note: jimin (18) and taehyung (17)  are in high school. jungkook (13) is in middle school.

____

"this is really disappointing from a student like jimin, mrs jeon." the dean says, while jimin stands at the side, still breathing heavily. his hands clenching and unclenching behind his back, aching to hit the other boy one last time so that he would stop smirking at him. he can feel those nasty eyes pinned on him, and his brother peeping inside from the door every now and then, probably growing restless about what's going on inside.

sunhee sighs softly, nodding at the dean's words and apologizes to the man, then turns to the boy, who has his mother standing beside him, holding him and checking his face like he was going to die. jimin scoffs, cracking his neck, but lowers his head down when sunhee shoots him a warning look. "i'm sorry, mrs lee." she says to the other boy's mom, "jimin and hasung are classmates. i'm sure they just had a disagreement about something. my son wouldn't get involved in a fight for a lame reason. but still, i apologise for his behaviour."

"mom," jimin voices out, staring at her with a frown. "you don't have to apologise. it's not my fault. he is the one who kept talking crap!"

ignoring the last words, the other woman spits in anger, "just take a look at my son! you almost broke his nose for no reason! you should consider yourself lucky for i'm not suing you."

jimin glares back at the woman, but mostly keeps it to the boy who dares to scoff at him. those eyes, jimin loathes, roam towards sunhee, making his jaw tick and step forward swiftly to grab the boy's collar again, throwing another punch on his face. "don't you fucking dare!" jimin growls, pushing him back beside his mother while sunhee tries to hold him back.

"jimin!" she scolds, "stop it!"

however, jimin ignores that and launches forward again, about to kick the boy with the football studs he was wearing. the dean and the women gasp in fear, but jimin stops in time before the spikes poked through the guy's stomach. "fucking bastard..." he pants out, tired as well, "get lost, hasung. i'm not even sure if i'll leave you alive the next time you show up in front of me."

"he's crazy!" hasung's mother screeches, pushing jimin away, making him stumble back and almost lose balance, but sunhee supports him, not saying anything at the moment and just apologizes to the woman and the dean again.

"jimin is rusticated, mrs jeon. he's not allowed in the premises for the next two weeks." the dean declares, staring at jimin with disappointment in his eyes, since jimin was the last one of the students he'd ever expect to act like this. being a scholar, captain of the soccer team, one of their aces, it was sure shocking for everybody when the news of jimin beating a boy from his team, to death circulated.

despite the dean being unhappy and confused, sunhee is concerned more than her life, there's still not the slightest hint of guilt and regret in jimin's face other than a busted lip and a bruise near his jaw. in fact, he wipes the semi dried blood from his mouth and nods, turning to the dean, "good. because if i come here again anytime soon, i'm so gonna end him." jimin spits, throwing one last glare at the boy before picking his bag, hanging it loose on his right shoulder and heads to the door, not minding that he kicked the boy in the shin while leaving. "let's go, mom." he voices over the groaning boy.

"hey, what happened? why did you fight hasung?" taehyung asks frantically, staring at jimin and their mother with a frown.

"because he's a dick." jimin mutters.

"jimin," sunhee calls out softly, holding his arm as they approach her car, making the boy stop. "what happened with him?" she asks in a tender voice, to which jimin says nothing and just quietly gets in the car.

"do you know anything?" she looks at taehyung, who just shakes his head, making her sigh. "okay, just get inside. let's get out of here first."

the drive back to the mansion took only a few minutes, although it felt like ages to jimin with ringing silence, especially when he could feel blood drying up on his knuckles and face, and his heartbeat thumping prominently in his ears. sunhee glances at him, pulling over in front of the mansion and hands the keys over to a driver to take the car in the garage, while she follows the sons inside.

"jim-"

he ignores the call, throwing his bag aside and jogs upstairs to his room, clearly not in the mood to talk. sunhee exchanges a worried look with taehyung, who sighs softly. "this is the first time i've ever seen him so mad." he mumbles.

"yeah," the mother hums. "i just hope he'll open up soon." she stares at the stairway where jimin just disappeared.

"mrs jeon? you're back already?" a girl, older than jimin walks down the stairs with a smile, bowing to sunhee and taehyung as well. "lily is sleeping right now."

