the man has his brow arching at the raging canine, pulling his hand back when the dog snaps his jaw being a blink away from the bite. he stands and peeks over behind, curious of what the dog is trying to protect with such determination.

aera hunches down, as the man chuckles. the amusement clearly displays on his sharp features with a raise of his eyebrows and a smirk lifting the left corner of his mouth which widens on noticing that the girl is scared.

"tell it to shut up." he orders, pointing his gun at the dog, making aera gulp as she tugs on her pet's hind leg, pulling him closer to herself. loosing charley would be worse than going back home.

"charley," she whispers, hugging the dog, "shh, i'm okay."

the man crouches in front of them, ignoring the frequent growls from the garman shepherd as he's standing beside the girl now. "what are you doing here?" he asks with a voice that confirms for aera that this guy just killed a person and won't hesitate killing her or her dog too.

"nothing," she answers after a moment of silence.

"listen here kid, the thing is, you saw something you shouldn't have seen. and now, it's my job to make sure you don't spill it out to anyone."

his eyes are dark, staring at the young girl defying anything in form emotions as he inspects the girl closely, guessing her to be around thirteen or fourteen years. still a kid, he scoffs, shaking his head, "get up," he says, "-and come with me."

"no," aera shakes her head, "i won't tell anything to anyone. you can go."

he snorts as if she just cracked a joke, making her frown and speaks, "do you think i'm a fool? just get up and come with me, i'll see what to do with you."

"no," she refuses again, "who are you?"

"i'm someone you shouldn't have met, but now that you did, it's better to obey." his voice deepens at the end, having aera staring up at his tall and muscular figure towering over her.

a pair of faint footsteps approach near, followed by a groan, the voice being familiar enough for the girl to be hiding behind the dumpster, pulling charley with her. the man glances back on seeing such response from the kid and realises it was an older man, limping after being badly hurt and his clothes torn on places.

"aera, i know you're there." the voice says, making the girl shake her head, placing her finger on her lips as a gesture to the tall man to stay quiet, almost begging him to help her this once.

"what?" he sighs, turning around and faces the injured.

"where's the kid?"

"there's no kid here. get going."

"you... you're jeon jungkook?"

the younger male smirks, "bingo" he whispers darkly, glancing back at the young girl while his hand points the gun at the man, "may i?"

aera nods at him slowly, eyes focused on his finger that is pressing on the trigger and soon pulls in once, and the ground receives another dead body with a thud.

"aera, huh?" he repeats, "nice, but i doubt you're anything like your name."

"thank you for helping me," she mumbles.

"i don't want your thank you. you need to pay me, kiddo. i just fucking killed this guy for you."

the girl blinks a few times, her hands search over her clothes wherever there's a pocket. jungkook watches amusedly, crossing his arms on his chest when she stops, pulling out a shiny locket and glances up at him.

"this is all i have," she says, "your name is jungbook?"

he glares at her, "kook. it's jung-kook." he corrects, leaning down as he takes the locket from her, scoffing with his shoulders rolling back and breaks the chain off, throwing it in the dumpster, earning a gasp from the girl.

she stands up quickly, looking for her locket in the dark, "why did you throw it?!" she voices out, more like a whine to him.

"that's so stupid," he rolls his eyes.

"you're stupid!" jungkook glares, hearing her response as she's on the ground, searching for the locket that seems precious to her. his tongue pokes the inside of his cheek, having his eyes fixed on the young girl who has now seen him shooting two people.

"hey," he beckons coldly, "come with me."

"no! go away!"

"you-" he stops, hearing a growl from the dog and sighs deeply, then suddenly remembers the initial seconds of their meeting, "get up, or i'm shooting this animal here."

he smirks on seeing her halting with her movements, and there he knew charley was the key. "come with me, i won't repeat." he says, having his gun at the dog.

"no, don't hurt him." she says instantly, standing up and holding his hand, "please don't hurt charley... i'll go with you."

"good," his lips stretch into a little sarcastic smile, "start walking."

"charley" she whispers, holding the dog's collar and started walking ahead with short steps that make her wince as her hand moves to the side.

jungkook guides her to a car, opening the door of the back seat, letting the girl and her dog in. he releases a breath, earning a glance from aera as she stares at him, studying is face more clearly inside the car. his lips are tinted just like hers, and eyes are a dark shade of brown. the only difference she could tell between herself and the kidnapper was the scar on the crest of his cheek. oh and the tattoos that run up till his neck, covering one side and ending gradually at the back.

he's dressed quite decently, in fact so decently that a normal person wouldn't suspect him for being a criminal. black slacks and a white dress shirt tugged in, the sleeves are rolled up, flashing the inked skin of his right arm. aera shakes her head slowly as her mind plays numerous clips of men covered with tattoos on their arms and chest and some even had it on their face, being friends with her supposedly father and used to come home as her uncles.

the ride is quiet, even charley doesn't bark and sits silently near the girl who hugs him at last and closes her eyes. jungkook glances back at the child, now noticing the disheveled state of her. her clothes are dirty, laden with dirt and mud and her short hair is frizzy, the bangs fall on her forehead, covering a little of her eyes. the only thing he can certainly make out is her button nose that slopes perfectly on her face above a pair of cherry lips that look a bit chapped in the cold. her hands appear skinny to the point where he questions if she hs eaten anything or even had water in a while. she looks small. so young when he looks at her that it makes his heart do a summersault inside his chest, thinking how cruel this world can be to have a child as tender as her risking her life out here in the dark.

his eyes stare at the empty street, driving outside the city, before glancing at the kid one last time, sighing at his decision of taking her with him, knowing nothing about her. plus, having a hitman after her, indicated possible danger.

__________

a/n- are you a first time reader or a re-reader? 😚