"what happened jimin?" jaehyun frowns, entering the living room with eunmi who looks just as worried as him on hearing jimin's deep voice on the phone last night, not even caring what time it was, just said that they should be back by morning anyhow.

jungkook's eyes snap at the parents first, standing up with raging eyes, stopping however when haewon gives him a look, gesturing him to stay calm. "ah haewon-ah, how are you darling?" eunmi smiles at the daughter-in-law, going for a hug which haewon returns hesitantly, smiling at jaehyun too.

"where's our little champ?" jaehyun sits on the couch, putting the keys of his car away and frowns on not seeing jiwon anywhere, "is he still sleeping? and where's aera?"

"he's sleeping," haewon nods, taking the tray of water from the maid and gestures her to go from here as she gives the water to the parents herself before returning back to her place with jungkook at the back for she knew the younger needed more assistance and reassurance than jimin did.

"mom, dad," jimin starts, sitting across the father, "i know i've been away for quite a few years. but i still thought i was your son— the eldest one in fact. if i'm not needed here, i swear i won't show up. i have my wife, my son, jungkook is with me... just yeah, you both and aera are here and that keeps me still attached to this family y'know,"

"jimin, what are you saying honey?" eunmi frowns, "of course you're needed here sweetheart. you're the eldest son, the family, everything is yours. why are you talking like that?"

"because in all these years, even when i wasn't here, yesterday i felt like i wasn't home. like i don't know anything or anyone here in this house. why didn't you tell me?"

"tell you what?" jaehyun looks at jimin, then at haewon and jungkook, "where's aera? did she do something?"

"no, don't you dare talk about her like that," jungkook glares at them, "i heard you on the phone mom, yesterday. i was actually shocked how quick you changed talking to me and then to aera. is that how you treat your daughter? what do you think you're to her like this?"

eunmi sighs, standing up and shakes her head, smiling softly at jungkook as she approaches him, "i'm sorry jungkook, aera's just a moody teenager. you haven't heard her talking nonsense or else you'd the same—"

"you're so wrong if you think that," jungkook chuckles dryly, "i would never treat my sister like that. you're raising a daughter not an animal, mom."

"leave him mom," jimin sighs, "just tell me what's going on."

"it's nothing, jimin i told you alr—"

"aera had a panic attack last night, she wouldn't let us touch her, she wouldn't listen to us. i had to inject her to put her to sleep. that's not nothing. please don't do this, i don't wanna argue with you and dad," jimin says calmly and eunmi glances over to jaehyun who sighs, nodding his head.

"aera's been on therapy for a week," eunmi says, "she did three suicide attempts in the last two months. she'd lock herself up, refuse to come out or even eat at times. she used to say jaemin, your uncle, touches her inappropriately. but tell me how is that possible? he has a daughter himself and he's been with us since forever. all three of you grew up in front of his eyes. so we thought she needed some help and contacted this psychologist, kim namjoon, so that he would put some sense into her. she's so hard to deal with sometimes,"

jimin, jungkook and haewon stare at the parents with wide eyes, finding no sensible word in what eunmi just said. jungkook gasps in shock, standing up and grabs his hair, turning to his noona, "and she calls herself a mother..." he exasperates, making haewon gulp as she glances at eunmi too with an unhappy look.

jimin feels lost between his words, staring at the carpet with dead eyes as he lets his mother's words sink in slowly. though he's snapped back to reality with jungkook's loud voice as he cuts their father off when he tries to speak, "no don't! i am not jimin hyung, i won't tolerate the shit you say to cover up your carelessness! she told you there's something wrong happening with her, and you just decided to ignore it? blame her for things that aren't even her fault? i can't believe you—"

"jungkook," haewon places her hand on his shoulder, "let's talk calmly, they'll listen to you,"

"no, i'm done being calm," jungkook grits at their parents, then glances at haewon with glassy eyes, "do you not hear them noona? what type of parents behave like that to their daughter? you saw riri last night right? she was crying so much... she was begging us to leave her alone... some man hurted her like that and she— my aera, noona she must've fought him, she must've tried eveything to stop him," his voice breaks, tears leaving his eyes he turns away from his parents.

