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.

________

a/n- a cute story with your sibling? (if you'd oike to share :))