wherein aera just moved to seoul to live with her brothers after practically spending most of her life alone with her parents in the states.
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moving to seoul and leaving the parents even if they weren't that great wasn't easy for aera. basic things like getting up in the morning, having her meals or even diverting her mind through some games was getting her now, and she realised it was probably a bad idea agreeing to leave her mom and dad.
tears welled her eyes as she stares out of the window, watching a little girl running in the street, laughing loudly while her father is chasing after in a slow pace, smiling at the girl. he scoops her up in his arms and showers her face with smooches, that has aera trying to recall if jaehyun ever played with her like that. sighing when she doesn't gather a single memory of him, other than a few when he would cook for her or drop her to school once or twice a month when he went to work a little late, she shakes her head averting her gaze from the window and looks down.
she rubs her eyes, sniffling softly and gets up, putting on a full sleeved t-shirt and looks at her hair, brushing them back roughly with her hand as they're short and this technique usually works unless she has to go to school or at a formal gathering.
her eyes lift up slowly, watching around the house past the thin layer of tears that still persists, feet taking hesitant short steps down the stairs towards the kitchen where she finds the brothers sitting. jimin is having his evening coffee, conversing with jungkook who is eating from a bag of chips and having a can of coke beside him.
aera enters the kitchen, rubbing her eyes again to get rid of the tears and smiles a little on earning glancs from them, "hey little one, how'd you sleep?" jimin smiles at her, opening his arms for a hug after keeping his cup on the counter.
"fine," aera says, going near him and for the hundredth time acknowledges the size difference between herself and her brother, and it's more than this if it were to be jungkook.
"are you hungry?" he asks, stroking her hair soft hair with his hand, smiling down at her fondly. aera nods slowly, staring at her feet as she pulls away eventually. "you look a little down, are you okay?"
"hm," she nods, trying her best not cry in front of them because of a silly reason of missing their parents and rubs her eyes.
"look at me, baby." jimin says in a tender voice, lifting her head up and makes her look at him. his gaze softens on seeing the tears in his sister's eyes and pulls her into a hug, "what's wrong?"
"i- i miss daddy and mamma..." aera mumbles slowly with a pout resting on her lips, and a hint of embarrassment coloring her cheeks as despite being ten, she can't seem to live without her parents.
"ah that's the problem, i see." jimin chuckles, patting her back and makes her sit on his lap while jungkook smiles at the girl. "don't worry, we can call mamma right now. do you wanna talk?"
she thinks for a bit then shakes her head as a no, "they won't talk to me,"
"why not?" jungkook frowns.
"they're busy." she shrugs, "daddy said not to disturb him without a solid reason, means an emergency. and this is not an emergency... so i don't think they will talk to me."
"forget about him," jungkook sighs deeply, getting up from his place and walks over to the fridge, taking a white box with a pink ribbon tied on it and places it on the counter in front of aera, "open this," he smiles.
"what is it?" she leans closer to the box, tugging on the free ends of the ribbon and opens the box, smiling at the sweet fragrance swarming up her nostrils, "pastry!"
the brothers chuckle at her response as she wipes her tears quickly, staring at the bunch of pastries all with different colors and flavours, making her mouth water just at the sight. jungkook hands her a fork while jimin caresses her back, both watching her eyes twinkling in anticipation and the little pink tongue, peeking out already wanting to savour all the sweets.
"what are you waiting for? start eating." jungkook smiles, patting her head.
"mm-hmm, but why's there so many?"
"well, i didn't know which flavour you liked, so i got all of them." he rubs his neck, scrunching his face as he glances at the pastries.
"thank you jungkookie oppa," aera smiles at him almost making him laugh at the adorable yet semi-formal way of thanking him.
"ut's fine, but i don't take thanks like that." he says, taking a seat next to jimin who chuckles shaking his head at the younger brother.
"then how...?" the girl looks a bit confused, staring at jungkook quietly.
he presses his lips together to prevent himself from laughing and leans forward on the counter, sighing deeply, "well, for me a hug and a kiss works better." he pretends to think, then glances at the sister who is thinking too.
"a hug?" she tilts her head and frowns, "and a kiss?"
"yeah, what's the problem? i take thanks like that or not at all." he shrugs, "your choice."
"but-"
"hyung are you saying something?" he turns to jimin, ignoring aera's presence for a mere second.
"stop that, jungkook." jimin shakes his head, "he's just kidding."
"no, i'm not." jungkook snickers, ruffling aera's hair and leans forward, "wanna go to the mall for some shopping today?"
