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Jungkook sighed deeply, letting his frustration out as he saw his little sister asleep on the couch with her birthday hat on her head. Aera's feet were hanging lazily from the couch and upper body leaning to the side. She was still wearing the baby pink dress that went down almost till her knees; she had seen it in the mall last week when she went there with Jungkook, since her birthday was nearing, he bought it. But it ached him to see her not being able to cut her birthday cake and fall asleep like that after being tired of waiting for their eldest brother.

Jungkook stood up and carefully took off Aera's hat. She had a whole discussion with Jungkook about the birthday hat having a unicorn or some Disney character. He gently patted her waist when she stirred in her place and headed upstairs to their room, carrying the little girl in his arms.

12:56 am.

Jungkook didn't know who he should be mad at, his hyung or himself. Maybe he could've avoided all this if he didn't give in with Aera's wish to wait for Jimin to arrive. But he wanted to celebrate his princess's birthday together with family. What's the result now? She didn't get to cut the cake at all, which she was excited for. Jimin didn't show up yet. But he said he would, by 7.

Jungkook shook Aera lightly, "Baby, let's get changed before sleeping okay?"

"Mmm no" She mumbled and turned away which didn't last long as she remembered it was her birthday, "My cake?"

Jungkook smiled softly and nodded, "It's in the fridge, you can eat it tomorrow. C'mon now, change your clothes."

"Where's Jimin Oppa?"

The brother looked down, trying to find the words to tell Aera, so that he could avoid hurting her with the sad news. After a few seconds he finally spoke, "He called me and said sorry for not coming on time. He got caught up with some urgent work. But he'll be here tomorrow..." He said mentally hoping for some miracle to happen and his lie would turn true.

"Oh okay" Aera said in a small voice, nodding her head subtly.

"He's busy y'know, work sometimes-"

"Yeah I know" She nodded and turned to face Jungkook properly. He sat down beside her and leaned down, planting a long kiss on her forehead.

"Happy birthday Angel." He said, "Don't be sad about anything. We'll have a great time tomorrow, I promise." He smiled at his sister. It was a promise to her, however it meant more to himself. He wasn't letting tommorow get ruined because of some stupid little thing, well unless it was Jimin. As much as Jungkook wanted Jimin to be here and think straight, the boy knew his brother was blinded by love right now.

Aera nodded and snuggled closer to Jungkook, he chuckled and pulled away playfully. "You have to change first."

"No" She said, "Let's sleep first."

"What you're wearing doesn't look really comfortable to sleep in."

"But I don't wanna get up."

Jungkook shook his head and pulled her up, she whined a bit as he unzipped the dress from the back and gave her her PJs. With a small pout, Aera got changed and laid back on the bed waiting for Jungkook to come as well.

NEXT MORNING-

"Ri..." Jungkook grumbled, turning on the bed. A crease formed between his brows as his hands roamed on the empty side finding her there. He opened his eyes and looked around the room, but there was no sign of her. He brushed his hair back and stretched his body, dragging himself out of the bed.

On walking down the stairs his eyes scanned the area, stopping near the kitchen where he saw Area patiently staring at the cake. He could tell that she really wanted to eat it. His lips pressed together, fighting the urge to laugh at his sister's adorable behaviour as she took a little bit of the icing on her finger from one side and licked it.

"Hey good morning" He said and walked in, making Aera startle and quickly turn around so that she was right in front of the cake, trying to block his vision.

"Good morning" She said, "I was- I was just watching over the cake. What if a thief broke in and ate the cake- my cake...?"

"Yeah? You're looking out for your cake?" Jungkook asked.

"Mm-hmm" Aera nodded innocently.

Jungkook raised his eyebrows and nodded his head, "That's a hard job right? But Riri look, I think a mouse came and ate the icing a little bit." He said pointing at the cake.

"Oh no" The girl sighed deeply while shaking her head, making Jungkook crack up.

"C'mere little drama queen!" He said and scooped her up in his arms, rubbing his nose against hers making Aera go all giggly.

____

The golden yellow rays of sunlight lit Jimin's room remarkably. He squinted his eyes before trying to open them, adjusting to the bright light that was creeping in through the window. A faint groan left his lips and he cursed under his breath, hating the throbbing pain right in the center of his head.

Jimin turned to his right and sighed, "Morning baby." He heard his girlfriend's voice. A little raspy, but that's okay. Jimin smiled and nodded, grabbing his head.

"Hmm your head must be hurting pretty bad isn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah, feels like I'm dying."

The girl laughed a little and leaned forward to kiss her boyfriend's rosy lips, which he responded to quickly. His hand snaked around her waist and up her back, that's when he realized they were both naked.

"But I didn't even drink..." He said frowning in confusion, "did I?"

