“Jeon Jungkook!” a girl shouted from the porch of a house where Jungkook and his friends had been spending their time the whole day.

Jungkook, headphones covering his ears with blasting sound and eyes focused on the large computer screen, of course wouldn’t hear it. Instead, Taehyung heard the furious knock on the door and was distracted from his novel.

“Hey, Jungkook. I guess your sister is here.” Taehyung said a little louder, even though he knew Jungkook wouldn’t hear. He looked at the younger boy who didn’t budge at all.

“Does anyone care to open the door to let her fetch this little game maniac back to his home? I can’t go back to sleep.” Yoongi, just opened the door and rambled with his eyes half open.

“Yah! Jeon Jungkook!”

Yoongi flinched, surprised to hear her voice was suddenly so close to his ear. “Geez. Who let you in?” he mumbled but Taehyung still heard him and bit back a laughter.

“I thought you wanted her to come in to fetch this little game maniac,” he said.

“Shut up.” Yoongi rolled his eyes and walked back to his room. “Quick, fetch your little brother. He’s been sitting in front of that shining rectangle thing for like 14 hours.”

The girl’s eyes got bigger as she heard him. Even though she knew Yoongi was exaggerating, she believed her brother had spent a lot of time already playing game. “Are you crazy?!” she said, her voice was high pitched. “I thought you were asking Namjoon about your math lesson! Let’s go home.” She stated, firmly.

Jungkook, on the other hand, knew his sister was there but he couldn’t care less. He was aiming for the high score on this round of his Overwatch game and no one stopping him. That was how Jungkook acted. Whenever he had problem, he drowned himself into his game, aiming for a new high score or just simply winning every rounds he played. After school ended, he ran to his older friends’ house, the house where Seokjin, Namjoon and Yoongi share to live and somehow had became the group’s basecamp. 

“Let’s go back home,” said Areum sternly when she didn’t get a response. She took off his headphone and that was when Jungkook finally reacted.

He turned his head on her, his brows were knitted into furrows, clearly annoyed. “You go back yourself. I don’t want to,” he snapped at her.

“It’s freaking eight and you got a test tomorrow, kid.” She fired back at him as she gritted her teeth.

“I am not a kid. Stop it, you’re ruining the game! Just go back home yourself, I’m staying.” Jungkook snatched back his headphone from her hand and he put it back on.

Areum harshly took off his headphone again and threw it on the desk. “Now, Jungkook.” Her voice was low.

Jungkook fisted his hand and hit the desk before he stood up. “You are not even my real sister!” He shouted at her.

A mixed emotion between shock and hurt flashed on her eyes. She stood on her heels, frozen.

Even Taehyung who was watching the two quietly, didn’t see that statement would come out. He stood up from the couch, slowly approaching the two siblings.

Jungkook realized what he had said as soon as he did that. He was shocked at himself. He wanted to apologize but his lips refused to move. He could see how Areum’s lips were trembling and jaws clenched to prevent tears falling from her glazed eyes.

“Fine,” she said. Her hand balled into a fist. She dug her nails on her palm until her knuckles turned white. She quickly her heels and slammed the door closed.

Areum walked down the stairs in fast paced, she didn’t even pay attention on the way as tears blurred her vision already.

“Hi Areum!” greeted Seokjin from the end of the staircase. Clearly, he didn’t know her mood when he greeted her so cheerfully. He had startled Areum and made her tripped on her own foot at the end of the stair. Lucky for her, the man had fast reflex as he dropped what Areum assumed as bags of groceries to the floor and caught her by her shoulder before she fell face first.

That was when Areum suddenly hated herself for not able to walk properly. She hated herself for she was a burden. She hated herself for she was just an outsider inside the Jeon’s. She hated herself for being her.

Tears slipped on her cheeks and a sob escaped from her lips before she bit it back.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Seokjin asked softly.

“Nothing,” she replied almost sounded like a whisper because she didn’t want him to hear her voice trembled. She stepped back to get out of his grip. Areum ducked her head as she walked pass the man, hiding tears that already pooling on her eyes.

Seokjin followed her outside and when they were out on the front porch, he grabbed her wrist and led her to his car. “Let me give you a ride,” he said softly without looking at her, knowing she wanted to hid her face.

He opened the passenger door and put his hand above her head to avoid her hurt it accidentally.

She felt reluctant. But she knew he would insist. At the end, she agreed just because she knew Seokjin was a nice company.

Areum rested her forehead on the window to avoid his looks. She shut her eyes closed to prevent any tears. She just suppressed all her feelings deep down at the bottom of her heart like she always did.

She opened her eyes and realized that he didn’t drive her home, at least it wasn’t the usual road she would take. “This is not the way to my house,” she said.

“It is the way to your house. Just not the usual way,” he said.

Silence fell over them before Seokjin pulled his car near a park. “Care to share your problem?” he asked.

Areum stayed silent.

“May I guess?” he asked again.

She didn’t answer.

Seokjin got off of his car and walked to the passenger door and opened it for her. Areum looked at him with her brow knitted.

“I thought you wanted to take me back to my house,” she said.

“I will. Just not now.” Seokjin watched her sat inside his car, didn’t event move and just looked at him to wait him explain what he wanted to do. “Let’s go. Don’t you remember this?” He shoved his hands on his blue jeans pocket casually and titled his head to the park.

