jungkook: 18 yo
jimin: 24 yo

___

"tomorrow all the students will come with their fathers, we have organised a special program this year for father's day,"

aera keeps her eyes forward, ignoring the sympathetic glances from her friend and a few other kids sitting in the near by desks. she knew she should be feeling sad and pathetic for not having anyone to bring with her tomorrow, and there's no way she'd ever want to come to school alone on such a day when practically all the kids will have their fathers with them.

she had seen her friend, mia, with her daddy a few times in front of the school gate or sometimes in the park. they always look happy together. mia gets to hold his hand and play with him even if her friends aren't there. mia's dad is one of the best dads aera has seen so far and mia's lucky to have him. but for aera she feels a little jealous when she finds herself not having a father. even though she might have all the things better than mia– better toys, better crayons, better cars, a lavish life, seven brothers who are always pouring all of their love on their sister– but still, somewhere she's aware and feels the absence of her parents who she barely knows.

the only thing that makes her feel smaller than the people around her is that they have their parents and aera does not.

but then a thought strikes her as the bell rings and the teacher says they're dismissed. with a smile playing on her lips at the thought of how great her idea is, she follows her friend towards the door of the classroom, walking in the line with the rest of the kids until they all scatter at the end of the hallway in the open.

"bye aera!" mia waves at her and she waves back, smiling at her and her father who has taken the daughter's bag, heading to their car.

aera looks around then hears a honk as a black car stops right in front of her and the driver is coming out, making her sigh for that's enough for her to know that her oppas are busy. jin must be in the hospital, treating his patients. hoseok and taehyung decided to do a dance cover together and they should probably be shooting that right now. jungkook must be in school. jimin, yoongi and namjoon must be in the company.

aera sits at the back, still having her bag on her back as the car accelerates further, leaving plenty of kids and the school behind, descending into an almost empty lane towards their house. there are some small stores along side of the street: bakeries, convenience stores, florist's etc. one such shop with flowers, catches aera's attention and she shifts to the side towards the window, "driver uncle, please stop the car," she says, tapping behind the driver's seat, getting a glance from the man as he awaits another order.

"i wanna go in that shop," aera points at the small shop across the street, selling flowers and bouquets of them.

the man nods, turning off the engine after parking the car one side and steps out, holding the door open for the little girl. she smiles at him, holding his hand to cross the street and jogs to the shop once she's successfully on the other side.

"hello little one," the old lady greets with a warm smile, "do you want some flowers?"

"hello," aera smiles back, "yes, i want two,"

the lady chuckles, nodding her head and leads her forward, "well, tell me which ones do you want?"

"uhm i don't know..."

"who do you wanna give them to?"

"my oppa and my appa," aera looks up at the lady, "tomorrow is father's day, so i'm gonna give a flower to my appa and jimin oppa,"

"oh that's great," the lady pats her head and picks up a combination of white and red roses, doing them into two small bouquets. aera gasps, breaking into a smile, quickly taking the beautiful flowers and thanks the lady, which is when she realises she should take more flowers for the rest of the boys too, as they all work hard and take care of her.

"it's very pretty aunty. but uhm can you please put more flowers in it? make it seven," she says, giving the bouquet back and the lady nods, doing as the child wants. "i'll give it to all my oppas,"

"they're six?"

"no, seven," aera says,

"then what about your appa? should i put an extra flower?"

"ah no no, one appa," the kid starts counting for the lady, making it easier to explain, "and my two big brothers, and their friends. they all are my oppas, they love me so much!"

"alright, that's really good," the lady smiles, handing the bouquet to aera, "i've not made it too tight, so you can easily pick out the flowers and give them individually,"

"yes, thank you aunty," she nods with a smile and turns to the driver who pays for the flowers and holds aera's hand ready to leave. the girl waves at the old lady, "you have a pretty shop just like you aunty!"

"aw, thank you," the lady chuckles, probably having the best customer of the day as she shakes her head, seeing the little girl, happily skipping her way back to the car, staring at the fresh flowers in her hands and frequently saying something to the driver, most certainly telling him how pretty they are.

in a few minutes they're home and aera runs inside, heading straight to the kitchen and opens the fridge, throwing out a few things like the half empty pack of beef and jungkook's left over pizza from the second rack and places her roses there. "please stay fresh and pretty until oppa comes back," she mumbles to the flowers, inhaling their fragrance and giggles, heading upstairs to her room.

