*requested*

___

"how was your day?"

good? bad? neutral? instead of an answer, lily shrugs her shoulders, more surprised to see both jungkook and taehyung in the car today. it's usually jungkook to take her home, for he gets done with his lectures around the same time as lily's school dismissal, while jimin and taehyung are at work. but seeing them here today makes her smile, shifting forward to edge of the seat and leans onto the passenger seat, tilting her head to look at jungkook then at taehyung.

"how are you here today?"

"oh, i finished off early," taehyung smiles, "so i thought why not surprising lily?"

"oh, that's good. i'm happy," she giggles.

"really? then i'm happy too," he leans to his side, bumping his head against hers gently. "now tell us what did you do in school today? anything new?"

"no, just the normal stuff," she says, pulling back to take her bag and pulls out a notebook from inside. she opens it quickly with a proud smile, showing it to both the brothers, "i got excellent!" her finger points at the handwriting of her teacher at the end of the page after the math sums are done correctly.

"good job," taehyung praises, "kookie didn't get an excellent at your age,"

"i did, okay?" jungkook hisses, making lily laugh. "you're the one who always cheated in exams and copied others' homework, you bully," 

"taetae oppa was a bully?" lily gasps, "that's bad, oppa. you don't wanna be a bully,"

"he's just making it up, baby," taehyung sighs, "anyway, did you tell your friends to come to the party tomorrow?"

lily's enthusiasm settles down, sighing at his question as she's reminded once again that's it's her birthday tomorrow and the brothers want to throw a big party for her which includes all her school friends. although she tried refusing, saying that there's no need to do anything like that and she'd much rather spend her tenth birthday with her three brothers and two canine best friends than cutting the cake and pretending to be friends with kids of her class.

the brothers, however, didn't seem to understand what she couldn't say out loud. her silent denials and gone smiles at the mention of inviting 'friends' to her birthday party somehow gets hidden under the excitement of the brothers, who are determined to make this birthday super special for lily. seeing all the energy and excitement from the three, she was wondering too that the classmates might in fact showup. but the chances are thin.

for one, she didn't invite anyone. and two, no name comes to her mind at thought of the word 'friend' other than charley and cooper. but they're already at home, with her all the time. they are the only friends lily has and wants to have for the rest of her life. they play with her at any time of the day or even at night. they like her genuinely. they never leave her alone even if she locks the door of her room sometimes when she's upset— the two dogs will be sitting by the door the whole time. they even bark at jimin, taehyung and jungkook if they're scolding her more than a few seconds.

charley amd cooper are what friends actually are according to lily, not those kids from her class who always talked to her when they liked her new pencil or set of colors, and other times calling her a rich brat. that's weird for lily too, for it makes her question herself, wondering when she did anything that made her come off as someone who shows off their family wealth. she wore the same uniform to school as the rest of the kids, had some books and notebooks, ate the same kind of food like her classmates and took equal participation as other kids in activities like cleaning their classroom. she never refused anyone when they asked her to share her colors or a spare pencil, and played the same games like those other kids. then how come only she is a rich brat?

oh wait, she doesn't have a mother too. or a father. the kids, who often said they heard from their parents, that lily's mother wasn't a good woman— having two failed marriages, boys from two different men, who left her for other women. but lily doesn't get that too. is that even a reason to hate her? or her mother? she remembers by heart all the time all three of her brothers always told her that their mother was the strongest women they had ever seen. she loved them, chose them and herself over some selfish, unfaithful men. and that, jimin said, was something very brave.

then why do lily's classmates and their parents say she was not a 'good woman'? they surely have some messed up opinions. maybe they never got to know sunhee, and that's why they had their versions of her, their own different opinions on her life and the decisions she made. lily told one girl about her mom with shining eyes, repeating the words of her brothers admiring their mother. she had expected anything but that reaction from the girl. she had frowned in an unpleasant manner, telling lily to not say stuff like that and how her own mother had told her clearly not to be too close to lily.

