lily woke up to laughing voices from outside while she's in the room which used to be her nursery when she was a baby. the clouds and wall, cartoon animals and mickey mouse are still just as new and the toys are also scattered around her mushroom shaped play house. this is where she plays most of the time, so much that the time spent in her own real room is only limited to the nights when jimin or taehyung tuck her in bed.

rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, lily slips down from the small couch that's of her size rather than a big one for adult humans. a cranky pout moulds out her tinted lips, the mole coming evident on edge of the lower lip as it's puckered out while she makes her way out of the room. the voices get clearer and she's reminded of the annoying presence of their cousin, who is always more interested in getting all the attention from her brothers. the attention that is meant for only and only lily according to her.

it angers lily how the ten-year-old cousin is more smart and has an upper hand in most of the things, especially when it comes to playing video games or uno or board games with jungkook. she even arm wrestles taehyung and plays with him too. but that's not it, the height of shamelessness was attained in the afternoon today when she had the audacity to tell jimin that she really wanted a brother like him. jimin had smiled at her, ruffled her hair and even leaned down to kiss her cheek! he kissed their cousin on the cheek right in front of lily and assured her that he was her brother just as much as he was lily's. that's insane! that's crazy! that's inhuman! that is downright equivalent to crime!

how can jimin ever kiss another child and let himself be someone else's brother when everyone knows that lily owns the label of being his sister way more than anyone else in the world. it really hurt lily's feelings in unspoken ways, although it showed in her eyes when she watched jimin smiling at their ten-year-old cousin. he probably started liking her more. loving her even. and he probably wanted her as his sister now. that could be the reason that he put lily to sleep and left her in her play-room all by herself.

it aches her heart even more on walking in the living space only to catch how jungkook is snorting on the couch, dying of laughter while taehyung and kelly, the cousin, are playing a vcr game. kelly is whining about something, probably that taehyung isn't letting her win, and she calls out jimin's name, "jiminie oppa," she says, adding fuel to lily's fire as she glares at the elder girl with tears in her eyes.

"what?" jimin laughs.

"i have to win! tae oppa doesn't let me!" she pouts, taking off the headsets and turns to jimin with a whiny look. jimin chuckles at that, glancing at taehyung and gestures him to let the child win for once. taehyung, who had his headsets off as well, sniggers, sticking his tongue out at kelly, getting a smack from the girl.

"oh god!" jungkook breaths deeply, wiping his tears, caling down from the laugh and looks at kelly, "you have to stay on the plank and push him down. why do you keep falling down yourself? it's so funny to watch,"

"i drowned three times," kelly sighs, "i'll practice one last time then i'm gonna beat tae oppa,"

"no chance," taehyung laughs at her, which makes the girl huff, hitting taehyung again. he only laughs more with that, moving away to avoid her hands, not noticing when he meets meets something behind his legs. turning around quickly to gain his balance as he realises it's lily, he takes support from the wall, holding lily with the other hand and smiles a little, stumbling a step only to lift her up.

lily's attention although stays on their cousin, glaring at her for hitting her brother and even causing him to almost fall down. that's cruel! "you don' hit my taetae oppa!" she scolds the ten-year-old and leans down from taehyung's arms, lifting her hand up to hit her back, "you' bad!"

"hey!" taehyung pulls the sister straight before her hand met kelly and frowns at her, "what was that?"

"why' she hitting you?"

"she's not hitting me, baby. we were just playing," taehyung says, letting lily down and pats her head, getting back in front of the couch and picks up the headset, nodding for kelly to come back. the girl grins, joining him quickly, ignoring the unhappy gaze of the five-year-old.

"that's all you wanted to sleep?" jimin's voice draws attention from lily, making her turn to look at him, walking up to him on seeing him holding his arm out for her. he makes lily sit on his lap and strokes her hair back, "i thought you wouldn't wake up before dinner because of how tired you looked,"

lily frowns at him, pulling her head back away from his hand and huffs, "i woke up,"

jimin looks surprised with the tone and the repulsive behaviour all of a sudden. arching up his brow in question, he asks, "what's up with that way of talking? is my baby upset?"

