectly to the frame of her face. 

"Hi, are you new here?"

Jeonghan shook his head "Ani, I'm the new housekeeper for the family living at the second house down the street"

The woman gasped. "The Chois? I live opposite them" She said.

Jeonghan forced a smile. He truly wasn't in the mood to socialize but the woman seemed to like him so he went along with her. 

"How wonderful, I didn't know he would finally get a housekeeper...He fired the last one six months ago and he was really nice"

Jeonghan's chest beat faster and the woman seemed to notice the color fade from his face. 

She laughed. "Don't worry so much. I'm sure you'll be fine" She brought out her hand.

"My name is Lee so hye" 

Jeonghan shook her hand "Yoon Jeonghan"

He felt something on her finger and looked at it. It was a small diamond ring that glittered prettily.  

"You're engaged" He whispered. Her smile grew as wide as her face 

"Yes, I'll be getting married in two months"

"Congratulations!" he said and grew quiet. He didn't want to seem rude and ask about the sex of her partner but as if to read his mind, she spoke loudly. 

"I met him in college. We have been together since" She said beaming.

"I'm happy for you....let me get back to the house," He said and began to leave. So hye followed him. "It would really be nice if I could eat dinner with the Chois sometime"

"Choi Seungcheol never lets me in his home even though I help babysit his kids from time to time"

Jeonghan stopped and looked at the woman. "He's a real jerk isn't he?" he muttered. 

So hye laughed. "You can say that again"

Jeonghan paused. He liked this woman. It wouldn't hurt to form a relationship with her. 

"Let's see each other more often," He said. 

"Of course, I don't have many friends anyway" She answered cutely. They stopped in front of the Chois residence. 

"See you later," Jeonghan said. So hye suddenly grabbed his arm. 

"It's only a matter of time" 

Jeonghan looked puzzled "A matter of time? For what"

So hye smirked. "Before he falls for you"

Jeonghan shook her hands off. "Please, Not Choi Seungcheol"

So hye laughed. "Have you seen yourself? You are gorgeous"

Jeonghan blushed 

So hye took a sexy stance bucking out her hips with one hand at her waist. 

"Just bat your eyelids and catwalk and he would be following you around like a lost puppy"

Jeonghan scoffed "Not Seungcheol, I don't think he is interested in looks, besides I'm not interested in him"

That wasn't true but with the way Seungcheol had been behaving, he had to stop his heart from falling for him any further.

So hye straightened herself "Alright if you say so"

"Thanks, it was nice to meet you"

"You too"

They finally separated and Jeonghan went back into the house. He was going to cook lunch for the kids when they returned. He decided to prepare jjanjagyum. Kids loved it but it was going to be too messy so he would have to personally supervise them. He didn't have all of the ingredients to make the meal so he went to a store and bought the remaining. When he returned home, he set to cooking. As soon as he was done, he heard the voice of the children as they entered the house. It was past three so the bus must have brought them. He immediately rushed out to see them.

They looked so tired as they dragged their feet inside.

"How was school?" he said 

"Terrible!" Seungkwan groaned as he removed his bag and tossed it onto the floor. Jeonghan watched as the others started to do the same.

"Hey don't do that!" he yelled.

They looked at him puzzled

"All of you, pick up your bags and drop them in your room then come down and eat your lunch"

They cheered loudly and picked up their bags. 

"First one to reach the top of the stairs gets a piece of the other's lunch" Vernon yelled and four of the children raced upstairs leaving the youngest at the bottom of the stairs. 

"Don't scatter your rooms!" Jeonghan yelled loudly but he guessed it was falling on deaf ears. He could even hear their heavy footsteps upstairs. He grabbed Chan and held him firmly. 

"How was school today Chan?"

"Fun!" he said and giggled. Jeonghan could spot the specks of dirt on his hands and legs. 

"Let's wash you up okay?" he said. Chan answered with another giggle. They entered their room. Clothes were already scattered at every corner, shoes were thrown to each side as Vernon and Seungkwan hurried out of their clothes.

"When you finish, pick up your clothes and put them in the laundry basket," Jeonghan said pointing to the basket. They groaned.

Jeonghan scoffed "Did you see how sparkly clean your room was when you entered, now I want it to always be that way"

They murmured in agreement and began to pick up their clothes and toss them into the basket, balling them up like a ball and throwing it in as they joked. Jeonghan didn't care how they did it as long as the clothes ended up in the basket. 

He set Chan down and removed his clothes then carried him to the bathroom. Setting the water at room temperature, he bathed him. After some time, he heard the other children trying to leave the room. 

"Wash your hands' boys" He shouted and the children ran into the bathroom and rushed the washing of their hands then ran back out. Jeonghan sighed and finished bathing Chan. He toweled him and creamed his body then wore his clothes. The boy clung to him as he carried him and walked out of the room. He knocked on the oldest children's room. No answer. They must have rushed downstairs already. He opened their door and gasped. Their clothes were scattered on their beds and their shoes were dumped and disorganized. Jeonghan sighed heavily. Taking care of all these children was going to be tougher than he thought. He closed the door and headed out. 

Seokmin and Vernon were already at the table while Seungkwan and Minghao were fighting for the TV remote control. Jeonghan dropped Chan on one of the chairs and went to the arguing kids. 

"What's going on here?" Jeonghan said, his arms crossed. 

"I got the remote first but Seungkwan said he wanted to watch his stupid singing show"

Seungkwan still dragged at the remote "It's not stupid!" he yelled angrily. They continued tugging and pulling, ignoring Jeonghan 

"Okay, okay, Minghao, what do you want to watch?" jeonghan asked.

"Football!"

"What time?" 

"it's in an hour"

Jeonghan smiled. "Then why are you struggling with the remote control with Seungkwan?"

"I don't want to watch that stupid show. Besides...there is a more interesting cartoon I want to watch"

Jeonghan shook his head and turned to Seungkwan 

"And you?"

"it's in ten minutes"

Jeonghan grabbed the remote. "Then it's settled. Seungkwan is watching his first and that's final"

Minghao hung his head and his brother rejoiced. 

"But no one is watching anything until they've eaten"

The kids raced to the dining table. Jeonghan served their meals. Vernon wanted to take a piece of everyone's food since he won the first race but Jeonghan stopped it and instead gave him extra. Jeonghan personally fed Chan so he wouldn't get himself dirty. 

After eating, they all rushed to the TV but Seungkwan was the only one allowed to watch while Jeonghan made the others do their homework. When Seungkwan finished watching his show, Jeonghan supervised his homework while the others watched TV. When they were through, they all watched cartoons together as Jeonghan prepared some light snacks and gave them to eat. It was past eight when Jeonghan heard the front door open. Chan was lying on his chest while the others were sprawled on the floor asleep. He opened his sleepy eyes and saw Seungcheol. His heart skipped! The moment had finally come.

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I'm ending this chapter here because I'm tired and I need to rest. This chapter was very long and difficult to write so I will end it here till the next chapter. Have a good day!