december 03; 11:05 hrs

"you can take her," yoongi nods after going through the documents, gesturing his hand for his men to let jimin and jungkook take aera with them.

the eldest brother takes a breath of relief, hugging aera tightly and kisses her head several times, being unbothered by the fact that she doesn't hug him back or even smile in response. jimin pulls away slowly, wiping his tears to look at her face properly, her eyes were red from crying, lips looking a bit chapped and hair messed up from yesterday. he strokes her head with one hand, cupping her cheek with the other and leans down, "we'll go home now, don't worry hm?"

her silence makes jimin chew on his lower lip to contain his sob as he turns to look at the younger brother who is staring at the kid with concerned eyes, yet there's s glint of nothingness that helps him have himself together– as though it was quite normal to see people hurt and scared like that.

once again jimin realised these people dealt with all this on a daily basis. the men and women in the police station must've arrested more than hundreds of people till now and it's become so common for them that one more doesn't even count now. the officer from cwc– chelsea, she must've seen kids traumatised like that before too, being arrested, being released, being a witness, a suspect and what not?

then jungkook, his very own brother. he, too, has seen families breaking, guilty being set free, innocent being framed, people being sentenced and everything like that. he was a criminal lawyer, and his job has made his heart almost numb at this point. but seeing his sister like this, he was certain of the need to get her out of this mess.

"thank you," he shakes hands with yoongi and then with kang.

"advocate jeon, once again we're at it." kang leo chuckles, standing in front of jungkook, "i was wondering how come you didn't show up yet, especially when it's my case. anyway, what i actually wanna let you know is that ransom will be here next week, and he seeks justice for his brother. be prepared," he smirks at the lawyer then at his sister who doesn't even look up.

jungkook cocks up a brow amusedly, "really? well you know me officer kang, i always win, and this time there's particularly no way i don't. if you know what i mean?"

jimin and the rest feel the thick tension in the air just from the way the lawyer and the senior inspector are at each other's throat with their deadly gazes. jimin glances at aera, tugging on jungkook's hand and gestures him that they should head home now.

"miss chelsea will go with you," yoongi informs, "–to ensure aera's being given the proper care,"

"we don't nee–"

"yes, you do, jimin." the elder officer sighs, "it's an order from cwc." he glances at jungkook, eyeing him as if virtually communicating about the matter and telling him to talk to jimin explain him the need to follow the law and order rather than being emotional while making decisions.

jungkook nods, glancing at the girl, locking eyes for brief second which goes unnoticed by the rest, but is enough for the girl to walk away giving him a cold shoulder. jimin follows closely, holding the sister's hand as chelsea discusses with him about how she's told to stay with them until aera's okay.

jimin agrees, finding no problem as he eventually acknowledges the need to have his sister's betterment. jungkook, with a heavy heart, pits on a smile too when he joins them in the car, taking the driver's seat and realises chelsea is sitting next to him since jimin is at the back with aera.

"aera, are you hungry? should we get something on the way?" jungkook asks, his eyes travelling to the mirror in which aera's reflection is visible along with half of jimin's.

"ice cream?" jimin says hopefully, waiting for aera to smile and nod enthusiastically like every other time she did on the mention her favourite treat. but today is a lot different, she's quiet as though she didn't even hear the offer about ice cream. "please talk to oppa, kiddo. nobody will say anything, forget about them. oppa's here with riri, and he'll make sure no one is hurting his child. you know that right?"

"sir," chelsea sighs, smiling a little which comes off a sympathetic one for jimin, "she'll be okay, don't worry." jimin looks down, nodding subtly and says nothing more against the cruel reality.

they reach home fairly longer than jimin ever felt it could take, however on checking the watch on his wrist the needles lied, showing him just forty minutes have passed. it felt like an eternity. he rubs his eyes, getting out first then takea aera's hand not wanting to leave it even for second.

as he looks up, for once not thinking about what happened, he realises they're not at home. in fact it's huge residential condominium, one of the most expensive ones in seoul, where jungkook had bought a penthouse suite a few months back. although it was just out of desire and his liking for this area in gangnam, the brothers had never thought they'd be living here after such a tragedy.

