Ages:

 

Baekhyun: 45

Chanyeol: 44

Yifan: 20

Yixing: 19

Jongdae: 18

Minsoon: 15

 

~

“Are you sure you two will be alright?” Byun Baekhyun glances at his daughter and son in concern as he stands by the front door. For the next week, he and his husband will be traveling to Japan for their twenty-third wedding anniversary; and to be frank, he’s nervous. Sure, he loves traveling to different places, and sure, he loves his husband (on most days). The thing that made him nervous was the fact that they would have to leave their two youngest kids behind. Yes, they are both fifteen and eighteen respectively, yet age doesn’t equate to responsibility. He would have asked his two older sons to watch over them, yet they have their own busy lives to live at university.

 

(“It will only be for a week, Yifan!”

 

“They’re practically adults now, Papa. They can watch over themselves.”

 

“It’s only a precaution…”

 

"Ask Yixing."

 

"He's busy with something..."

 

"Papa, they'll be fine."

 

"..."

 

“Papa…”

 

“I DON’T WANT TO COME HOME TO A CRISPY HOUSE OKAY!”)

 

Reluctantly, he agrees into letting the kids be alone for the week. After all, there are only so many opportunities in which he has the chance to spent quality time with Chanyeol, and it will be nice to escape the chaos of home.

 

“We’ll be fine, Papa!” Minsoon grins at her father. She’s on the couch with Skipper on her lap. Her fingers running through the cat’s dulling black fur. On the floor next to her, Jongdae is on his phone, most likely texting Sehun. “We’ll just order takeout for food.”

 

“You’ll remember to-”

 

Minsoon stands up from her position on the couch, carries Skipper in her arms, and walks toward the door. As she nears the door to close it, she lists, “Clean the litter box, take out the trash, watch over Jongdae. I know.”

 

“Okay… But-”

 

Before her papa can utter another word, her dad yells from the driveway. “Baekhyun! The flight leaves in three hours! Hurry up!”

 

Baekhyun curses silently. With a sigh, he directs his gaze to the front door. “Watch over them, okay?”

 

Minsoon smiles. “I will, Papa.”

 

“I was talking to Skipper.”

 

“Hey!” She yells at her papa as he descends down the porch steps and enters the van in the driveway. She watches as the van backs out and drives off into the horizon.

 

When the van reaches a considerable distance from the house, Minsoon slams the door shut and sets Skipper down. As he stalks off and does whatever cats do, Minsoon looks to her brother and says sternly, “We’re going shopping.”

 

~

 

“What are we doing here?” Jongdae asks his sister as they walk around the store.

 

“We’re shopping, aren’t we?” Minsoon replies offhandedly as she focuses her attention on finding the thing she came for.

 

“Yes, but why at the grocery store?” Jongdae gestures to the shelves of produce and other goods surrounding them. “Don’t girls your age shop for clothes and makeup and stuff?”

 

Minsoon stops in front of a specific aisle. “Oppa, for one, don’t be so stereotypical. Not all girls want to shop for clothes. I have enough of those.” She pauses for a bit. She grabs a bag on the shelf and shows it to her brother, “And two, we ran out of coffee.”

 

Staring at her in confusion, Jongdae asks, “Didn’t Dad buy coffee two days ago?” As he realizes what he had said, his eyes widen. “Wait a minute, when did you start drinking coffee? You’re literally fifteen!”

 

Paying no heed to her brother’s questions and remarks, Minsoon grabs two more bags of coffee beans and heads for the checkout.

 

In an instant, Jongdae runs after her. “Hey!” She keeps walking. “Answer me!” She’s still walking. “Minnie!”

 

Apparently, that does the trick as Minsoon promptly stops in the middle of the aisle. “I told you not you call me that in public!”

 

Ignoring her whining, Jongdae says, “You can’t buy that!”

 

While Minsoon looks ridiculous holding three bags of coffee beans, she manages to increase the weirdness factor of the situation as she pouts. To others, she looks like a fifth grader trying to buy the beans. “Why? I need it!”

 

Jongdae sighs. He could be doing other things now (*cough cough* Sehun *cough cough*), yet here he is: arguing with his little sister regarding coffee. “I need to act like an older brother for once in my life. You can’t buy that. Dad will ground me for letting you drink underage.”

 

“It’s coffee,” Minsoon deadpans. “It’s literally hot bean juice.”

 

“It doesn’t matter! Do you want to be 158 cm for the rest of your life?”

 

She shrugs. “You can’t stop me from buying it.”

 

Unexpectedly, Jongdae rolls his sleeves up his arms. “I guess there is no other choice.” He then approaches his sister.

 

Hugging her bags of beans, Minsoon hesitantly asks, “Dae, what are you going to do?”

 

Without warning, Jongdae lifts his sister like a sack of potatoes and settles her body on his shoulder. He ignores her shouts of “Hey!”, “Put me down!”, and “MY BEANS!”

 

(“PUT ME DOWN, YOU FIEND!” Minsoon screams as she bangs her fists against her brother’s back.

 

Ignoring the aching pain in his back (Minsoon has strong fists), Jongdae deadpans, “They’re literally coffee beans…”

 

“MY BABIES!”)  

