"get out now! ten rounds of the basketball court. stop any less than that, you'll be cleaning the court too."

"but sir i didn-"

"get out i said." the man points at the door, his eyes emitting glares at the girl ignoring the tears forming in her eyes as she flinches at his harsh tone of voice.

aera takes a deep breath, walking out of the door, leaving the class at peace as according to her history teacher she was nothing more than a disturbance. although her attempts to reason him that she wasn't talking but helping out the boy next to her who apparently didn't know where the teacher was reading, had no effect on the man and he stayed firm on his decision that she was indeed doing nothing but disturbing that child by talking to him midlesson. even the boy didn't voice up for her.

she wipes her tears, exiting the main building and stops eventually in front of the basketball court. her eyes scan around the empty place as all the students are busy with their classes and not a single soul is present here right now.  she unzips her jacket, placing it on the side near the pole and wipes her tears, taking a deep breath before starting with to run.

fourth round was done when a few students arrived in the court, aera doesn't pay a dingle glance and continues with her run, wanting to get done with the punishment as soon as possible. by the end of the sixth round she felt her feet slowing down and breath already getting uneven with the heartbeat racing like crazy. she stops for a moment, leaning forwarded with her hands placed on her knees, panting out tiredly when her ears make out a few voices laughing nearby.

her head lifts up, stealing a brief glance at the boys a few feet away, laughing at her, "tired already, aera? come on start tunning again. you must really love getting punishments, that's why you keep getting into trouble right?" one of them mocks, followed by the other, "yeah, what did you do this time? fight? curse?"

"i didn't do anything." aera scoffs at them, wiping the sweat from her forehead on the sleeve of her shirt, and stands straight, ready to continue with the punishment.

"then why are you here dummy?" the kids laugh. "you failed math and history didn't you? you're gonna get punished at home too!"

"why do i hear you barking asshole?" the girl cracks her neck, making the boys go quiet and she smirks, dusting her hands before starting to run again.

"i'll tell mr park!" one of the boys shout.

"what else can you do?" aera replies, "go and mind your own business. i wasn't the one who started talking nonsense."

"yeah?" another voice says, a more heavy abd serious one, making aera stop at her place staring at the teacher with wide eyes. "you've talking a lot lately isn't it?" he glares at her.

"i'm sorry, sir. they were making fun of me. do i just replied to them." aera justifies, earning a deep sigh of frustration from the teacher.

"i heard the way you were referring to them, aera. you're so spoiled! fighting, cursing, talking back to the teachers! you're not even good in studies, just keep playing around all the time. mark my words, all this will do no good. you're messing up your life aera, and you'll regret this when you end up with nothing but failure!"

aera states at her feet, feeling the tears returning in her eyes she fiddles with her hands, nodding at her teachers words, "i'm s-"

"no, don't say anything. just be quiet and complete your punishment that will be enough of a favour from you." he says, massaging his temples and turns on his heals, "brat" his voice mutters under his breath, leaving the girl alone.

"i'm sorry..." she whispers as tears flow from her eyes coursing down her cheeks. hands slowly lift up to wipe them off, ignoring the mocking laugh in the background for her mind repeats the number if times her teachers have punished her on being wrongly accused just because the kids don't take a stand to hide their mistake or at least support her.

after finishing the left four rounds, aera sits on the ground, leaning against the pole near her jacket. the tears in her eyes left a while ago leaving the doe eyes dry but still a bit red. she breathes deeply, staring at the sky for a while before shaking her head as she gets up, dusting her skirt and heads back to her homeroom as it's almost the time of dismissal.

__

"i'm home..." a small voice mumbles, almost like a whisper whisper between a deep sigh, mixing with the faint noise of the fabric of the school bag rubbing against the floor as aera drags it lazily after her. she heads straight to the stairs, not minding a pair of voices laughing and talking in the living room while walking past the couch, too absorbed in her own thoughts.

"hey, champ," jimin's voice calls, "you're back, come here. how was your day?"

the girl stops midway, turning around and glances at jimin, "yeah, it was fine."

"come here," he smiles at her, patting the space next to him, making her sigh deeply as she walks towards him and takes a seat.

yoongi looks at her clothes, disheveled and laden with dirt, nothing like what she went to school with in the morning. he chuckles at her, shaking his head, "looks like riri played a lot today."

