[1] Code: RED || KTH

Ch28: The Big Surprise

A little boy sits quietly in his bedroom, his eyes switching from blank space to the window on his left every few seconds. His short legs swing in anticipation and his chubby fingers fiddle with each other in nervousness.

It was his sixth birthday, and his parents promised him a big surprise. They seemed too excited about it, and that only made him even more excited.

What kind of a big surprise would it be, little Jimin thought.

A toy car? He has at least three. Plushies? Oh, his bed is filled with them. Maybe a bike? But he has one that he always falls off. It must be a huge bucket of ice-cream, then?

He hears the sound of keys clicking against each other and the low squeak of the front door, so he quickly jumps off his bed and runs out of the bedroom.

He rushes to his parents, standing in front of them with a huge smile on his face.

"Jimin," His mother speaks, a soft smile on her face as she does so, "I want you to meet someone."

Jimin's smile falls a little at that. Why does he have to meet someone? Where is his big surprise?

His father steps aside, and reveals a little boy, shorter than Jimin. He has big doe eyes, continuously moving, too shy to make contact with anyone.

What cathes Jimin's attention though is the two big bunny ears, black in color, settling on the boy's head and hunching over as if scared.

"This is Jungkook," His father finally says, "Your new brother."

Jimin's eyes widen and he gasps loudly, staring up at his parents with teary eyes. A brother? Yes, he always wanted one, but whenever he asked for it, his mother told him she was 'too tired to carry another baby in her tummy'.

Jimin's eyes fill with tears before he lunges forward at Jungkook, engulfing him in a hug. The younger boy stands still, too shocked to react.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Jimin repeats in muffled mumbles before he looks up at his mother. "Thank you so much, mommy, I promise I'll be the best big brother ever."

And with that, he grabs Jungkook's hand, and drags him to hisㅡ their bedroom, ready to share all his toys with his new brother, and ready to give it all.

And for the first time in his life, Jungkook feels like he actually has a family different from the white coated people back at the shelter.

Years pass by, and Jimin and Jungkook stay as close as ever. Of course there had to be a fight or two every month, but they always ended up with either Jimin buying his brother's favourite snacksㅡif he was the one at fault, or Jungkook sneaking in to his brother's bed at night and cuddling him without saying a wordㅡif he was the one at fault.

Jimin's excuses for his friends were always 'sorry, I'm going out with Jungkook.' or 'sorry, Jungkook is waiting for me.' because the said boy had nothing to do all day except wait for his brother to come back from school to either teach him new things, like reading, writing, and basic mathematics, or to play all night long with his favourite video games.

As they grew up together, things like Jungkook laughing at Jimin because he got taller than him although he's younger always happened, but they always ended up with Jungkook comforting the crying Jimin with words like "I'm still your little brother.".

Jungkook knew all about Jimin's bad grades that he hid from his parents at middle school, and all the girls he liked at high school, so it was no wonder that when Jimin graduated college (he majored in information technology) and had an apartment of his own, Jungkook decided to tag along, seeing that he's more attached to Jimin as a brother than he is to Mr. and Mrs.Park as parents.

Jimin completely missed the fact that hybrids don't live as long as humans, because all his life, Jungkook was his brother, his family, not his hybrid. He sometimes forgot that Jungkook was, in fact, a hybrid. Even his small little tics like chewing on his sleeve or sniffing food before eating it, Jimin dismissed them as 'Jungkook-ish acts' and not instincts because a part of him is a bunny.

So it all hit him like a truck when he realised that Jungkoo won't be there for long because he's growing older and older day by day, minute by minute, second by second, and Jimin can't do anything but accept that he'll be gone soon.

Jungkook will be gone soon.

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A/N: are you crying yet

the first book is ending soon :(