namjoon sighs, following them to the living room which is now empty. jungkook stands in front of them as jimin glares at him, brushing his hair back in frustration, "what were you thinking?!" he shouts, "jeon jungkook, are you out of your fucking mind?! we've been worried sick at home thinking if something happened or you need help or anything! but you just don't get enough of enjoying your freaking life!"

"jimin, stop yelling at him!" namjoon steps forward, sighing deeply as tries to reason jimin.

"why? give me one good reason why i shouldn't be mad? you saw it too right? just look at him for god's sake, hyung. he's going around drinking, gambling, causing accidents, who would've been responsible if anything happened to him?! what if he hurted somebody else?!"

"what is going on- jungkook!" jin exclaims, rushing down the stairs with taehyung and hoseok on spotting the youngest standing in the middle of the living room, looking like a wreck while his head is lowered and tears streaming down his cheeks.

"are you okay? my child, shh what happened?" jin hugs him instantly, while the others spare confused glances at jimin and yoongi, realising their too angry. so instead they shift further to namjoon, earning a defeated sigh from him.

"will anyone tell me what's happening?" the eldest asks, "why are you shouting at him, i told you not to."

"ask him" jimin grits in anger, "ask your adorable maknae what he's been doing while we were dying here thinking if he's okay or not."

"stop it, jimin." jin sighs and turns to the younger boy, "hey, what happened bud?"

jungkook remains silent, so yoongi speaks, "what will he say. i'll tell you, he was drunk and over-speeding at night, almost crashed jimin's car. not only this, but he's also into gambling these days. must've been real fun, right jungkook? to waste the money we give you for your expenses huh?"

jin gasps, frowning at the words as he glances at jungkook who is more busy sobbing to himself.

"where did you even get so much money from?" jimin asks, "i don't remember extending the limit of your card."

jungkook blinks a few times, gulping thickly as he shakes his head slowly, making jimin even more angry, "don't just stand here jungkook, speak! tell me where did you get the money from?!"

"b-black card..." the boy mumbles, "i'm- i'm sorry hyung, i didn't want to use it for the games. we were supposed to go to- to the arcade, but-"

"whose black card?"

jimin inhales deeply at the silence of the boy and steps forward, grabbing the collar of his shirt, "stop making it hard for us jungkook, i'm asking something! answer me! whose card?!"

"y-yours" he breaks into a sob, shutting his eyes close as more tears flows down while namjoon pulls jimin back quickly to avoid anything that the brother might regret later. "i'm sorry hyung, i was going to tell you but you- you were busy with aera, and then i forgot. i didn't mean to misuse it hyung, i- i swear, my friends just said we should go there, and i happened to have your card..."

"so you thought why not using it for gambling?"

"just- just playing some games..."

"it's a fucking casino! playing there means gambling!"

"seriously jungkook," yoongi glares at the youngest, "this is so disappointing. you think earning money is easy?! do you have any idea how much jimin has worked to earn every single dollar after your parents?! consider yourself blessed for never facing a crisis because of your family wealth! your father and your brother have worked their asses off to build all this jungkook! it takes a lot of guts and a whole freaking life to make this money that you go around throwing like nothing!"

"he's worked so hard for you and aera, jungkook. and you turning out like this is a disrespect to your hyung. more than you, i feel bad for jimin right now."

"yoongi" jin warns, shaking his head as a no, on hearing the latter's harsh words.

"where's the lie hyung? we all were here, being worried about him while he was enjoying with his friends. and aera, even that eight-year-old kid was crying for him. he takes our card without our permission, uses it in a casino, drives our car, gets arrested for it, and we're not even supposed to get mad?"

"enough yoongi. he realises his mistake, stop guilt shaming him over and over again. can't you see he's been crying and apologizing since forever?"

"of course he should." yoongi says and glances at jimin who is now quiet, averting his eyes from jungkook and shakes his head.

"you know what? i'm done." jimin voices, not yelling, not mad, but sounding upset that manages to gain jungkook's attention, "i'm done with all this. do whatever you want jungkook, i'm so sick of this. i won't say anything to you, but remember you won't be getting a penny from me. go and earn if you need money and live however you want."

"no, hyung," jungkook cries, "i'm sorry, i won't do it again, i swear hyung. please don't say that... i don't want anything, you can take all the things from me, just- just don't say that..."