"jungkook, i'm sorry for what happened but i'm sure she just misunderstood something,"

"stop it," jungkook wipes his tears, glaring at eunmi, "it's enough, don't talk to me."

"jungk—"

"i said no," jungkook repeats, earning a glare from jaehyun this time.

"you won't to your mother like that. apologize," he glares at the younger son, standing up, "right now, jungkook. don't make me repeat,"

"no," jungkook faces the father, "not after how treated my sister all this while."

before jaehyun or even jimin said anything, aera's muffled voice fills their ears. jimin glances at towards the stairs seeing her crying as she heads down, one hand on her head and the other supporting her weight on the railing. haewon reaches out for the girl, helping her down and makes her sit on the couch, "what happened aera? are you okay?" she asks, stroking the younger girl's hair gently and gives a glass of water.

"i- i- that... that yesterday, they—" aera nibbles on her lips, looking down as she can't speak with heavy breathing and sobs leaving her mouth.

"nothing happened, aera. nobody's gonna hurt you," haewon hugs the girl carefully, rubbing her back and lets her relax, "nobody will hurt you okay?"

jungkook watches from afar, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed on his chest and tears welling his eyes.

"how can you do this?" jimin lets out, lifting up his gaze to the parents, "doesn't it hurt you to see her like that? doesn't it rip off your soul to watch your daughter so scared... wanting to die?"

"who was it again?" jungkook clears his throat, kneeling down in front of aera, staring straight in her eyes, "who was it? jaemin?"

aera's eyes widen at mention of the name, breaking into another sob as she hugs haewon tighter, mumbling something that goes mixed with her sobs, "aera, tell us baby, please. i swear he'll be dead if he's the one who hurted you," jungkook promises, his eyes holding the pain that aera cries, "jeon jaemin?"

"ahh!" aera screams, pushing him away and turns to the other side, panting deeply as her trembling hands rummage over the table, finding the glass of water and tries to have a sip, but ends up dropping the glass and spilling the water on herself.

"he better be breathing his last few hours," jungkook grits, standing up and rolls up his sleeves, glaring at his own father.

"stop behaving like that aera," eunmi glares at aera, earning a glance from the girl.

but before jungkook or anyone speaks, aera's on her feet, glaring at her mother and screams louder, "why?! i told you i don't do it purpose! i'm sorry you can't understand me! i told you! i told you! i told you! why didn't you listen to me?!" she cries, falling on her knees in front of eunmi.

"why didn't you listen to me? i wasn't lying mom... never... for nine years dad, i wasn't lying." she says, sniffing softly and looks up at haewon, "unnie, please teach jiwon not to be like this okay? it hurts so much when— when someone touches you against your wishes, makes you do things. it hurts."

haewon wipes her tears, kneeling down near aera and hugs her gently, "i was eight... uncle jaemin was at home. we were having a pool day," aera says, glancing up at her mother, "remember mom? i told you he was touching me and made me sit on his lap and stuff. he took me to the— to the bathroom and there..." she covers her mouth, taking a deep breath, "i was— i was crying. i told him to stop, but he didn't listen. i was hurting— my whole body ached for almost a week."

jungkook averts his gaze to the window, staring outside with a blurred vision while jimin just keeps his eyes pinned on the void in space somewhere near the table. haewon too, struggles to contain her sobs, but does it anyway and hugs aera.

"that wasn't it y'know?" aera wipes her tears then, sitting up on her own and looks at the elders in the room, "after that on my tenth birthday, he was there again. he told me he had a big gift for me and it was in his room. i didn't want to go, but mom said it'll be rude if i say no. so i went with him. there was no gift, just a lot of pain, cries— and oh, he had this rope. he tied my hands, my- my feet. so y'know i won't protest."