"Uhm maybe the cocktail had alcohol." The girl grinned while shrugging her shoulders. Jimin remembered that it was actually Alexa herself who had prepared the drink in the first place.

"You..." He muttered and sighed on seeing that his girlfriend was happy, "You didn't have to do all that Lexi, you could've just told me. I'd've prepared a date or something. This is like, 'get the guy drunk' type of thing." Jimin said.

Alexa sighed and pouted at him, "Is it bad that I love you and I want you with me?"

"I'm not saying that, I'm just- okay fine let's not make a fuss of it and get up. Let's have breakfast yeah?" He asked, Alexa nodded and smiled happily looking at him.

Jimin sighed and sat up as his girlfriend walked out of the room only wearing his T-shirt. He picked up his phone from the night stand, checking the time and his inbox for any important messages. His relaxed expression turned into a horrified one as he looked at the date and the numerous missed calls and messages from Jungkook.

"Shit!" He cursed and stood up hastily rushing to grab his clothes and get ready real quick.

He took a shower and headed out seeing Alexa making breakfast for them, "Lexi, I'll be visiting home today. I'm sorry I bothered you for cooking an-"

"What?" She turned to look at him, "But I'm almost done." She said,

"I know, I'm sorry. But you remember it's Aera's birthday, I already missed wishing her last night as you got me an alcoholic drink." He said, "Was it really important? You knew I had to go home."

"Seriously Jimin? You're blaming it on me now? I just wanted to spend time with you, I love you for God's sake! And yeah, what if you missed one of her birthdays, you had a great time with me didn't you?"

Jimin rolled his eyes as he spoke, "I'm going, I'll try to come back by evening."

"Try? Jimin please, You always leave me alone to be with Aera. I am your girlfriend baby, you should stay wi-"

"Oh god! Are you really saying that? Let Me remind you if you forgot, Aera is my sister and she just turned eleven! She needs someone by her side!"

"She has Jungkook! I don't have anyone other than you Jimin."

"I... Alright, I'm sorry" Jimin sighed at the end. He went near Alexa and gave her a reassuring hug, "I love you." He whispered and gave a brief kiss on her lips.

"Are you really going?" She asked.

Jimin nodded, "I don't wanna make Aera sad, you know how she is, she won't stop asking about me until I get there." He chuckled. Alexa looked down and didn't say anything. "Bye, I'll try to come back soon." He smiled and walked away.

Jimin buckled the seat belt and drove off in the direction of the house where he used to live with his siblings. The whole way his mind only thought about ways to make it up with his little sister. Not to lie, but he was actually quite upset with what Alexa did. But at last he loved her too much to hold grudges. Whenever the girl said she loves him and only does what she does to have him near her, he melts and can't stay angry with her. And sometimes, Jimin even thought that maybe Alexa is the right one for him.

Jimin waited patiently for the signal to turn green, and sped decently focusing on the road. The traffic cleared in about ten minutes and he was standing on the front porch of the house, ready to press the doorbell button. He shifted the brown colored bag from his right hand to the left one, as he had picked up some chocolate doughnuts for Aera on the way.

"Jungkook-ah" he called, but soon realized that the door was locked. He frowned and fished in his pockets to find the key.

"Hey, where did you both go?" He asked nobody in particular as he knew the house was empty and sat on the couch. Placing the bag on the coffee table aside, he ringed his brother.

"Hello Hyung" Jungkook said, there was a lot of disturbance behind his voice, which made Jimin keep the phone at a distance from his ear.

"Hey, where are you?" Jimin asked.

"We came out, Aera was getting bored at home so..." Jungkook said, "We'll come back around 4 or 5."

"Ah alright, actually I just arrived here. Anyways take your time and enjoy." The elder brother said before hanging up.

____

Jungkook sighed, staring at his phone before he kept it back in the pocket of his jeans.

"Oppa let's go!" Aera whined, pulling his hand towards a ride. After a few medium and small rides, she finally stopped and looked at Jungkook.

"Okay, which one?" He asked.

"That," She said, pointing at the roller coaster. Jungkook gave an amused expression and headed there with her. He watched the staff taking measurements for children's height to tell if they were suitable or not for the ride. Some of the kids stuffed their shoes until they reached the required height. Aera was just a little bit shorter, but it didn't count as her shoes added that amount of height. She grinned happily and high-fived Jungkook, beading up to the coaster ride where she sat next to him.

"Hold my hand if you're scared, okay?" He said.

"I'm not scared Kookie." She replied.

"But still, I don't want you flying off because it speeds up pretty fast." He said and secured the belts and bars for safety.

"Woohoo! It's starting!" Aera cheered happily. It was her first time going on a roller coaster ride. Jimin never let her go on one until now saying that she's too young or she'll fall off because she's short.

"Let's get it!" Jungkook said.

