aera stirs a little, waking up in a much softer place than where she fell asleep at night. her brows scrunch together sleepily as she makes out a room with cream-colored walls glowing a little in golden with the sunlight falling directly from the glass window. sitting up against the cushioned headboard, her hand slowly caresses the soft comforters; soft like the one she had back at home in her room.
there's a glass of water on the nightstand, which has her hesitating to take it or not. however the desire for water dies when the absence of charley dawns upon her, making her spring up on her feet, looking around.
"charley" her voice calls, laden with fear as she exits the room searching for her only support, with her dark, doe eyes filled with tears.
she walks out, reaching the lounge area where she slept with charley in the first place after refusing jimin's offer of taking the guest room. she reaches behind the couch, not being able to locate the german shepherd with her blurry vision.
"hey what happen-"
"where's charley?!" she glares at jungkook, pushing his hand away from her shoulder, "you're crazy! why did you bring me here if all you wanna do is hurt me?! first you threw my locket and now you took charley! what did i ever do to you?! if you don't want me here then why did you stop me from leaving yesterday?! i hate y-"
"aera," a voice says, softer and calmer, making the girl turn around, seeing jimin standing there, "charley's alright. tae's feeding him, he was hungry."
"f-feeding him?"
"yeah, come with me." he smiles softly, holding out his hand. aera wipes her tears, taking his hand hesitantly and follows him to the kitchen where some of the guys are having their breakfast and the dog too, is eagerly eating from a bowl on the floor with taehyung smiling at him.
a soft sob leaves her lips as she goes beside charley and kneels down, hugging him tightly, shedding pearly tears against his soft coat. "i thought i lost you..." she sobs, grabbing attention from the seven males, who stare at her with sympathetic eyes, acknowledging how much the dog must mean to her.
charley barks in response, wagging his tail as he leaves his food and turns to face the girl, licking her face until she's not crying anymore. he barks again, nuzzling his face against her cheek and neck.
"i was so scared," she whispers, kissing the side of his head and rubs her eyes, glancing at the man who is crouching near them, smiling fondly at their interaction.
"i thought he must be hungry, so i brought him here to give some food." taehyung confesses, "i'm sorry, i should've asked you first."
"it's okay, thanks for feeding him." aera mumbles, "he didn't eat anything in three days."
"three days?" several gasps are heard as aera nods slowly.
"i ran away three days ago." she says, petting charley as he pushes her down now, licking her face, letting her know that he's completely recharged now after getting a good sleep and food.
"okay okay, stop and eat your food now." she says, pushing him back and stands up, looking at jimin and smiles a little, "thank you, uhm and sorry for shouting at your brother. i thought he- he hurted charley..."
jimin nods in response, "it's fine. come, have a seat, you must be hungry as well."
"uh no i'm okay." she says glancing at the food that despite smelling delicious might be poisoned or drugged. that's when she realises charley's might be unsafe too. so her hand tugs the collar of the dog pulling him away and takes a step back.
"what happened? let him eat." taehyung says.
"no, it's fine, he's full."
the man sighs and shakes his head, "look, i know we're strangers, but i can assure you it's safe. nothing in this house is meant to hurt you or your charley."
"he's right," jimin adds, "you still have the gun right? feel free to use it, whenever you feel like any of my boys are being a threat."
aera stares at him and nods gradually, letting the dog have his meal and quietly moves towards the dining table, earning a smile from jimin who takes a seat as well. jungkook sits beside him, not saying much and focuses on his breakfast, too consumed by the scene of aera not shedding a tear even when he almost shot her yesterday, when he threatened her to come with him, or when he first found her, but the thought of losing charley had her crying in a state he'd call vulnerable. and the reason deep somewhere was him, he knew it.
"what happened? come and eat." jin's question pulls him out of his thoughts, making him flinch but relaxes on realizing the words are not for him. his eyes turn to the side, stopping at the kid who is standing awkwardly near the counter.
jungkook follows her gaze and sees jimin, nodding in assurance as if the elder was able to understand her eye language, "come," jimin says, pulling a chair next to him for the girl.
aera sits beside him, glancing up at him once and then at jin who smiles, passing the scrambled eggs to jimin. the latter serves the food on the plate, chuckling on seeing aera's eyes shimmering in anticipation along with her little tongue that licks her lips, letting the guys know that she's hungry for sure.
"eat up," jimin says.
"thank you," the girl mumbles softly to him, taking the fork in her hand.
forgetting about his own breakfast that sits untouched, jimin watches the young girl, trying to eat everything at once, even though the long sleeves of her hoodie are frequently posing as a hurdle in between. he laughs a little, shaking head and grabs her hand, folding up the sleeves till her elbows.
although his smile dies when aera pulls her hand back, and mumbles "i'm fine,"
"is that injections?" he asks.