"yes," she mutters, glaring at him with her round eyes, not looking as scary as she wanted to, and that makes jimin chuckle. however his smile and the little laugh, makes lily more upset, causing her lips to slowly turn downwards. jimin stops with that quickly, patting her back and encourages her to share whatever problem was there.

lily opens her mouth to complain only to be interrupted by kelly, cheering and jumping as she finally managed to beat taehyung in the game. kelly flops of the couch, grinning widely as taehyung huffs at her and jungkook grabs the controller, asking her to try and beat him now. jimin laughs at them, standing up and checks the time. he holds lily's hand and looks at kelly, nodding his head towards the kitchen, "what do you like for snacks?"

"uhm anything is okay," she shrugs her shoulders, "what does lily like?"

jimin glances at the five-year-old raising her arms up, pouting at him with discontent, making him sigh as he lifts her up, "lily usually drinks smoothies right now, but it really depends on the mood," he says and asks lily herself, "what do you wanna eat?"

"cookie,"

"that's all?"

"hyung," jungkook calls, "can you make some pasta? kelly should really taste your pasta at least once,"

"oh yeah, he cooks amazing red sauce pasta," taehyung nods with a serious look.

"really? i wanna eat that," kelly says, "you'll make it, jimin oppa?"

"of course," jimin pats her head and kelly giggles, holding his hand as she follows him to the kitchen. jungkook stops the game and joins them as well, not wanting to miss out his favourite pasta.

"sit here with kelly," jimin hums, letting lily down, which earns him a whine from her as she moves her hands and kicks her legs, unhappy that he's not carrying her. "what happened, baby? sit down, oppa is going to some tasty pasta for everyone,"

"no!" lily stomps her feet, tugging on his shirt as she keeps sticking to his legs, hoping that he would pick her up and just sit down with her. but jimin sighs softly, patting her back once and tells her to sit with kelly again. lily's eyes fill with tears when she still has to stand and she crouches down there beside jimin's feet.

"what's wrong, princess?" taehyung asks, lifting her off the ground and hugs her in his arms, "what's making lily so upset today?" he sits down on the chair next to their cousin and makes lily sit facing her, "look, kelly was asking about you when you were sleeping. you don't wanna talk to her?"

"no," lily mumbles, hugging taehyung and turns her head away from the older girl.

"aw why not?" kelly leans forward, "do you know me, tae oppa, jungkookie oppa and jiminie oppa were playing when you were sleeping. you should've joined us,"

lily lifts up her head only to glare at the girl, "they' my oppa," she huffs.

"yeah, but jiminie oppa said he's my oppa too. they're older than me y'know?"

"no, they' only lily's oppa!" lily lifts her hand, successfully smacking kelly's head this time as taehyung couldn't react faster.

"hey, stop," taehyung's voice comes firm, giving off an unhappy look to lily that makes her sit quietly, lips puckering out again as the reservoir of sadness breaks and a sob rolls out of her lips. things have really changed. now taehyung is favouring kelly over his favourite lily. "why did you hit her?" he asks, making her look at him, ignoring the tears rolling down from her cheeks.

"oppa..."

"just answer what i'm asking,"

lily rubs her eyes, sniffling lightly and shakes her head, slipping down from his lap as she goes to jungkook now, having no hopes from anyone else. jungkook wipes her tears, pulling her on his lap and pats her back as she hugs him, "what happened, baby? why did you hit kelly?"

"kelly is bad," lily mumbles, "she' taking my oppa. koo, tell her you- and taetae and jiminie my oppa! lily is yo' pwincess, not kelly. jiminie and taetae oppa alweady love kelly an-and they forgetting me..."

taehyung's not mad anymore and neither is jimin confused with her behaviour now. the two exchange glances, breaking into silent chuckles and taehyung gestures jungkook to say something. the youngest brother pulls away from the hug, looking at lily and cups her face, "it's okay, let them be. i still love you a lot," he says, "even i noticed how tae and jimin hyung like kelly more. but don't worry, i still love you and you're my favourite,"

"you had to say something to make her feel better," taehyung massages his temples.

"don't joke like that, jungkook. she gets upset," jimin sighs, approaching the younger siblings and strokes lily's hair, "we-"

"no, go back to kelly," lily glares at him, hugging jungkook tightly, "koo is only my oppa, you go and make kelly yo' baby!"

