××××××

⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️

-Mentions bullying, targetting words, panic attack and depression.

××××××

×

×××××

Aera smiled softly waving at her friend, seeing her walk away with her father as they had a daddy-daughter date later in the evening according to which her father had promised to take her for a movie, an arcade and a karaoke at last. For Aera all these things sounded normal, she too went out with her brothers for movies or arcade or karaoke, but what seemed new to her was the Daddy-daughter date.

Her eyes travelled down, letting out a sigh as she turned around ready to go home as well. The sun was still up, not even close to setting down at least till another hour, she dusted her capree-pants that had partially been covered in dirt due to hiding at various places while her friend who tried to find her.

"Hey look who's alone again!"

She rolled her eyes, keeping her focus in front of her as she held her ball tightly in her hands, walking away from the slides and swings where the group of four boys stood.

"Aera, where are you going? Let's play?" One of the fifteen year olds said. Jeff, Henry Jeff.

"Aish! Jeff, what are you saying? Don't call her here, dying is still so much better than spending time with this girl." The other laughed. Lee Sunghyun.

"No, guys guys" another snorted, "Don't be so rude, her friend just left her. She must be sad." Kang Leo.

"Let her be, who gives a damn about kids like her anyway?" Song Jaemin.

"Yeah, all she does is bring bad luck."

Aera gulped, looking at her feet as they felt stiff and stuck to the ground, eyes that held a whole galaxy according to her brothers, held pearly tears now. She sniffed softly, feeling her hands trembling as the ball was suddenly pushed out of her hands, her head turned to the side finding Jaemin standing there with a smirk on his face.

"What?" She snapped at the older boy with a frown.

"Oh you know how to talk?" He mocked, kicking her red and white colored ball away.

"Go away" She said, turning away from as she went to get her ball and go back home without getting into a fight.

"Yeah, everyone should go away," Sunghyun joined, "everyone should leave you, and I know you know it as well right?"

"Shut up" Aera gritted, glaring at him, "You keep talking bad but that doesn't mean its true!"

Leo chuckled, stepping forward as his hand rested on the younger girl's shoulder, "It is true, you're just really stupid to understand that. For instance, your parents, they left you. Even the people you call friends leave you alone, and at the rate things are going right now, I'm sure your brothers will leave you too." He laughed.

Aera pushed him away harshly, making him stumble upon a stone and take a friend's support to maintain his balance, "See? Now you're fighting with us, y'know I'm glad your mom and dad died when you were younger, or else it would've been so hard for them to look at a disappointment like you." Jeff said, glaring back at her.

"No!" Aera shouted, "You all are lying!"

"Why would we lie Aera? Its true, you should ask your brother, he must be thinking the same. You don't deserve anyone, its sad but its true." He shrugged, pushing her by the shoulder.

Aera stumbled back, closing her eyes as she clutched on her ball tightly, lifting her hands above her head and throwing the ball right in front, hitting the boy's head and running away.

The boy groaned falling back, two of his friends checked on him while the third one sprinting behind the girl who dared to hit him. The three stood up, running from different directions and chasing her till the end of the park until they had successfully got her cornered near a tree.

Jeff rubbed his forehead, "I'll tell you how much that hurts" he threatened, stepping forward.

She looked around hastily finding nothing to protect herself and decided it was better to escape anyhow. Ducking down in her spot, she pushed the boy back making him stumble back a bit, giving her a little time and space to run. Right when she thought she could get away from them, her feet stumbled upon a foot which Sunghyun had inserted in the middle making her fall down.

"Oppa!" A cry left her lips.

"Aera? Are you okay?" She felt a pair of warm hands holding her, helping her off the ground.

Jimin's concerned face stared at her, making her sob as she quickly moved further in his embrace, feeling safe and protected now. Her eyes wandered back to look at the group of boys, who weren't there now. They stood at a distance casually talking to each other while their eyes locked with Aera giving off a stern glare.

She turned her head to the front, closing her eyes as she buried her face in Jimin's neck sniffing softly while he rubbed her back, crouching on the ground where she head tripped.

"Are you okay?"

"...home" She whispered, not letting go of the hug which was making the brother worried. He nodded, seeing her finally pulling away and wiping her tears, sitting by herself as her eyes stared at her hands and knee where there was a viable amount of blood.

Jimin pulled out his handkerchief from the pocket of his pants and wiped her hands gently, "Let's go home, we'll treat your wounds then hmm?"

Aera nodded, standing up and slowly walking towards their car with him, she held his hand wanting to stay closer to her brother no matter what. Jimin looked down at her with confused eyes studying her expression and following her gaze that went up to a group of boys standing at a distance.

"How did you fell down?"