•••

later in the evening

"hi oppa," aera mumbles, rubbing her eyes as she walks down the stairs, meeting the boys who are all changed into their regular clothes from the formal attires they wear to work.

a small yawn stretches aera's mouth, still in need of more sleep and the urge to skip dinner grows bigger with the drowsiness weighing her eye lids down. jimin notices the half asleep kid, chuckling at how she stumbles upon one of her toys and ends up falling on taehyung who's sitting on the carpet, having his eyes pinned on the screen of his ipad.

"hey, carefull," he smiles at aera, getting a subtle nod from her as she continues making her way to jimin.

"oppa..." her lips mumble, sitting on his lap once she's close enough and leans into his chest, "hi..."

"hi," jimin chuckles, stroking her back, "were you really tired from school? you didn't even bother changing your clothes first,"

"no, i was waiting for you, but it was just 1 o'clock then i fell asleep," she says, glancing down at her school uniform that she's still wearing. which is when the notice she got from school clicks her mind, making her spring up on her legs, looking around to find her bag near the couch.

"what happened?"

"uh i have something," aera mutters, bringing her bag and puts it beside jimin, fishing out a white paper which her teacher gave to all the kids today. handing it to jimin she smiles, running to the kitchen next and returns with her flowers. "e'ryone listen to me!" she claps her hands for attention while jimin is busy reading the paper she just gave him.

"what?" jungkook looks up from his phone, "and hi, when did you come here?"

"when you were looking in the phone," aera shakes her head and focuses back on jimin, "jiminie oppa did you read it?"

"yeah," jimin smiles hesitantly, glancing at jin and yoongi as he passes the paper to them, not saying anything until both the elders have read it. watching their smiles turning into worried looks, hoseok takes the paper reading the words printed and glances at aera, not understanding what's making her smile when she's the one who's supposed to cry and throw tantrums for not having her father to go to school with her on father's day.

"what is it?" namjoon asks, leaning above hoseok's shoulder and frowns at the notice, turning to jimin instantly who shrugs his shoulders in a subtle gesture that says he has just as much knowledge as any of them.

"what? why are you all making that face?" taehyung laughs, "is it a complaint letter?"

"ri, what did you do?" jungkook grins, turning to his sister and brings her near him, "tell me you used that move i taught you," he anticipates, staring at her with excited eyes which soon settles down when she shakes her head.

"oppa said fighting is bad," aera says, "i'm good,"

"but then what did you do?"

"nothing," she says with a smile and picks out a rose from her bouquet, giving it to jungkook, "koo i love you,"

"uh i... i love you too," jungkook hesitates first but accepts the rose, bringing it closer to his nose and sniffs in it's fragrance, "thanks,"

"welcome," aera giggles, giving another rose to taehyung who smiles and kisses her cheek. then the next one goes to namjoon, hoseok and jin, leaving them confused, but smiling at the little girl for they didn't want to discourage her innocent attempt of showing love.

"i love you jinnie oppa, hobi oppa and joonie oppa," she says, hugging the three of them one by one, then moves to jimin, "i love you jiminie oppa,"

jimin forces up a smile, not understanding what's going on, but accepts the symbol of love from the child and kisses her forehead, "i love you more," his voice whispers to her tenderly, making her giggle and peck his lips after the hug.

"she definitely did something," jungkook mumbles, nudging hoseok with his elbow, "it's something huge, that's why she's doing this."

"stop it, kook. she's a just a child, there's nothing wrong if she's showing affection," jin replies, patting hoseok's back as if asking him not to fall for what jungkook just said.

"yeah right," hoseok nods with a smile, glancing at the rose, "this is so sweet of her,"

aera looks at them and then at jungkook with a pout, "i didn't do anything, koo, i promise," she says, making the boy sigh as he mumbles an apology to her, letting her proceed with the last person who's still left to get the rose from her. "i love you appa," aera says, making yoongi smile as he wraps his arms around her, pulling her in his lap and kisses her cheeks, eliciting an instant giggle from her lips.

"what is all of this for?" jimin finally asks.

