Jimin kind of wishes she didn't wake up.

It's monday and she's hungover, her headache is getting worse by the minute and there's still a bunch of notes left to review later, so things aren't looking very promising, to say the least. Now biting on her burnt toast as slow as possible, eyes half closed, she hopes that today will be just another day.

Too bad, it won't.

A strong feminine voice startles her "Jimin!" 

"Yeah?" she replies with a grimace. God, her head is throbbing so hard she can't even hear herself.

"Can you drive Minjeong to school today? I'm late."

Oh.

Her eyes inevitably went to said girl sitting across from her at the table—who's current state wasn't much better than hers, the reason Jimin doesn't know—and by the surprised look on her face, she didn't like the idea at all.

Well, there goes her peaceful morning. She internally sighs.

"Fine." Jimin replies anyway, going back to her breakfast as if there is no problem.

To Minjeong, apparently, there is.

"Wait- I can walk!"

Jimin looks up again, the owner of the high pitched voice now glaring at her as if saying 'what are you doing?', Jimin mouths back a small 'what?'. She knows her face probably doesn't look as friendly as she would've liked but it is still seven in the morning and she's grumpy, for God's sake. Dealing with Minjeong right now wasn't on her plans either, but what can she do?

Minjeong scoffs, avoiding her eyes.

That was the first time they acknowledged each other's existence today and needless to say, the atmosphere isn't nice.

Their mother, though, didn't have time for any of this.

"Minjeong, don't be stupid, please. Your sister will drive you." the woman huffed, mildly annoyed.

By her tone alone, both girls know better than to make her more angry than she already is, especially when she's in a rush. Not waiting to give them any chance to talk back and piss her off, the woman in elegant attire mumbles goodbye while kissing their head, before quickly grabbing her keys on the way to the front door. Minjeong just sighs after hearing it open and close, she goes back to her toast—that Jimin made, mind you—not even bothering trying to talk to the only other occupant left in the kitchen.

Jimin unconsciously kept her eyes on her for a while. She's munching on the bread like an annoyed puppy and it would be cute, if the reason for her annoyance wasn't Jimin herself. She thought about saying something, trying to make it better, maybe allowing her to walk to school like she wants to... but doesn't. She opens but Minjeong is doing such a good job at ignoring her presence and Jimin can't get anything out of for that reason. 

She hates this, so much. It's been a week since she came back home for summer break, she had planned for things to go way different. She would talk to Minjeong like nothing ever happened and they would be okay again, everything should be fine. Instead, she didn't hear her sister's voice even once— not directed at her, at least— and to be fair she's not doing her best trying to change that.

The thing is, when Jimin decided to come back, she didn't expect to see Minjeong so... grown . It slapped her in the face the moment she saw her again. Not so much on the height side, to be honest, but everything else is different and Jimin doesn't know how to process the fact that she doesn't know her own sister anymore. And it might be her fault.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come back. Maybe she should've waited another year.

In the end she gives up with a sigh, eating the last piece of her bread and pretending to be busy with her phone instead, like she's been doing lately.

Maybe it's better like this?

"Ready to go?" Jimin asks after she has changed and brushed her teeth, not forgetting to take two aspirin pills with a whole bottle of water in hopes to make her hangover go away soon. The moody teenager only hums as a reply, dragging her feet towards her.

The silence between them follows even after they get inside Jimin's car and go almost all the way to the school building, until Minjeong suddenly opens , startling the girl driving.

"Hey, stop here..." she awkwardly cleans "Please."

They are still a whole block away. Jimin furrows her brows, confused, but Minjeong continues before she can even ask "If people see me with you, they will never leave me alone."

Her voice is monotone per usual, but there's a hint of frustration in it. Jimin wants to argue that she's being silly and only making up excuses to get away from her—the whole school has known they're sisters for years so it makes no difference if they're seen together—but stops herself after dwelling on it some more. 

There might be a bit of truth to it.

She doesn't want to sound pretentious, but Jimin knows she was quite popular in high school and still is, to the point where even new students know about her. They think she's going to be an idol or whatever some day, something dumb like that. In her defense, it's embarrassing and she never wanted the attention, but people were naturally drawn to her—for many different reasons—ever since she was a kid. She couldn't help but get used to it, which sometimes made her oblivious to how it can be annoying for those around her.

One of them being her own sister, of course.

Ever since they started sharing the same house, Minjeong never had a day where she wasn't flooded with questions or topics about Yu Jimin. She was happy at first, proud even, but as time went by, it got worse and all kinds of annoying, so Minjeong was more than fed up by now. It infuriated her to no end.

Only after her sister graduated things started to get better, not to mention that when they noticed how the two girls weren't... close at all anymore, they wouldn't even dare mention Jimin's name around her.

So, Jimin understands, really, she doesn't blame her. Minjeong is clearly not planning on going through that again.

Doesn't make her any less sad about it.

"Okay then." was her only response, and she notices how the shorter girl seems relieved by that, her shoulders relaxing.

Maybe Jimin isn't the only one who's nervous around here?

She parks the car near the sidewalk and Minjeong is more than ready to leave but Jimin calls her as soon as she opens the door "Minjeong." 

"What?" Her foot is already out and she looks back with a frown visible on her face. Jimin's voice gets caught in once again.

Why is she so intimidated by her?

Even if there are many things Jimin wanted to say, to ask, she's apparently not ready to do it just yet. Not when Minjeong looks at her like that.

Like she hates me.

She swallows, hard. The thought scares her too much.

"Wait for me here, after school. I'll take you home." she's at least brave enough to let out what she intended to.