"i told mom again, but she didn't believe me. so it happened again and again, that man— he knew nobody was going to listen to me so he continued doing that to me. when we went to see him during sana's birth, when i was fourteen and i wore a skirt, he asked me who did i dress up for. it was for me," aera says softly, rubbing her eyes, "that skirt was for me, i liked it. i didn't want to attract anyone or provoke anyone. i wore it because i wanted to, because i liked it."

"it happened again and again, and it kept happening. that day last week, we went to his place and he wanted to take me upstairs again. but i said i wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home, but again mom was there. i went with him... he said i could rest in the guest room..." aera says, looking up at the elders again as she wipes her tears, "and the most recent one. you wanna know? yesterday."

the brothers' heart clenches hearing that as aera nibbles on her lip, gulping down a sob, "he was so mad yesterday... i never saw him that furious before. he said that i told sana about this— about what he does to me. so he was here to teach me a lesson. i'm not lying, i wanted to die yesterday, the way he was touching me, hitting me and eveything. i couldn't get up from the bed for an hour. i wanted to die so bad, i wanted it to end and just leave. he had this— this thing i don't know stuffed in my mouth, gripping neck and..." she breathes out, looking up at eunmi again.

"it hurts me mom, i can't tell you how much it hurts. but- but what did you say? stop behaving like that. smile, aera." she breaks into a sob, but smiles, "look, i'm smiling. are you happy now? i kept smiling always, even when he just left me like trash, even when i cried in my room, when i tried to kill myself, every time mom... i smiled because you told me to. why didn't you believe me? if jimin oppa or jungkookie said something, even if they're lying, you'd believe it at once. you listen to them all the time, but you can't seem to hear me out even once?" aera rubs her eyes, sniffling softly and turns to haewon, holding her hands.

"don't be like my mom okay? you teach your son that if he ever dares to touch a girl against her wishes, he's not doing anything manly or- or having fun. no. tell him he's wrong and slap him hard. teach him that this is wrong, being a guy doesn't get him the right to do whatever he wants. please, don't let jiwon be one of those men who don't who don't respect others— women especially,"

haewon hugs the girl tightly, nodding her head at her words, "i will," she says to aera, "i'm sorry you went through all that because someone didn't teach their son how to behave,"

jimin nods in agreement, standing up and crouches near his sister and wife, patting their backs and smiles softly, "get up, we're leaving,"

aera looks at him with an unsure gaze, making him smile sadly as he turns to glance at the parents, "see, she can't even trust her brothers now, thank you," he sighs softly, turning to aera again, "i'm sorry for what they did, but i promise things will change for the better now. come with me,"

"where?" aera asks, "you- you did something... that injection, what was it?"

"i had to," jimin nods, "i'm sorry for that too, but you needed to calm down, aera. we had no other way,"

aera looks down, nodding slowly and rubs her eyes, "don't do that again... i was scared,"

"never princess," jimin opens his arm, waiting for her to hug him first this time, which takes some time but she does eventually, hugging him as soft as a feather. jimin closes his eyes, a line of tears course down his cheek as he takes a breath of relief, patting aera's back.

she pulls away not too long after, standing up and glances at haewon who smiles at her, cupping her face, "your oppa is right, you should come with us."

"obviously," jungkook says as he's already down with the bags and even carrying jiwon in his arms, "we're leaving right now. ri's not staying at this place for another minute,"

"i— wait," aera says, looking down as she fiddles with her hands, "what will i do there? i'm just... y'know i don't wanna live there, i mean jiwon is so young and—"

"so?" jimin frowns, "what's wrong with that? we always tell him a lot about you, kiddo. believe me he'll love having you there with us,"

"i know. but i- i'm... i can't," she shakes her head, unable to explain her misery and sighs.

"c'mere," jungkook takes her hand as haewon takes her son and pats her back, "hyung, noona, you should head out, we're coming."

jimin nods in agreement, glancing at his wife as he places his hand on her back and turns to the parents, who's tormented expressions makes him sigh, "you've said and done enough, now don't even think of stopping us. i really thought we could talk it out, but hearing the whole thing from aera. it's hard for me to forgive you, i'm sorry." he says, carrying the suitcase and heads out, stopping by the door to say one last thing, "you didn't just lose your daughter mr and mrs jeon, you lost your sons too."

eunmi breaks into a sob, stating at jimin's back as he walks out with haewon and their little son. jaehyun holds her gently, too shocked himself as he realises how bad they messed up as parents, and as humans too by letting aera suffer like that every day for so long.

