"some good dreams come true"

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"d-don't leave me..."

aera almost questioned her existence, her presence. is she even visible? why did the lady not listen to her? is she deaf? or is aera not audible?

"please don't leave me..." she tried again. teary eyes staring at the female figure fading away at a distance midst the darkness of the night, under tall trees that looked at least a hundred times bigger than aera.

thick trunks standing tall, hovering above the face of the planet, as if going to engulf the whole world at once. aera's eyes shut tight as another cry rolled out of her lips, having nobody to hug her and console her that a monster won't come and eat her, or a ghost won't jump out from the dense, dark woods.

"aera"

"save me please..."

"aera!"

"aera! wake up!" mia shook the young girl by her shoulder, noticing she was having another nightmare, the third one since last night.

aera jolted awake, letting out a sob instantly, while her eyes began pouring out pearly tears. mia sighed softly, bringing her closer until she had aera on her lap and stroked her back gently.

"it's okay" mia said, "it was just a bad dream, it's over now."

aera shook her head, rubbing her eyes with tiny hands balled into fists. her small sniffs between constant hiccups were evident in the room that the two girls shared with six other kids, all ranging from seven to fifteen years, aera being the youngest of them, even after turning five in winter.

"come on everyone, be down for breakfast in ten minutes! no food for you if you're any late than that!" the care-giver's usual loud voice filled the room with motion as a bunch of legs started shuffling around, some searching for their slippers, some rushing to the bathroom to get ready before it gets occupied by someone else, or some just casually heading out of the room to the dining hall.

mia sighed, glancing back at aera and smiled softly, "let's go?" the girl nodded, wiping her tears off and slipped down from mia's lap.

"hey, i will sit there! get up!"

"nah! go find some other place."

"shut up both of you and just sit your ass down!"

ignoring the regular morning quarrel that brings a giggle to aera's lips, mia took her seat, setting her plate down in front of her, while aera was busy watching the ten-year-old twins bickering just like any other normal day. in fact, the day wasn't considered normal until the two had told each other off enough and then recieved a nice scolding from marry, the caregiver, founder and owner of the place.

marry foster home, which had a weird yet interesting tag-line along with it's name, printed in big letters at the top of the cozy house when looked from outside. family requires love, not dna. that's what marry told her children too is true and ought to made universal in this world, where people are becoming more selfish everyday.

"oh my god, aera, i've taught you to hold the chopsticks correctly!" marry exasperated, sitting near aera who looked confused, staring at the lady and then at her hand.

"it is like that!" she retorted.

"no, child, it's the wrong way." marry sighed, looking at the mess aera had created, dropping the scrambled eggs and bacon around her plate. "mia, help the poor girl, i can't bear cleaning all the mess this kid makes."

the twins snickered from the other end of the table, making aera huff as she shot a glare at them. her hands grabbed the chopsticks tightly, looking much more determined to eat properly with them and show the kids that she's no less than anyone.

"come here" mia said, pulling aera's hand and helped her hold the chopsticks in the right way, "now move your fingers like this"

aera followed the older girl, but ended up dropping the food again, making her pout as she threw the chopsticks away and starts eating with her hands. marry shook her head, leaving the children to have their breakfast while she took the time to relax in her office. the twins started their verbal commotion again, earning a playful laugh from the five-year-old who watched them with more interest than she ever had in her meal.

mia chuckled softly, seeing aera still being fascinated by everything just as she had been when she first saw her. a young toddler with dark brown pupils, round, doe eyes and thin, tinted lips. her cheeks were still puffed with the baby fat that hid under a natural pinkish blush on aera's pale skin. even after almost three years, the girl never missed any opportunity to smile and show her contentment with her young life, despite the several nightmares and frequent bitter scoldings from marry.

mia had been by her side ever since the first day and watched her grow closely, took care of her more than marry or any other worker in the foster home did. even aera was close to her, so close that most of her tantrums had been about sleeping with mia or not sleeping at all, eating with mia or not eating at all. the only privacy maintained was during the bathroom time. but sometimes, aera would join the elder girl there too, sitting on the closed toilet seat while mia took a shower behind the white curtains and talked to aera through it.

it was fun to have someone so loving around you, especially under a foster care. you need to have someone to have your back, and in the girls' case, it was them against twenty which made mia happy and reminded her how much aera loved her and believed every word that left her mouth. and to test this theory, mia told her about happy dreams coming true, and from that instant, aera awaited her happy dream.

