The phone rings, being the only sound filling the room. Jake stands up from the couch, seeing Dave's name popping up again for the sixth time. He switches off his phone and keeps it aside, glancing at Clay who has been lost deep in thoughts.

"What time is it?"

"...past three"

Jake nodds, grabbing his phone hesitantly and sitting next to Clay, as he opens his contact list scrolling down a for a while and stopping at the letter 'J'. The boy glances at him with a frown creasing between his brows as if questioning the other's sanity from his actions.

"I don't know what to do, but he needs to know..." Jake breathes out, shoving the phone towards his friend and says, "We'll call Jimin hyung and then he can talk to Jungkook hyung by himself..."

Clay stares at him for a second, then at his phone, nodding slowly as Aera's crying face flashes before his eyes, hugging herself against the cold wall, looking so broken and hurt almost as if breathing was painful to her.

His tongue nervously licks over the lower lip, eyes staring on the glowing phone screen in the dark as his thumb tapped on Jimin's number.

*Ring Ring*

*Ring Ring*

*Ring Ring*

"The person you're trying to reac-"

"Do it again..." Jake says, heaving out a deep breath.

*Ring Ring*

*Ring Ri-*

"Hello?" A raspy voice breaks out, making the boys almost jump from their places as they stare at the phone, listening to Jimin's voice, "Hello? Who's this?"

"Uh hyung, I'm- I'm Jake," The boy speaks, "Aera's friend."

"Jake? What happened, why would call me right now?"

"Uhm Jimin hyung, it's about Aera, can you please come to my apartment right now? It's really important..."

The line falls quiet for a moment and the boys exchange confused glances, almost going to ask if Jimin is still there or not, "Will you tell me what happened?" Jimin finally speaks.

"Aera's here." Clay says, "We'll tell you everything hyung, just please come here. She needs your help."

"What do you mean she's there?" Jimin says, making the boys gulp at the heavy voice, noticably coated with concern and confusion.

"We'll tell you once you come here hyung, please."

"Okay fine, I'm coming."

"Thank you," Jake smiles in relief, "But please don't tell Jungkook hyung anything right now, he'll kill us."

"What- okay fine." Jimin sighs, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

________

Jimin pulls his t-shirt down his neck, shaking his head and straightening it further down his waist, before putting on his jacket while his mind contemplates if he should wake his wife or not. However he sighs on seeing her moving a bit and waking up on her own, probably by his shuffling movements around the room.

"What happened? Where are you going?" She asks, looking puzzled as three in the morning is not a time someone prefers a morning jog.

"Uh Aera's friends called, seems like there's a problem." He says, "I'll call you if it takes time, and please don't tell Jungkook anything yet. I'll see what's happening."

Haewon nods as Jimin walks up to her, leaning down and kissing her forehead, smiling softly, "Go back to sleep." He says, caressing her hair as his eyes travel down affectionately at the baby bump, he smiles one last time before heading out of the room.

Hundreds of weird thoughts trickled around his head, all making assumptions about what can be so wrong that Jake had to call him at this hour and say his sister needs him. Praying for things to be in control and Aera to be fine, he drove towards Jake's apartment, knowing the route quite well due to the numerous drop offs and pick ups at the place whenever Aera visited him.

He pulls in front of the building, heading inside. The only thing good at this hour is the easy availability of the elevator as people are still sleeping in their homes. He waits impatiently, glancing at his phone, seeing a different set of number on the digital clock from the time he saw before leaving his home.

His eyes wander towards the end of the hallway, walking up to the third door and pressing the doorbell button. He doesn't have to wait much when the door swings open, revealing Jake and Clay, both looking stressed as well as relieved at the same time.

"Hyung, thank god you're here." Clay sighs, stepping aside and letting the older in.

"Yeah, now what happened? Where's Aera? and what is she doing here?"

"She's sleeping," Jake says, "Come."

The boys guide her to the first room, opening the door behind which hid a small guest room, not in the very best condition, and Aera sleeping on the single bed.

"Why is she here?" Jimin glares at the boys.

"We... We went to a friend's party. She snuck out of her home and came with us to the pub." Jake says,

"What?" The brother frowns, "So Jungkook doesn't know?"

Clay shakes his head and says, "No, it was just supposed to be a little fun night. All the students from our school were there, so we didn't think much about it."

"Why didn't you leave her at home then?"

"Because uhm, you won't understand like this, there's a whole back story to it." Jake says, "Please don't be mad hyung, we genuinely wanna help Aera that's why we called you. She's been suffering alone for too long now..."