"yeah," she nods briefly, "we had p.e. today."

"that's good," jimin brushes her hair back gently, patting her head, "are you okay?"

aera sighs again, staring at her lap, then at yoongi, and then at jimin, "i was punished for no reason..."

"punished as in made to do what?"

"ten rounds of the playground during recess, and before that cleaning the badminton hall." she huffs.

"woah seriously? you must be tired."

"i'm about to break." she nods.

"but what did you do?" yoongi asks.

"during p.e. someone kicked the soccer ball too hard and hit our teacher. he was mad and everybody got scared. so the boys blamed it on me, and said i was the one who kicked the ball to him. he mad me write clean the badminton hall and collect all the tennis balls from t.t. arena. after recess mr park thought i was talking and disturbing the class. i was just helping out that boy, he asked me where he where we were reading and what this line meant. but mr park saw me and started shouting... then i had to run ten rounds of the court." 

jimin and yoongi exchange glances, not sure of how to react. for one, they knew aera wouldn't be lying after such a tiring punishment. and for two, they knew their riri is a naughty kid who might as well pretend to accidentally kick the ball and hit someone she doesn't like. and same was with the second problem, she might as well try to talk to entertain herself during. but the fact that she's took the punishment for it makes her story believable.

yoongi clears his throat and nods slowly, "are you sure you didn't hit your teacher?"

"yes appa! why would i hit him? if i wanted to hit anyone, it would be miss jaehee, not our p.e. sir."

"that is not good either, kiddo." he sighs.

"i know, i won't hit anyone. i'm just saying. i didn't kick the ball, i wasn't even near it! the boys lied so they won't have to clean the hall. and even that boy i helped didn't say anything when mr park was scolding me. they all are so bad! i hate everyone! i don't wanna go to school!"

jimin sighs softly, shaking his head and hugs the sister, "my baby, it's okay. don't think about it too much. i'll talk to your teacher if you want, alright?"

"of course, we have to." yoongi nods, "what kind of teacher is he if he can't spot the difference between an honest child and the one who's lying. i'll talk in the school, you don't have to worry."

"no, it's okay" aera says, "just give me the permission to hit the boys if they do it again."

"fighting is–"

"not good." she sighs, completing jimin's sentence and sighs, standing up, "yeah great, they can do what they want and blame it on me. but i can't even fight. okay."

"aera, it's not lik–"

"it's okay oppa, i know." she grabs her bag, heading upstairs to her room.

jimin shakes his head, sighing deeply, "she must be so mad." he chuckles.

"i'd be too." yoongi shrugs, "sometimes i wonder why can't we let her be, like y'know, just set her free for a day."

jimin laughs at the idea, "the school and parents will keep blowing our phones with complains of how our poor little girl is being the don with the kids."

yoongi laughs too, nodding as he agrees with the said scenario, "totally understandable." he leans back on the couch, glancing at the stairs, "jungkook wasn't like this, right?"

"he was the kindest and nicest kid you would see during elementary and middle school. but high school got him bad."

"i remember," yoongi laughs, "the first time he came home after fighting someone and refused to come out of his room."

"i can bet hyung, he'll still be the same if something like that happens again." jimin snorts, falling back as he laughs too hard.

__

"yeah, and that bloody asshole spilled the damn coffee on me!" jungkook exasperates, "like what the fuck man?! you have eyes, use them! i don't get these kind of people! is talking on phones more important than looking where you're go– fuck it! dude what the hell?!"

"i'm sorry! i'm so sorry." the man bows instantly before reaching out to make sure jungkook is not hurt. the latter, shoots a glare, slowly lifting his gaze up from his phone that is now lying broken on the pavement.

"do you even know who i am?" jungkook growls, running his eyes at the man who ran into him from behind. by his disheveled office attire, jungkook concludes he was returning from office and now going home.

"i'm sorry sir, i should've been more mindful..."

"yeah, you should." he nods, poking his tongue against his cheek, "do you know how much that phone costs?"

"i- i..."

"of course you don't," jungkook scoffs at his stuttering state, looking scared almost shrinking in his shoes. "i don't like saying this, but it's probably more than what you earn in a whole month. can you afford to pay me back?"

the man says nothing, staring at his feet and just mumbles out another apology, making jungkook sigh deeply, "forget it, just go." he rolls his eyes, "and look where you're going this time."