"okay," sunhee gives a smile, "you can go, natalie. thank you for coming today."

"no problem, ma'am." she smiles back, taking her leave.

hastily, sunhee turns to taehyung and pats his shoulder, "you should go and talk to him. he'll tell you what happened. maybe he's not feeling comfortable with me."

"me? talk to him right now? no, thank you. he's gonna punch me too." taehyung shakes his head. "maybe we should send jungkook."

"is he at home?" sunhee asks sarcastically.

"yeah, right. he's in school right now. well, then we wait." taehyung shrugs, flopping on the couch. "don't worry, mom. he'll talk to you when he feels like it. give him some time."

"yeah, i guess..." sunhee nods slowly, "but he's hurt. he must be in so much pain, tae. i saw his hands and— did you look at his face?! he was bleeding so bad. le'mme just go and—"

she's interrupted on seeing jimin heading down the stairs again, with still the same wounds and sweaty state, just out of the clothes he wore to school. he's now dressed in a pair of joggers and a thin white t-shirt. he rakes his less injured hand through his hair, not sparing a single glance at the mother and brother, going towards the stairs that lead to the basement.

"okay... that's weird." taehyung frowns, "maybe you should talk to him, mom."

"my boy," sunhee mumbles worriedly, shoving her handbag towards taehyung, who just takes it without a word and opens it, probably to look for something that might interest him like money or a chocolate. "come with me, tae."

"okay boss," taehyung lets out, jumping over the couch and jogs to catch up with sunhee.

downstairs in the gym, jimin is sitting on a bench, wrapping his hands in the white bandage probably getting himself ready for boxing. sunhee gasps at that, approaching his side quickly and stops him, "gosh! do you wanna hurt yourself more?" she scolds, untying the bandage, pushing his free hand away when he tries to make her leave. "stop it. you've acted up enough." she gives him a glare.

"i don't understand what's wrong with you today. god knows why you beat that boy up. then you don't even wanna talk to me." she mutters, "just because i'm being nice, doesn't mean you can have that attitude in front of me, okay?"

"wow," taehyung covers his mouth, earning a glare from sunhee that helps him hold his laugh back.

"get the first aid box." she instructs him firmly, and taehyung sighs deeply, going back upstairs to get the said box.

sunhee sits down beside jimin, taking a proper look at his hand, "does it hurt a lot?" she asks softly, caressing gently with a light wince. then she looks up again, cupping jimin's face to make him turn his head a little, "what have you done to yourself, baby? it must be hurting so much."

"no." jimin lets out, glancing down at his lap, heaving out a deep breath.

"yeah, sure. my boy is made out of steel, right?" she chuckles, stroking his hair, hoping to lighten the mood with the joke.

jimin keeps mum for a second, before he gives in and shifts near the mother, "people out there are shit, mom." he mutters. "it makes me so mad."

"i can tell." she hums, glancing at his face, "what happened exactly?"

"he said some stuff that he shouldn't have said. that's all."

"that's not all, jimin. please don't lie to me." she says, caressing his hand and pulls him in a hug, "i know you wouldn't do something like this without a solid reason. it's definitely something too bad."

"it is. yeah," he nods, "but please let me keep it to myself. i don't wanna tell you." he trails off, eyes filling with tears as he leans down to hug sunhee tightly and kiss her cheek. "i'm sorry for today. i know i'm not the one who gets in trouble, but this time, trust me, mom... it wasn't my fault. he deserved it."

"i trust you, honey." sunhee hums, glancing at taehyung who returns with the first aid box and puts it down near them quietly.

"then don't ask me anything;" jimin lets out, wiping his tears and pulls away, "and please don't come to school again."

"what?" sunhee frowns.

"yeah." he nods, "just don't."

"but- why? you're scaring me, jim, please tell me what happened?" sunhee asks, making jimin go quiet again, staring silently at his hands. taehyung stares at his brother, then glances at sunhee, gesturing her not to pressurize jimin if he doesn't want to tell her.

so she doesn't. instead, she picks up the box pulling out some cotton and an antiseptic cleanser to clean jimin's wounds. while pressing the wet cotton gently to the split open cut on the corner of his mouth, "fine, don't tell me. but please take care of yourself then. i don't wanna see any of you hurt like this again, okay?"

