c'mon y'all have to be active. nobody gets to be a silent reader. this whole series took a lot of time, tears, emotion and effort from me, so it would really really mean the world to me if you guys show your love through your votes and comments! <333 anyway, have fun reading! ❤️✨

_____

"oppa listen to m-"

"go to your room," jimin lets out firmly, never taking his eyes off the younger brother while his voice is precisely directed to aera, who has tears in her eyes. she looks scared, taking a step back as jungkook keeps his annoyed expression hidden unlike jimin who has the 'elder' card active right now.

"please don't fight, oppa..." aera mumbles softly, dropping a tear from her eyes, wanting to hug jimin and calm him down. however the glare jimin sends is cold enough to counter her thoughts and induce to the horrible feeling babied inside her that she's the reason jimin is mad at jungkook and jungkook got a deadly five inches stich on his right arm.

aera realised that sneaking out of school was a bad idea the moment she found herself on the ground between jungkook's arms, under the tree they were initially trying to climb onto. the english teacher had given aera detention today and the girl wanted to just skip through it without anyone knowing. although by the last minute, she rang jungkook, telling about her masterplan of escaping school and do something fun.

jungkook agreed almost instantly as it seemed harmless and showed up by the school gate in his new porsche to fetch aera without her facing any problem or being scared. once she was escorted out, their laughs were uncontrollable. it felt like a movie to aera— how she pretended to be sick and walked out of school with zero trouble. to her it was thrilling and one of the coolest to-be memories for later to remember, that her first 'ditching-school-for-fun' experience was actually with her own brother.

they took take-outs and drinks from starbucks, went to a park which had a pond, geese and a beautiful view. aera was having the time of the life while jungkook too, felt happy that he could bring aera smiles. he didn't see it as something wrong for he knew everyone sneaks out of school sometimes, and it's completely normal if his sister did too. moreover he was relaxed that she called him rather than going with some troublesome teenagers.

it was all good and going smooth until aera found a tree during their walk, which she pointed at, saying that she had never climbed a tree before. jungkook laughed in response, nodding with confidence that said that she should try it. aera's jeon jungkook's sister and she's got some nerves to test and tease.

climbing wasn't that hard, but getting down was.

aera's smile gradually faded away when she realised she was stuck on the branch and couldn't get back to the ground. jungkook laughed at her for a good long minute, before deciding to help her down. the first idea (of his two ideas) was that he would just hold aera by the waist and being her down without much difficulty. and second was that he would have to climb up as well then tell her to follow his path on the return.

considering the height of the branch aera had got herself stuck in, he sighed, opting the second option for he wouldn't want to risk her falling down and getting hurt. so, he climbed up like it was a piece of cake for him, got near aera and held out his hand for the young girl, who was too scared to even move, yet she managed to reach to the base of the branch, towards jungkook and hugged him tightly, believing that he'll nail the climbing down part while she could just act like a baby monkey sticking to him.

that's when the disaster happened. jungkook's shoe slipped, sending him straight down the trunk, through branches thick and thin, leaves, and even a poor bird's nest. one of the branches from many was strong enough to rip the sleeve of his shirt, giving a deep scratch in his skin that oozed out blood as though it was desperate for freedom.

jungkook had however wrapped his arms around aera tightly, scared for his life that she might get hurt. aera had her eyes shut, but she could here the crumpling of leaves, jungkook's light groans and winces with every hit that his body faced, and the final thud with which they were on the ground.

tears were brimming her eyes already when she opened them to find jungkook's face scrunched up in pain. his brows pinched, teeth digging on the lower lip and head tilted to the side as he quickly rolled to the side, considering that he was heavy and aera might be feeling suffocated under him on the harsh ground. aera sat up quickly, feeling something wet on her side and gasped as it looked like blood and stained jungkook's arm and shirt as well.

that's how jungkook ended up with stitches on his arm.

and that's how jimin ended up mad, (1) because jungkook decided help aera ditch school instead of telling her that it's a bad thing to do; (2) for him to be so damn irresponsible that he couldn't stop aera from doing dangerous and unnecessary things like climbing on a tree; moreover joining her in it, and (3) for thinking that they could hide all this from jimin.