"yes sir, i'm so sorry for your phone." he says.

"yeah, just get going." jungkook says, shaking his head and picks up his phone, the screen cracked and permanently switched off. "what kind of day is it? all the idiots keep bumping into me for no reason." he mutters, heading towards his car.

even in the traffic, jungkook's tongue couldn't help but let out frequent curses whenever a person would honk from behind or the vehicle ahead of him wouldn't drive faster. after a torturous half an hour, he finally pulls in the driveway of the mansion, heaving out a sigh of relief and grabs his coat and phone, walking towards the entrance.

"i'm back" he voices out tiredly, flopping right next to hoseok's hissing figure.

"careful man," the elder groans, "my back hurts so much today."

"sorry" jungkook mutters in response, having his eyes closed.

"jungkook-ah! did you take my pen drive from the table? i'm looking for it since morning." taehyung asks, jogging down the stairs as soon as he spots the boy.

"no. what pen drive?"

"the one with all the editing material and some documents." taehyung massages his temples, "i can't remember where i kept it."

"did you ask aera?" namjoon suggests, "i think i saw her with something similar."

"really?" taehyung glances at him and then towards the kitchen where she's doing her homework with jimin and yoongi, "aera! come here for a second."

"hm?" the girl leans against the pillar, holding the pencil in her hand.

"did you see my pen drive? it has some important files in it."

"no," she shakes her head.

"then what were you playing with yesterday?" namjoon asks.

"it was mine. i found it in the gaming room near my teddy. and appa said i can take it."

"will you show it to me?" taehyung says, earning a nod from the girl as she jogs to her room and returns with a tiny black pen drive in her hand. taehyung takes a look at it and gasps, "this is it!"

"no! it's mine!" aera whines, taking the pen drive back, "appa gave it to me!"

"no aera, this is mine. why wouldn't i recognise my pen drive kiddo? please give it back, it's important."

"but it's not yours, it's m–"

"god just shut up and give it to him!" jungkook groans, "it's just a fucking pen drive. stop making a fuss of it!"

"why are you scolding me? i'm saying it's mine, there's no important files in–"

"shut up, aera." taehyung hisses as well, while jungkook throws a strict glare. "give it back."

aera glares back at the two, then looks at namjoon for some support. but the elder sighs, shaking his head, "just give it to him. you should not take something without permission. he has his important files in it. what if you lost it? do you know how much loss he could face because of it."

"it's mine– no, okay. keep it." she sighs deeply, storming back to the kitchen.

"stop being so bratty." jungkook scoffs.

aera glares at him, not saying anything and just focuses on her homework. yoongi pats her back, telling her to ignore as he consoles her saying the boys must be stressed from work, and let it slide this once.

"guys! dinner!" jimin calls after a few minutes.

"coming" hoseok replies, entering the dining space and takes his seat with namjoon.

"how's your back?" jimin asks.

"bad" the elder sighs.

"your back is hurting oppa? should i give you a massage?" aera smiles at him.

"you will? sure." hoseok rolls his shoulder back, nodding in response. aera stands up from her chair, going behind him and starts massaging his shoulders the way she's seen jungkook doing to jimin. "do it with more pressure. your hands are so small— feels almost nothing."

aera frowns, staring at her hands and then at yoongi who chuckles. she does as hoseok said, applying more pressure this time, making hoseok yelp in pain, "ow! not like that! jesus, you're making it worse. just let it be, that's enough of help."

aera stares at him and then at her hands again, "okay... sorry oppa."

"sorry's not making me feel better, but okay."

"today sucks dude." namjoon shakes his head, "i was so close to finalizing this deal, but then the client suddenly lost all the interest. i was like, yeah, you were the one begging me for it."

"where's jin hyung?" hoseok asks.

"he had something up late in the evening, so i don't think he'll be returning any sooner than tomorrow morning."

"aera, would you go and call jungkook and taehyung from their rooms?" jimin asks.

"why me?" the girl pouts, "no,"

"come on, it'll be quick." he says, patting her back, "keep your books in your room, and call them too."

she sighs, but nods anyway, gathering her stuff and puts it in her bag before going upstairs. she quickly keeps her bag away and knocks on jungkook's room, "oppa, dinner is ready. come down and eat."

jungkook hums in response, to which aera frowns, knocking again, "oppa? can i come in?"