"i'll try." jimin hums, waiting for the mother to get done with treating his busted lip, before hugging her again. "i'm fine, mom. don't worry."

sunhee hums, rubs his back, pulling away and nods for taehyung to sit on her place, "help him, tae. i'll go make some hot chocolate for you guys."

"yeah," taehyung agrees within a heartbeat, staring at sunhee as she leaves them alone and faces jimin, "spill."

jimin groans, throwing his head back, massaging his temples, "i hate this, tae... you know hasung has a big mouth. i wasn't in the mood to put up with him today."

"did he say something about mom?"

jimin eyes shoot open, staring at taehyung with confusion, "who else knows what he said?" he whispers yells.

"so, he did huh?" taehyung clicks his tongue. "that dog, i swear to god." he grits out, "what did he say?"

"some shitty things, but i made sure he doesn't open his mouth for a while." jimin cracks his neck.

"good job. y'know, jim fuck what anyone thinks. you did a great job showing that asshole his place." taehyung says.

"i couldn't stand him talking like that about mom. he had to audacity to lie and the dean just believed him because he was bleeding more than me." jimin spits out angrily, "i'm rusticated for two weeks."

"don't worry, why do i exist?" taehyung smirks, "lee hasung will leave the school by the time you come back."

"what are you gonna do? fight him? his mom is just as crazy as him." jimin scoffs.

"no, but i do know how to make him regret his actions. just leave it on me, jim. i have your back." he grins, "and about the notes and everything, i'll arrange that for you as well."

"thanks, but i'll talk to mark about it." jimin nods. "don't tell mom why i fought. she has enough things to worry about."

"yeah, i get it." taehyung hums. "now show me your hand, or else mom will come beat me up." he jokes, starting with cleaning jimin's knuckles by the time sunhee returns with two cups of hot chocolate on a tray and holding her crying toddler in her other arm.

"god, you should've asked someone else to help you!" taehyung hurries to take the tray and places it down beside jimin, while sunhee just chuckles, shrugging her shoulders.

"hey, why's lily crying?" jimin asks as sunhee lets her down, smiling amusedly on seeing how fast lily waddled towards jimin, calling his name between her sobs. "my goodness, what's making my little princess so upset?" he asks, pulling her on his lap, rubbing her back as she hugs him and cries. "did mamma make lily cry?"

"no..." lily mumbles, sniffling softly as she calms down, leaving only hiccups after a minute. jimin blows on the hot chocolate meant for him and brings the cup closer to lily's lips, letting her take a sip.

"is it yummy?" he smiles.

"yummy..." lily hums, holding the cup along with his hand and takes another sip, but this time the warmth felt too much, making her whine again.

"it's okay, it's okay." jimin says, standing up with the toddler in his left arm and holding the cup with the right hand, "let's go to oppa's room. we'll drink our hot chocolate there."

"otay," she stares at him, when her eyes land on the ointment beside his mouth. her curious little hand quickly lifts up to touch it, getting the white cream on her finger. "oppa ouch..." she mumbles, staring at her index finger then back at jimin's face where he's hurt.

lily soon realises that he's actually injured and might be in pain, and that makes her sad as well, pooling her eyes with warm tears as she hugs jimin, breaking into a sob. jimin rubs her back, placing his cup down on the bench, "it's okay, baby. i'm not hurt that bad." he assures her, but lily probably doesn't believe him, for she doesn't pull away from the hug even when she stops crying.

"are you okay, princess?" jimin asks, going upstairs to his room after gesturing sunhee that he'd be upstairs with lily.

he settles lily down on the bed, asking if she wants to have more of the hot chocolate but she refuses, so he drinks it up, getting in the bed and lays down comfortably. lily giggles at something, climbing on top of his chest to sit their, throwing her short legs either side on his shoulders, making jimin sigh softly, but he never tells her to get off. "what are you doing, lily?" he asks softly, caressing her feet gently, making her cackle playfully as it probably feels ticklish.

"lily an' chiminie oppa- wuv you!"

"i love you more," he smiles, watching quietly as she leans down to kiss his cheek and lips, careful not to touch the wound that would hurt him.

"baby kish it butter, oppa?"

"yes, baby's kiss has magic. it feels better now." he hums.