"yeah," she nods, not really minding the seriousness in his voice while he exchanges glances with the rest of the boys.
"what for?"
"i don't know," she shrugs, "my dad said it's important. i've been getting these since i was nine."
weird, jimin nods gradually not really digesting why a kid would have so many marks of needles on their arm unless it's severe medical condition, but from what he has seen till now, aera looks pretty healthy apart from being starved for a few days.
"you didn't tell us your dad's name." hoseok says.
"what if you send me back?" she replies.
"that is another subject. but for now we need to know about your family."
"i don't have one." she shrugs, "i told you that i don't know anyone from my real family. the foster care and this one sucks."
"let's talk about it later," jimin sighs, pulling up a smile and pats her head. his lips stretch wider and eyes reduce to crescents when aera didn't flinch or try to get away from him, "finish your food and then wash yourself. i'll arrange some clothes for you."
a phone rings, drawing attention away from the girl, jimin gestures her to continue and that he'll come back in a minute. he walks out of the kitchen followed by jin and yoongi who are focused on their phone as well, brows frowning as they read the message.
"the kid is one of park minjoon's trafficked girls. he bought her at the age of seven, before that she was under foster care which was owned by lee kanghyun. both the men had a deal about due drugs and kids abducted in the past. minjoon bought the girl from there."
"what about before lee?" jimin asks.
"according to the sources, lee's men took her in around the time sir jaehyun was killed. i'm afraid this girl seems to be connected sir."
"fuck" he curses under breath, "dig in. i want all the information about how lee found her. even the slightest thing shouldn't be left untouched."
"yes sir."
jimin hangs up, turning to face the elder members who reciprocate his confused and frustrated gaze. jin gives a light squeeze to his shoulder, nodding in assurance with a smile.
"don't worry, it'll be fine."
"yeah," jimin whispers, "there's a hope after almost ten years. i won't let this get wasted at any cost."
yoongi smiles at him, "i hope it's her." jimin smiles back softly, nodding in agreement and leans forward to hug both of his hyungs.
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"that's the bathroom, you can get cleaned. i'll tell the maid to put the clothes on the bed yeah?"
aera nods slowly, looking around the room, the same one where she woke up and panicked on not having charley beside her. now that she's much relaxed and in her senses, her eyes notice the little details including some toys in a glass shelf and childish drawings on one side of the wall that makes her question if a kid used to live here. or maybe it was one of the boys room when they were younger?
jimin smiles following her gaze to a drawing of a seven boys and a little girl, all ranging in various heights. he clears his throat and aera comes back to reality, looking up at him.
"oh and there's a first aid box in the lower cabinet," he says, "y'know if you feel like there's a need or so."
aera nods at him, "thank you..."
"no problem. take your time, i'll be leaving you alone now. call me, if you need something."
she sighs hearing the door being closed. her hand pushes the bathroom door open. the tiles are white, the walls are white and the translucent window near the bathtub is glowing in white too, being the second source of light other than the artificial ones on the ceiling. she looks at the mirror, a huge one right up with the sink that reflects the image of her torn and dirty self. mixtures of blood and dirt smudged on her cheek and neck, the hoodie hangs loose on her bony flesh, that she pulls over her head slowly, revealing a tank top which is half torn near the waist, stained with large patches of blood.
she winces softly, facing difficulty taking off the tank top that is stuck to her skin at places with the dried blood. placing the fabric on the side, she glances back in the mirror, turning her body to look at the cut on her waist that is scraped dry now, but looking dark red in color and still a bit fresh in the centre.
her mind goes back to the moment she escaped from the mansion, three days on counting now, even after landing pretty much safely on the ground and running for miles with charley, there was this moment where her father's men had grabbed her and before charley leaped on them to get her free, the sharp weapon was already marking it's cut on her skin, creating an open wound for her to struggle with.
she lowers herself, crouching in front of the cabinet where jimin had said the first aid box was kept. she searches through the stuff which is rolls of toilet papers, some towels and paper towels, more tissues and oh, a box. she pulls it out, opening and finds some clinical cotton, a small bottle of disinfectant and some bandages. keeping it on the counter beside the sink, she decides it's better to take a shower first.
in the next five minutes, her eyes were shut tight, standing under the cold water that stung falling on her skin like thorns on the bruises and cuts, especially on her waist. her eyes open in a span, glancing down as she gently tries to wash away the blood without hurting much of her wound which seems like a constant failure for her fingertips now have blood on them and there's blood on the floor too.
