Twelve Little Brothers

Shhh It's A Secret

"Hey, Uncle Seungcheol, where are the boys?" He turned around from the stove with a brown plastic spoon in his right hand and thought for a second.

"I think they said that they were planning something special and we were not allowed to go into the triplets room until they said so." I slowly nodded with even more questions buzzing through my head than before I came out of my room, but I shrugged it off and looked over at what my Uncle was making.

"Is there anything I can help with?" After being cooped up in my room studying for a few hours after taking a couple of my midterms, I was dying to do something. He looked from the pot in front of him to the recipe on his phone before shaking his head.

"All I have to do, requires the stove, and I don't think I want you playing with heat." He smiled at me jokingly and I pretended to be offended while pressing a hand to my chest. "You could always find your Aunt and see if she needs help with anything if your offer still stands." I nodded and left the kitchen to go find her.

It didn't take long for me to find her in her bedroom working on her laptop.

"What are you doing?" Auntie looked up from the screen and patted the space on her bed next to her as a signal for me to sit down.

"I am supposed to be filing taxes, however, I accidentally came across some pictures of everyone from a few years ago." She smiled and turned the computer so we could both see once I had sat next to her.

Once we had both cooed over a couple old photos, Auntie looked at me with a mischievous smile.

"How about we play a little game? Whoever can guess the year correctly the most, and it only counts if you guess the year first, wins. The winner gets bragging rights and a candy bar the next time we go to the store."

I don't have money so I guess I have nothing to lose. I hesitantly nodded and she clicked on the next picture.

Americanos are born, but nobody looks old enough for the Chinas. I quickly blurted out the year and my Aunt said the one after. I looked at her with confidence and she clicked on the information for the picture.

I let out a small cheer once I saw that I was right and she sighed. "Why don't you find a piece of paper for us to keep score on." I nodded and quickly got off of the bed at my Aunt's request to run to my room and get a notepad and pen.

"Okay, so one point for me and none for you." I smiled cheekily and created a tally table for our game.

Auntie rolled her eyes playfully and waited for me to be done so she could move onto the next picture.

The game went on for quite a while until we reached the end of the picture album on her computer. It didn't take us too long since we had started more than halfway through.

"So who won?" Auntie looked over my shoulder at my tally table while I started to add it all up.

At the end, I had 21 and Auntie had 20. I smiled sheepishly and she sighed.

"That was close though. You know I won't eat the candy bar so you don't need to buy it at least." Ever since my teacher in second grade taught us not to eat candy from strangers the day my Mother died, I just can't eat it without throwing up at the flashbacks.

"That's true. Well, good game." I nodded and she stuck out her hand for me to shake it.

Auntie was about to turn off the computer when I stopped her. "You still haven't paid the bills." She pouted playfully and sighed.

"Fine. But only because you're making me." I laughed a bit and made sure she pulled up the right websites and had all her necessary paperwork before leaving the room with my notepad.

After I put the notepad and pen back, I walked into the kitchen and started helping my Uncle set the table.

"Are the boys still in the triplets room?" He nodded and I counted out the pairs of chopsticks for everyone, making sure I had Seungkwan's special Pororo chopsticks along with Hoshi and Dokyeom's learner chopsticks.

Once everything was set out, I walked down the hallway towards the triplets room and knocked on the door.

"You no come in!" I sighed at Hoshi's request.

"So you don't want any dinner? Okay, that works for me." I started walking towards my Aunt's room to tell her it was dinner when Hansol poked his head out the newly opened door.

"Jus give us two minutes." I nodded and continued walking when he shut the door.

"Auntie, dinner time." She nodded and finished up what she was doing before coming out to the table with me.

"Are the boys coming out to eat or should I go get them?" Uncle Seungcheol looked like he wanted to go charge in there and get them riled up, but I told him they wanted a few more minutes and he nodded.

"We ready!" "What fo dinner?" "I hungry." "Up!"

I smiled as a pile of children came out of the triplets room and came running to the table. BooSeokSoon all tried to climb into their high-chairs and I had to help them with Auntie.

Once everyone had sat down and started putting food on their plates with the help of their parents, I leaned over to whisper in Jeonghan's ear since he was sitting next to me.

"So what were you doing in there?"

He pretended to ignore me and I poked his side, making him squirm when he reached out for food.

"I no tell you Noona. It secret."

I pouted and I could tell that he was trying very hard not to say anything and ruin the surprise.

"Why am I not in on it? I thought you loved me." I knew I was pushing it and I shouldn't be. I just felt a little, rebellious(?) tonight.

"You know I love you Noona. I jus can't tell you."

I sighed in defeat and grabbed my chopsticks to start eating. I'll know soon enough.