"oppa gi'mme- baby, mowre kish?"

jimin chuckles softly at that, placing a kiss on her feet, making lily laugh and push her leg further close to his face, not kicking or anything but asking for another light peck, which jimin gives gladly. after sitting like that and talking about random things with the tired and sleepy elder brother, lily finally gets up from his chest, tugging on the zipper of her romper, which comes undone instantly, making her smile. she throws it off and gets down from the bed, going to the bathroom, while jimin has fallen asleep.

lily stares at the toilet pot, then back at the door, since her mom or any of her oppas or even her babysitter always helped her get on the pot and sit like a big girl even though it was with the help of her little plastic seat cover meant for kids her age and younger to make sure they didn't fall inside. today she doesn't have either of those. yet she climbs on top of the pot carefully, standing up using the wall behind for support.

it feels a little uncomfortable, but once she finds a spot that doesn't have her slipping, lily tries to sit down. however, with a few continuous failed tries, she just huffs and gives up on sitting down, for the fear that more moving in this position might just result in her falling down inside the pot. good thing that she already took off her clothes, so at least they won't get wet, as she decides that today she will pee standing like how boys do. jungkook pees standing, so why not lily?

singing gibberish in her own little world, lily stands holding the wall, feeling proud of herself that she can use the toilet on her own now without calling her mamma or oppas to help her. while she's busy doing her business, the door opens and sunhee gasps, staring at her daughter. "oh lily, what are you doing up there?" she asks, approaching the toddler, whose excitement just doubles, tapping the wall as she cackles proudly.

"peepee!"

"like that?" sunhee chuckles, holding the baby's waist so that she won't fall down. "why didn't you tell mamma if you wanted to go to the toilet?"

"be'cause, lily ich big baby."

"ah, i see." the mother hums with a smile, patting the toddler's butt playfully. "okay then, big baby, are you done?"

"yesh," lily nods, leaning towards her mother to get down now.

sunhee brings her to stand on the floor and pushes the button for the flush, before grabbing some toilet paper and wiping off the edges of the pot, then crouches in front of lily to wipe her as well. lily doesn't protest, standing quietly as she busies herself with playing with the roll of toilet paper. "alright, let's go now. kookie is back from school." she says, carrying lily, who is still naked due to her massive adventure.

"koo!" lily chirps, happy just by the news of her brother returning back from school. she wriggles to get down, pointing at the door, which sunhee understands is all for her to let her go to jungkook.

"we'll go to him. but first, lily has to put on her clothes, okay?" the mother says in a low voice, not wanting to wake jimin up. she picks up lily's clothes and leaves the room, going to dress her up in her own room, however in the middle they're met with taehyung and jungkook, both probably heading to see jimin. "jimin's sleeping. don't disturb him right now." sunhee says.

"okay," taehyung hums, glancing at lily, "why are you being a nakey baby?"

"nakey baby." lily laughs, making sunhee laugh as well.

"we don't like wearing clothes." jungkook grins.

"i'll get her dressed." sunhee says, "kook, you go and eat something. and tell me, have you finished your lunch?"

"uhm almost." jungkook mumbles, making the mother sigh.

"that is very bad, jungkook. you should always finish your food. it's not healthy to stay on an empty stomach for half of the day." she tells him, stroking his hair, "go right now and tell one of the maids whatever you wanna eat."

"okay okay, but tae hyung told me that jiminie hyungie is hurt. is that true? what happened to him?" jungkook asks.

"yeah, he's a little hurt. nothing to worry about, though." sunhee assures the youngest boy, "you can go see him when he's up, okay?"

"yeah," jungkook nods, smiling at the mother and baby sister, waving at them as he jogs down the stairway, along with taehyung to get something to eat.

meanwhile sunhee takes lily to her room, dressing her up before changing out of her own work clothes into something more homely and comfortable. "mamma, milk." lily mumbles, tugging on sunhee's loose pants, getting a nod from the mother.