Aera shook her head sitting quietly in the backseat while Jimin glanced at her through the mirror, speeding the car in a decent manner.

"Where was your friend though? I thought you were playing with her...?"

"Hmm" She nodded, "she went back with her dad, they had a daddy-daughter date."

"Oh that's cool." Jimin smiled.

"I don't have a daddy-daughter date, oppa"

Jimin's eyes softened, glancing at her through the mirror again, "But you do have an oppa-Riri date, she doesn't have that."

Aera stared at him for a second before nodding her head, "Right, she doesn't have a brother like mine." She smiled softly, feeling a bit better on hearing that.

Jimin chuckled, pulling the car in the driveway of the house, he stepped out waiting for Aera to come as well, however realizing that she was just sitting in the back seat, extending her arms out and staring at him with hopeful eyes. He sighed, opening the door and crouching down, back facing her. She smiled, instantly climbing on his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, enjoying the piggy back ride like the princess she was, only for him and Jungkook.

"You won't leave me right?" She asked in a hushed voice, still wearing the soft smile that appeared like a sad one as she stared at Jimin's face leaning on his shoulder.

"Of course not, baby." He assured, frowning in confusion, "I'd never leave my little girl. What made you question that?"

Aera shook her head, moving closer to kiss his cheek, "thank you" she whispered and closed her eyes, feeling the tears pooling yet again.

Jimin sat her down in the living room couch, kneeling in front of her after telling Jungkook to come down with the first aid box. Aera talking like that meant something serious according to him, she had never asked him anything like that, sounding so fragile and vulnerable, which scared him to every corner of his body.

"Oh my, did you fell down?" Jungkook chuckled, ruffling her hair.

"Mm-hmm" Aera nodded, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the tears.

You don't deserve anyone

Thank god they died earlier

Everyone should leave you

Your brothers will too

All you do is bring bad luck

You're just a disap-

"Aera? What happened? Are you okay?" She heard suddenly, too loud for her ears, almost becoming painful between all the voices echoing around her. People laughing, screaming and telling her how much of a bad person she is.

"No!" She shouted, pulling herself back. Tears blurring her vision and hands covering her ears tightly, shaking her head not wanting to hear the voices of everybody surrounding her head.

The brothers frowned at the sudden change in her behaviour, Jimin kept the peice of cotton away, moving closer to the kid, bringing his hands over hers, caressing softly as he motioned the younger brother to move aside a bit.

"Shh Aera, you're okay kiddo." He said, rubbing her arms, "look at me."

Although the girl didn't seem to listen, the brothers saw her hands cupping her ears as if she was hearing things that were suffocating to her, Jimin hugged her slowly, rubbing her back whispering in a soft voice, hoping that would calm her down.

"oppa..." She whimpered in between, reaching out for her brother, lifting her head up hastily as if trying to look st him as soon as possible.

"Yes honey, I'm here." Jimin assured, holding her close against his chest, "Oppa's right here with Aera."

"...don'- don't leave me, oppa... don't leave me" she mumbled, leaving the boys perplexed.

"I'm not leaving you, love. Relax, breath with oppa." He said, rubbing her back as he noticed her breathless mutterings which he could faintly make out, "Breath in"

"Breath out"

Jungkook stared at their sister, trying his best to understand what made the child have such a severe panic attack. The eldest was holding her hand in his, caressing it with his thumb while supporting her body weight with the other arm. He had never seen Aera in such a vulnerable state, even though his brother was handling the situation quiet well, Jungkook couldn't help but have tears brimming his eyes every time Aera mumbled pleadingly almost begging for her oppas to stay and not leave her.

I'd never leave you, baby

"You're okay" He heard Jimin's voice bringing him out his train of thoughts, "Look, oppa's is here, Koo's here, everything is fine, right Jungkook?"

"Yeah" He nodded instantly, "you're our strong girl Ri."

Aera didn't respond, he saw her eyelids closing gradually, her cheeks were still wet with tears and lips moving in a subtle motion, mumbling inaudibly slow, and her hand still holding onto Jimin's bigger one securely.

"What happened to her, hyung?" He heard his own voice asking, eyes shifting towards the older brother, searching for an answer that nothing else could provide him right now.

"I don't know..." Jimin breathed out, "but it's serious and its bothering her too much."

Jungkook nodded, finding himself staring at his sister's sleeping figure again, his hands moved towards her face, wiping the wetness off the milky skin of her cheeks. "She didn't wanted us to leave, what does that mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like." Jimin said, earning an even more confused look from the younger boy, "She's scared, I think. She was talking about her friend having a daddy- daughter date and that she didn't have one. I'm not sure, but for some reason I think, its about mom and dad."

