Twelve Little Brothers

Freedom!

"You're all set Minseo." I nodded and thanked the doctor before turning to my Aunt and giving her one of my brightest smiles. After six long weeks, my wrist was finally free. I waited until I was out of the building to jump up and down and dance a little bit. Auntie just smiled before she started to dance a bit herself.

"I'm free!" I subtly looked both ways before running into the parking lot and doing a circle around the small bus we call a van.

"Kim Minseo! Watch where you're running!" She tried to be serious, but I know that she was holding back a smile at my childishness.

"Oops?" She slightly smiled and finished crossing the parking lot. The sky had already darkened and I could only hope that the boys were in bed. Auntie's stomach was getting larger with each passing day and I couldn't wait for the baby to arrive.

As soon as she unlocked the van, I jumped into the back after opening her door for her. It took all of my will power to remain silent and not bombard her with my new questions until after she got the car started. It wasn't like we didn't talk on the way down, we just talked about other things.

"So what's the name going to be?" She sighed and turned on her right turn signal to get out of the hospital parking lot.

"Even if I knew, it wouldn't be any fun to tell you." I could almost hear her smirk as she pulled out and sped along.

"Fine. I'll stop." I slouched back into my seat and started to play with my wrist.

"You haven't talked about Taemin at all, how is he?" I sighed and tried to keep the lump that was forming in my throat down.

"I wouldn't know how Taemin is doing. He's always so busy." Movement caught my attention and I looked into the rearview mirror at Auntie. She looked so confused before turning her gaze back to the road.

"What do you mean? You two always used to hang out."

I sighed again. "Taemin has new friends and doesn't have time for me. He even pretended he didn't know me." My voice cracked at the end while a dam broke inside of me.

My Aunt quickly panicked and turned on her turn signal to pull over. She quickly unbuckled and crawled to the back so she could sit down next to me. I cried even harder when she pulled me into her chest and stroked my hair.

"Who have you been hanging out with then?" She whispered it, almost like she was scared to know the answer.

I choked back my sobs for a second to get some words out. "Nobody."

"Oh, I'm sorry baby. Would you like me to call the school?" I lifted my head up at her.

"This isn't your fault, so don't apologize. And what would the school do? Make him be friends with me?" I sighed and wiped my tears away with my sweatshirt even though a few were still trickling down.

"It was just the first thing I thought of. I guess they can't really do anything now that I think of it." She gave me an awkward face and I couldn't help but laugh a little.

"That's what I want to see. You can always make new friends. There isn't just Taemin in that school you know." I dropped my head as more tears started to come out.

"That's the thing. I hear them whisper behind my back that I killed my Mother and they say unrepeatable things about you and Uncle Seungcheol." All the hurt I had been enduring over the years came back, and all I could do was cry.

"Why don't you say anything back?" Her voice was so much softer, and for a minute I thought it was Mommy.

"I'm so much smaller then they are, and that would make them want to say more. Plus it would draw attention to me."

She sighed and started to braid a bit of my hair. "Baby, size means nothing. And you deserve to be recognized for the amazing person you are, so don't tell me attention is a bad thing."

"It is when half the time you want to disappear from all the people." She laughed and I wrinkled my eyebrows together.

"Sorry. You just have eight brothers and another one on the way, and you don't want to be around people?" I pursed my lips when I realized how stupid my words sounded now that I think about it.

"They're different than the people at school, and there's more people teaming up against me at school that don't care about my feelings. At home they are innocent little fluff balls that actually care how I feel."

"Well when you put it like that... Do you have anything in your locker?"

I looked at her like she was crazy. What does my locker have anything to do with this? "No? I mean besides books and that stuff."

She smiled and I got slightly scared. "You could always put a few polaroids of you and the boys in there, along with maybe something they've drawn you. That way you could have a little more innocence and fluff. Because apparently middle school has no innocence."

I smiled. "I like that idea. Thank you Mom." I quickly covered my mouth and whispered an apology, to who I don't know.

I knew she was smiling from my slip while she climbed back up to the drivers seat. We both re-buckled as she pulled back onto the road. I looked at the clock and winced slightly at how late it had gotten.

It was ten o'clock by the time we pulled into the driveway, and I knew Uncle Seungcheol was getting ready for work after sleeping for a few hours. I quickly hopped out of the car and shut the door as soft as I could to avoid waking anyone up.

I waited for my Aunt to unlock the door before quietly going into my room to get pajamas to change into. I silently rushed into the bathroom and shut myself inside.

After quickly getting ready, I went into my Aunt and Uncle's room to say goodnight before slipping into mine. I set my alarm a few minutes early so I could dig through my box of polaroids and pick a few out along with grabbing a few magnets.

I softly whispered goodnight to Jeonghan, even though he was already sleeping, and quickly fell asleep listening to his soft breathing.