"i know," jimin nods, "i should've paid attention earlier. he was right, rich kids often get spoiled because the elders are too busy making money that they forget to teach the youngers how it's used."

"jimin," jin looks at him with a soft gaze.

"it's not your fault, jimin." yoongi says, patting the brother's shoulder, "don't blame yourself."

"it is hyung," jimin looks glances at jungkook and then at yoongi, "after mom and dad, i've been responsible for everything. and if even one thing goes wrong, it is somewhere my fault. this is still my brother messing up. i gave him the money, never questioned anything, and didn't even tell him what he's supposed to do and not do with it."

"we didn't teach him that either," yoongi says, "it's our fault too then."

"hyung..." jungkook cries, stepping forward near jimin as he cries with his head hanging low, "it's my fault, i'm sorry. please don't blame yourself, hyung..."

"koo..." a soft voice followed by a gasp, making the seven heads to turn towards the stairs, cursing at themselves, mostly jimin and yoongi, for forgetting about aera sleeping and continued yelling at jungkook.

the girl smiles and runs to him, however stopping in the middle, her smile dies down slowly on noticing the tears on jungkook's face and the tensed atmosphere in the room.

"koo..." she mumbles, "why are you crying?"

"go back to your room, aera." yoongi says, earning a glance from her. she walks to him, pulling him down and points at jungkook.

"why's koo crying? is he hurt?" she asks him.

"...no, he's fine. go to your room, oppa's coming in a while." he pats her cheek.

"no, he's crying." she says turning to jungkook who wipes his tears, not looking at the sister as she makes her way towards him. "koo, don't cry, did u get hurt? show me"

jungkook shakes his head, feeling the tears burning again on hearing his sister's voice, "hear her?" jimin says, "she's been asking about ever since you left, because you promised you would come back and play with her, then sleep together because her jungkookie oppa is strong and can fight all the monsters for her."

"yes, koo's strong!" aera cheers, smiling at jungkook who says nothing.

"i'm not" he whispers, kneeling down in front of the girl, "koo's not strong, he messed up and disappointed everyone."

"mm?" aera tilts her head, "what did you do?"

"i... something bad," he says, "i'm sorry, aera. i didn't want this to happen, please tell jiminie oppa to not be mad at me... they're not listening to me. i promise i won't do anything like this again... please, help me..."

"don't cry" aera says, staring at him with her round eyes as she reaches out to wipe his tears, "did you lie to oppa? he's giving you time out now?"

jungkook stares at her and nods slowly, "yeah, something like that..."

"take the time out," she says, "i take the time out, then oppa says riri is a good girl. it's okay."

"i- i can't..." he blinks his tears away, "they won't talk to me..."

"why-"

"enough," jimin interrupts, "aera, go and sleep. and you, jungkook, better stop wasting our time and go to your room too. you're grounded."

aera frowns at him, smacking jimin's hand away when he tries to bring aera towards him. the girl steps back, near jungkook, sending a glare to the eldest brother, "why are you scolding kookie?"

"stop it, kiddo. come here."

"no, why did you scold koo? look he's crying." she says, "you said it's bad to make others cry."

"i didn't make him cry." jimin says.

"you scolded him!" the sister says, scolding jimin now who sighs and nods.

"alright, i did. now leave him alone, we'll go and sleep."

"you're bad!" she whines, struggling to get her hand free from his grip.

"aera, why are you being like this baby? come to oppa, we'll go to your room and sleep." jimin says, kneeling down near the child as she keeps trying to get herself free. "aish! will you tell me what's wrong?"

aera stops and looks at him with a pout, "you made kookie cry..."

"okay listen, yes i scolded him because he was being a bad boy. y'know bad kids get scolded right? when you don't finish your lunch or when you don't do your homework, you get scolded too, just like that."

aera nods slowly, looking back at jungkook and says, "koo it's okay, oppa said that so you become a good boy. don't be sad. y'know all oppas were so worried when you were not coming back, and i said riri's not happy. i thought you were hurt, so i was crying and then he hugged me. we was so worried, that's why he scolded you i think... right oppa?" she smiles, at jimin who blinks a few times, hearing such understanding words from his little sister and nods slowly.

jin and namjoon smile at the child, feeling proud just by listening to her cute words full of maturity and consideration about her brothers despite being just eight years old.

she turns to jimin and hugs him, "i'm sorry, you're not bad. you're the best oppa, my jiminie oppa." she says giggling at him and pecks his lips, making him smile too, "please don't be mad at koo. just a little bit, like you give me time out, only that much with koo. he's so cute, and we don't like koo crying... you were so worried, then why are you scolding him when he came back? did you hug him?"

jimin glances at yoongi who's stating at the little girl as well, listeing to her words that are hitting them like arrows.