•••

"what's wrong?" jungkook asks softly, "please tell me aera, i swear i'm gonna help out. you were so brave today that you told us everything and didn't fear mom and dad. now please don't back away like this, you know how mom is, she'll say sorry today and be like this again after two days. i don't want you to go through all that again,"

aera nods slowly, staring at her lap as she gives him a sad smile, "where were you till now?" her lips hush out, eye dropping a tear which she wipes off later and looks at him, "mom never let me talk to you or jimin oppa because of this. she was ashamed of me. i never go out of the house, not even school. i don't have friends or a phone. because she said what will i do with that, i don't need it. good girls get all that. even now when she took me to therapy, it wasn't to help me out. it was so that the doctor would tell me that what i'm doing is wrong, jaemin or any man never did anything wrong with me. but namjoon— he wasn't like that and he heard me out, he never rushed with anything. i was thinking i got a friend in him. but then yesterday mom came to me and she said i won't be seeing him until you and oppa aera here, because it was a secret y'know? she didn't tell anyone, not even you guys because it was embarrassing and disgraceful for the family."

"i never liked meeting people too because of that," she says, "especially kids... jiwon is nice, but i can't bring myself to be near him, knowing how- how... y'know dirty things have been. i take the longest showers, even tried drowning in the tub but i can't. i don't want him to be associated with someone like me, he's just two..."

jungkook stares at her with a concerned gaze, holding her hand in his, "you just told everyone that what happened was jaemin's fault, not yours. then why do you feel like this now? we're all here for you aera, i know it's way too late now, but still me, hyung and noona, we want to help you out of this genuinely. you were and always will be our little sister aera and we love you beyond words can say. let's give it a try together hm?"

aera says nothing, but shrugs her shoulders, "if you say so, it's gonna be harder for you than it will be for me,"

"i can deal with it," jungkook smiles, kissing her palm and cups her face, "let's go, sydney is very big but i'm gonna show you every bit of it,"

"thanks," aera sighs softly, "thanks a lot... if you and oppa weren't there in the kitchen last night, i would've had an overdose on my sleeping pills. i would've died."

"then thank god we were there," jungkook hugs her tightly.

"yeah, thank god," she nods slowly.

"let's go, hyung and noona must be waiting. and don't think bad about yourself, jaemin will face the consequences for his deeds."

aera gives him a small smile, following him downstairs and finds eunmi crying, leaning on jaehyun. she gets up quickly, standing in front of jungkook with pleading eyes, "please don't leave jungkook, i swear i didn't mean all this."

"there's no use mom, please stop it." jungkook sighs, never letting go of aera's hand as she doesn't even spare a glance at the parents and follows jungkook out quietly.

•••

aera sits in the car, staring out of the window at the same tree for almost fifteen minutes now, only snapping out of her trance when jiwon starts crying, making haewon sigh softly, patting his back and brings him in her lap to check his diaper.

"what's wrong baby? are you hungry?" haewon asks once she realises the diaper is fine.

"is he okay?" aera asks, glancing at the toddler wailing out in his mother's arms.

"yeah, just cranky i guess," haewon says, "take him, maybe he'll stop crying,"

aera hesitates first but nods eventually, making the squirming boy sit on her lap and pats his back gently, "h-hey, don't cry," she speaks softly. haewon smiles at them, holding jiwon's hands and makes him face aera.

"look who's this," she cooes at her toddler, "is it ji's noona? see, you wanted to go to noona didn't you?"

jiwon's tiny fists rub his eyes, looking up as he stops crying gradually on realising he's not in his mother's lap anymore. he nods slowly, looking at haewon and points at aera, "ji' noona..."