"...we can't do anything about that, how are we going to-"

"I don't know, and I'm not even sure of it, we have to talk to her before coming to a conclusion."

_

The boys exchanged glances, studying the painting their sister made when asked to paint her thoughts, as even after three days from the first panic attack, she wasn't able to voice out what was going on in her head. Jimin remembered how his psychology teacher in high school said writing, painting or any similar interest can be a good way of getting things out and since Aera had a genuine liking for painting, they thought it could help, And it did, to some extent.

Jimin paused for a moment, taking a brief look at the creator of the art in front of them, she had stepped back, sitting quietly like she did in the past three days, gulping in a nervous manner as she saw her painting as well.

"it's- it's not good" she mumbled, standing up and quickly taking the sheet off of Jungkook's canvas.

"Aera," Jungkook said softly, sitting on the couch and patting his thigh as a gesture for her to come and sit with him, "it's fine, we'll put it away."

She nodded, sitting on his lap and resting her head on his shoulder fiddling with the hem of his shirt, "they were... they were saying I don't have anyone and- no, it was some other word, I think." She mumbled suddenly, pointing at the painting, and gasped remembering the right word, "deserve. I don't deserve anyone..."

Jungkook glanced back at the painting that had a little girl in it, wearing a pink dress and had short hair, in an unfamiliar surrounding with four boys looking taller than her. Their hands were pointing at her and at the back were a bunch of other people who didn't have eyes, just a mouth that was laughing. The four boys were laughing as well, the only person who wasn't even smiling was her. Instead, her lips were tugged downwards and a few tears coming out of her eyes.

"...who said that?" Jungkook asked carefully.

"them" Aera pointed at four boys in the painting, "they... and they said mom and dad uh be so..."

She shook her head, closing her eyes holding his hand tightly as if she was scared. Jimin stared at her with a soft expression, feeling empathetic as he thought how cruel this world can be, and how people had the audacity to say something so damaging to a kid that it effects them in the worst way possible. The sad thing being that he realized there's more to what she's been hearing from those people.

He had seen her struggling for the last three days and having heavy meltdowns even on the smallest things, and no matter what the initial reason was to make her cry, it always ended with 'dont leave me'. She kept quiet mostly, and stuttered whenever they tried to talk to her about what was bothering her.

Yesterday was the day when they took her to a doctor according to whom, she had been bottling up things so much that now it had brought her in a position where she was finding it hard to cope with her thoughts anymore, she wasn't able to talk it out due to the access stuttering and having feelings of being stuck.

Jimin sighed, keeping the painting away as he saw Aera shifting away into Jungkook's embrace, seemingly not wanting to look at the painting she made herself, "Let's go and eat something yeah?" He suggested, earning a nod from the girl.

"chicken?" She asked.

"Yes" He smiled, knowing that he has to agree to whatever she wanted to eat, as letting her have her favourite food was a lot better than making her cry and leaving her to starve.

"Oh we're going to have chicken for lunch? That's great, let's see who can eat the most." Jungkook said, looking at Aera.

"okay" She agreed, standing up and heading downstairs with him.

Jungkook sat down on his usual seat, near Aera while they watched the elder brother cooking, occasionally cracking a joke to make his sister laugh, which he succeeded at after a few attempts. Jimin soon joined them at the table as they all ate together, Jungkook and Aera having a competition to see who eats more, and as expected Jungkook did win.

Aera didn't whine, she didn't say he was cheating, nothing that she usually did on losing against Jungkook. Her expression remained indifferent, eyes staring at him, cheeks puffed like always and lips tinted, but a smile and a spark in her eyes were missing.

"I'm sleepy" She said, glancing at Jimin who nodded and stood up taking her dish to the sink.

"Kook-ah, can you please do the dishes? I'll go with her."

"Yeah sure" Jungkook nodded, standing up with an assuring smile for his hyung. Jimin patted his head thankfully before, taking Aera upstairs to her room as he had to put her to sleep, so she won't wake up having a bad dream again.

Jimin laid down patting Aera's back gently as he hummed softly, closing his eyes as well, "Close your eyes Riri," he chuckled, feeling her gaze on him, making her lips curve up into a small smile.

"How did you know?"

"Because I'm the big brother?"

"Wow"

He felt her hands, pulling his head down gently and placing a kiss on his cheek, "I won't disappoint you oppa." she said smiling softly at the brother, leaving him confused at her words. Letting out a yawn, she closed her eyes hugging Jimin's bug body and drifting off to sleep.

What happened to you princess?

______________________

A/N- I really wanted to update since we just hit 3K+ views. So here you go!😌

I hope you liked the chapter, please vote if if you did and stay tuned for the 2nd part ❤️

Have a good day/night.

_______________

Word count : 2.9K