still wondering why her birthday party might not be very special for her?

jungkook still presses on, pulling lily out of thoughts and she pouts, "no," she shakes her head when he asks again whether she told her non existent friends about the party. "i don't have friends. i want koo, taetae, jiminie oppa, charley, cooper and lily tomorrow, that's all,"

taehyung smiles softly at her, "of course, we'll be there, tiger. but we want you to have fun with kids your age too,"

"exactly," jungkook nods, "and if you don't have friends. then you can make some tomorrow. kids love birthday parties,"

"yeah, you should give it a try,"

lily sighs, shrugging her shoulders before taking her bag and opens the door of the car once taehyung has pulled up in front of the entrance door of the mansion. lily runs in with a smile, calling out for charley and cooper even before entering inside. taehyung chuckles at her, stepping out with jungkook and hands the keys to one of the drivers who appeared quickly, taking the car to the garage.

"i missed you too," lily giggles, sitting on the carpet of the living room, petting and hugging both the dogs as they wag their tails in excitement, licking her face and trying their best to get maximum attention. "do you know i made a drawing of you both in art class today," she says, leaving cooper and pulls her bag closer, taking out the drawing book. "look," she turns a few pages, ignoring the tomato, fish, christmas tree and a girl with three big brothers, focusing on the recent piece of art she created.

it's charley and cooper indeed, a german shepherd with brown and black coat, and a golden retriever between golden and somewhat yellow (?) shade. she probably tried to give cooper's coat a highlight or something. jungkook and taehyung let out amazed chuckles, as she shows her drawing to them too, laughing at her own little mistake as charley's one leg is s bit thinner than the other three legs.

"but it's still good," taehyung says, "i can tell it's charley and cooper," he smiles, ruffling her hair then shifts his attention to the two dogs who are now waiting to be loved by him too for he has returned from work after morning. taehyung crouches down, stroking their backs.

cooper pulls away for a moment, going to jungkook then barking at the door, "what?" jungkook pets his head, "sit," he says, making him sit down quietly, the tail still moving side to side.

"he must be thinking that jimin will come home too since i'm here," taehyung says, leaning closer to charley and kisses the side of his head, "is that so? do you think it's evening already?"

"you come back in the evening, that's why," lily says, standing in front of jungkook and points at her tie. the boy loosens it for her, reminding her the part that she's supposed to pull instead of using all of her strength to make the knot tighter. she kicks off the shoes quickly, taking off the socks along with them, then unhooks the skirts, leaving herself in the loose white shirt and the pair of black shorts that she wears under her skirt.

"go and freshen up quickly," taehyung says, "you too, jungkook. i'll tell the staff to get something ready for you to eat,"

"i'm not hungry. i ate with the boys," jungkook stretches his body.

"alright," taehyung says, "tae oppa and lily will eat something delicious,"

"yes!" she jumps towards him, the uniform completely off now and only her briefs and undershirt on her body. "we'll eat, and then we can take a nap,"

"okay," taehyung hoists her up in his arms, nuzzling his face closer lily's, "say bye to kookie,"

"bye-bye, koo. see you later," she waves ar jungkook, getting a chuckle from him as he waves back. taehyung disappears off with lily upstairs, forgetting her uniform on the couch. he picks it up, smiling at the dogs and clicks his fingers, nodding for them to follow, "let's go,"

•••

"no, she didn't. but don't worry, i'll talk to the parents," taehyung says, getting a nod from jimin.

"she needs to make some friends of her age," the eldest says, sipping his coffee while jungkook is busy chatting on his phone. jimin shakes his head, chuckling with taehyung as he sighs deeply, "that phone of his,"

"did you get a girl, kook?" taehyung sniggers, "you've been on your phone a lot lately,"

"unfortunately, no,"

"unfortunately?" jimin laughs, "sometimes i forget you're twenty,"

"i was nineteen two months ago if that helps you," jungkook grins, putting down his phone finally and turns to face the elder brothers, "so, tell me what do i have to do for tomorrow?"