"Let's get it!" Aera repeated and felt the adrenaline rushing in her body as the ride began pacing up.

Her eyes widened on looking down from the very top, from where the coaster was going to go down in full speed. Her hand clutched onto Jungkook's tightly while shutting her eyes close.

"Open your eyes Aera!" Jungkook shouted so she could hear him over the loud noise of the wind swooping against both of them.

"Oppa I'm scared!" She shouted back, holding onto his hand.

"No you're not, look at me and enjoy the ride!" He said, "Woohoo!" Aera slowly opened her eyes and looked at her brother. He was actually having the time of his life, and that made her smile. Her head turned to look ahead and raised her arms up in the air with Jungkook doing the same but he kept holding her hand as he knew she were actually scared.

"Yayyy!" Aera cheered and Jungkook glanced at her proudly.

The ride was over and the two of them came back on the ground, "It wasn't that scary" she said.

"Of course, you're my Champ." He said while grinning and hugged her. "Now let's go and eat something. I bet you're hungry."

"Uhm a little bit." She nodded.

"Just a little bit? It's almost 3 now, how come you're not hungry." He said, and she just shrugged. "Did you eat something without me?" He pouted playfully.

"Yep" Aera grinned, "I ate a lot of cookies."

"Hmm I see, someone's not getting ice cream then."

"Noo! Oppa, I'm joking. I didn't eat anything without you!" She said, Jungkook laughed and nodded.

"Then let's go and eat." He said.

"What is that?" Aera asked, Jungkook followed her gaze and noticed a small photo booth. He smiled, as he remembered how their parents used to bring him and Jimin to a similar kind of place when they were young and take pictures.

"A photo booth" He said, "there's a machine inside it. We put the coin in, and the camera in there clicks a picture for us. You wanna try?"

"We have a phone" she said with a frown that displayed the confusion on her face.

"Yes we do, but it's like... Uhm when phones weren't that common, people used to go to these kind of booths and take pictures." He said, knowing that his sister wasn't familiar with that system of living. He chuckled and ruffled her hair, "We'll go there after eating, then you can see it for yourself."

"Mm-hmm" she nodded subtly and walked away with Jungkook holding his hand to avoid getting lost in the crowded place.

___

The day was great, Jungkook did keep his promise of making his sister's birthday fun. She was holding Jungkook's hand with her left hand and with the right she was holding the strings that were tied to a bunch of balloons floating in the air, and hugging a cute teddy bear. The girl was all in all happy, but at times Jimin crossed her mind and she wanted to ask Jungkook where the eldest was. He said Jimin would come today.

"Oppa" Aera said, to which Jungkook hummed in response, "Where's Jiminie Oppa?"

Jungkook glanced down at her mentally praying for the elder brother to still be at home, "He said he was waiting at home when we were in the amusement park."

"Really?" She said excitedly, "Let's go, quick!"

Jungkook chuckled and nodded following to the front door of the house. He sighed in relief on seeing that the door wasn't locked, which means Jimin was still here.

"Oppa?" Aera called out for the eldest brother and ran inside, "Jimin Oppa?"

"Hey, Welcome home Princess" Jimin said with a huge smile plastered on his lips as he saw her with balloons and a teddy bear. "Happy birthday baby. I'm sorry I'm late."

"Its okay, you got work so it's not your fault." She said, he looked down for a moment before fixing his eyes on his brother who was just watching Aera hugging Jimin. "Yeah, I kinda had some work... Yeah. But I'm sorry."

Aera nodded and said, "Look, Kookie got me these. And we went on the roller coaster and then we took pictures in the boot!"

"A boot?" Jimin said, not quite catching what the kid just said. "What is that?"

"A boot is where we take pictures." She said, making Jungkook laugh while Jimin couldn't understand.

"It's a 'booth' kiddo" Jungkook corrected, "A photo booth."

"Ohhh" Jimin breathed out and laughed, ruffling Aera's hair as he found her little mistake cute.

"Yeah a booth" She nodded, "we took pictures there Oppa. I enjoyed so much today." She said,

"That's good." Jimin smiled.

"I'll come back quickly okay? Don't go yet." Aera said. Jimin nodded and saw her running up the stairs.

"I'm sorry Jungkook, I couldn't come yesterday." Jimin said.

Jungkook nodded, sighing and sat beside him, "How's it going between you and Alexa?" He asked.

"Good, I guess" the older answered, again, earning a nod from the younger. After a moment of silence, Jungkook decided to voice his thoughts.

"I don't know if I should really say this or not, but let's just try. Maybe things will get better." He said, earning a confused look from Jimin, "Alexa...I don't think she's actually the one for you hyung. I mean, please don't get me wrong, but have you noticed how far you've drifted from us? She's-"

"No, Jungkook it's not like that. I don't know why you're seeing this all in a negative way. But I know it's not like that at all. We know things change once one of the siblings starts dating. And only because of that I cannot just go and dump her like that. I love her, and she loves me." Jimin said.