"i'll come back from the bathroom real quick, then we'll go prepare some yummy milk for my baby." she says with a smile, going to the bathroom, but lily follows her inside, not minding that her mom might like some privacy. although, raising three kids, whom all have been openly affectionate and particularly clingy toddlers except for taehyung, who used to love his freedom and just wouldn't stay still. it was sunhee who had to keep him in front of her eyes all the time to make sure he wasn't causing any damage or hurting himself.

jimin was a decent baby, pretty shy and introverted, but after taehyung's birth, even jimin grew to be a little naughty. he did try his best to act like a big brother, but sunhee can't blame him for his failed attempts for jimin was only fifteen months old when taehyung was born. two babies under two was almost like a mission for sunhee, and it got worse with the divorce. she had to cut down on a lot of her out-of-the-house activities which included her regularly going to office. although she realised the problem quickly and got one of the empty rooms converted into a workspace, since her work couldn't be left unattended.

she still went to the company every once in a while, even took the babies with her once, but looking back at the struggle, it doesn't feel so bad now. both of the babies have grown up enough to look after themselves now, and became mature more than their age, specifically jimin, who's is almost like a second parent to the younger two. he has all the qualities of a perfect father even though he isn't really one, and the man who actually is, just sucks.

jungkook, as a baby, was just like lily, but a little more adventurous at the same time needing his mamma by his side twenty-four/seven. jimin had already turned five when jungkook came into this world, and loved the idea of having another little brother to play with. taehyung was a curious little four-year-old, excited as well, no matter what he tells jungkook to tease him now, but the truth is that he was almost like an excited child who was told that they've won a thousand packs of their favourite candy. he loved jungkook and was always eager to hold him first, which also once left baby jungkook with a bruise because his hyungs fought after who gets to hold him first.

both taehyung and jimin cried later, staring at jungkook's light bruise that took about three days to disappear completely, and apologized over and over again to him, promising that they would never ever fight again. with two babysitters, sunhee could leave the kids alone while she went to work. she would often return to find the boys cuddled up together, adjusting somehow in jungkook's crib, or running upto her with a warm hug after a long day, and sometimes one of them would be crying after having a fight about a toy or why a certain thing didn't work their way.

as they grew up, jimin started understanding things better and acknowledged the absence of their fathers in their lives most of the times, which lead to him loving and caring for his mom even more if he didn't already. he used to take care of jungkook and even taehyung while they were alone, asked the babysitter to help jungkook if he couldn't, since jungkook was still pretty young to do all the things by himself. jimin never got mad at jungkook from the very beginning, but with time, his caring nature towards the youngest brother got to the point where jungkook reached for him as the first thought. he used to say that his jiminie hyungie was a superhero and could do everything in the world.

to prove that, jungkook had and still has evidences enough to convince anyone that he wasn't lying when he said his brother loved him the most. taehyung too, despite constant bickerings and teasings, he made sure too that everybody knew jungkook was not to be messed with. he once punched a boy in school when he saw him pushing his brother off the swing.

sunhee chuckles at the memory, watching her youngest toddler play around the bathroom and picking up everything within her reach to show it to sunhee as if she isn't familiar with her own belongings. "lily," she calls, getting attention from the little girl, who was about to take a razor in her hand. "don't touch that, baby. c'mere."

"no," lily giggles, picking up the razor and holds it out for sunhee. she takes it from her daughter, placing up on the sink counter, away from lily's reach so she won't accidentally hurt herself with the blade. lily frowns at the action, raising up her hand towards the white and lavander colored razor, mumbling her mother to get it down from there.

"no, baby. it's not a toy. you can get hurt with it." she says, standing up finally and flushes the toilet. she fixes her clothes and washes her hands quickly, before putting all the things in their original place and takes the toddler outside, engaging her in a conversation about how she must be hungry and need some milk.

"koo, taetae!" lily chirps, waving at the boys. taehyung puts his fork down, extending his arms out for her, having her leaning forward quickly to go to him. sunhee gestures the maids that they can go now, and if she needs help, she'd call them.

"wanna eat?" taehyung asks, holding a single noodle for lily, as she opens her mouth, slurping it up and hums. "is it good?"

"good," she gives a thumbs up while opening her mouth for another noodle. taehyung takes the chopsticks in front of her, but instead of feeding her, brings it to his mouth, leaving lily to stare at the noodles and slowly close her mouth, waiting for her turn. a few more times like this, taehyung finds it hilarious and eyes sunhee to watch what he's doing.

the mother waits patiently, watching how taehyung picks up the noodles again, taking the chopsticks close to lily's mouth but never feeding it to her, which makes her stare at his hand helplessly, closing her mouth again. sunhee laughs at them, approaching with lily's sipper cup and hands it to her, patting her head, "my little baby, tae oppa's so bad. he isn't sharing the noodles with you?" she cooes, hugging the toddler, who doesn't mind anything anymore, focused on suckling out the milk from the rubber nub of the cup.

