Caira

Jimin didn't care that I was adopted.

As we approached the Dunkin Donuts, he whistled the Unicorn Song, which had been my favorite since mom and dad had adopted me last year. Jimin had been the only one to welcome me. Not even mom and dad did.

Although I hadn't been there long, I had gained two siblings. No, not Jimin, two additional siblings. They had adopted two boys after they had gotten me. Jimin was their only blood-related child, and every time I had asked them about it, they told me they were trying to help kids who didn't have homes. It was a six-person family, and I didn't know how to process going from abandoned to part of a huge house.

I decided to sing along to his whistling, though it sounded warped thanks to my nonstop giggling. "You have to have one horn to be a unicorn."

Jimin gave me a sly smile before leading me to the front of the donut and ice cream shop. The glass door ahead had a white "open" sign on it, and inside was a packed dining area with more square wooden tables than I could count. From outside, I could hear all the chatter and the loud bzzz of the milkshake machine.

Jimin pulled on the door and groaned. The muscles in his neck popped against his skin. "Hey, kid, I think this is too heavy for me. You think you can help your bro out?"

After rubbing my hands together, I gripped the handle and pulled with all my might. It made a creaking sound as it opened, and Jimin broke out into a cheer.

He ruffled my hair. "You should be a superhero!"

Tufts of wavy black hair obstructed my vision, but if I were a true superhero, no bad hair day would stop me from saving the planet. Or, in that case, Jimin's poor, small hands. My biggest flex was that my pinky was slightly larger than his. Slightly.

Jimin took my hand and led me inside. As soon as we entered, the strong scent of chocolate frosted donuts wafted in and out of my nose. The aroma was so strong, I could taste it in the back of my throat; however, as tasty as donuts were, my eyes were on the prize: ice cream.

In the corner of the small but busy shop were the freezers holding more ice cream cakes than anyone could count. Not to brag, but Jimin had saved up to buy me one since mom and dad, despite having more than enough money, didn't want to celebrate my birthday. Yeah, I had the best brother ever. I bet all the kids at school were jealous.

"Pick whatever you want, kiddo. On me," he said, opening the freezer for me to peek inside.

A blast of cold air bit at my face, and I trembled at the sudden temperature change. Jimin laughed at my expense, and I huffed before digging through all the cardboard boxes containing the delicious goods.

Nope, nope, no. Where the heck were all the unicorns? That wasn't fair! How could you make ice cream cakes but not have unicorns?

At my pout, Jimin chuckled and stood on his tippy toes to reach the top of the vertical freezer. He had a good five inches on me, though in my defense, he also had three years on me, so if he wasn't taller than me, that'd be concerning.

His white t-shirt lifted as he reached for the box on top. In the summer heat, I could see pit stains and sweat decorating his hips, which weren't fully covered by his jeans. What stood out most was his stomach. It had a splotch of black and blue on his otherwise tan skin.

Jimin came back down with the box in his tiny hands. He handed it to me, and I spotted rainbow colors and a golden horn; it was my precious unicorn cake.

I snatched it and bounced on my heels. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you-"

He cut me off with a laugh. "Since when does my CC ever not get spoiled, huh?"

CC was my favorite nickname. My younger brothers couldn't pronounce Caira, so Jimin had come up with CC as a solution. Best solution ever.

With his head, Jimin motioned to the counter with frantic workers behind it. "What do you say we get some milkshakes?"

"Really?!"

"You're a teenager now, you gotta get the teenage treatment."

That logic didn't make much sense, but whatever, free milkshakes! Although, Jimin had a point. I had just turned thirteen, and if anyone knew about teenage life, it was Jimin. He was a later teen at sixteen, and he had complained about his math homework more than our parents complained about running out of alcohol.

Jimin placed his hand on my back to lead me through the crowd of people who smelled or chocolate. The chitchat overstimulated my ears, and I ended up pressing my body against Jimin's. He took the ice cream cake from me and held it with one hand, using his other to wrap it around my shoulders.

Crowds terrified me. I would rather lose the unicorn cake than deal with crowds for longer than I had to. The amount of people surrounding me made my lungs feel dry, like those anti-smoking commercials my teachers had shown me. Tears stomped on my eyes until I had to close them and make little squeaking noises. It wasn't voluntary. Every time I got into a mass of bodies, hiccups and squeaks left me.