"what?" the brother sighs deeply, opening the door, "what do you want aera?"

"nothing... i just came to call you for dinner."

"you that did that right? means you can leave." he hisses and points the opposite way, "that's the way."

"why are you being so rude? i didn't even do anythi–" jungkook looks away, closing the door as he walks past her, heading down the stairs to the kitchen, not even letting her complete, "...what did i do?"

she looks down, sighing softly and knocks on the next door, "oppa, dinner's ready, come and eat."

"i'll come in a bit, you can go."

"okay" she nods before leaving.

"tae's not coming?" yoongi asks.

"he'll take some time." aera answers, sitting next to yoongi, leaving one chair for jimin on her right side. "oppa, can we go the animal café after school tomorrow?"

"i'm so sorry kiddo, we have a meeting tomorrow." jimin smiles sadly, "jungkook might be free. he was wrapping up his schedule for the week today, i guess?"

"no, i'll be busy resting tomorrow." the younger says, gulping down a sip of water.

"jungkook... seriously?" jimin stares at him with a weird face.

"yeah?" he nods, "i don't wanna waste a day off going to stupid cafés. i did a lot of work, and i'm tired."

jimin sighs deeply, glaring at the boy, but before he speaks, aera does, "it's fine," she says, "i don't wanna go with him. i don't even know what i did wrong to have him so mad–"

"this," jungkook rolls his eyes, "you're annoying when you do this."

"what did i do?" aera looks at him, "speak to you nicely? is that why you're annoyed? because i'm not saying stupid stuff like you?"

"aera!" taehyung's voice roars, making all the heads turn to find an angry taehyung standing there, "this is not my pen drive!"

"oh you figured?" she mocks at him, "what else did i say earlier?"

"shut up aera!" jungkook stands up, glaring at her, "that is not the way you talk to your elders!"

"why?!" aera shouts back with tears brimming her eyes now, "you're older than me doesn't mean you can keep scolding me for no reason! i didn't anything wrong still everybody keeps scolding me! you're being so rude, tae oppa didn't listen to me, hobi oppa thinks i hurted his shoulder more, joonie oppa didn't listen to me... i— you'all are bad..." she breaks into a sob, wiping her tears on her sleeve as she pushes her plate away and runs upstairs.

"aera, wait!" jimin calls, breathing deeply at the end.

"she's getting out of hand. just let her be, she'll be alright if she doesn't get to eat for once. bratty kids–"

"jungkook enough." jimin warns, glaring at the younger brother, "i don't know what's so wrong with you today, but it still doesn't give you the right lash out at your sister."

"you're saying that to me? you didn't see what she just did–"

"jungkook i said stop!" jimin yells this time, "what did she do wrong if she stood up for herself? you're the one who's been acting like a brat, not her."

jungkook says nothing, brushing his hair back with his hand in frustration as jimin storms out of the kitchen, going up the stairs, calling their sister's name.

"what the actual fuck–"

"taehyung, better keep your mouth shut." yoongi states in a calm voice, however his eyes showing the anger he's holding back, "all four of you, one more word, and consider yourself in trouble."

"hyung what–"

"am i not clear enough?"

silence takes over and yoongi nods firmly before starting, "i assume you're having a terrible day, namjoon couldn't close a deal, taehyung lost his pen drive, hoseok has his back hurting, and jungkook... i don't know what is going with you. but tell me one thing, was it anywhere aera's fault?"

"you, namjoon, did she ruin your deal with the clients? or hoseok, was she the one who told you to practice until you have your back straining? tae and jungkook, was aera anywhere a part of your day that you're so annoyed of? no, right? she, too had a bad day. she was made to run ten rounds of the school basketball court and did the cleaning of the hall, because some kids wrongly accused her. she was tired when she came back. but did she make it an excuse to throws tantrums or argue with anyone? again, no. because she knows that having a bad day doesn't mean she can go around making other people's day bad.

"she still did her homework without much trouble, cleaned her room on her own, heard you all taking out your frustration on her. everybody has a saturation point, she has too. and you all forced her to react that way, she wouldn't ever behave like that with any of us, you know that too."

"we're still elder" jungkook says.