Areum looked back at the man in front of her as she got off of his car. “How could I not remember this place? We’ve spent like half our lives playing here.”

Seokjin’s lips curled up at what she said. “But somehow someday we stopped going here,” he said as he followed her steps.

“Do you bring your key to the tree house?” she looked back at Seokjin. A glint of mischief flashed on his eyes.

“W-why? W-what do you want to do there?” Seokjin faked his stutter as he put his arms crossed on his chest.

Areum let out a small laugh before she rolled her eyes. “You and your y little brain.”

“Finally, you smile,” he said.

Areum didn’t want to admit it, but Kim Seokjin always had a way to make her felt comfortable and at ease.

Seokjin let out a breath dramatically. “Jeon Jungkook is a freaking ungrateful kid,” he grunted and rolled his eyes. They were inside Seokjin’s tree house, sitting down on the wooden floor. Areum hugged her knees to her chest as she rested her head on it.

She hadn’t even told him about her problem, but he kept guessing since they were on the way to the tree house.

“I should nag at him and give him a lesson for making his sister cry.” Seokjin tried to make her feel better by siding on her.

“Apparently, he said I’m not even his real sister,” she said quietly.

“Between us, who doesn’t know that, huh? We all know it. So, what? He’s being ungrateful while he has someone like you near him.”

“Someone like me like what?” she asked as she was drawing circles on her bare foot with her index finger.

When Areum didn’t hear him, she looked up just to met his big eyes. Even under the dim moonlight, his eyes glowed and his presence was calming her.

“You are one heart warming and caring person I know,” he replied.

“It doesn’t sound like me.” Areum remarked.

“You just don’t know yourself that good.”

“What makes you know me better than myself?” she rested her head on her knees as she titled it to look at him.

“We’ve been friends more than half of our lives.” He gave her a cocky smile.

Areum rolled her eyes at his smile. She sighed and looked at him.

“Let’s get you home,” he said as he mirroring her position. Head on his knees, eyes looked back et hers.

“Can we stay like this a little bit longer?” she asked, almost sounded like a whisper.

Seokjin caught her glazing eyes before she shut it close and blinked the tears away. He tucked back a strain of hairs behind her ear as he held his gaze on her.

“As you wish,” he said.

Sometimes where she lived felt like home, but the other day it was just a place where she stayed feeling uncomfortable. Just like that night, the house didn’t feel like home to her. When the thought of Jungkook shouting at her flashed back, she dragged back to the reality that this house, wasn’t her real home.

When Seokjin’s car stopped in front of Jungkook’s house, Areum took a longer time to remove her seatbelt.

“He’s waiting for you,” said Seokjin, looking out of the window.

Areum followed his eyes and found Jungkook sitting down on the porch. He hung his head low and his fingers knitted together looking uneasy.

“Do you want me to smack his ?”

“Don’t.” Her reply came out too quickly and the man beside her chuckled at her response.

“I know you won’t let me.”

Silence fell between them, before Seokjin spoke again. “He’s lucky to have you around him.”

Areum reluctantly opened the car door as she listened to him. “Thank you,” she said. “Drive safely.”

Seokjin gave her one last smile before she closed the passenger door and walked to her house.

“It’s late. Where have you been?” The younger boy stood up and blocked Areum’s way.

“You don’t need to know,” she said. There was no emotion on her tone and her presence almost felt like icy cold.

Jungkook knew he hurt her.

“I didn’t mean that... about what I’d said at Seokjin Hyung’s house.”

Areum hated how she felt like a crybaby when her eyes felt hot, tears threatening to fall again. “You weren’t wrong, though,” she said between her clenched jaws.

Jungkook surprised at how her tone held so much hurt and disappointment at him. Guilty washed over him. He wanted to say something, but his tongue frozen.

Areum walked to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. She heard Jungkook trailing behind her but he said nothing.

She didn’t want to speak to him, either. She let him did whatever he wanted.

“I didn’t mean it,” he said quietly after a long silence. He kept saying the same thing since she came back. He waited her to say something, anything, but she stayed silent. Even after she drank a glass of water, she didn’t turn to look at him.

“Please talk to me,” said Jungkook.

“I don’t know what to say.” Areum finally said something. Her voice was more like a whisper but Jungkook still caught that. “Go to sleep, Jungkook. You have test tomorrow.”

Jungkook knew he had hurt her, so much this time, when his sister didn’t even spare him a glance and just shut the door in front of him. He wanted to come in and talk to her, but he knew he was the last person she wanted to see.

He rubbed his face, feeling bad and just dumb. Why did he let his emotion drove him and shout stupid thing at her?

Jungkook had stood in front of her door for few minutes before he sighed and walked back to his room.

Since the first time she came to his house, never once he hated her presence. He was an introvert and shy, the boy didn’t have many friends around him. So, when Areum came and quietly approached him, talked to him, and wanted to play with him, he was happy. The 6 years old Jungkook finally had someone to rely on.

He liked her. A lot. As a sister. He was selfish as a kid, but he was glad Areum could kept up with him. Of course, she would scold him but most of the time she would talk to him about what’s right and wrong, what’s good and bad.

Never once he hated her for being his sister. Jungkook never admitted it, but he felt blessed to have Areum as his sister.