A/N - This is a prompt from faithd21 and with a lot of help from chaeyu cult member Danna who saved my with this one.

Also FINALLY Nayeon appears! This chapter was meant to be so much longer but I decided to cut it short.

Aunt Sunmi

Growing up with two Appas was great, none of the Kim girls could say anything negative about their Appas.

Min-Jun was a natural nurturer, he looked after them and made sure that his girls grew up being fed three meals a day and that every permission slip was signed. He was the one who would check up on them regularly, go down to the school and fight their corner when needed. When they were sad he’d be waiting with open arms and sound advice, making sure they were all warm and safe and loved. Appa Sang was the rock of the family, if his girls were crying he’d make them laugh, if someone hurt them he’d demand names and go marching down there. He taught them to ride their bikes and kissed their scraped knees when they first fell off their bikes. Truly, there were no better parents and each of their daughters adored them dearly.

However, their Appas were also two homoual men and therefore they lacked a certain important knowledge when it came to raising nine young girls into healthy well adjusted adults. A few occasions had arisen in which the girls had been caught in an awkward position or had awkward questions that would give the two males stress induced heart attacks (Sang would never forgive Chaeyoung for asking what was at a VERY busy bus stop). During these times they needed professional help and that help came in the form of Min-Jun’s younger sister Sunmi. Sunmi was the only person in Min-Jun’s family that had stayed in contact, she didn’t care if he was gay or not and despite her initial protectiveness for her gentle brother she had come to adore Sang. Thanks to her presence the men had someone that they could force the girls to direct all awkward questions to.

Sunmi was the coolest aunt ever, she had been a wild child going up and so had good help and advice for almost every problem the girls brought to her. She lived in her own apartment in the city centre and kept a spare key at the front desk for when her favourite nieces came to visit. She was an open woman, she had no secrets and while that often scared Min-Jun he was grateful that he didn’t need to discuss the ins and outs of femininity with his daughters. Over the years the girls had gone to Sunmi with various problems and quests, she was always happy to help even if just to spend time with her family. The usual family events she attended were awkward and stagnant, all mention of her brother and his family was banned so being able to have fun with her nieces made a nice change of pace.

These are some examples of problems the girls chose to take to Sunmi over their Appas….or that their Appas had decided they were out of their depth.

Nayeon had always admired her Aunt Sunmi, ever since she was adopted the young girl got very quickly used to going on day trips and being spoiled by her favourite aunt. When she was a child she adored the older woman and always wanted to be just like her, in her teen years this intensified to the point where she would come over to Sunmi’s apartment every week to get life advice or talk through problems she hadn’t felt comfortable bringing to her Appas. Mostly they would just hang out, when Nayeon had been adopted Sunmi was in her final year of high school so they were kind of close in age. Close enough at least that they could form a strong friendship, they’d often just hang out at Sunmi’s house until Min-Jun or Sang appeared to take Nayeon home. It had been Sunmi who had pushed her into pursuing theatre at college, she had gone to every play Nayeon had acted/directed in and wrote a strong letter of recommendation to get Nayeon into her ideal school. Sunmi was a relatively popular actress, not of the level of being instantly recognisable but if you said her name people would know generally who she was.

When Nayeon went to college it was like she dropped off the face of the earth, she messaged occasional updates through the family group but mostly she was AWOL. Living her life in college as only a recent high school graduate could, probably doing things her family would never find out about and they’d be happier remaining ignorant. From her social media everyone assumed she was enjoying her time at college, not concerned with coming back to visit and even going as far as to put online that she was sad she had to leave for Christmas vacation. It was her first time back since going an hour away for school and Min-Jun had told Sunmi that something had been a little off. At first Sunmi didn’t think much of it, instead choosing to let the family sort out whatever was happening but when Nayeon turned up at her apartment one afternoon asking if they could talk Sunmi felt her concern grow for her eldest niece.

She lead the girl inside and they sat on her white couch, Sunmi pouring them both a glass of wine (hey she knew the habits a gal would pick up at college), “So what’s up buttercup? Your Appa said you’ve been a little down.”

Nayeon swirled her wine in the glass, “It’s kind of stupid, I don’t want to worry them.”

“Spill it.” Sunmi demanded, not liking the usually confident girl acting so unlike herself,

Nayeon took a sip of her drink, “I want to drop out.”

That had not been what Sunmi expected.

“But you looked like you were really enjoying yourself.” Sunmi said, referring to the large collection of photos Nayeon had been posting online,

Nayeon sighed and blinked back tears, “I’ve met some amazing people and my course is great but….”

Sunmi raised an eyebrow, “But?”

“I miss everyone.”

Sunmi was suddenly flashed back to when Nayeon was an overly confident kid meeting her for the first time and her heart shattered.

“Oh…Nayeon….”