this time even mia wanted her words to come true, and for once she wanted aera to have a sound sleep just like the rest of the children there. the condition had been so bad lately that aera had developed a fear of falling asleep. the kid would tell mia and even the caregiver when she came to check if all the children were sleeping, about her dream where a lady took her to a jungle at night and left her there, she cried and told her not to abandon her, but the lady never listened.

marry never gave much thought to it, and shrugged the problem casually, calling it out as common among young children. so ultimately it was mia left to deal with it and help aera out, which was more than just tough, because she knew no magic or spell that would keep bad dreams away other than the only dream catcher the caregiver gave her from aera's stuff when she moved in care.

the dream catcher! right!

"aera!" mia gasped, pulling the five-year-old with her, upstairs to their room. "i think i have a solution for your problem!"

"what problem?" aera tilted her head, staring at the fourteen-year-old with her round eyes radiating a curious gaze.

"your nightmares silly" mia replied, rummaging through her drawer while aera sat herself on the bed. between the hair clips, little toys and blocks that belonged to aera, mia finally found the desired object. with a smile dancing on her lips and eyes crinkling, she pulled out the dream catcher, woven with purple threads, having soft feathers and beads attached to the strings. she held it out in front of aera who looked amazed, instantly reaching out to touch the pretty object reflecting in her dreamy eyes.

"wow" she whispered, playing with the dangling beads and feathers.

"it's a dream catcher," mia told her, earning a confused look from aera, "it catches the bad dreams and only lets good ones in for the person using it. you should put it near your bed when you sleep, it might help."

"really?" aera smiled in anticipation, "thank you unnie!"

"you're welcome aera" the elder girl smiled back, hanging the dream catcher at the side of the window as aera's bed was in the farthest end of the room, right next to mia's. "why don't you sleep right now and try it?"

"now?" aera said, "i'm not sleepy, unnie."

"come on just try it, i'm sure it'll work. your family must've known about your nightmares that's why they put it in your stuff."

"okay..."

mia smiled as aera kicked off her sandals and climbed on the bed, laying down. she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, while mia was sitting on the side, staring at the younger girl with excited eyes, hoping her idea would work and aera will be able to sleep without any hindrance. but her smile died down gradually when aera sighed and sat up, shaking her head.

"i'm not sleepy"

"uh it's okay, we can try it when it's your nap time."

later that day and even at nights, aera had the dream catcher by her bed swiveling in gentle pace with the wind striking it, catching the nightmares as mia had told the little girl, and letting the good dreams pass. it did work. aera liked how her dreams were much beautiful and fun now. she even made some friends in her very own dreamland.

two boys who were much older than aera. having angelic voices and eyes that crinkled into smiles whenever they saw aera. they were both, much much taller than the girl, but it was a good thing according to her, for they could easily carry her in their arms and hug her small body. she liked going to sleep now, for that was the only thing she could do see to her favourite people.

"hey princess" one of them said, crouching down in front of aera who had a pout puckering her lower lip. "hey what happened?"

"my unnie is going away..." her words were true, which jimin was aware of somehow and smiled softly.

bringing aera in his embrace he said, "it's okay, aera. your unnie found a family who will take care of her and love her. she'll be hapy with them, won't you be happy for her too?"

aera nodded slowly, however she didn't look convinced yet, "but i want mia unnie here"

"no kiddo, don't say that. mia's happy to find her new family. it'll be hard for her to leave if you're sad. you love your unnie right?"

"yes"

"then be happy for her, she will appreciate that." he smiled, "and for aera, we're here."

aera smiled widely, nodding her head as she leaned forward quickly placing a soft kiss on his lips, making him chuckle. their attention shifted towards the side of the room, where the brown door opened and jungkook came in, smiling at the two.

"hey-"

"aera, i'm going, won't you give me a hug?"

her eyes fluttered open, finding mia smiling at her as she stood by the bed, ready to go. aera sat up quickly, hugging the girl's waist tightly.

"i'll miss you unnie" she mumbled.

"i'll miss you too" mia said, blinking her eyes a few times which only made the tears to fall down, however she wiped them off quickly and kissed aera's cheek. "take care hm?"

aera nodded with a smile, remembering jimin's words from her dream, "i'm happy for you unnie"

mia chuckled at her and ruffled her hair, "thank you so much aera. you're my best friend."