jungkook felt like the elder was overreacting, and that brought another pang of anger from jimin and from the rest of the boys too, as they all believed that jungkook was spoiling aera like this and she'll end up thinking that she can sneak out of places, specifically school and home, more often. despite jungkook trying to convince them that it's nothing that serious, in fact better than her going out alone or with untrusted people.

aera could see the anger in jimin's eyes when jungkook spoke back, even in jin, yoongi, namjoon and hoseok's too. they all looked equally displeased with jungkook's laid back behaviour today and his attitude with aera. and now she knew that they will scold jungkook more after sending her to her room.

she had noticed the way clashes between her brothers were getting more common these past few days. any little thing was enough to ignite a trail of taunts and unpleasant words thrown at each other, especially from jimin's side. he was stressed about work these days and it showed in the way he would get annoyed easily, scold jungkook and even argued with taehyung yesterday.

all the wish to talk to jimin, drained away with that one moment that he took before facing aera, hands on his hips and eyes giving stern glares, "and you," he grits out. aera's lips shape into a pout on their own, holding in a sob as she glances at yoongi at the side, "look at me when i'm speaking to you!" jimin raises his voice, making her flinch and concentrate all her attention on the eldest brother.

"you cannot go one day without causing a problem, can you? why is it so hard to be behave yourself— to act like any other decent child your age?! you don't wanna study, don't wanna behave yourself and do anything good for once! just keep playing around and troubling other people! does that really make you happy?! here i'm working off day and night, all your oppas are working so hard and you just wanna waste every other day doing nothing!

aera whimpers as jimin leans down to match her height, grabbing her arm which makes her cry loudly and hunch down to save herself from a potential hit. her hands form a defensive barrier in the front and eyes shut tight, thinking that jimin was going to slap her.

"hyung!" jungkook pulls aera back, brows frowning at the elder brother and eyes glaring with disbelief, "why would you hit her?! i said i'm sorry, this won't happen again! for god's sake stop all this, you're scaring her!"

"jimin, calm down, kook's right," taehyung says, rubbing jimin's arm gently, "she's just a kid, you shouldn't hit her,"

jimin stays quiet, hand falling to his side where it hangs loosely and eyes never leaving the little sister's trembling figure as she's hugging jungkook tightly, crying out of fear. he then glances at the elders, suddenly not angry anymore, "you think i was going to hit her?" he hushes out.

"yeah, i think so. something's not right, hyung. this is not you," jungkook replies without any second thoughts as he hugs aera tightly, rubbing her back assuringly to calm her down. he takes her hand, pulling away from the hug slowly despite aera wanting to stay near him, "hey, it's alright, i'm right here hm? let's go to your room," he whispers to aera, kissing the side of her head when he leans down. aera quickly brings her arms around his neck, never letting him pull away, crying in the crook of his neck and sticking close to him all the time. jungkook sighs softly, keeping gaze free from the elders and scoops aera up in his arms, heading upstairs in silence.

•••

"you should watch your actions, jim. what happened today wasn't good," jin says, getting a deep sigh from jimin, who keeps pacing back and forth in the room in front of the boys.

"i know, hyung. i just... forget it, i don't have any excuses for it. i shouldn't have been like that," jimin stops, throwing his head back as he massages his temples lightly, "i wasn't going to hit aera, hyung. you know i would never do that no matter how mad i might be. i was just scolding her and then kinda' pulling her away from kook because she kept looking at him to save her—"

"right," jungkook's voice fills in as he enters the room, "pull her away me and why? because i fucking support her?! or is it because i wanted her to have fun for once out of her busy routine?! she legit works more than children her age do— from school, homework, to sports and martial arts too! she wakes up at 6, goes out for a run with me, then she has school, after that she has boxing and taekwondo, and in the evening she has to do her homework. if sometimes she's tired and wants to have rest, that's fine!"

"jungkook, you're misunderstanding him," yoongi stands up, "i get you're worried about aera, but that doesn't mean jimin is not. what happened today, shouldn't have happened, we agree, and trust me jimin feels bad for that—"

"don't. let it be," jungkook scoffs, "she was happy today, thanks for ruining it,"

"shut up!" yoongi glares at the boy, "enough of that, jungkook, or i swear to god you'll regret speaking to your hyung like that!"

•••

when aera woke up from the nap, jungkook wasn't in the room with her. though, she could hear a couple loud voices through the walls, probably from jimin's room because it's just a few metres away from here, right across the hall. she gulps down her fear of another fight between her brothers, slipping down from the bed and heads out quietly.