"tomorrow is father's day," aera starts, sitting straight with yoongi to face all of the boys, "and i thought i should give appa a flower. but then i thought that all of you work so hard and take care of me, so i should you all a flower."

the boys smile at that, but more than that the questions circling in their heads intensifies, still being too confused for they couldn't figure out where this idea came from in the first place.

"but father's day... it's is for dads, riri," jungkook says and aera nods, pointing at yoongi as she smiles, while the boys aren't smiling anymore, staring at her with sympathetic eyes for they realise the kid actually thinks yoongi is her father.

"who's gonna tell her?" taehyung mumbles, gulping down as he stares at the flower in his hand.

"shut up," jimin takes a deep breath, facing aera with his full body and forces up a smile, "he's– yoongi hyung, i mean, is not your dad, aera."

"he said he's my appa, everyone said he's my appa. appa means daddy," aera smiles at yoongi, holding his arms around her waist and snuggles more into his chest, glancing up at his face, "miss lana said we have to go with our daddy tomorrow to celebrate father's day. will you go with me?"

they exchange glances, all confused, worried and unaware of how to react. yoongi blinks a few times, patting aera's back slowly and looks at her, "aera... kiddo, i can't do that– not as your dad at least,"

"why not?" aera's smile slowly gets replaced with a pout as she stands up and looks at him, then at jimin and the others, waiting for an answer, "i got flowers for you because i thought it'll make you happy,"

"it did make us happy princess." yoongi says, "but i'm not the father that you're thinking i am,"

"what are you saying?" aera frowns at him, "will you go with me to school tomorrow or not?"

yoongi takes a deep breath, cupping her cheek with his hand and shakes his head, "i'm sorry, no," aera keeps quiet for a moment, staring at him with confused eyes, as she tries hard to understand what's going on and why yoongi's suddenly not wanting to be her appa. he always liked it when she called him that, or when she hugged him tightly and kissed him.

he loved her everyday, all the time. he scolded the others if they were being mean to aera, he fed her with him, put her to sleep at times and told her tons of stories. he lets him bother her and does everything that makes her happy. then why is he suddenly saying he's not her appa? aera's eyes fill with tears as she looks down at her empty hands, "why?" her voice mumbles softly.

"because i'm not your father, sweetheart. you just called me appa because you felt comfortable with it," he replies, stroking her hair, "but hey, that doesn't mean you can't call me appa anymore. i love it when you say that,"

"no– okay, but- but who will go with me tomorrow if not you?" aera rubs her eyes, stating at him and then at then at jin and jimin, "everybody has their daddy and they will come with him tomorrow. i thought i'll go with my appa... but he's saying no..."

jimin feels tears in his, remembering just how much he had seen his father anticipating aera's birth. and when it finally happened, he was so happy that he hugged jimin tightly and even shed a few tears, saying he really wanted a daughter after jungkook and god had blessed him with aera after two miscarriages. jayhyun wanted to live all the fancy dreams he had seen of himself with his babygirl, with his princess. although time had different plans, even before she turned three, the parents met with an accident and passed away on the spot. from that young age, it was jimin who took care of her and his brother mostly with the help of his hyungs as they started living together for both jungkook and aera.

"c'mere," jimin speaks softly, opening his arms for his sister who stands between his legs, hugging him tightly and breaks into a sob. "it's alright, don't cry,"

"why i don't have my daddy... everyone has their daddy with them," aera cries, pulling away to look at her brother's face with her teary eyes, "y'know oppa, mia's daddy is so nice, he always goes to park with her an- and goes to school and she said he gets her chocolates when he got home from work,"

jimin smiles softly, wiping his sister's tears and kisses her forehead, "don't you get all that too? we go out together, play together, eat together, and get you toys and chocolates and whatever you say."

"but i don't have daddy!" aera whines, "hobi oppa told me you and daddy were best friends, you loved him an- and he loved you so much. but he don't love me, that's why he left when i was a baby..."

"no princess, daddy loved you a lot," jimin says, "he was so happy when you were born, aera. he loved you more than he loved anyone else in the world."

"don't lie hyung," jungkook scoffs, "he just loved you,"

aera glances at jungkook, tears still streaming down her cheeks, making him realise that he shouldn't have said this right now. he averts his gaze, staring at his lap under jimin's glare. "i'm sorry," he mumbles, not getting any response from the elder brother for he's already on his feet, carrying aera in his arms and pats her back, heading upstairs without any word.