"you're my best friend too!" aera chirped, responding to mia's high-five. she waved at the elder girl, seeing her walking out of the room with a lady who was probably mia's new mom.

she sighed deeply, laying on her side as her eyes stared at the purple dream catcher next to the window. a smile tugged her lips upwards, imagining how great it would be if jimin and jungkook really were a part of her life. then she would hug them always and play with them and love them a lot, because then they'd be her only family. the family which would exist because of love, not dna.

"catch me if you can!" jungkook laughed running away, followed by aera who chased him around the water fountain that was situated in a green lawn in front of a big house.

a few other people were standing at a distance of a few feet, all smiling fondly at the little girl playing around with jungkook. they were six, including jimin. aera stopped after a while, tired of running for too long and turned to face them, lips forming into a pout and hand pointing at jungkook, after probably being frustrated of not being able to catch up wth him.

"i have an idea!" taehyung grinned, crouching near aera and whispered in her ear, "we'll help you catch kookie. let's be a team okay?"

"yes!" she nodded excitedly as the elder boys joined them too. laughing, running, and caught jungkook in a matter of seconds, although he tried to escape again, but aera was quick to grab his hand and stop him. it was fun.

"ah i'm tired" jungkook breathed out, sitting on the grass as he brought aera to sit on his lap. "are you tired?"

"yes, koo runs fast." she said, making the boys laugh.

soft wind was blowing, the ends of aera's ruffle-sleeved top flied gently while she played with a dandelion, showing it to jungkook who smiled weakly in response, patting her head and glanced at his hyungs.

"we're so sorry aera" he whispered, planting a soft kiss on top of her head.

"why?" the five-year-old asked, watching the white floaties of the dandelion gradually flying away with the wind, making her gasp in amusement and turned quickly to show the magic to her oppas.

however her excitement died, finding nobody around her. koo, chimin, taetae, jinnie, joonie, hobi, yoogi. no one. "oppa?" her voice called, getting up from the ground that was now less green and felt prickly beneath her bare feet.

"where are you oppa?" aera called, not getting anything more than a deafening silence in response.

her eyes became teary and panic started washing over her, realising the boys are not there any more and she's left alone. her hand clutched tightly around the thin stock of the dandelion without it's floaties. a cry left her lips, standing in the middle of nowhere for the big house now looked devoid of peace and the fountain dried. night fell and a familiar feeling crept up aera's body.

"don't leave me..."

"oppa!" aera jolts up, bloodshot eyes and fists clenched tightly. she turns over quickly, rubbing her eyes to find the dream catcher mia gave her. it's not there.

fear takes over her and she jumps on her feet, looking around her bed to see if it fell down due to the wind. tiny, faint sobs fill in, not loud enough to wake the heavy sleepers in the room. round eyes shine with tears pouring out of them, desperately trying to locate the dream catcher and bring her oppas back.

a few minutes later, she sits on her bed, looking out of the window, defeated as she can't find her dream catcher, means no more good dreams. another sob slurs out of her mouth, she hugs her legs folded up till her chest and rests her chin on her knees.

"i- i thought oppa will stay..." her voice is soft, more like speaking to herself, however her eyes are fixed on the sky outisde the window from where the moon and several thousand stars look down at her. "why everyone leaves riri a-alone?"

the moon averts it's gaze, hiding behind the clouds, probably not having the courage to see a five-year-old crying, asking nothing more than a bit of affection. is it too much? the stars cry too, reflecting in each drop of tear that course down aera's rosy cheeks.

"i want oppa back please..." aera whispers, laying down and hugs her pillow, sobbing with tiny hiccups in between. "oppa..." her eyelids close on their own, tired, both physically and metaphorically.

the clouds part ways and the moon shines again, as if discussing something with the stars who have a seperate language of twinkling. the wind smiles softly, caressing over the little girl, wanting to wipe away the tears from those soft cheeks and the tinted lips to smile how they did in the past few days.

"bless you, my child"

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two days later

"get ready kids! it's the day for adoption!" marry yells, clapping her hands for the children to get moving. "eddy and lily, go and get ready, nobody will pick dirty kids covered in jajjangmyeon."

"he's pulling my hair!"

"she started it!"

"i said go and get ready you two!"

"sorry!" the twins shriek, quickly running upstairs.

"aera? where are you?" marry looks around the backyard, sighing as her eyes lands on their youngest child sitting alone in the swing, watching the dandelion with curious eyes.