wincing and struggling against the pain that only grew each second, the shower part was finally done, thankfully leaving no blood behind on the white floor. she takes a towel and wraps it around her body, grabbing the first aid box with her and opens the door to the room.
just as jimin had said, there are clothes on the bed, a grey cotton shorts and a white baby tee; also there's a white pair of socks, cute briefs and a short thin undershirt. aera hisses in pain, looking at the blood on the white towel and sighs, taking the underwear and the undershirt, putting it on before starting to treat her wounds as she folds the latter fabric up till her wound.
the disinfectant stings on her open cut, making her flinch with a sharp hiss, eyes burning wth tears as she forces herself to apply the cotton laden with the disinfectant again. with a familiar panting noise, the door is pushed open and charley comes in, quickly going near her. he climbs on the bed, licking her face and shoulder while she pushes him away, trying to keep him and herself from hurting her wound.
"ouch! charley stay away! it hurts!" she whines, hitting his back, throwing a glare at the dog which makes him stop instantly. he sits quietly like a scolded puppy and watches her wincing with tears flowing down from her face.
aera doesn't mind when the canine exits the room, but freaks out when he's bringing jimin the next moment, with the fabric of the man's pants stuck between his teeth, pulling him inside the room and barks at the girl.
jimin gasps at the deadly cut spreading on the right side of the girl's body, just below the rib cage which is prominent due to the probable starvation. he steps near her, holding her hand as he's crouched down in front of her, eyes fixed on the blood slowly coming up from the middle of the cut.
"doesn't that hurt?" he says, taking the cotton from aera's hand.
"no," she shakes her head, pushing his hand back, "i'm okay."
"don't start that right now. the cut looks bad, you need to take care of it, or else be ready for an infection or maybe a surgery." he says.
"...surgery?"
jimin looks at her face, nodding for her to beleive that she might indeed need a surgery if she doesn't accept his help, "yeah, jungkook left a wound open like that for around three-four days, and it just got worse."
he presses his lips into a thin line, as his muscles try to keep him from breaking into a smile. no matter what happened with this girl, no matter how much she hates this world, she's still just a child. the fear in her eyes in the name of surgery gives it off for jimin to nod in assurance, holding her hand in his.
"but it'll be fine if you let me help you with that." he lets out softly, smiling at aera.
"okay..." she mumbles, gulping her saliva down as jimin pats her cheek, giving a gentle squeeze on her hand that says, you'll be fine, just trust me.
so aera stares at him quietly, letting him guide her to lay on the bed while he called for jin who showed up with a medics bag, gasping at the sight of the hurt kid. it did hurt, a lot actually, full with winces and whimpers, but the fact that jimin never left her hand and frequently engaged her in a conversation was a relief.
from the door jungkook watches his hyungs growing so attached with this stranger, who might impose a threat to them later. but they're too blinded to see past her name and the locket. he sighs, shaking off any soft feeling for the girl, despite hearing her cries that intensified just now as the eldest started stitching the cut together.
it hurts him.
it hurts him to see such a young girl being in so much pain. it hurts him to see his hyungs being so empathetic with her. and it hurts him to think that this kid might become the reason for some of their deaths. cruel but possibl.
so he shakes his head, shutting the door like he never saw aera's wound that he knew would hurt if it were on anyone else. he rolls his eyes, walking away, pretending that there's no aching cry echoing through the corridor that sends a wave of chills down his spine, raising goosebumps all the way.
that must be hurting;
but not enough to have jeon jungkook's attention, because he has seen more. he has lost more. and he has gone through a living hell more than this fourteen-year-old girl did. living with a guilt that he could've saved his sister that day, haunts him, still.
only if he had taken notice of the gun taehyung slid near his feet and used it in defense to shoot that man who was trying to take his sister from him, ignoring the heartbreaking cries from the four-year-old. he wishes to have known how to aim a gun properly back then, maybe then he wouldn't have missed the shot, and the man would be laying dead. and aera, his aera, would be with him, instead of getting lost with those cruel beasts in a world where there were no angels, just a lot of demons and monsters.
then maybe these seven boys would be living a normal life instead of surviving each day in a dreadful nightmare which they all knew was making them a part of this world too. they were becoming one of the demons and monsters they wanted to save their sister from.
only if the fifteen-year-old jungkook from ten years back, had seen the gun earlier and aimed properly, it would've been different, right?
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a/n- hi actually i'm kinda busy tomorrow and the following two days, so i thought i should update today 😅 did you enjoy the chapter?
what do you think is gonna happen now?
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