"help me select a cake first of all," jimin says, "then we need to finalize the menu for tomorrow,"

"i can do that," jungkook nods, "we need a lot of snacks that's for sure,"

"just make a list and give it to nelson," jimin says, gesturing towards the head of the housekeeping staff. the man nods quickly, assuring jimin that everything will be done perfectly and there's no need to worry.

talking for a bit more about lily's birthday party, then about work and jungkook's college, jimin decides it's time to wake lily up from her nap or else she wouldn't sleep at night. he leaves the brothers alone, heading upstairs towards their sister's room where she had fallen asleep with taehyung earlier. opening the door, jimin's surprised to find her sitting on the carpet with charley and cooper, and her drawing book and colors scattered around as she's busy drawing.

"—and you were a cute puppy when i met you," she's probably telling the story of how she met charley and cooper four years ago. charley moves his tail, accidentally placing it on lily's drawing book. she moves it aside, but the german shepherd places it there again, getting a look from her. "what?" charley obviously doesn't reply, laying down just like cooper, resting his paw on lily's knee. she sighs, moving his tail from her drawing a few more times only to have it back by the mischievous dog.

jimin fails to keep in his chuckle, gaining attention from lily as well as the dogs. he enters the room with a smile, crouching near the younger sister, ready to be tackled in a hug for it's still the first time he's meeting her after coming back from work today. lily climbs on his lap quickly, leving him with no option than to sit back, letting her give him a tight hug.

"looks like lily missed me a little too much, huh?" he laughs, glancing down at her, kissing the tip of her nose. "and why are you not wearing your clothes again?" lily's smile never dies, glancing down at herself still being in the same state as she was before sleeping with taehyung. but it's nothing new to have her only wear her undergarments at home, claiming that clothes were uncomfortable unless it was only a thin dress. that's how she mostly stayed in her briefs or shorts, and a tank top or undershirt.

"this is my clothes. i was sleeping," lily answers.

"you should put on some actual clothes, princess, or you're gonna fall ill," he says.

"okay," lily mumbles, standing up and picks up the t-shirt she was wearing yesterday. putting it on, she shows jimin and he nods towards the pants as well, making her protest although she she grabs her joggers that came with the t-shirt she's wearing and puts them on with a heavy heart.

"good girl," jimin praises, getting up as well. "now put all this aside and come down. you can help jungkook with the menu for tomorrow, if there's anything special you want,"

oh.

lily stares at him, nibbling on her lips and steps forward, hugging jimin's waist as she mumbles, "i don't want a big party. i want just jiminie, koo, taetae, charley, cooper and lily,"

"i know, honey," jimin smiles, sitting on the bed and lily stands in front of him, "we're gonna be there. kookie, tae oppa, me, charley and cooper too. but what we want is for you to enjoy your big day with your friends as well,"

"but i don't have friends," she leans onto him, fiddling with his rings as she holds his index finger, "charley and cooper are my best friends,"

"of course," he chuckles, "i'm sure charley and cooper love you just as much as you love them. and don't worry for tomorrow, it could be a nice way for you mix up with your classmates, right? you don't want someone to play with you in recess?"

"i play by myself," lily says, "in the- in the swings and slides and monkey bars. it's fun. and sometimes other people play with me too,"

jimin sighs softly, nodding his head and kisses her cheek, "alright, let's save this talk for later. tell me what do you want for dinner? i was thinking i should cook for lily today,"

"yes!" lily chirps with a smile, nodding her head, "kimchi!"

"okay then, kimchi it is," jimin chuckles, standing up and pats her head, "bring charley and cooper too. it's time for their meal,"

"okayyy!" lily gives a thumbs up, getting down to gather her stuff from the carpet and places it on the desk, before heading down with the two dogs.