"hey, aera, go and get ready, you wanna be adopted too right?"

aera looks up, nodding slowly and went upstairs. pulling her dresser drawer open, she shuffles through the clothes and takes her favourite strawberry shortcake themed dress that marry got her for christmas.

she sighs softly, sitting on her bed as the twins are bickering in front of the bathroom about who will go first while the rest are using the other bathroom across the hall. eddy pushes his way first, making lily fall down and shuts the door quickly. lily groans in frustration, storming out of the room. eddy laughs victoriously and comes out, dressed in clean clothes and runs out of the room, hearing marry's voice along with a few other voices which means the families have arrived.

aera picks up her dress, making her way into the bathroom and shuts the door, not locking it as she remembered being locked inside once when she was just three and marry had to call for help to get the door down. from that day aera was clearly told not to lock the door unless she's sure she knows how to open it.

the girl pulls her shirt above her head, messing her hair in the process, but doesn't mind it for her attention is more on her favourite dress. putting it on is easy, getting the zipper done is not. aera's small hands try their best to reach the back, not succeeding at all which becomes more annoying for her every second until a point comes where she stomps her feet in frustration, pouting at how unfair life is.

"aera? are you done?" aera glances at the door as marry opens it a little, "oh you're ready, come out, the families are here already."

"i want help-" aera's eyes hold tears again for no particular reason. she comes back into the room finding it empty for marry already left, without even listening to the little girl who needs some help.

the child throws herself on her bed, kicking her hands and feet in frustration and crying, not noticing the pair of dark brown orbs staring at her through a glistening layer of tears.

gulping down the lump in his throat, he blinks away his tears and smiles softly, "aera?"

the girl doesn't respond, too absorbed in crying and kicking, so he enters the room and tries again, "hey princess, what happened?"

aera stops this time, turning around instantly at the voice. for a moment she's quiet, studying the person before her carefully, wanting to be sure of what she's actually seeing.

"oppa?" her voice is soft, making jimin chuckle as he nods and kneels down with his arms open, gesturing for her to come to him and give him a tight hug. aera gasps, jumping out of her bed and runs between his arms.

"my baby," jimin whispers in relief, glancing up the ceiling with tears brimming his eyes too as aera cries in the fabric of his shirt. "shh it's okay, oppa's here."

"w-why did you leave me? i was so scared..."

"i'm so sorry kiddo,"

"it's okay, but don't leave me again"

"never" jimin promises, wiping aera's tears and kisses the tip of her nose.

"where's koo and taetae and yoogi and hobi oppa and jinnie and joonie oppa?"

"they're waiting downstairs. let's get you dressed properly then we'll go and see them alright?"

aera nods instantly letting him help and smiles into the mirror, looking like a princess as jimin calls her. he carries her in his arms, heading downstairs where the rest six boys are standing. they smile instantly on seeing aera, and jungkook becomes the first one to hold her and shower her with kisses, having the others confused as it definitely didn't look like the boys met aera for the first time.

"aera, do you know them already?" eddy asks.

before the girl answered, jungkook has already placed her on her feet, crouching next to her as he winked playfully, "nope, we just met, right aera?"

aera giggles, nodding her head as the others gestured her to do so. the ten-year-old nods slowly, not paying much mind and focuses on staying close to his sister for separating while adoption will be too bad to handle. that was one reason why the twins didn't get adopted yet, they wanted to stay together and most families didn't want two kids at once.

"mr jeon" marry joins them soon, smiling as she glances at their youngest girl playing with jungkook and taehyung, looking genuinely happy today after many days. "have you decided anything?"

"yes, we want aera." jimin nods.

"sure, she'll be really happy to have a new family. she was really young when we brought her here and recently her only close friend also got adopted, so she's been alone ever since." the caregiver smiles sadly, "but she's a very strong child, you'll love her company."

"i know, thanks," jimin smiles back.

"please come this way, we'll get done with the documentation."

"sure" jimin and yoongi follow the lady to an office cabin, leaving jungkook and the rest of the boys there to play with aera.

"koo, y'know, in my dream i saw you and all the oppa,"

"shh that is a secret, baby." he whispers, chuckling and bumps his forehead gently against hers.

"i don't wan' wake up, dream is nice." aera says.

"it's not a dream, aera."

"no?"