"It's okay, CC," he whispered, his voice hard to hear over all the other noises in the vicinity. "We'll drink outside, how about that?"

I would never say no to that.

We made it to the front counter, and Jimin set the cake down. The machine the female worker tapped on had the time and date displayed. It was my awesome birthday: July 9th. That was such a fun date. It was colorful, almost. Or maybe I was going crazy, which was possible too.

Jimin ordered a chocolate milkshake for me and a vanilla for himself and paid for both them and the cake. Then, as soon as we received the drinks, we left. The fresh, hot New York air felt sticky on me, but I didn't mind. I was wearing my unicorn tank top and shorts from Justice that were a little too small, but I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.

I slurped on my chocolate milkshake as Jimin took me to the SUV. He had a permit and couldn't drive yet, but it wasn't like mom and dad cared. He had been teaching himself to drive despite it being illegal. I would probably have to do the same when I grew up.

He put the cake in the back and buckled it in, then he opened my door for me. Mom and dad didn't approve of me being in the front, but Jimin never listened. So, I went inside and buckled in while drinking the chocolatey goodness.

Jimin got on the driver's side and got a stream of vanilla ice cream on his upper lip. He glanced in the rear view mirror and noticed it, then snickered and turned to me, waggling his brows.

"All I need is the horn, then I'll look like a unicorn, right?"

I laughed and nudged his shoulder. "Nooo, you also need rainbow hair."

"I bet I'd rock rainbow hair."

The two of us giggled, and I ended up drinking my milkshake within a minute and getting brain freeze. I whined like a toddler and pouted, and Jimin set down his drink to instead place the back of his hand against my forehead. Then, he pulled back and made a grabbing motion with the hand.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked, and I shook my head. "It's a brain eater. Do you know what it's doing?" Again, I shook my head. He grinned until his eyes smiled with him. "Starving!"

Without warning, he grabbed my head and made a fake ahhh noise while ruffling my hair and pretending he was eating my brain. I yelped and thrashed around while giggling so hard I almost had snot bubbles forming on my nose.

Jimin stopped after a moment and chuckled. "Uh oh, the brain eater's still hungry, it couldn't find any brains."

"Hey!" I unbuckled and latched my hand onto his head. "Payback!"

"Not my hair!"

We went back and forth pretending to be brain eaters, and by the time we were done, Jimin's milkshake had gotten warm, and the heat wave we were going through didn't help.

When we settled down, Jimin started the car. "Finish my milkshake, CC. I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure?"

He took it out of the cupholder and handed it to me. "Super sure. You're the birthday princess, you get whatever you want today."

I took it and drank it, and it wasn't as good as the chocolate, but good nonetheless. Milkshakes were always fantastic and were probably my favorite drink in the universe.

"Happy birthday, kiddo," he said with a soft smile. "You know I love you, right?"

Jimin met my gaze, and the first thing I noticed were his puppy eyes. They were delicate and fit the rest of his soft face. His cheeks were puffy, and his long black hair was parted to show his forehead and the mole that rested there. Upon seeing his patient stare, I beamed.

"I love you too."

✧✧✧

PLEASE READ:

Welcome to His Serendipity, a short PJM story surrounding topics of found family, strained relationships, coming-of-age, alcoholism, and more. While the mature topics are not shown in great detail, there is implied abuse and shown neglect along with profanity. I don't think this is an 18+ story, but I recommend it for a 16+ audience.

This is very speculative and short for a reason. There are many things here left open to interpretation on purpose to encourage you to draw your own conclusions.

This is loosely based on a real life event where a mother and father kept having children but pawned them off on their two oldest children instead of raising them themselves.

I rarely write in first person since I prefer third, but for the topics this story is covering, I feel first person is more effective/needed. Besides, you guys know I always like to experiment with my writing.

There will be a lot of time skipping. Not one chapter takes place in the same year.

This is a depressing narrative with a lot of angst. Please do not read unless you are looking for a sad story.

P.S. As many of you know, July 9th is my birthday. Yes, I was blessed to be born on Army Day. In this story, it's a reference to Army Day, not my birthday, so this is in no way a self-insert or anything of the type. Caira is not to be mistaken with me. She looks and acts far different from me. I just wanted to clarify that in case there was confusion.