Twelve Little Brothers

Me Help?

"What kind of pre-k does a talent show at the beginning of December, has the pre-kers do their own individual acts and they have to sing and dance?!" My Uncle sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. I could tell the stress was piling up on him. Between Jihoon's young age and needing extra attention, along with everyone else needing attention, I could tell he was getting barely any sleep with his job.

"Well, apparently Jeonghan's pre-k." He gave me a sarcastic look and I smiled innocently while looking over to reread the flyer Jeonghan came home with.

To the parents/guardians of Choi Jeonghan,

We are excited to inform you about the school's annual preschool talent show. All students are expected to pick a song and learn the lyrics, along with choreographing it. The talent show will take place the first of December at six thirty. We cannot wait to see what everyone will come up with.

Uncle Seungcheol left half way through my reading to separate Hansol and Minghao. I could hear the sounds of a dissolving issue when I felt a tug on my sleeve. "Noona, will you pwease help me?" I looked away from the cheerfully decorated paper and saw Jeonghan with giant puppy eyes.

"Of course I'll help you. What do you need help with?" He pointed to the flyer and I mentally hit myself.

"So, do you know what song you want to dance to?" He nodded and I smiled since that made things a little easier.

Jeonghan grabbed Uncle Seungcheol's phone off of the kitchen counter and grabbed my hand, pulling me into our bedroom.

Once he had shut the door, he handed me Uncle Seungcheol's phone and told me the name of the song so I could search it.

My eyes widened once I read the lyrics, but I could tell that he really wanted to do this. He'll look cute, it'll be fine. I showed him the lyrics and read them to him to make sure he knew what he was singing before playing the song for him.

His foot started to tap to the beat as he got a feel for what he was doing. Once the song finished, I played it again and this time he sang along a little bit.

Yeah this is going to be adorable.

...

"Minseo Noona, me come in?" I paused the song midway and opened the door to find Hoshi standing there. He quickly ran in and tried to climb up my bed while I shut the door.

"What's up Hoshi Bear?" I walked over and lifted him up to my bed, just so he could cling onto me. I smiled at his death grip around me before coaxing him to let go so we could both get onto my bed.

Once we were seated, with Hoshi still clinging to me, Jeonghan wanted me to continue the song.

I told Hoshi to be quiet and he nodded against my chest while we listened to the mini prodigy sing his heart out.

We both clapped when he was done, like I had been doing this whole time, and Hoshi leaned towards me to whisper in my ear.

"Hyung need dance. Me help?" I turned to Jeonghan, but saw he went to go get some water.

"How about you ask him when he comes back in?" Hoshi nodded once more and I gently moved my body so I could grab my backpack and start on my homework.

As soon as the door opened, Hoshi started wiggling in my lap from excitement. "Jeonghan hyung, me help wit dance?"

Jeonghan nodded excitedly with a smile. "O couwse! I need help." Hoshi wiggled his way towards the ladder and I helped him down before turning the song back on for them. I watched as Hoshi did a few movements with his hands and feet, but in general he was just adorable.

I turned back to my homework and was about to move on from my math and into English, but Hoshi stopped me.

"Go table. I help hyung." I pouted and feigned hurt, but they both pleaded me so I ended up piling my stuff up and leaving the room.

"Love you too!" I closed the door behind me and made my way to the kitchen table.

"Noona! Wanna pway wid us?" I looked back and forth from Minghao and my homework before throwing it on the table and joining them.

Oh what the heck. I can do it later.

I sat down on the floor next to Joshua and Dk before looking over the small pile of Legos in from of us. I grabbed a few of the plastic bricks and put them together with no thought as to what I was doing. I was mainly watching the boys put together what resembled houses, and knock them down with excited bombing noises.

I finally got an idea for my plastic blob, and made it into a mini airplane.

I made the sound effects and flew it over to Hansol's building while pretending to shoot it down. He smiled and helped me knock it down.

"Noona, can you teach me how?" Joshua pointed to the Lego airplane in my hand and I nodded. I took a break from destroying Hansol's building and taught him how to build one. Once he was done, we both teamed up and brought down Hansol's rebuilt structure.

"Minseo, why's your homework not done?" I smiled innocently at my Uncle and he gave me a glare so I knew I wasn't getting out of this.

"Finish it." I dropped my smile and nodded while putting down my plane and getting up. I sat down at the table and started back up on my English homework, but I couldn't understand some of it. I was about to ask my Uncle for help when Minghao climbed up next to me.

"Sorry fo gettin you in trouble Noona."

I ruffled his hair and smiled faintly. "You're fine, it's my fault anyways." I continued to try and figure out what the work sheet was saying when Ming gasped next to me.

"Han an Shua know dis. Dey help you." I was about to stop him, but he had already run off. He came back with Joshua in tow and sat him down next to me.

"Noona need help. You know dis?" Joshua moved my paper so he could see and nodded. He pointed to a sentence and started translating for me.

"It ask what you name is, what you like to do, and what you favorite color is." I was honestly more surprised than I should have been. I sometimes catch him speaking in English with Hansol, but I still have no idea how he learned it.

With the help of Joshua, I eventually got the work sheet done and finished up all of my homework. I thanked him with a hug and he just smiled before returning to the Lego pile.

I was about to go back to playing with them, when I remembered how tired my Uncle was earlier. I walked into the kitchen to see what I could do to help with dinner.

"So, what can I help with?" He looked up from his cutting board and smiled at my offer.

"The mushrooms still need to be washed and cut." I nodded and grabbed a cutting board and knife from the cupboard before turning on the water and washing the mushrooms.

The kitchen was silent for a while aside from the knife hitting the cutting board and the boys playing in the living room.

I wanted to break the silence, but I didn't know what to say. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn't quite figure out what I was apologizing for. Sorry for not doing my homework? Sorry for having to make you check up on me when you're already busy enough?

Nothing seemed quite right, so I just left it hanging up in the air. Like all the other things I've ever wanted to say.