“I feel like I’m so far away,” Nayeon continued, taking a tissue from the dispenser on the glass coffee table, “I missed Jihyo’s big debate last week and Momo’s first time choreographing the school musical. It’s like I’m living two different lives and I just want to stay with the one I had.”

Sunmi placed a gentle hand on her knee, “Have you talked to your Appas about all this?”

Nayeon shook her head violently, “They spent so much on my college tuition I couldn’t throw it back at them like that.”

Sunmi frowned, “What you’re feeling is normal. You’re far away from home for the first time, but you’re only an hour away and I know for a fact your Appas would love for you to visit more. You’ve moved out and it’s scary, but you’ll regret it if you throw it all away.”

“You really think they wouldn’t mind me visiting more? Coming home for weekends and stuff…?”

Sunmi laughed, “They love ya kid, of course they wouldn’t mind. Just talk to them.”

Nayeon mulled it over and gently put her wine down, hugging her aunt tightly, “Thanks Aunt Sunmi.”

“Any time.”

Jeongyeon and Sunmi had a more humorous relationship. They were very similar in terms of certain personality traits, mainly that they both enjoyed messing with their siblings. Now her mother had always told her that grown women don’t partake in childish pranks, however Sunmi was in no way a mature woman and so would continue to mess with Min-Jun at every available moment. When the girls were young, Sunmi would often babysit for them and she would willingly admit that most of Jeongyeon’s prank repertoire came from herself. One particular afternoon Sunmi and Jeongyeon had orchestrated their favourite prank, they had recruited all the girls and hidden throughout the living room. Sang and Min-Jun had gone to take Tzuyu to her very first archery training session and they were going to be gone for hours. In this time Sunmi had gone on a hellish trip to the toy store (which they unanimously decided could never be mentioned again) and loaded up on various projectiles. Marshmallow guns, silly string, paint, balloons - they’d even gone to the grocery store to get some flour.

They all waited for at least half an hour before the mini-van pulled up on the driveway. The moment the trio stepped through the door hell erupted and all three were covered in a sticky gooey mess. Sang had immediately run for, and disarmed, Sunmi yelling for the girls to betray her as Jeongyeon valiantly fought for her mentors honour against the rogues. All were laughing and having fun until a furious Min-Jun began scolding them all, a crying Tzuyu now in his arms. When they had attacked the younger girl had been coated with the mess, the brand new team uniform she had gotten today was covered in gunge. Jeongyeon laughed at her, making some remark about her being a baby and then earned another scolding. Everyone went to clean up whilst Jeongyeon sulked in the living room, mad that Tzuyu had ruined their fun. Sunmi hung back to check on her, expecting Jeongyeon to be upset she was told off. This was at a very stressful point in which Tzuyu was still new to the household and the girls were a little unhappy at her sudden appearance, it was normal and a short phase but it was a very delicate time.

“Stupid Tzuyu…”

“Hey! None of that.” Sunmi chastised lightly,

Jeongyeon huffed, “But she ruined the fun! All she got was some stuff on her stupid shirt.”

Sunmi sighed, “Before you came here, how many nice shirts did you have?”

Jeongyeon blinked and cocked her head, “What?”

“Before living with your Appas, how many nice shirts did you have?”

“None,” Jeongyeon shrugged, cheeks still puffed in a sulk, “We only got second hand stuff.”

“Didn’t you get excited when Appas bought you those new clothes and toys when you first got here?”

“Yeah…”

“Well now it’s Tzuyu’s turn,” Sunmi explained gently, “She’s never had nice clothes before, just like you didn’t. Would you have liked it if someone had ruined all your nice clothes?”

“...”

“I’m waiting.”

“No.” Jeongyeon relented,

Sunmi ruffled her hair, “Look, Tzuyu’s one of you now. She’s gonna need her big sisters looking out for her.”

“But she doesn’t even talk to us!” Jeongyeon whined,

“Mina didn’t either at first, she would only speak Japanese remember?” Sunmi reminded her gently, “Tzuyu doesn’t have anyone to speak her own language to, it’s very lonely. A good big sister looking after her would be somebody really grown up.”

“I’m grown up!”

“Are you?” Sunmi beamed at the new light in Jeongyeon’s eyes,

“Yeah!” Jeongyeon grinned, “I can look after her!”

Sunmi had only chuckled, letting the girl run off to apologise to her newest baby sister.

Momo had never really approached Sunmi first, she adored her aunt but usually Sunmi was occupied with the other girls. However, Momo always valued what the older woman had to say and while she would never seek the advice she would happily take on board anything that Sunmi had to tell her. Recently Sunmi’s washing machine broke and so she was using her brothers at the house, it was evening time and the only person in the kitchen was Momo who was sat at the table staring at the maths homework in front of her. Sunmi wasn’t entirely aware if Momo even knew she wasn’t alone in the room, the girl had a tendency to be a little oblivious sometimes so the lack of conversation was not something Sunmi took offence to.