"What are you saying?" Jimin looks at both of them, entering the room and walks near his sister, now noticing her puffy eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Let's talk outside." Clay whispers, earning a nod from Jimin as he follows the boys out, sitting on the couch across them, ready to listen whatever they had to say.

"She has a boyfriend," Jake starts, noticing the abrupt change of expression from Jimin, "You and Jungkook hyung don't know about him, because she was scared to tell you in the beginning and decided to wait until she gets a little stable in the relationship. The guy is our senior, Dave, it's his last year now. He used to like her and started talking to her slowly, giving her time and space and acted sweet, which made Aera to fall for him pretty bad."

Clay nods and takes up after his friend, "He used to give her flowers, chocolates and other gifts, take her out on little dates, until they finally started dating. Dave made it official and honestly Aera liked spending time with her. She used to always talk about him and tell us how lucky she is to have found someone like Dave."

"But things slowly started going less smoothly, they started having arguments, the reason mostly being that Aera spent too much time with me and Jake. She told him we're best friends and she won't cut ties with us, but he didn't understand. Their little arguments started getting more heated, they would yell at each other, Dave would call her filthy names and insult her, but it always ended up with Dave saying sorry and Aera forgiving him, because she said mistakes happen and we should look past them if we love someone.

"She didn't realize when Dave had started taking advantage of her love, he would do whatever he felt like and then apologized for it, knowing that Aera will forgive him. He used to touch her, kiss her, shout at her and tell her stuff like she belongs to him and he owns her. It was pretty late, almost after five months that Aera felt like it was just her giving everything in their relationship."

Jimin's eyes bore into the carpeted floor, listening to the boys, how his sister was suffering alone in an abusive relationship while he had no clue and thought she was doing fine.

"She used to cry in front of us and tell us how Dave faught with her again and called her a "slut" again for having too many boys in her life. We were very mad the first day it happened, Jake even went and faught Dave for hurting Aera, but then she told us not to do so, because she didn't like seeing us getting into fights because of her, and then also we came to know he just hurted her more if Jake or I ever went to beat him up."

"And tonight again, in the party he was there, Aera was with me," Jake says, "and he probably saw us together. Later he went up to her did same thing again. She was crying a lot, even threw up twice, hyung she wasn't drunk. She even had a panic attack after coming back, it was so bad hyung... She wants to break up, but doesn't know how to do it."

"It's been almost seven months now hyung, we can't see her like this anymore, that's why now we decided to tell you despite Aera telling us not to. She said you and Jungkook love her a lot and seeing her in pain, hurts you too, and she doesn't want that because she likes your happy selves around her..."

Jimin blinks his eyes a few times, looking away as his heart does a painful pang inside his chest. Just thinking about Aera putting on fake smiles and meaningless laughs for her brothers was enough to rip his soul at once.

He glances at Jake, who sighs and looks down, "We're really sorry hyung, we could've helped her out earlier but, she didn't let us. Even in the beginning she looked so happy, we couldn't bring ourselves to stop her. I wish we did stop her in time, all of this wouldn't have happened..."

"Jake, Clay," Jimin says, "uh don't blame yourself, it's probably not your fault. You just wanted to see her happy which is not at all wrong, and I'm sure you didn't know how Dave would turn out either. So it's not your fault, don't blame yourselves, and thank you for calling me."

The boys smile at him, nodding their heads feeling a bit eased at reassurance that they weren't being a bad friend to Aera, "Thanks a lot hyung-"

The boy halts with his words, eyes moving to his friend beside him as he gasps and stands up hastily, rushing towards the guest room along with Jimin, on hearing shattering noise. Jake being the first one ahead, grabs the knob of the door, almost twisting it open, however his motions freeze as Jimin gestures his hand for the boys to let him go first as they hear a cry from inside.

The boy steps aside, standing beside his friend, worry evident on their faces, staring at Jimin slowly opening the door, not making any noise that would startle Aera.

Jimin sighs softly, staring at his sister with concerned eyes almost as if going to tear up now. He pushes himself further inside, seeing Aera sitting on the floor with her legs folded up till her chest and arms wrapping around her body in a visibly painful yet defensive manner; eyes letting out tears the way one bleeds through a wound.

He blinks a few times, making a tear drop fall on his cheek which he quickly wipes away and steps forward with a cracking sound of glass from beneath his foot, drawing attention from the girl.