Minjeong stares at her for a good five seconds, maybe wondering why Jimin is even giving her the time of the day now when she hasn't for a whole year and counting "No need. I have legs, you know."

The older one is thankful that she at least tried to make it sound like she's teasing but Jimin knows better. She lets out a small chuckle, because she really doesn't want to argue—far from it—and she just found out that a brat Minjeong is not something she can handle well, so better to proceed with caution.

"Mom will be angry at me if she knows I didn't pick you up." she gently tried again, Minjeong was already out.

"Like I care."

Jimin ignores that "Will you be here?"

Sadly for her the other girl wasn't in the mood to argue either, she just rolled her eyes and closed the door on her face.

Oh boy, now Jimin isn't giving up for sure.

"I'll be waiting for you then, okay?" she says, louder this time.

Minjeong mumbles a curse under her breath "...Whatever." She makes sure Jimin hears the last part before walking without looking back. 

And she's gone.

Jimin straights her back against the backseat again and watches her leave. She is left there alone, wondering what went wrong between them. It's useless, she doesn't have to wonder for too long to know it's mostly her fault, which is exactly why she feels like this; so guilty and undeserving of being in her sister's life again. She can't help but reminisce about how they went from strangers to family, to something in between and then strangers once again.

After all, there was a time when Jimin and Minjeong actually got along, or even more than that. A memory that feels so distant now seeing their current state, but not too long after they were introduced by their parents, twelve years ago, they were inseparable. 

She remembers her father's soothing voice telling her one random day "Jimin, this is Minjeongie. She's going to be your baby sister."

A small head full of honey brown hair pokes behind the man's leg, who ruffles it gently. Kim Minjeong is her name. She does look like a Minjeong, the name fits her perfectly and Jimin likes the way it sounds. That's the first thing the dark-haired little girl thinks. 

"Why?" is the second thing she thinks and the only one she says out loud.

Eight years old Yu Jimin couldn't understand how her dad got another daughter so fast, it makes no sense. She doesn't know much about how babies are made yet, but she's sure it's not something that happens in the span of a single day. Yet here it is, a whole new kid right in front of her! She has no idea where she came from and she doesn't like this.

Her mom was dead, wasn't she?

So, how?

"Because papa fell in love again. I told you, remember?" she doesn't, the funny look on her face says it all.

He shakes his head with a smile, then crouch down to look at her properly as he tries to explain as gentle as possible, whispering only for her to hear "My Jiminie, you know when we lose a loved one, if you're a good person God will send you a new one?" she nods, that she remembers hearing at church before "That's why I'll marry Minjeong's mommy soon and we will all be a real family, like before."

Jimin thinks she understands a little, she just doesn't know how to react yet, so she instead looks at Minjeong once again. She was so much smaller than herself, the way her big eyes go from the man to her like a ping pong match is very cute, the girl doesn’t seem to know any better about what is going on. Her eyebrows go up comically when Jimin locks eyes with her. Embarrassed by it, she looks back at the silent woman behind them, who Jimin assumes is who her father was talking about just now.

Oh, Jimin almost forgot she was there, that she is part of this too. She tries but can't remember ever seeing the woman before, which is weird. Maybe her brain is just bad at registering faces, because if her dad really is in love they must spend a lot of time together, right? Jimin has heard before that love takes time.

She tilts her head with a pout, shamelessly analyzing the adult up and down. Well, she's a kid after all, she doesn't know yet that it is rude to stare, so she does. The woman looks nice, very young and pretty—an adult version of Minjeong—but also kind of distant and cold, like she can't wait to get this over with. When she notices the way Jimin is curiously staring at her, she gives a small smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

Her father clears his throat, catching her attention back "So... I need you to take good care of her from now on, okay?" he continues since Jimin doesn't seem like talking anytime soon "She will move in with us in a few months."

Jimin gave a simple nod but still kept quiet, now looking down, honestly not knowing how she felt about that. If she's even supposed to feel anything. It was all so soon and unexpected for such a big change in their lives. For a moment, she thought it really wasn't fair and it showed in the form of a small frown on her face—that she hopes no one can see behind her bangs. She didn't have any say in this, her father isn't even asking if she's okay with all that. He's simply telling she's a big sister now and putting that responsibility on her shoulders.

At the same time, Jimin has always been very mature for her young age, that's what all adults say about her and her dad is very proud of it. She's polite and calm, never gets in trouble, never complains, she's the daughter everyone wants. She also knows how sad the man has been ever since her mother died, Jimin is too but she can't remember the woman enough to be as sad about it as he is. Many times she saw him silently crying and when she would go towards him, he would just quickly clean his face and pretend nothing was wrong. That may be the reason why she felt the need to grow faster, so he wouldn't worry about her too, when he already has so much on his own.

And to be honest, she likes Minjeong already. After only meeting her for half an hour, she expected to be indifferent towards her but that's just not how she feels right now, simple like that. The girl is way too adorable and Jimin is weak for adorable things. Seeing her looking so small and lost, may have awakened something in Jimin she didn't know she had until now, because she feels the need to protect this girl with all that she has in her tiny body.

One of them has to be the wise one and take the lead here, and of course it's going to be her. It's her job as the oldest. Jimin secretly promises herself to try to be a good sister to Minjeong, the best one she could ever have.

With that in mind, Jimin didn't waste time, she took Minjeong's hand on her own and dragged her to her room without another glance at the two surprised adults, determined to fulfill her own promise as soon as possible.

And she did, for as long as she could.

Jimin wasn't a very talkative kid at all, but with how timid Minjeong actually was, she naturally became the extroverted one between the two, feeling the need to make the younger one comfortable. She showed