Moonlight: Stars, Eclipses, & Full Moons

Just As You Are

Jongin's POV

I knew my day was about to get interesting when I heard the front door slam shut around the time the kids were due home from school. My initial thought was something involving Lily, so I sighed to myself and left the office, preparing to calm her down yet again. But when I got downstairs, she actually looked like the calm one while Jaehyun was radiating nothing but overwhelming amounts of stress. Kyungsoo was also already standing by them and gave me a very familiar annoyed look when he saw me. 

"Your children are arguing again--just like old times," he said. After all those years, I still didn't know why they suddenly only became my children whenever they were acting up.

"I can see that," I said as I stepped down the last stair. "What's going on? It's like you two switched bodies or something."

"You should direct all questions to your son because apparently, I'm a blabber mouth with no filter," Lily responded as she sent a glare to Jaehyun. 

He scoffed and grinned bitterly. "I didn't say that. I just told you to mind your own business. I guess it's just your ears that don't work."

Instead of coming up with a quick witty response, Lily just rolled her eyes and looked between me and Kyungsoo. "Do you see this? And all because I tried to be a good sister and help him."

"Help, my ass." Jaehyun was turned around on the couch now. "I didn't ask for your help. I was handling it on my own."

"That's not what I saw. How is letting yourself get harrassed handling anything?"

"Woah, hang on," I said, holding up a hand before either of them could get another word out, and looked at Jaehyun. "What's this about harassment? Is something going on at school?"

"No--"

"Yes," Lily interjected, causing his face to instantly fall. "It's only a few kids, but they keep berating him about being the first omega son in the Kim Family line. It's just stupid traditionalist bullshit that they heard from their dumbass parents, and he's not doing anything about it. He's not even sticking up for himself."

"Maybe I don't want to stick up for myself. Maybe I'd rather stay quiet and let them listen to themselves until they get bored."

"As if that's gonna help. It'll just egg them on even more if they think you're a doormat."

"But having my older, alpha sister stand between me and a bully will totally help my case. Definitely won't give them any more reasons to target me or anything." 

She groaned loudly and opened her mouth to speak, but I stopped her by putting a firm but still gentle on her shoulder. "What? Don't you hear how ungrateful he sounds right now? I'm literally doing exactly what you guys taught me to do as his big sister."

"We understand, but now may not be the time to prove a point, okay?" Kyungsoo said, only earning another frustrated eye roll in response. 

"Why don't you go up to your room and cool off a little? We'll talk to him," I added in support. I could tell she wanted to protest and be stubborn, but she ended up obliging by picking her backpack up off the floor and going upstairs a few moments later. I took a quiet deep breath and glanced over at Kyungsoo, who was already making his way over to the couch where Jaehyun had his arms crossed over his chest. I joined them and sat next to Kyungsoo. 

"So all of that is actually happening? Are they bullying you at school?" he asked in his signature soft voice. 

There was a faint scowl on Jaehyun's face as he sighed and shrugged. "I wouldn't call it bullying. They just make stupid comments to get a rise out of me," he answered.