"she just proved she's more mature than you four put together." yoongi says, "if you can still not see your mistake, then i have no other way. keep behaving like that, she'll either start ignoring you after some time or comeback sharper. my daughter isn't someone you can lash out at just because you're having a bad day. she's a kid, treat her with care. if anything other than that, i'm watching." yoongi says, getting up from his chair and walks away.

"we fucked up" taehyung mumbles.

"pretty bad" jungkook nods.

"what now?" hoseok asks.

"i have no clue..." namjoon blinks a few times, making the boys sigh.

___

"don't cry, love." jimin says in soft voice and kisses aera's head, "oppa scolded everybody for being so mean to his princess."

"yeah," another voice breaks in, making jimin smile a little.

"appa..." aera cries, glancing at him too, "they're so- so bad... i didn't even do anything, still they keep callin' me annoying... i don't like them. they're not my oppa..."

"ah my child." yoongi sighs softly, patting her back, "they won't say anything to you now. don't worry about them. appa gave them a nice scolding for their bad behaviour. even jiminie oppa scolded them y'know? they won't dare speaking to our princess like that again."

"why did they do that?" she asks.

jimin exchanges a nervous glance with yoongi and forces a smile that appears a sad one, "sometimes when we're too stressed, that we don't realise what we're saying or doing and that it can hurt someone."

"but that's bad right?" aera rubs her eyes, glancing at him, "i was not happy today, you and appa must be having some problem too. but we are not being mean to others..."

"i know, baby. and we should never be mean to others. we talked to jungkook and the others, they'll understand it eventually that what they did is wrong."

aera nods slowly, "i was so hungry, but koo and tae oppa made me so mad that i had to leave food..." she pouts at jimin, laying on his lap, making him chuckle.

"it's okay, we can get dinner here." he says.

"yes, anything special you wanna eat?" yoongi asks with a smile, "appa might be in the mood to cook something real quick."

"cereals?"

"that's not dinner, aera. you should eat proper food for lunch and dinner." yoongi says, "or else, how are you gonna become strong?"

"mm-hmm, right i'll eat food and become strong and like you both. everybody is scared of you when you get mad." she laughs.

"ah really?" he scrunches his face, leaning down and rubs his nose against aera's making her laugh and squirm in jimin's lap.

jimin chuckles, "alright, let's get some food for riri."

"pizza?" aera asks, "please?"

"uh i don't know. ask your appa."

"pizza?" she looks at yoongi this time who pretends to think, making her whine, then nods with a smile. "yes! thank you appa!"

"great, so jiminie will order the pizza, get some more snacks and till then, appa and riri will find a nice movie to watch. cool?"

"super cool!" aera nods in enthusiasm.

"awesome, let's get to work." yoongi chuckles. "jiminie oppa, go get some pizzas for us."

"jiminie oppa" aera repeats, laughing with yoongi while jimin just shakes his head, leaving the two alone as he heads downstairs to take his phone.

"hyung" jungkook calls, "i'm sorry."

"yeah, jimin-ah, i'm sorry too."

"i'm sorry too."

"i'm sorry"

"to me?" jimin raises his eyebrows that them, "you should be saying that to aera."

"is she okay now? will she talk to us?" hoseok asks.

"she's fine. i'm ordering pizzas for us, y'all better get her favourite snacks and ice creams, and apologize to her." jimin says. the boys smile at jimin, hugging him all together, making him smile as well, "but make sure to never repeat this."

"never."

"great," jimin nods with a smile, "now let's go. riri and appa are already looking for a movie."

"i'll get the ice creams!" jungkook says.

"i'll get some chips!" hoseok declares.

"and i'll get some coke!" taehyung says.

"...uh then what should i get?" namjoon asks, looking confused as he tries to remember anything that's left.

"you can pay for the pizza." jimin suggests.

"okay! great!"

___________

a/n- first of all i'm sorry to keep you all waiting. i was actually very busy and just couldn't update here. anyway, now the thing is, this is the 97th chapter. so since many if wanted a q/a again, i'll upload a chapter after this. by the time you're reading this it might already be up there. feel free to leave your questions there, i'll be accepting the questions till February 19th.

100th chapter will be the answers part of the q/a.

you may expect one more chapter around this saturday when i'll update the other two books.

alright, now please vote and comment if you liked the chapter. this was in my requests i'm so sorry i don't remember who requested it. but i kinda had it in my mind. so yeah, thank you for reading take care ❤️✨

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