"uhm, mall... i don't know," she looks down, not really liking the idea of having many people around her, especially when she doesn't have her mom and dad here. she shakes her head subtly, sparing a brief glance at jungkook who frowns in response.
"why not? let's go, it'll be fun."
"yeah, i guess we should go. you can get some clothes and other stuff that you need." jimin smiles, patting her back encouragingly which makes her sigh and give in.
even though aera wasn't a big fan of the idea, yet she found herself standing in her room, staring at the mirror where her reflection is looking back at her. lips puckered into a sad pout and eyes shining like always, but more in tears today ever since she woke from the nap. she rubs her eyes, looking down at her outfit which is a white denim shorts with cute scalloped edges and a matching white tee tucked inside which has 'smile' patched on it in rainbow colors.
she straightens her clothes, sighing deeply and takes a seat on the bed. lifting up her leg where the sneakers are still untied. she feels embarrassed and upset for never learning it from her parents and whines in frustration, "mamma..." her lips mumble out, falling on the bed and sobs into the pillow.
a knock on the door makes her flinch and sit up in attention, staring in the direction as the door opens and jimin comes in with a smile, "are you ready?" he asks, walking over to her, having his smile from earlier slowly getting replaced with a confused frown on noticed the tears in his sister's eyes, "what happened princess? why are you crying?"
aera shakes her head, wiping her tears and stares at her lap, "i'm okay," she mumbles.
jimin sighs and sits near her, making her look up at him, smiling softly as his hand cups her cheek, "lemme tell you a secret right now." he whispers, almost breaking into a chuckle when aera tilts her head, her eyes hinting confusion which tells him to carry on with the secret, "did you know me and jungkookie used to live in america too? with mamma and daddy many years ago when you were still with the angels above."
"you lived with them?"
"yes, they're our parents too y'know?" jimin laughs lightly and aera nods.
"mm-hmm, i saw you in the pictures and- and mamma told me about you,"
"she did? what did she say?"
"uhm that jiminie and jungkookie are my oppa, and they're nice." she giggles, forgetting about crying and stands up excitedly, facing him as she's now between his legs and holds his hands, "and daddy always got three cakes on my birthday! because one for me, one for jungkookie oppa and one for you!"
"really? who ate them then?"
aera gasps, breaking into a giggle and points at herself, sticking out her tongue at jimin, "i did, because you weren't there."
"you could've saved some for me?" jimin pouts.
"no, it would be bad and then you'll have an upset tummy."
"well, that's right." he nods, placing his hands on her back and smiles fondly, relieved that she's not crying anymore. "now tell me why was my baby upset?"
"oh uhm i don't- i can't tie my shoes..." aera says, pointing at her feet and pouts at jimin, following his gaze back up, "daddy forgot to teach me,"
"that's okay, oppa can do it." jimin says, making her sit on the bed and lifts her leg up, bringing her foot to place on his thigh and looks at her, "watch me okay? it's easy," he takes the laces and ties them slowly to give aera time to watch and learn.
she nods at the way and leans forward, wanting to do the other one on her own, but ends up pouting when the knot doesn't look like the one jimin tied. he chuckles at her, taking her hands in his and repeats the process again, tying the laces nicely.
"see? it's done. there was nothing to be upset about." he says, patting her back as she stands up now and nods, smiling at him thankfully. "now let's go, kookie is already waiting in the car."
aera hums, following after jimin and heads outside, internally praying for the mall to not have too many people or it would be really great if the mall itself is closed. she sighs softly pushing her thoughts away and takes the backseat of the car, returning jungkook's smile with a small one.
he has just started the engine and aera can already feel her palms sweating. she takes a deep breath, rubbing her hands on her shorts and looks out of the window, trying to force herself to think about something else that is not a crowd of people crushing her small body to suffocation. but she's feeling cramped already and they're not even there yet!
she coughs lightly, breathing deeply and looks at jimin, who catches her gaze and smiles at her, turning around by a bit to ask if she wants anything. aera contemplates for a moment before shaking her head, deciding to keep it to herself until it's actually necessary.
but when jungkook pulls in front of the mall where a lot of people are already coming in and going out from the entrance and the exit respectively, she feels the sweat forming on her forehead and hands again, along with a cold shiver that shakes her body slightly. she blinks a few times, pouting down to herself and calls out for one of the brothers to listen, "oppa..."
the boys turn around, jimin almost opening the door to get off but stops in the middle and focuses on the ten-year-old first, "yes?" he says, frowning a little just like jungkook as they notice the tensed expression of the child and her body sweating despite the air conditioner functioning perfectly.
"are you okay?" jungkook asks and aera looks up at them.