"yeah right, won't you give noona a hug?"

jiwon nods quickly, leaning forward with his arms open, making aera smile as she gives the baby a hug, patting his back and makes him sit properly, "you're so cute, jiwon," she says, "always be like this,"

"daddy!" jiwon's attention turns to the window, staring outside and aera follows his gaze, seeing jimin and jungkook heading back to the car, both of them breathing quite heavily and cracking their necks. jimin straightens his shirt while jungkook sweeps his hair back, making aera frown while haewon chuckles at them..

"what did they—"

"they took care of jaemin i guess," haewon shrugs and aera gasps, covering her mouth as the front doors open and the brothers get in, jimin on the driver's seat amd jungkook in the passenger's. "is everything okay?"

"so okay, noona," jungkook breathes out, "the police will be here soon,"

"wait really?" aera stares at them, "you both did— like actually...?"

"of course yeah," jungkook looks at her, "i wasn't kidding when i said he'll pay for hurting you,"

"he deserved it," jimin says.

"he did," aera nods, "but you didn't have to do this... nobody else did,"

"we're not nobody, are we?" jimin smiles at her and aera shakes her head, staring at hin with a teary gaze that virtually tells him how thankful she is for him. "no more tears, sweetheart. we'll go eat something right now, i bet everyone is hungry and after that we've got a flight to catch before lunch alright?"

•••

a few months later

sydney, australia

"are you done?" haewon asks, clapping her hands for attention as the timer goes off and both jungkook and aera step back. jungkook smirks at her, confident about his victory while aera gives sneaks in one last touch to her masterpiece. "okay aera, you go first," the elder girl says, getting a nervous smile from aera as she turns her canvas towards the elders, making them gasp for she painted the milky way in the night sky.

"that's amazing!" haewon gasps while jiwon jumps in his father's arms, spilling the yogurt on himself and jimin.

"thanks," aera smiles at haewon.

"now jungkook," haewon says, giving a spare cloth to jimin and helps him clean up after jiwon as the toddler is left by himself. aera picks him up, going near jungkook who turns his canvas towards them.

aera gasps at the painting, "noona!" jiwon chirps, clapping his hands. aera could swear she never knew she looked that pretty smiling until today when jungkook painted her smiling while she was busy doing her own painting.

jimin and haewon smile at that, "now that's someone really beautiful," jimin chuckles, patting aera's back.

"i... why would you do that?" aera sighs, her cheeks tinting in a shade of red on their own, making jungkook laugh as he throws his arm around her shoulders.

"you were standing right in front of me. not my fault," he shrugs and takes jiwon from her, "hey buddy, tell me how's it?"

"nishe!" jiwon giggles.

"guys smile!" haewon rushes to their side, pointing at the camera on the table and hugs jimin's arm, doing a peace sign while aera smiles widely, glancing at the camera with a surprised expression just like jungkook and jimin. although before the picture is clicked, they all smile at the camera, jimin wraps his arm around his wife and jungkook pulls aera into a hug, making a roaring face as jiwon does the same, lifting his tiny arms up, making aera laugh.

*click*

________

a/n- tmi: it's my sister's birthday today and i'm gonna go with my dad later to get the cake and all of her favourite snacks! 🥰

anyway as i told you earlier about the name of this thre-shot (can we say that? is that a word?) "smile, aera" some of might've understood the meaning behind it till now. but still if you didn't make it, i'm here don't worry. in the beginning of the story we see how aera's really depressed because of her uncle assualting her and how her parents don't believe. she had no support or anything, and all her mother did was to tell her to behave herself and act happy, keep smiling like girls are supposed to do. aera smiles for her but it feels empty and meaningless to her, and she's forcing herself to smile. but towards the end of the story, she learns to smile again and be happy again. so the phrase "smile, aera" which had lost it's meaning earlier, becomes happy for her again thanks to her brothers and haewon who decided to pull her out of the mess, and help her smile again.

did i explain it fine? did you understand what i'm trying to say? 😩 i'm so bad at explaining things sjsjsjjsjsskjsjsjs

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