“Urg!” Momo shouted suddenly, scaring the absolute out of Sunmi and slammed her head on the table,

“Don’t hit your head like that, Mo!” Sunmi told her walking over to check on her,

“It’s too hard!” Was the response whined into the table,

“What is it?” Her aunt asked, sliding on to the stool next to her,

Momo picked her head up, pouting, “College entrance stuff. I don’t even----never mind.”

Sunmi’s interest was peaked, “Don’t even what?”

“It’s not important.”

“Momo, come on - tell me.”

Momo sighed, “I don’t even want to go to college…I got offered the chance to work at my dance studio after graduating.”

“That’s great Momo!” Sunmi beamed, feeling proud, “You must be a great dancer if they were that eager to bring you on.”

“But Appa Min-Jun keeps going on and on about how important college is and I….I don’t want to let him down.”

“Listen to me,” Sunmi placed delicate hands on the girl’s shoulders, “Nobody knows what’s better for you than you, if you don’t think college is the right path then you need to tell them that. You have an amazing opportunity and even if you didn’t take the job and chose to work at some fast food place for a while it wouldn’t matter, you Appas would still love and support you - they’re kind of cool like that.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah, maybe talk to Nayeon too?” Sunmi remembered her conversation with the eldest, “Find out what you’d be missing and whether or not college would be the right fit. If you do your research and make a plan then they’ll support you and so will I.”

Momo looked at her, nerves shining, “I just don’t want to let them down.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Sunmi told her honestly, “They’re so proud of you all, for coming as far as you have and overcoming so much that they’re honestly not going to care if you wanna dance for school or dance for money…..”

Momo raised an eyebrow.

“Definitely phrased wrong,” Sunmi blushed, “But heed my words child!”

“Thanks Aunt Sunmi - you’re the greatest.”

“I know.”

Now the girl she saw the most was definitely Sana. Sana was nearly the body double of young Sunmi: a flirty, popular, wild child who had a different crush or infatuation every week. The first time Sang had walked in on his most…outgoing daughter’s latest “study session” he kicked out the girl and lectured Sana for an hour. The second time he pulled his hair out. The third time he called Sunmi to reason with this devil child. Over the years Sana had been marched to Sunmi’s many, many, MANY times to be given a various talk or discussion about her behaviour and those stories are too many to find just one to show the close bond between Sana and her Aunt. Sunmi saw herself in Sana and so made sure she was always in the loop with the girl’s comings and goings, she was well aware of what could happen on a wild night. The story in this regard we will focus on will actually be about Mina, Mina very rarely needed advice but when Sunmi saw her with bruises on her arms questions had been raised.

When she found out Mina was being bullied she was furious….

When she found out it was a friend of Sana’s she was ready to throw hands!

Mina swore her to secrecy saying that she didn’t want to give Jennie any reason to pick on her more and Sunmi understood but chose to let her Appas know (so that they could keep an eye out) and offered to have a word with Sana. They met up in a coffee shop after school and had an enjoyable time, they were discussing some wild party story and Sunmi decided to finally bring it up.

“.…anyway once the clown car left with the police we were able to put back the gnome.” Sunmi concluded as Sana cackled,

“How did they not see the ghost?” She could barely get the words out she was laughing so hard,

Once it had died down Sunmi had her chance, “Listen, I heard Mina had a panic attack at school.”

Sana’s eyes turned sad, “Yeah, Ms Kang wouldn’t let me out of class to help her. It was awful.”

“Any idea what caused it?”

“No clue. She wont say.”

Sunmi hummed, “Maybe just keep an eye out, if someone’s messing with her they’ll show their hand eventually.”

“Believe me,” Sana snapped, “If I find out someone’s bullying her again they wont find the body.”

“You’d hide a body?” Sunmi chuckled,

“Hey!” Sana was genuinely offended, “I’m a threat!”

“Of course you are, darling. Now finish your cupcake.”

Sunmi was the greatest aunt, it could never be disputed. She was the first to find out Jihyo had a crush on this guy in her class, she would pick up Chaeyoung from the police station at any time of night just to stop her brother from finding out and stressing himself. She was the woman who let Dahyun stay with her, no questions asked when her parents decided to try and force her from the Kim’s. Sure it was only for one night whilst her father camped outside their house waiting for her but Sunmi made sure the younger girl was kept at ease the entire time. They were her girls, nothing was going to happen to them whilst she was around. If they couldn’t go to their Appas they could always go to her and no matter what the issue was she would make sure she would support them.

However, despite her best intentions sometimes she can’t save them from the world or themselves.

She’d try though, she would always try.