"it's spicy." taehyung grins, "and doing that was funny." he stands up to get some juice, and catches the sight of the younger brother's almost empty bowl. jungkook usually doesn't take a whole pack of noodles, since he can't finish all of it by himself, but with one of his hyungs, it's not that hard. and today, taehyung just gave him half of what one portion of noodles is supposed to be, so that jungkook wouldn't leave it in between.

he takes some from his bowl, placing them in jungkook's when he wasn't looking, for he has his ipad as well, busy watching his favourite anime in it. sunhee gives him a knowing smile, eyes showing how she wants to pinch taehyung's cheeks and give him a tight hug for being such a caring elder brother. taehyung pretends not to see it and finishes up the rest of his noodles in his bowl before putting it in the sink.

"where did this come from?" jungkook gasps, "i'm full! i ate mine!"

taehyung hisses, glancing back at sunhee, "see? he's ungrateful. that's why i don't give him anything." he mutters, making the mother chuckle.

"it's okay, honey. y'know he still throws a fit while eating properly." sunhee assures the elder son, patting his arm. she then turns to jungkook, giving him a look to quiet down and finish eating. "you'll have to finish that. put the ipad away when you're eating."

"mom..." jungkook stares at her with pleading eyes, "i'll eat if you let me watch pokemon."

"no. put it away right now and just eat quietly."

"but-"

"why are you guys arguing?" jimin's voice makes their heads turn, seeing him smiling as he finds himself a spot next to jungkook, who stands up instantly at the sight of him. "hey, champ. when did you come back from school?"

"a few minutes ago. what happened to you, hyung?" he asks, peeking at jimin's face and hands, "that looks painful. how did you get hurt?"

"he fought a bad guy today." taehyung grins.

"really? that's so cool!" jungkook chirps, "see? i told you, mom, hyungie is no less than a superhero in real life."

"yeah, you and your hyungie." sunhee chuckles, making jimin laugh. "and how did you wake up so early? you just slept."

"yeah, i couldn't sleep, and i felt kinda hungry too."

"but what did the bad guy do?" jungkook asks, "and was he in your school?"

"he's in my soccer team. we have math and computers together. but anyway, we were never that close."

"he's a jerk." taehyung adds an important detail, to which jimin nods with a scrunched face.

jungkook laughs at that, sitting down in his place again, while taehyung passes a pack of cup noodles to jimin as well after filling in some hot water in it. sunhee's about to get up to prepare it for jimin, but taehyung motions his hand that she can just sit with lily and he will do it. jungkook, on the other hand anticipates the whole detailed story of how jimin fought the bad guy and showed his martial art skills today.

"i wanna fight someone too." jungkook grins.

"no." sunhee voices out. "fighting is not a good thing. jimin is suspended for two weeks, do you know that?"

"wow, really?" jungkook gasps, " that means holidays for two weeks! i'm gonna fight someone!"

taehyung bursts out laughing and so does jimin, choking on the noodles, while sunhee just sighs, giving up against the boy. lily stops drinking the milk too, watching the brothers all laughing, which makes her laugh as well, putting her cup down as she claps and joins in whatever was funny to her oppas.

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a/n: alright guys, now you also know that jimin doesn't take shit about his family from anyone 😌✊ how was the chapter? please let me know in the comments, and uhm idk how to say it but its obvious that i have lost some readers. earlier i used to get like 80-90 votes on a chapter, and with some chapters we've even crossed 100 votes, which is absolutely crazy. but since the last two-three chapters, i can see not many people are voting. maybe it's because of me being inconsistent with updating or maybe you guys don't find the books interesting anymore. it could be anything, idk.

but please, if it's not the case then please do vote, it motivates me to write and it really makes my day seeing your notifications popping up as soon as i open the app.

okay, now i'll take my leave. thank you for reading. stay safe, stay healthy, i miss you guys 💜✨

ps: taehyung and iu omg sgsjgsksd 😭 they have my heart ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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