"yeah, go," jungkook sniggers, although he shuts up when jimin pulls his ear. taehyung shakes his head, looking at kelly and smiles apologetically at her.

"i'm sorry for what she did," he says, "we usually have all our attention on her and today it got divided with you. so, she probably didn't like that. please don't feel bad, we had a lot of fun with you. lily's still young and she doesn't really understand that you were here only for a day,"

"it's okay," the girl replies, smiling at lily, "she's lucky to have three brothers, and you all love her so much. i'm jealous, honestly,"

taehyung chuckles, ruffling her hair and glances back at lily, who refuses to even look at jimin while jungkook keeps laughing quietly, hugging her and assuring her that he won't ever stop loving her. jimin gives up and goes back to cooking, scolding jungkook for saying all that to lily.

jungkook and lily eat together, overflowing with love as they feed each other once in a while and lily huffs everytime taehyung or jimin looked at her. soon after they're done eating, kelly's parents come to pick her up. spending a whole eight hours in the house, she finally bids goodbyes to the boys and tries waving at lily too, which surprisingly the five-year-old responds to. she waves back, probably happy that kelly's leaving.

sitting in the living room, jungkook grabs the controller of his video game again, telling lily to cheer for him so he can win. so she does, standing beside him on the couch, jumping and squealing whenever he killed another character. "lily," taehyung calls, taking the seat nearby with jimin, getting a frown from the little girl. "c'mere, do you wanna talk?"

"no," she ignores them, turning back to the screen and leans onto jungkook.

"i swear to god, this boy," taehyung mutters.

"lily is a girl, hyung," jungkook sniggers.

"i'm talking about you,"

"i didn't do anything. it's your fault that lily felt ignored,"

"keep quiet you two," jimin shakes his head, opening his arms and smiles softly at lily, "come to oppa, honey. you don't wanna give me a huggy?"

"no... you- you give kelly huggy,"

"okay fine," taehyung shrugs, pulling out his phone and lily stares at him with an unsure eyes. "i'll call kelly's dad and tell him to send her back. we can keep kelly with us and they can take lily with them since she thinks we don't love her anymore,"

"no..." lily mumbles, jumping down from the couch and peeks on taehyung's phone, taking it from his hand, "no, don' sending lily away..."

"but you don't believe us," he says.

"i believe you," she says quickly, hugging his arm, "taetae' my oppa. i love you so much- more than kelly,"

"and me?" jimin pouts at her, "i'm so sad lily didn't give me a hug,"

"i' give you hug..." she climbs on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kisses his cheek, "lily love you so much, oppa. but don' bring another baby sister. me- i'm only yo' baby sister, not kelly and not anyone,"

"i know that, kiddo. do you really think oppa will ever replace his princess?" jimin kisses her forehead, "kelly was here only for today because her parents had to go out for work and they couldn't leave her alone. they're going back to america tomorrow, then we won't even see her anytime soon,"

"i don't know that," lily looks down, making space for her between taehyung and jimin and stands there, "lily was so sad, because you leave lily alone in the game room. and i woke up alone, and e'ryone keep playing with kelly, not lily. i no' like kelly,"

"don't say that," taehyung rubs her side, leaning closer as he kisses her cheek, "kelly's also a child. and she doesn't even have any brothers. she said lily is lucky to have three big brothers,"

"lily is pwincess," she says.

"yes, all the girls are princesses. so kelly's a princess too,"

"okay, but lily is yo' pwincess. you don' love other pwincess,"

"okay," taehyung chuckles, pecking her lips and pulls her on his lap, nuzzling his nose against hers, "lily's oppa's favourite princess in the entire universe,"

"not unive'se. only lily!"

"yes, that's what i mean, tiger," he laughs, trying to bite her cheek which makes lily cackle excitedly, moving away and hides in jimin's lap, wrapping his arms around her tiny frame and sticks her tongue out at taehyung before burying her face in jimin's neck.

____________

a/n- heyyyy everyone!! it's been a few days to the last update. how are you guys feeling? did you like the chapter? 😌❤️✨ please vote and comment if you did, keep showing your support, hopefully this book turns out well like FYAM, more if possible✨

___

2.5k words