"I know that," Jungkook said, "You've said that enough times for me to remember it. But think about it, is it really necessary to say it again and again? Believe it or not, you're just trying to convince yourself that you both love each other. Try to see the bigger picture hyung, it's kinda obvious that she's manipulative and controlling you."

"So you want me to break up?" Jimin asked low-key glaring at Jungkook who just sighed.

"I'm not saying that, just think carefully. Try to remember the last time you actually spent time with Aera, or when you stayed over without Alexa creating a problem. Or try to recall the number of times we, hyung, had an argument. Please, I don't want Aera to grow used to you not being around her." Jungkook said and stood up, seeing their little sister coming down the stairs after changing her clothes.

"Oppa, we saved the cake for you" She said, "Let's go and eat it." Jimin smiled weakly and nodded, following her to the kitchen. Aera stopped on her track and turned to look at Jimin as his phone started ringing. He glanced at the caller id and answered, again, for the fifth time since he came home.

"Hmm" he positioned the phone close to his ear, "Yeah I'll come in a bit-"

"Yes I know Lexi, okay bye." He sighed and shoved his phone in his pocket again. Aera looked at Jungkook and whose eyes were fixed on Jimin.

"Is Oppa not staying?" She asked Jungkook in a small voice, but Jimin heard it too. Jungkook looked down at her and then at Jimin.

"Uh he..."

"I'm sorry honey, I'll have to go. I've been here for quite long now." Jimin said with a sad smile.

"But I just met you..." She mumbled with a pout.

"I know baby, but I have to go. Alexa is alone in the apartment." He said.

"But-"

"I'm sorry" he said and patted her head. Aera nodded subtly and looked down.

But it's my birthday...

Her fingers fiddled with the hem of her shorts, she blinked a few times and turned to look at Jungkook who gave a small smile and stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her to embrace her. He leaned down to match her height, and whispered, "Its okay"

Aera shook her head against the fabric of his shirt, wiping her tears there. He pulled away and lovingly patted her cheek. She rubbed her eyes and smiled, turning back to Jimin.

"It's okay" She said with a smile, that both the brothers knew was fake. And the fact that it was given by their sister on her eleventh birthday was even more saddening.

Jimin couldn't do anything. He left after a while and Aera was sitting on the counter top while Jungkook did the dishes.

"You said its my special day right?" She said in a hushed tone.

"It is, Aera." Jungkook replied and wiped his hands dry.

"Oppa can I- I feel like, maybe, if Jimin Oppa didn't come then it would've- it would've been happy right? Why did he come if he had to leave like- like this?" She said, scared of her own words because she knew exactly what they meant. And soon after, Aera shook her head letting the tears flow and fear took over. "No, I didn't mean that... He- he could've stayed. I don't know..." She sobbed. Jungkook hugged her instantly, rubbing her back.

"I know you didn't mean it." He said, "It's alright, don't cry."

"No Kookie, I love my Oppa, I don't wanna be a bad sister..." Aera said between sobs holding Jungkook, as her face was buried in the crook of his neck.

"You're not a bad sister Riri, you're the best one. And Jimin Oppa loves you as well. He just doesn't have time right now. But you know he's always there for us right?"

She nodded and sniffed, pulling away slowly. "Don't tell him what I said. He- He'll feel bad."

Jungkook nodded and kissed Aera's forehead. Even this eleven year old child was more understanding than Alexa. Jungkook could see how Jimin himself was just pushing their relationship forward with her. He felt more than just angry at Alexa, he had seen her always trying to keep Jimin to herself. Whenever he'd come to hangout with them, she'd keep on calling every ten minutes asking what Jimin was doing.

Jungkook gave Aera a glass of water, remembering how happy she was all day. Then suddenly things were going down the hill. He was mad at his hyung, Jimin had promised to never let anything come between their sibling relationship. But more than that, he felt sorry for his brother. He knew that Jimin wasn't really happy and forced the relationship on himself, which as a result was consuming him in a toxic way.

"Close your eyes," Jungkook said, laying next to Aera on the bed.

"Does Lexi really can't stay alone for a while?" The girl asked, "I miss Jiminie Oppa, he has changed. He only thinks about Lexi, I'm not his favourite now... I think."

______

Yayyy!!!!! Hello everyone!!!

I know Its been a while, I missed you guys a lot. This chapter has been in my draft for quite long now. And y'all wanted this too. So I thought it'd be great if we start our new and fresh journey from here.

I'm looking forward to this book, please keep supporting and showing your love through the votes and comments you leave on the chapters.

Love you all! ❤️

Borahae! 💜

Word count: 3.8K