As they waited for the food to be served, John tried to chat with the two kids, which somehow turned into him just interviewing them.

“What colors do you both like?”

“I’m okay with anything,” said Grace.

“Me too,” Evan followed.

“Is there anything you both want to add to your room?”

“Not really,” replied Grace, and Evan followed with, “Same.”

“I could get the walls in your room painted.”

“It’s not necessary.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I see…”

‘This is going nowhere. And Evan, why do you only keep agreeing with your sister!?’ John exclaimed in his mind. He could barely stop himself from heaving a sigh.

Being a guardian of two kids sure was hard.

Once the food was served, the kids happily dug in. Seeing them happy made John subconsciously smile as he picked up his fork.

Although they were all quiet, the atmosphere was rather harmonious.

Evan ate a little clumsily and got some rice on his face. John noticed and carefully wiped the boy’s face with a napkin. “I’ll be more careful,” said Evan. John stroked the boy’s head and said, “It’s alright.”

Grace had stopped eating and observed John. When she saw that John didn’t seem to be angry, she started to eat again. John noticed that, and felt a little helpless.

‘Do I really look that scary?’

For the first time in his life, he doubted himself. People usually told him that he looked kind, but judging from how the two kids were treating him, he felt as if he looked like a devil instead.

“Excuse me.”

A voice interrupted his thoughts. John turned his head to where the voice had come from. The person who had called him was one of the restaurant’s waitresses. She blushed and asked shyly, “Can I have your phone number?”

It took a second for John to realize he was being hit on. He smiled and said, “I have kids.” The waitress looked at the two kids and was a bit embarrassed. “They look lovely,” she said as she hurried to leave. She probably thought the two kids were his.

Technically, she wasn’t wrong. He had taken in the two children, so it was basically the same.

John continued eating in silence. When the three of them finished their meals, he said, “Let’s go out somewhere tomorrow. What do you say?”

Grace and Evan were surprised, for the nth time just this day. They exchanged glances. After a moment, Grace asked, “Aren’t you busy with work?”

“I’m free for a couple of days.” He had worked hard the last two weeks in order to clear his schedule for these two days. Looking at how the two kids seemed brighter than before, he thought that it was worth it.

“So, you’re free tomorrow?” Evan asked. There was joy in his emerald eyes.

“Yes. Is there any place you want me to take you to?” John smiled as he took out his phone and showed the kids some places, “We could go to the amusement park, the aquarium, the museum, or any other place you guys want tomorrow.”

Grace and Evan looked at the pictures and then at John. They then looked at each other and whispered to each other, so John couldn’t hear what the two were discussing. After some time, they seemed to have come to a conclusion.

“Which of these places did you like the best?” asked Grace. “Yes, we want to know which one you liked the best,” said Evan.

John thought about it for a bit and then said, “They were all okay.” However, the two kids kept looking at him as if his answer wasn’t enough. He suddenly wanted to heave a sigh. Going out wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed. He liked quiet places, such as his home or the library.

‘Are they going to choose the place I like the most?’

He was starting to think that in addition to being cute, these two kids were smart.

‘But I’m even smarter,’ he thought with a smile.

“The amusement park.”

It was one of the places he hated the most. Unfortunately, a lot of sources said that kids love going to that hateful place the most, so John had no choice but to say that. And as if saying that wasn’t bad enough, he had to say it with a bright smile on his face even though he was shedding tears in his heart.

The two kids stared at his face for a moment, and then smiled. Those smiles were weird, as if they were trying to hold back their laughter.

“Pfft… hahaha!” Evan couldn’t hold it in anymore and laughed. That made Grace lose control as well and she also started to chuckle.

‘What’s up with these two?’

Before John could guess what was going on, Grace stopped giggling and said, “Are you sure you liked going to the amusement park the most?”

John had a bad feeling when he heard that. Seeing Evan snicker at him made the feeling even stronger.

‘They noticed.’

Damn, that was so embarrassing. Even though John wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it, he put a serious look on his face and said, “Yes.”

‘Why am I trying so hard to go to a place I hate?’

Even he didn’t know why he was being like this. After pondering it over for a while, he concluded that living with kids made him more childish, which made him give the two kids a judgemental stare.

‘Yep, it’s their fault.’

The two kids didn’t know that he had blamed them about what had happened earlier, and were happily whispering to each other.

‘What are these two devils planning now?’

Before he could think more about it, Grace and Evan came over to him, and hugged him from both sides. John was surprised, but he reflexively hugged them back and asked, “Why are you both so suddenly…”

“Thank you,” Grace interrupted him. Evan was quiet, but he hugged John more tightly than before.

They hugged for a while, before John stroked their heads and said, “Okay, you both can let go now. I need to pay the bill.”

Grace and Evan finally let him go and smiled at each other. Once John had paid the bill, they went to the car.

“Let’s go back home now,” said John when they got in.

Evan muttered, “Home.” Grace, who was standing right next to him, heard that. Her eyes first showed sadness. She looked at John and her brother, and slowly, that sadness was inexplicably replaced with a tint of joy.

“Yes,” she whispered.

But John hadn’t heard what the two had said, so he turned his head back to look at the two children in the backseat. “Everything alright?” he asked. “Yes!” said Evan, rather enthusiastically, while Grace nodded her head.

Once they were back home, John told the kids to change their clothes and went to his office. Although he didn’t need to work, he still decided to do something. After some time, he got up and went to the kids’ room.

He knocked on the door, and a moment later, it opened, revealing Grace who was holding a book in her hand. It was one of the books she had bought earlier.

Grace let him inside and gestured to her bed. John understood and sat down. Evan smiled at him and then continued to read the book in his hands.

When Grace sat next to John, the latter asked, “Did you like the book?” Grace nodded and said, “Yes.”

John was thinking about what to say next when, unexpectedly, Grace continued, “It’s about a man who was on a ship that got caught in a storm. He was the only one who survived and arrived at an island.” John knew that story, but he still asked, “Did he find any people there?”

“No, Robinson still hasn’t found anyone else on the island. He’s still not sure if anybody lives there or not.”

“Oh, it must be hard for him.”

“Yes, and since there is a forest in front of him, he has to look out for predators. That’s why he got himself a branch and climbed onto a tree when it got dark.”

“That’s smart.”

“Mm-hmm. I don’t know what will happen next, but the story seems really interesting.”

John nodded and said, “It’s good that you like it. Tell me more about it next time.”

Evan had been listening to their conversation, and sneakily sat next to John while they were talking. When he saw that Grace had finished talking about her book, he started to talk.

“The storybook I got is about Rowley, Greg’s friend. Oh, Greg is…” Evan happily talked about the book he was reading. John listened to him, and occasionally asked something to show that he was interested.

An hour later, John came out of the room with a hand on his forehead. Evan had been way too excited when talking about the story, and had talked about it nonstop for a whole hour. At first, John was a bit interested.

Five minutes later, his interest waned.

And, twenty minutes later… he just wanted to leave the room one way or the other.

Still, he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt the kid, and patiently listened to Evan for a whole hour, after which he made up an excuse and left. Before he left, Evan gave him a look that said, ‘there’s still a lot more I want to talk about,’ but John pretended to not have seen it and hurried out of the room.