"did you hug kookie?" aera asks again, this time looking at the rest of them too.

"no..." jimin shakes his head.

"let's give him a hug together" aera suggests, "koo and riri loves group huggies!"

jimin chuckles softly, agreeing to her idea as tears pool his eyes too, realising how he let his anger take control and didn't even bother making sure if his brother was fine or not.

aera pulls his hand, making him stand up and walks to jungkook, motioning her hand for the rest of them too. yoongi steps forward, glancing at the girl as jimin carries her and looks at the elder.

jimin places his hand on aera's back as she leans forward, towards jungkook wrapping her arms around his neck and gives him a hug, making him smile. she pulls away with a frown, staring at jimin and says, "hug?"

"yeah," he nods, hugging the younger brother and sighs softly when the boy starts crying on his shoulder again. "jungkook, don't cry. i'm sorry for yelling at you. please don't do anything like this again, you had me dying today."

"i'm sorry too." yoongi says, joining the hug as aera said.

jungkook shakes his head, "i'm sorry..."

"stop crying now," jimin says, patting his head, "we're not mad at you."

jungkook looks up with his bloodshot eyes, glancing at his hyungs' faces and breaks into another sob, "i'm so sorry hyungie, i've been so bad... you can give me any punishment you want, i'll do that i promise. but please don't stop talking to me, i don't want any money or car or anything, i just want my hyung and my riri that's all...."

aera stares at him, balling his eyes out, hugging jimin who is holding her too. jimin glances at her, smiling when he notices her perplexed gaze at the younger brother and pats his back.

"i know, i said a lot of things out of anger. i shouldn't have said that." jimin says, "now don't cry, aera's watching you, bud."

jungkook shakes his head, turning his head away from the sister, hugging jimin and yoongi.

"hyung," jimin calls for jin, gesturing at the sister, earning a nod from the eldest who steps forward and takes the little girl from him.

"jungkook-ah," yoongi rubs his back, "it's alright, don't cry, little one."

it takes a few more minutes for them to calm the youngest boy down, and right when they thought it was all sorted, they hear another cry, this time a more high pitched one. all the eyes turn to aera seeing her rubbing her eyes as she sobs in jin's arms while he's trying to make her stop crying.

"hey, what's the matter aera? why are you crying?" hoseok asks, holding her hand and wipes her tears, but new ones flow down almost instantly.

"koo's crying..." she says between sobs, making the boys chuckle.

"i'm not crying now, ri." jungkook says, "look, i'm okay."

aera looks at him forgetting about crying and then looks at jin, pointing her hand down. he nods and places her on her feet, watching her run to jungkook and hugging his waist.

"hey, don't cry," jungkook smiles.

"don't cry..."

"yeah, i'm not crying." he says, "you're crying."

"no..." she wipes her tears quickly, and sniffles softly looking up at him, "i'm not crying... you're crying."

"nobody's crying," jimin says, patting her head and smiles, "it's already very late now, nearly morning. so i suggest we should go to bed, let kookie rest, he's tired right?"

aera nods and holds jimin's hand, waving at jungkook, "bye, take rest. we'll play tomorrow."

"yeah, sure." he chuckles, waving at her, "thank you for helping me, princess."

"no problem." she gives him a thumbs up, "don't be a bad boy again, okay?"

"never," he promises.

"good," jimin praises, and looks at aera, "now let's go, say good night to everyone."

"good night jinnie oppa! good night joonie oppa! good night hobi oppa! good night taetae! good night koo! good night appa!"

"my baby" jimin chuckles, carrying her up the stairs and nuzzles his face against her cheek, eliciting playful cackles from the sister.

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a/n- we wish u a merry christmas, we wish u a merry christmas, we wish u a merry christmas and a happy new year~✨

btw jiminie was so mad right? he was about to throw hands on kook lol. anyways how was the chapter? did u like it?

vote if u did, comment and well the other two books (toxic traits and babyfeet) will be updated soon today. 😌

take care, love you all!❤️✨

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