"uh i could be wrong but... you should've just said yes to her hyung," taehyung says to yoongi, "she really thinks of you as a father figure and there's nothing wrong in it if she wanted to celebrate father's day with you, when she doesn't even know her real father."

"i agree–"

"not a word from you jungkook," yoongi glares at the youngest boy, making him look down again and taehyung scoffs, standing up with the maknae.

"what did he say wrong? uncle jayhyun did love jimin more than anyone. jungkook was the second choice for him, he didn't even understand what kook liked or disliked."

"shut up," jin scolds, standing up and pulls jungkook away from taehyung's grip, "it's not like that buddy, your dad loved you a lot."

"i've seen," jungkook grits out mockingly, "loved me... sure, he did." he scoffs, freeing himself from the eldest and heads to his room.

"kim taehyung, you better learn to keep that mouth of yours shut instead of letting out all that shit!" yoongi scolds the younger who's standing quietly now, staring at the stairs where jungkook's figure disappeared a moment ago.

"i'm sorry," he mumbles and jogs upstairs  as well, heading straight to jungkook's room and takes a deep breath, "kook, i'm sorry please open the door,"

"i'm okay," jungkook replies.

"yeah, i know, but i wanna talk to you. let me in..."

"later hyung, i'm gonna sleep now."

"i'll get the door down," taehyung groans, "open it,"

jungkook doesn't reply and taehyung sighs, staring at the door with concerned eyes. he lowers himself slowly, sitting on the floor with his back resting against the door, "i'm right here... tell me whenever you're ready..." he says softly, closing his eyes and leans back, "i don't know about your dad, but we love you kook,"

jungkook on the other side of the door feels tears trickling down his face, hearing taehyung's calm voice, soothing to his ears just like his brother's. father's day wasn't something jungkook ever enjoyed, even when jayhyun was alive, jungkook didn't remember a single year when he wished his dad 'happy father's day' like it was actually some special thing. jimin would be excited and prepare things that their father liked, going for baseball together, making him his favourite coffee and snacks, a cake with 'the best dad in the world' written on it, and other things like that.

jungkook didn't do anything extra ever since he turned six and realised jayhyun just liked jimin's efforts more than his, which was okay at first for the little jungkook felt happy that he wouldn't have to do anything extra and just join his hyung to make his father happy. he went with them to baseball practice, learnt some nice hits, saw jimin and jayhyun having the time of their lives together, their talks, jokes, everything felt foreign to jungkook for the first time then. jayhyun was never that happy with him the way he was with jimin.

it wasn't anything that serious until everyday jungkook's vision kept getting clearer, from him being blind to whatever jungkook did, to calling jimin 'champ' for everything, from never going out to play with jungkook, but always having extra time for jimin's projects, practices and giving advices about girls. jungkook learnt he wasn't jayhyun's champ and accepted it by the time he was about to turn eight. that was also one reason jungkook didn't like the thought of having another baby in the family, while jimin was happy and excited for the new member.

•••

"daddy didn't love me and koo?"

jimin could feel the tears in his eyes, hearing the words he always felt scared of, ever since jungkook told him that the first time, leaving guilt that weighs tons on jimin, knowing that he's the reason his siblings, mostly jungkook didn't recieve the love he deserved from their father.

"oppa, we're not his babies?" aera holds his hand, still pouting as she stares at him, then leans forward as jimin stays quiet, feeling too heavy in his throat to be able to speak, "mia is lucky, she has her daddy with her... i'm sorry we don't have daddy with us. you miss daddy right?"

"yeah," a tear drops from his eye, holding aera tightly in his embrace, "i miss him so much sometimes... i wish you could live all those days i got with him..."

"no," aera says after a moment of silence, "if he don't love me then i don't wan' live days with him... and koo doesn't like him too..."

jimin bites in a sob, lowering his head in the sister's shoulder and shakes his, clearing his throat a little before speaking, "i-it's not like that, aera. daddy loved both of you a lot, you don't remember but you used to play with him when you were a baby. a-and jungkook too, he wouldn't get down from dad's arms."

"really?" aera pulls away from the hug and looks at him, making jimin smile as he blinks his tears away and cups aera's face.