"there's people... i didn't want to come here, because there's a lot of- a lot of people in the mall... i don't like people,"
the brothers stay quiet for a second, taking in her words as jungkook's brain quickly takes a run back to america where he had heard his father talking to jimin about the constant fights with the mother. he wants to believe that it's not an aftermath of their parents' carelessness that aera's become such scared and introverted child, so he forces up a smile and holds out his hand, "well, i'm scared of people too. it would be great if we can hold each other's hand yeah? that way we both won't be scared."
aera listens to his words, her brows knit together as she comprehends them and shifts forward on her seat, "you're scared of people too?"
"yeah, a lot. i always need jiminie oppa with me to deal with places that have a lot of people."
jimin smiles a little, knowing it wasn't really true, but not completely a lie either. jungkook did have social anxeity which was at peak during his teenage years, and surfaces up still at times. though it's rare now as jungkook too, is a grown up and he doesn't have his hyung by his side 24/7, so the boy manages it on his own.
he glances at aera, seeing her looking back at him probably waiting for a confirmation to jungkook's confession. jimin nods with a low chuckle and the younger brother snickers, carrying on with his words, "and aera, jiminie oppa is very strong, he's not scared of anything. so he's gonna stay with us, just in case we need more support y'know?"
"yeah," aera nods, agreeing with him and looks at jimin, "wow, you're so strong, and i'm uhm weak. but i'm happy that my oppa is strong,"
"you're not weak," jimin says, "who said that to you?"
"no one, but i know because i always hold daddy and mamma's hand, and they say i'm not a big girl. but i don't know how to be big girl, and that's why i don't like it." she says, looking at him, making him smile sadly as he exchanges a glance with jungkook who is feeling bad too, knowing that their parents couldn't understand and help their only daughter out with her anxeity.
jimin opens the door and steps out, then opens the door on aera's side and holds his hand out for her. she doesn't say much and follows his lead, hopping down the car and glances back to see if jungkook is coming too or not.
"we don't grow up in one day, aera. it's a time taking process and every day, every hour, every minute adds up to our growth. even right now, you're standing here with me and kook, and you're still growing up." jimin says, leaning down to match her height and smiles at her, booping the tip of her button nose softly, making her scrunch up her face in a cute manner. "it's totally fine if you don't wanna be a big girl yet, because you have us. jiminie oppa and your kookie are here, so they can take care of riri while she's learning everything slowly."
"i don't have to be a big girl?" aera looks at him, making him smile as he shakes his head. she smiles instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck, stepping closer between his arms, hugging him tightly, "i like you i think,"
"really?" jimin chuckles, rubbing her back and glances at jungkook who is smiling at her and ruffles her hair, "well i thought riri loves me, but okay."
"oh, no no, i love you," aera says, pulling away and looks at his face, "i love you oppa,"
"you do?"
"mm-hmm, and koo also. i love you both, because you're the best people i've met. you're very much better than mamma and daddy too! i don't miss them now! you love me more than anyone told me and you don't tell me to be a big girl."
jungkook leans down to hug her as well and kisses her cheek, "you deserve all the love, princess."
"thank you," aera says quietly, looking at him with teary eyes, then buries her face in the fabric of his shirt.
"alright, now don't cry. let's go and shop a lot of pretty stuff our a little princess." jimin says, patting her back and jungkook pulls away, wiping her tears off.
"yeah, let's go. we'll have to enjoy a lot and please don't leave my hand okay? i don't wanna be scared in there,"
"okay," aera giggles, holding his hand tightly even though it's too big for her little one but it feels nice and secure, as if he wouldn't let go and is deep down promising to protect her and keep her safe in his arms just like big brothers are supposed to do.
she smiles, holding jimin's hand with her free one and grins up at him, making her way in the mall with her big brothers as she isn't scared now. in fact she's glad she agreed to come here with them, and even to seoul in the first place which allowed her the fortune to experience this love of family from jimin and jungkook.
...
"i think we should take pink,"
"no, black,"
"uhm purple?"
"noooo! blue oppa! baby blue,"
"let's take all,"
"hm, yeah let's take all." aera grins, holding her clothes as she steps out of the trial room, hugging the pile of clothes in her arms.
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a/n- did y'all miss meeee???????😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 cuz i missed you guys a lot. a lot.
how was the chapter? i had nothing better right now and really wanted to update so here you go 😓 but anyways, i have a feeling that it's not the bad.
please leave a lot of votes and a lot of comments to let me know i still have my readers and didn't lose anyone ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
also, there might be slow updates because my school and everything has been taking up a lot of time yk? sorry :(
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