"no," jungkook confirms with a fond smile, "let's see if it's a dream okay?" the girl nods, eyes following the elder boy guiding aera's hand towards his mouth and bites on her index finger gently, making her break into a fit of laughter, trying to pull her hand back.

"is it a dream?"

"no" aera gasps and hugs him tightly, "oppa is real!"

"of course my love" he smiles, "some good dreams come true."

"guys, let's go" yoongi extends his arms out, walking towards jungkook, taking aera in his arms, as he smiles and says, "riri is going with us."

"really?" the girl couldn't have been more happy. she hugs him tightly, making yoongi chuckle as he pats her back and nods.

"will you go with us?" taehyung asks, "to your home?"

"where we all will live together-"

"like family?" aera completes jimin's sentence, earning a nod from him.

"like a family." he confirms tenderly, holding aera's hand as she giggles at them.

"yes, let's go!"

"great" the boys chuckle at her. yoongi places her down on her feet as jungkook and the others head out towards the car leaving him and jimin to get the kid's stuff.

the two exchange glances as they stand in the room that aera shared with other children, their eyes wander around knowing and feeling every bit of the calm atmosphere. jimin stops by the window, gazing up at the sky where the clouds hid the sun. they move soon enough and he smiles at the faint glimpse of the moon as the a soft wind blows around him making soft fringes of his blonde hair swivel gently.

the sunlight warms up the room slowly and jimin turns around, finding the dream catcher hanging next to the window on a nail, making him chuckle as he remembered how the two girls were excited to see if it works. everything was fine, other than the wish that the kids should've thought about the dream catcher sooner, maybe aera would've been with the boys much earlier. maybe she wouldn't have been so scared and the boys wouldn't have shed aching tears whenever their angel cried at nights, hugging her pillow, hoping it to a be a real person.

he stares at the dream catcher, the only way they knew they could get to aera, hug her, kiss her, hold her and be with her for real. because beleive it or not, it's hard to see someone you love dearly, struggling alone, but you can't do anything to ease their agony. all these years, being by her side but not able to hold her, seeing her cry but not being able to wipe her tears, seeing her losing her smile but not being able to hug her, hurted. a lot.

"jimin," the boy flinches, dropping a tear from his glassy eyes. he clears his throat, wiping it off his cheek and chuckles dismissively, shaking his head.

"i'm okay" he assures the elder.

"you'll be, aera's with us now." yoongi smiles, patting jimin's shoulder, "you waited for a long time, jimin."

only a small smile displays on jimin's lips as he quietly follows the elder out of the room. aera is sitting with jungkook as taehyung and hoseok are making funny faces from the back, making the girl laugh while jin is in the driver's seat with namjoon beside him, smiling with a this-is-so-beautiful face at the youngers. jimin sits beside jungkook and yoongi in the back, with taehyung and hoseok.

minutes turn to hours and aera is ready to sleep, her tiny body laying on top of jimin's taller and bigger one, in his bedroom. he rubs circles on her back, humming to a lullaby softly while the five-year-old shifts a little, placing her head back on his chest.

the drowsiness vanishes for a second as aera's eyes spot something keen to her, "what is that?" her high pitched voice asks, hand pointing towards the desk.

"you wanna see?" aera nods in response to jimin's question. he gets up from the bed and walks towards the desk, holding the girl in his arms who gasps instantly, leaning down to pick up her lost item.

"my dream catcher!" she turns to jimin, showing it to him, "i lost it oppa. how did you find it?"

"magic" jimin moves his hand in the air as if sprinkling stardust for more magic, making aera giggle. "aera, if you ever feel alone and scared, and i'm not around, look at the moon. i'll be watching you from there."

"and koo and taetae and jinnie, joonie and yoogi oppa and hobi oppa?"

jimin chuckles at her and kisses her forehead, "my stars, kiddo"

"wow!" aera gasps amusedly, "and me?"

"our earth"

"what is that?"

jimin laughs and shakes his head, "nothing, let's sleep?"

"mm-hmm" aera nods, resting her head on his shoulder as he stands near the window, glancing out, watching moon shining at it's brightest and the wind frequently caressing the girl, earning a soft smile from jimin.

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a/n- do you believe in magic or dream coming true?

i really enjoyed writing this chapter. i hope you enjoyed reading it to? if you did, please vote and drop a ❤️ in the comments ;)

see you next time! till then, take care, stay safe, stay healthy! love you guys ❤️❤️❤️

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