"he used to call you jungkook his little princess and prince. and whenever he came home from office, you ran to him for a hug."

aera rubs her eyes, sitting straight on the brother's lap and leans closer, "tell me more. did daddy kiss me?"

"yes, he'd always kiss you and then you'd smile like you do now when oppa kisses you," jimin smiles, making her sit beside him and stands up, going to get some comfortable clothes for her to change into and, pulls her up to stand, "and y'know whenever he went out leaving us at home, he'd always tell me to take care of riri, because riri's our princess."

"yeah," she nods slowly, agreeing with the princess part as her eyes move to the photo frame beside the closet, of jayhyun and eunmi. in fact after their death, jimin's room is the only place in the house where they still live. jungkook didn't put any picture of them in his room nor in aera's, and having them in the living room reminded him of them too often, so jimin removed that picture and kept it safe with him after moving to seoul. he just kept a small picture of the parents with him to remind himself of trust they had on him and responsibilities he has after them.

jimin sighs softly, knowing aera's looking at the picture which is the only source for her to know what her parents looked like, for he's certain a two-year-old won't remember things for future, no matter how important the memory has to be. he wanted, and still wished, that his siblings should've gotten more time with the parents and get to know them the way jimin did.

"tell me about mamma," aera says, glancing at jimin while he's unbuttoning her school shirt and smiles.

"she was very pretty, just like you," he says, "have you ever heard people say that a mother is the son's first love, she was mine. and jungkook will agree with this too. she was amazing,"

"wow," aera mumbles, "do i look like mamma?"

"yes, you and kook got your eyes and lips from her." he chuckles, pinching her nose while wrapping the other arm around her. "mamma was the prettiest woman me, kook and dad had ever seen."

"but you said i'm prettiest!" aera pouts, making jimin laugh lightly.

"you got her beauty, so that makes you the prettiest as well," he says and carries her to the bathroom, making her stand in front of mirror, "now pretty little lady, let's get cleaned up so we can have dinner and sleep?"

"i'm not sleepy, let's watch a movie oppa," aera looks up at him, holding his hand as she's already pulling him out of the bathroom.

"alright, but you do need to shower. oppa won't stay with stinky kids."

"i'm not stinky," aera frowns, sniffing on her undershirt and giggles, "i smell like roses, baby skunk was stinky, then the wizard made him smell of roses,"

"yes, but that was his natural smell. and i know my aera doesn't smell like a skunk or roses. she smells like aera."

"why? i wan' smell like roses," aera says, "where is your perfume,"

"no, just take a shower."

"noooo! i don't like water i'm a kitty!"

"you're not a kitty, stop acting," jimin sighs.

"i'm a dinosaur!"

"you're none of that, just take a shower like normal human being."

"i'm not normal human being!" aera huffs, pushing his his hands away and steps back, whining when he makes her stand in the bathtub and starts filling with water.

"take off the clothes and put them in the laundry basket okay?"

"no..." aera mumbles, staring at her feet getting submerged in the water. as she tries to wriggle out of jimin's grip, her feet slip on the bottom of the bathtub, making her lose balance and fall down even before jimin caught her.

a sharp cry echoes out of the bathroom, grabbing attention from the whole house while jimin sighs deeply, pulling out of the tub and crouches down, hugging the crying child and rubbing her head where she hit the edge of the tub. "i'm sorry, baby, does it hurt too much?" he says, kissing her cheek.

"what's wrong? why's riri crying?" yoongi's first one to enter and jimin chuckles at the worried state of him.

"she slipped," he replies, stroking her back and nods for the elder to help them a little which is when the door is swung open again and hoseok rushes in.

"jungkook isn't opening the door," he sounds frantic and worried, making jimin frown at the information. "tae's been waiting in front of his room for more than an hour now, he's not opening the door, nor speaking to anyone."

"what?" jimin stands up, letting go of aera for a while, which makes her whine again, "hey shh, nothing happened," he assures her as she stands up now, rubbing her eyes and touching her head with the other hand. "hobi hyung, please call jin hyung and see she takes a shower. i'll go and see what's wrong with jungkook,"

"yeah, don't worry," hoseok nods.

"uh and don't bring her there untill we tell you to," jimin whispers the sentence, getting a sad smile from hoseok as he too, understands how sensitive jungkook is over topics related to their parents. hoseok gives an assuring squeeze to jimin's shoulder who walks out of the room instantly with yoongi and finds taehyung sitting by jungkook's door.