•••

next day

"everything's ready, don't worry," taehyung says, fixing the last balloon near the couch and takes a few steps back to admire their hardwork of three hours. the curtains are all drapped with fairy lights and purple and white ribbons, balloons on the floor, on the walls and around the big 'happy birthday lily'. everything is set, now they just have to bring the sister down for her surprise and also wait for the other kids to arrive, so that the party could begin.

lily has been upstairs in her room after lunch busy watching ariel with both charley and cooper cuddled with her under the covers, while the brothers have being rushing to get all the decorations done around the mansion, checking the foods and drinks, and making sure that their presents were all ready as they wanted them to be. now after a lot of work, it's five minutes over six, and the brothers can take a breath of relief, looking around with the satisfaction that their princess's tenth birthday would be amazing.

"i love this," jungkook gushes, taking a sip of coke, followed by a deep 'ah', "lily will be happy,"

"yeah," jimin nods, "is the cake here? i told nelson to receive it from the delivery man,"

"yes, sir. both the cakes arrived," nelson says, getting a nod from jimin.

"perfect," taehyung stretches his body, "now let's go get ready. and get lily ready as well. she'll take the longest,"

"i'm tired already," jungkook shakes his head, "even with the staff helping us it took so long to decorate the place, and we didn't even do the whole mansion. next time we throw a party, let's rent a smaller place?"

"sure. let's celebrate your big twenty-one in an alley," taehyung sniggers.

"and let's not celebrate your big twenty-five at all," jungkook grumbles, walking past jimin and mutters, "he's older than me, but why are you quiet?"

jimin shakes his head, "go and get ready," he pats jungkook's back, "i'll get lily dressed first, then work on myself,"

"that's gonna take a year," taehyung sighs deeply, "i'll take lily and get both of us dressed, jim,"

"do you even know what she's supposed to wear?"

"yeah, it's that yellow— or... was it blue? purple dress?" taehyung trails off, smiling nervously as he rubs the back of his neck, "you give me the dress,"

"you two are useless sometimes," jimin massages his temples, telling taehyung to follow while jungkook disappears off to his own room.

after getting the desired dress, which is beautifully ruffled at the hem of the flair, looking fluffy and the light shade of purple makes it look even more adorable. taehyung smiles at the dress as he looks at it, chuckling to himself for he can already picture the flower belt on lily's tiny waist and how cute she will look when she puts it on. he enters the room without knocking, relieved to have arrived on time as she looked sleepy, laying between two large dogs, both lifting their heads up attentively to see who invaded the room.

"hey, bodyguards," he chuckles, motioning his hands for the dogs to get down and let him have his sister for a second. cooper jumps down first, then charley follows as well. lily sits up, yawning cutely, her fist rubbing the drowsiness away from her eyes. "c'mon, let's get ready. it's almost time for everyone to arrive,"

"it's time? already?" her head tilts to the side, and taehyung nods, pulling the blanket away and places the dress on the bed, "wash up and put this on. we gotta have our birthday girl looking like a real princess today,"

"that's pretty," lily whispers, touching the dress and sits on her knees, not at all sleepy anymore as her eyes are fixed on her new dress. "wow, tae oppa. i love this dress!"

"i'm glad you do," he kisses her forehead, "now be quick. let's not waste any time, hm?"

"okay," she nods, getting off the bed and heads straight to the bathroom.

"i'll be in my room. call me if you need help," taehyung peeks in, sighing when he catches her struggling already. he steps inside, undoing the buttons that she forgot and got her head stuck in the dress. "don't forget to put on your body lotion. or else jiminie is going to scold both of us,"

"no, it's my birthday. he will scold you," lily grins, taking off her undershirt as well and steps in the shower, pulling the curtain quickly, "now go away, tae oppa. it's bad manners to look,"