She flinches, hastily looking up at the person not really making out who it is as she screams, shutting her eyes tight, shifting back until there's no space left between her body and the cold wall. Her toes curl on the floor, shaking her head as if wanting for whoever it is to stay away, nails digging in the skin of her arms, about to have the skin bleeding.

"It's me, princess." Jimin says softly, reaching out in front of her as he gradually bends down, getting on his knees.

"NO!" Aera shrieks again, pushing his hands away, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Jimin has tears in his eyes. As simple and as easily one can put it, he does. Glistening in the dark, reflecting the fear in his sister's eyes, the pain in her tears and the frustration in her voice. He can sense it all and he can feel it all, yet not feel the same, because no one really can, right?

He rubbed his eyes, getting rid of the salty liquid that is on the verge of flowing down even if he blinks just one more time. Despite of Aera's a hearts crushing denial, he moves further, gently gently cupping her face with one hand and the other on her arm.

"Hey shh," Jimin hushes, "It's me, your Jimin oppa, look at me."

A tear slips down his cheek on seeing her pulling herself away, as he nibbles on his lower lip, trying his best not to let himself break right now, "Nobody's hurting you honey, oppa's here, look."

"...oppa" She whispers as if questioning it, her eyes dart up in a hasty manner, trying their best to locate Jimin in one go, however failing quite a but due to the the layer of warm tears making her vision blurred.

"Yes baby, I'm right here." Jimin smiles, instantly capturing her in a hug as she leans in, crying even more on seeing him near her. He sits on the floor, having Aera in his embrace, trembling and crying.

"o-oppa... he- he will hurt me a-again, I..." She breathes out, hands gripping tightly on the fabric of his shirt while eyes staring at him with desperation, sending a cold shiver down his spine, as he could see Aera's bloodshot eyes screaming for his help, crying for him to save her.

"Yes kiddo, oppa's here, just focus on him." He says, cupping her face gently, "Oppa won't let anybody hurt his princess, hmm? Don't be scared, you're safe."

Aera shakes her head subtly, looking around, and Jimin follows her eyes wandering all across the room, stopping near her phone which has a crack on the screen, still vibrating with a buzz and one names pops up over a familiar photo, Dave Mc'korni.

Her lips quiver with a shaky breath, hunching herself back in her brother's embrace and letting out a scared whimper, "no..." Her voice is hushed between the silent sobs that are muffled as she bites her lower lip to keep her voice to herself, not even feeling the blood on her tongue yet.

The friends glance over at the side of the room and Clay quietly steps in, taking the phone away when Jimin noded in approval.

"Relax, breath with me okay?" Jimin says, rubbing her back, earning a subtle nod from the girl who could barely even sit by herself.

"Good, breath in." He inhales, holding her hand, eyes staring at her, telling her to follow him.

She does and Jimin smiles a little, "Breath out."

A few minutes pass, cries disappear and her calm breathing takes over, hand still holding onto her brother's. Jimin sighs softly, seeing her eyelids closing and leans down, kissing her forehead. His hand moves to her face, wiping the tears from her face along with the one that just dropped from his eye, landing on her cheek. He looks down, noticing the cut on her lower lip and rubs his thumb softly, wiping off the blood on his jeans and sighs.

Jimin stands up, careful with his movements so Aera doesn't wake up, and glances at the two boys who still stood near the door, both having teary eyes fixed on their best friend.

The brother smiles a little at them and says, "Thank you for calling me, you both are really great friends my sister has. She'll be fine, don't worry too much okay?"

Jimin walks towards the front door, carrying Aera in his arms. Now he only has to gather enough stamina to confront the younger brother about the matter, which is not going to be easy. He sighs deeply, unlocking the car and laying Aera in the backseat.

He was almost pulling out, almost, until his eyes landed on the side of her neck, noticing a dark spot on the skin. Turning on the light inside the car, he leans closer, tugging on the hem of her loose t-shirt, realizing it's a bruise. In fact, a hickey.

"He'll pay for hurting you, princess."

_________________

A/N- Hello, we're almost there, nearing the 50th chapter of this book. (This one is 47th I think) So I was thinking about having a Q/A session as a few people were asking me.

So I'll be putting that up soon after this chapter. You can ask all the questions you want, me and the characters will definitely try to answer as much as possible. The last date till I'll be accepting questions is 15th September.

So everyone, think up as many questions as you want, as deep as you want, dig things up, research and study. You can ask me questions as well, and get to know me. But please be respectful towards me, the characters and also the readers. Any kind of hostility and abuse will not be tolerated.

Now go and spam my comment section in the Questions chapter! 😉🥂

____________

Word count: 2.8K