"tae," yoongi calls, "what happened?"

"he's mad at me i think," taehyung shrugs, "doesn't talk..."

"he must be mad at us, not you," the elder says and jimin sighs softly, nodding his head in agreement.

"get up, i'll try talking to him," jimin says, giving taehyung a hand and helps him stand up. "don't worry, he'll be fine." he assures and knocks on the door, "hey, jungkook-ah, what are you doing in there? dinner's ready,"

the boy doesn't reply and jimin sighs, knocking again, "are you mad at me champ?"

no response.

and jungkook never does that, not to his hyungs at least.

jimin frowns as worry starts crippling up his features, thinking of what he might be doing that he's not even listening to his hyungs. jimin tries a few more times, but only meets silence from jungkook's side, making him turn to the next person, "stay here, i'll get the spare key," he mutters, jogging away to his room and sees aera's putting on her clothes now, talking to jin and hoseok and not crying anymore.

"oppa," she calls and jimin gives a brief smile, going back to his work of rummaging through the drawers of the cupboard. once he's got the keys, he waits no more and jogs back to unlock the door.

"jungk– aish!" he breathes deeply, seeing the boy sleeping, leaning on the bed as he's sitting on the floor. jimin quickly kneels down near him and checks his hands and everything to make sure he didn't do anything to hurt himself, "idiot," he mutters, ruffling jungkook's hair and strokes his cheek where dried tears stains are still visible.

"is he okay?" taehyung asks.

"yeah," jimin nods, "god, what am i gonna with him... see how he is? he doesn't understand and keeps doing this,"

"it's alright, jimin. he needed space," yoongi pats jimin's back, crouching near the brothers along with taehyung and namjoon sitting beside jungkook's sleeping figure. their movements and voices wake the boy up, frowning on seeing the hyungs gathered near him.

"what happened?" he mumbles, looking at the worried faces and the tears jimin holds in his eyes, glaring at him. "i'm sorry hyung..."

"shut up, i don't wanna hear your sorry," jimin mutters, hugging the boy and rubs his back, "are you stupid? don't you ever do this again. you scared me to death today, jungkook."

"hm? but what did i do?" jungkook frowns.

"you locked the door and weren't speaking to us," taehyung says, "and you were upset... so we thought you did something bad..."

"no, i'm fine," jungkook says, "yeah i was a little sad, but what can i do? aera just randomly did this and then y'all told her all that, it was overwhelming for me..."

jimin nods slowly, patting his head and glances at the rest of the boys, "can you please give us some time? i gotta talk to him,"

"sure," yoongi nods, patting taehyung's back as they head out of the room, closing the door after them, leaving the brothers alone.

jungkook looks down, not standing up from the floor, just heaves out a shaky breath, "why did ri do that? she knows dad is dead and he can't come back... still..."

"she's still young, kook, she didn't mean to hurt us. it's hard for her too, y'know it, seeing all the kids of her class having fun with their parents while she just has her brothers. it's hard,"

"but we love her more than mom and dad would love ever love her!" jungkook cries, "did you tell her they used to go for buisness trips and not be at home when she was small? that they didn't care about us and just told you to take care of us all the time? did you tell her all that? no... of course," he grits, looking away and rubs his eyes, "y'know after they died, a lot of things probably changed for you hyung, but for me and aera it was almost the same."

jimin stares at the floor, tears of guilt building up and streaming down his face as jungkook's word keep hitting him harder each time, "the only reason i really don't hate them is you, because they loved you so much and you loved them back. i'm not saying any of it was your fault, hyung, but i just don't want aera to- to feel the way i did. you're way more nicer than dad, and she's lucky that you are the one to take care of her and everything... why can't she just live with this and be happy? why does she suddenly want mom and dad back? i hate this!"

jimin rubs his eyes, glancing at jungkook with a soft gaze, "she doesn't want them back jungkook, she barely even knows them and that is weird for her. y'know the whole world idealizes their fathers, and our aera doesn't even know what kind of person her father was. she just needs to understand that, she needs to listen to the stories we have of them, and our perspective of mom and dad, that's all."