"—you guys don't understand what i'm saying!" it's jungkook, sounding frustrated and tired, "you could've just spoke to her more normally insted of yelling like that. and please for fuck's sake do not start about what she's good for or not,"

"you're just taking whatever you want out of my words. i don't care, jungkook i'm honestly done with all this! you're old enough to not need me and since you you don't trust me anymore maybe you can take care of your little sister yourself!" now that's jimin, extremely mad and upset with, what aera believes is, herself.

"hyung, what are you sayi—"

"i need a break! i fucking need a break from this! i'm sick of working all the damn time, caring about every little thing and thinking a hundred times before making a decision because everything i do affects you and aera! forgive me for saying this, but for real, i need some time— i'm tired of things messing up for me!"

"jimin, calm down. you're fine," aera breaks out of her trance, listening to jin's voice consoling her eldeat brother.

"no, hyung, seriously. i need time... leave me alone, please. i feel suffocated,"

aera stares at her feet, never going inside the room and turns around quietly, rubbing her eyes as jimin's words keep repeating in her head. maybe she is the biggest bother in jimin's life. jungkook is grown up, and technically it's just aera who needs jimin everyday for her well being. what she didn't realise till now was that she was making jimin's life hard. he's right, he's working so hard all the time and here aera wouldn't even bother eating on her own.

she rubs her eyes, taking a deep breath to contain her sobs as she enters her room, locking the door after her and sits on the floor, folding her legs up to her chest before finally bursting into tears as jimin's exhausted voice rings in her ears. all the arguments jimin had with the boys, how he would lose temper so quickly and every day he would come home tired, flashes in her head.

he probably wasn't happy when aera forced him to play tag with her, and he certainly didn't enjoy how she kept chattering around him while he was working in the kitchen. nor did he like getting calls on work from aera that she did only let him know that she misses his hugs, neither did he fancy the movie nights with her or the cuddling. it was all forced after all, wasn't it?

aera rests her head on her arms, sniffling softly as her eyes catch a picture of both her brothers and herself, "i'm sorry, oppa... i didn't want to make you upset, i love you... y'know riri loves you," she cries, standing up and picks up the photo-frame, hugging it tightly.

she rubs her eyes and takes a deep breath, wanting to think of a solution for the situation before the brothers might argue again. sniffling softly, with only jimin's words from earlier repeating in her mind like a broken cassette tape, she looks in the mirror then at the picture in her hand, only coming up with one idea.

"oppa will be fine if i'm not here..." she thinks, gulping at the thought, tears dropping from her eyes at the mere thought.

though she nods and grabs her school bag, stuffing it with some of her clothes, a t-shirt that belongs to jungkook, and her allowance money that she had saved till now. putting on a fluffy jacket to keep herself warm as it's almost night, she stands by her study desk, glancing at one of the sticky notes. she grabs the notepad and a pen, writting down the note that she's going to leave behind after her.

tears never leave her eyes when she puts down the pen, letting the square piece paper stick to one of her books on the desk and takes a deep breath, convincing herself that if she loves her brothers and wants them to have a happy life without the stupid hardships she causes them or making them fight and annoying them all the time, she should do this— leave this house.

maybe then jimin would be able to focus more on himself. he won't have to be a parent to a stupid child like aera, and he won't be worried about her all the time. jungkook too, wouldn't be bothered if aera's not around, he won't have to hear the elders scolding him for loving her, he could then live more freely, and most importantly he wouldn't have to fight his jimin hyung or get hurt.

yes, aera should definitely leave for good.

"i'll go..." she mumbles to herself, staring at the picture of herself and her brothers, taking it out of the frame and folds it from a few centimetres from the edge, just enough to divide the picture into aera and jungkook together and jimin separately. she folds the jimin's part back, and stares at jungkook's smiling face, "i'll miss you koo, you're the only one who loves me... jimin oppa don't want me, so i don't want him either," she huffs, "he's bad,"

___________

a/n- it's an emotional roller coaster u just wait and watch me put it together 😌🤝✨ how did you like the first part huh? 😻😻😻

did it remind you of the old book "i promise"? because if it did i hope you can feel a bit more attached to the plot ✨

____

2.8K words