 

~

 

For the next few days, Minsoon avoids her brother. While it does hurt him, as Jongdae and Minsoon are the closest siblings among the Park-Byun children, he knows she will get over it, eventually. Besides, they were just coffee beans. She’ll enjoy those during her later years. What difference do a few years make?

 

During their break, Minsoon disappears in her room doing God-knows-what as Jongdae spends his time with Sehun. In the times he isn't with Sehun, Jongdae sits in front of Minsoon's door alone, as the cat took her side and spends ninety percent of his time with her. He isn't hurt, positive.

 

It isn't until a few days later when the siblings finally cross paths with each other.

 

~

 

It is the morning before their parents’ arrival from Japan and Jongdae is on one side of the sofa with Skipper grooming himself on the other. The human being on his phone as he scrolls through his Instagram, double tapping pictures here and there. He would be hanging out with Sehun but the latter has to go to work.

 

Anyway, as he secretly gets jealous of his other friends' posts (Damn their perfect pictures), he hears the tell-tale sound of his sister heaving something heavy.

 

Raising an eyebrow, Jongdae sets down his phone and stands up to investigate the noise. Being the curious cat he is, Skipper decides to pause his grooming session and follows the human. The investigation leads Jongdae to the front foyer where his jaw drops.

 

“What the hell are you doing?” Jongdae asks his sister as he peers out the hallway. She is struggling to carry a box of something into the house. From his position, he could see that the box is open. However, he can't figure out what is inside. It looks familiar though. Yet, he can't place his finger on it. On the floor next to Jongdae, Skipper tilts his head in confusion. He then stares at one of his favorite people in this house.

 

Minsoon jumps at her brother’s voice. Her grip on the box loosens before she loses it entirely. Then, it was as if time slows down. Minsoon’s face morphs into a look a horror as the contents of the box spill onto the floor.

 

“NOOOOOO!” She yells. But, it is too late.

 

There on the floor, are ripped bags of coffee beans.

 

Coffee beans.

 

Coffee beans.

 

COFFEE BEANS.

 

“Minsoon…” Jongdae inches closer to his sister. From her face, he can tell that she is about to give out an emotional outburst. It seems as though Skipper can sense the situation as well as he approaches the girl with caution.

 

Without a doubt, Minsoon cries in anguish, “MY BEANS! I spent 100,000 won on this box!”

 

“Minnie, they’re just coffee beans…” Jongdae attempts as he grows closer and closer to her figure. This is going bad.

 

“Don’t you get it, oppa?” Minsoon asks as she kneels down next to the spilled coffee beans. “All those potential drinks I could have made. Gone!” Unexpectedly, Minsoon’s eyes start to fill with tears. By this time, Skipper reaches the girl. In an effort to calm her, the black cat yowls as he paws her thighs. However, his efforts are in vain.

 

Oh no.

 

Oh, no.

 

“Minsoon…”

 

Apparently, Jongdae’s voice is a cue for the younger’s waterworks to start. Tears trail down Minsoon’s face. “Why does the world treat me like this?” She cries. “First, I’m caffeine deprived for three days. And now this?”

 

In an attempt to give her comfort, Jongdae soothes, “It’s just coffee…” However, on like many occasions involving his sister, he manages to say the wrong thing.

 

“No!” She snaps, “It’s not ‘just coffee’! I need it!”

 

Before Jongdae can utter another word, he hears the tell-tale sound of the family van pulling up the driveway.

 

Oh , he thinks, they’re home earlier than expected.

 

“Minsoon…” Jongdae says nervously. “Calm down now…”

 

“No!”

 

He hears the doors of the van opening and closing. Wasting no time, he rushes, “Look, this whole disagreement is pointless, but I’m sorry for making you spill your beans. And I’m sorry for not letting you buy some earlier. I know I’m a bad brother but please stop crying now! I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

 

“Really?” Swiftly, Jongdae nods. He can hear the heavy footsteps of his dad trudging up the driveway. “Well, I’m sorry too. I really shouldn’t be drinking it. Look where that led me… But it’s too good…”

 

“Yeah. Yeah.” The footsteps grow closer.

 

Just as Minsoon proceeds to wipe her tear-stained cheeks, the loud thud of luggage being dropped on the floor and their papa’s shrill voice echoes throughout the house (and probably the whole neighborhood.)

 

“JONGDAE! MINSOON!”

 

“WE CAN EXPLAIN!”

 

[“And this is why we don’t go on vacations alone anymore.”

 

“Look on the bright side, Baek! We have enough coffee for the next few weeks!”

 

“Yeah, for 400,000 won.”

 

“Umm… What?”

 

“See! They’re definitely your kids!”

 

“Hey! You’re worse than me!”

 

“...Shush!”] 

 

~

 

A/N:

 

 

That’s a wrap! This totally wasn’t difficult to write! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don’t forget to request! With that aside, did you enjoy Black Friday? Did you get good deals? I managed to snag a few discounted Sims 4 DLC and some other stuff. Ignoring that, I assume that you stayed safe. And to my American readers, I hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving weekend (I definitely didn’t.) 

 

With that, I’ll see you next time! Toodles!