"no why?" jungkook leans forward, hugging jimin as he cries on his shoulder, "i was happy when she gave me that rose, but when she said it was because tomorrow's father's day and she doesn't have dad and all, i felt so weird. i even threw that rose..."

"it's okay," jimin speaks in a soft voice, rubbing the boy's back, "that's alright, you don't have to like everything going on. just try not to bring aera into this, she's just eight, she doesn't understand that what she did actually hurted you, and i'm sorry for that. i apologise on behalf of her. she doesn't know all the things, let it go please?"

jungkook hums softly, "okay... but tell her not to do this, or if you guys wanna talk about how great mom and dad were do it somewhere away from me."

"i'm sorry," jimin rubs the younger's back, "i wish i could change some things..."

"no, it's fine. if you change some things, then maybe i wouldn't have you as my hyung," jungkook mumbles, sniffing on the elder's shoulder, "i love you hyungie, i never want dad... i want you and riri... that's all..."

"i'm right here buddy, always," jimin closes his eyes, hugging the younger brother tightly.

•••

"where is oppa?"

"he's coming in a while," namjoon tells aera as they sit down for dinner, serving her first as jin thought she might be hungry from afternoon.

"what happened to koo?" she looks up at namjoon, "hobi oppa said he's not opening the door,"

"he's okay, jiminie is with him,"

"okay," aera nods, eating her food, frequently stealing glances at the staircase, sighing when neither of her brothers come down. the elders too, seem worried as their eyes keep going back and forth between the stairs and back to their work.

jin sighs softly, turning to taehyung and gestures him to call the brothers, right then jimin is heading down the stairs. he smiles at aera, ruffling her hair and enters the kitchen, going straight to jin, "jungkook isn't coming down, he'll eat in his room."

"is he okay?" yoongi joins them too.

"yeah, just a little overwhelmed," jimin sighs softly, glancing at aera, then back at the elders, "i'll come after making sure jungkook has eaten,"

"and when are you gonna eat?" jin smiles a little, serving the dinner in a plate and puts it on a tray, turning to face jimin as he doesn't answer, "we'll wait for you,"

"thanks hyung, but i really don't feel like eating right now. but yeah, if we can just sit and have a drink later...?"

"sure," yoongi nods, "and uh i'm sorry about aera, i di–"

"it's fine hyung, there's no need to apologize. none of us knew she was thinking like that," jimin chuckles lightly, taking the tray, "i don't blame her or anyone actually. it's hard for the kids i know, and they need to learn how to deal with it."

"oppa," aera calls, standing up from her chair, leaving her food, "i don't wanna go to school tomorrow,"

jimin nods slowly, "then what do you wanna do?"

"let's go out, all oppas and riri," she smiles, making the boys sigh in relief knowing that she's not upset anymore.

"sure, whatever makes my princess happy," jimin leans down, kissing her forehead, "oppa loves you a lot. we'll go out tomorrow and have a lot of fun together,"

"yes!" aera giggles, hugging his waist then goes back to her place, patting the chair next to her, "feed me,"

"uh i'm gonna go to jungkookie right now, i'm sorry, but appa can feed you," jimin says and glances at yoongi who smiles hesitantly, "please hyung, she's not mad at anyone, not at you especially. you're still her appa."

"yes, appa i love you," aera says, "i gave you flower because i love you, and now you feed me because you love riri right?"

yoongi chuckles softly, sitting next to her and brings her on his lap, "i love you," he nods, kissing her cheek, "i'm sorry for making you cry earlier."

"it's not your fault, i was crying because i thought i don't have daddy but we cannot bring him back. so it's okay, but y'know oppa told me about daddy an-and mamma too! he said i'm pretty like mamma!"

"you are," yoongi smiles, booping the tip of her nose as he feeds her a bite of the meal.

"finish your dinner then we'll watch a movie okay?" jimin says smiling at her, "tae has a lot of nice movies, you can choose one with him."

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a/n- you have no idea how long it took me to get this done. i had this chapter in my drafts for almost a year, today finally i'm publishing it wow. do let me know if you like this or not, and what do you think about the siblings' different perspectives of their parents?

alsoooo!!! we're at 90K views on this book can you believe it???? 😭😭😭😭😭 thank you so so soooo muchhhh i love yall ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

please vote if you like the chapter. bye bye take care ❤️❤️

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