"what— i—" he sighs, "okay sorry, geez,"

taehyung leaves after that, not wanting to hear more from his kid sister, although it makes him smile thinking that she's actually growing up now. not three, four or five anymore, and soon she'll be a teenager, then go to college and after that she'll be working. and probably at some point, she'd find a man for herself to whom she would want to get married. that's insane, but possible. and it makes taehyung stop mid motion, hands in his hair, shampoo leaking down his locks as he gulps thickly, shaking his head, refusing to see his little sister in a white gown, walking away from him.

she's so young, barely seen life and taehyung is haunted by her leaving his hand and marrying off someone from the species of men among who at least eighty-five percent if not ninety are known to hurt women some way or the other. there's no way taehyung is going to let a jerk near his lily, and definitely not let him hurt her. not in this life at least.

"oppa!" the knock on the door is enough to pull him out of his over imagination, embarrassed for a second about all that he saw in his head.

"yes?" he replies while washing off the shampoo quickly and finally turns off the shower, wrapping a towel around his torso, almost ready to deal with whatever problem lily had. and there she is, hair wet, bare feet, the dress sitting loose on her body. she turns around, pointing at the zipper on the back. so that's why it's loose. taehyung zips it up, adjusting the flair of the dress and lily giggles, moving with every tug his hand gives on the fabric.

"beautiful," he smiles at her, cupping her face.

"i know right?" she smiles, holding his hand and twirls in her place, showing the dress properly, unable to contain her smile, "i'll wear it all the time! this is my new favourite dress from today!" taehyung chuckles at her, switching on the hair dryer and hands it to her while he goes to his closet, returning only when he's completely dressed in a pair of black pants, a casual, silky, button down tucked inside.

the door of taehyung's room opens, revealing jimin and jungkook, both looking much refreshed just like taehyung. jungkook is wearing a t-shirt and a checked shirt over it, folded up till his elbows and buttons left undone, paired with one of his blue jeans. jimin, on the other hand, has black jeans on and a denim shirt, sleeves rolled up to have his forearms exposed. 

"my goodness," jimin gasps, making lily giggle as she jumps up on her feet, posing for the brothers and does a quick spin. jimin smiles, kneeling down in front of her, "my little girl looks gorgeous," he whispers.

"yep, you look super cute," jungkook ruffles lily's hair, leaning down with his head tilted as he points at his cheek. the sister kisses him quickly, wrapping her arms around his neck and he straightens himself, lifting her up along him. "lily's ten today. how does that feel?"

"big,"

"yeah? well, get down then, i guess,"

"not that big," lily says and jungkook arches up a brow, nuzzling his face against her jaw.

"put on your sandals, lily," taehyung says, fixing his hair after using the hair dryer while jungkook puts lily down on her feet. she wears her sandals which are white, having fur encircling her ankles and two pearls dangling from either sides. jimin brushes her hair quickly, leaving them down with the natural fluffy waves that she was born with.

"let's go, your friends should be here anytime now," jungkook says.

lily nods her head, heading downstairs with the brothers, gasping as she's met with balloons and ribbons around the stairs and curtains draped all the way down the staircase. she looks around with a wide smile, running to the living room where everything is themed with shades of her favourite color and white. it's beautiful to put simply and lily loves it, breaking into an amazed giggle as she picks up a balloon and flops on the couch, "everything is so pretty, oppa! i love it!" she says, swinging her legs and looks at her brothers, "you are the best oppas in the whoooolleee woorrlllldddd!"

the brothers chuckle, exchanging proud glances now being sure that lily likes everything so far. she sits with jungkook, playing with charley and cooper as he makes them do some tricks or fool them into thinking he threw a toy for them to fetch. taehyung and jimin, however, watch the time ticking by, often glancing at the entrance of the mansion with their smiles gradually fading away as they realise that it's past seven already and nobody is here yet.

_________

a/n- part 2 of this will be coming soon don't worry. it was one big chapter but i had to break it into two because 9k words at once felt too long 😔 please vote and comment, and keep showing your support, it means a lot after working so hard. and ofc take care of yourself, see you soon 💜💜💜