"did you talk to jin hyung and the others?" jungkook asks, unbuttoning his blazer as soon as they enter the elevator and presses the number for the highest floor.

"no," jimin sighs, "it slipped off my mind between all this. they must be worried, yoongi hyung told them i guess."

"he did," jungkook nods, "but they're told not to come at least till we have the case in our hands. they might get dragged into this too..." he takes a deep breath, glancing at his sister and puts his arm around her shoulder loosely as he leans down to her height, "ah i'm so tired, aera. who's gonna have movie night with me?" he muffles out on her shoulder, nuzzling his face there as he hugs her securely and smiles a little. "come on, hug me back, or we're having a little problem with the tickle monster."

chelsea stares at him and then at aera, just like jimin does, both pair of eyes anticipating for the child to respond even the slightest. smiles spread across their lips, when aera slowly looks at jungkook, wrapping her arms around his neck weakly.

"that's my girl," jungkook chuckles, feeling tears in his eyes too. he leaves a long peck on the side of her head and inhales deeply, blinking the tears away before looking at his hyung who is smiling in relief. he pulls away from the hug as the elevator dings, stopping at their floor and jungkook scoops aera up in his arms, heading to the door behind jimin with chelsea walking beside him.

jimin punches in the code to open the door and lets the youngers in first before entering himself and closes the door behind. he sighs softly, heading to living room and gestures his hand towards the couch, "miss chelsea, please have a seat. i'll get us something to drink,"

chelsea smiles in response, not sitting yet as she looks around the big, luxurious living space with beige colored, leather couches, a large television mounted on the artistic wall which contrasts admirably with the ones next to it. there's a soft carpet underneath the coffee table spreading all the way to the foot of the u-shaped couches and a single recliner and a bean bag on the side. even the ceiling looks so elegant and the large sliding glass door that opens into a spacious balcony gives the mesmerizing view of the seoul city from here.

while she's still busy admiring the place, jungkook clears his throat, "you can look around later," he sighs, "sit,"

she scoffs at him, sitting on the couch far away from where he is, only smiling when jimin is there with four glasses of water placed in a tray. he puts it down on the table, gesturing chelsea to take one as jungkook doesn't hesitate and grabs one of the glasses.

"thank you," she smiles politely at jimin, taking a sip from the glass before placing it back.

"no problem," jimin says, "so, since you're staying here for a while, i hope you feel comfortable. please let me know if there's anything you need,"

"sure, thank you, sir." she nods.

"what about your stuff...?"

"i'll arrange that, my senior is taking care of it." jungkook arches a brow at her words, not saying anything yet for he knew too, her department was markably under kang leo's influence, which ultimately meant her seniors might try to create some problem.

he averts his eyes from chelsea and glances at his sister as instead of speaking to chelsea, he stands up, holding aera's hand, "we'll be in my room. i bet ri's tired, so..."

"yeah, get some rest," jimin nods, standing up as well and looks at chelsea, "i'll show you around,"

"uh thank you sir, but i'll leave for now. i have a meeting with the others in my department. i'll be back later and also i'll have my things by then." chelsea says, shaking hands with jimin and bows subtly before turning to jungkook. "please do not interrogate her in my absence, sir."

jungkook suppresses a smirk, tilting his head as he nods slowly, "as you say, madam." however he fails on hiding it completely and ends up smiling a half crooked smile that tugs one corner of his lips slightly more than the other. chelsea looks away from him, bowing hastily to the men as though trying to hide the wave panic that washed over her body suddenly.

"careful," jungkook hums deeply,"your job is quite important."

he earns a sharp glare and silent curses as she walks out of the door, making him scoff amusedly. he shakes his head, taking a deep breath and glances at aera, "let's go and sleep, the lady won't disturb us for a while."

"jungkook," jimin calls, making the younger turn around to see the frown on the hyung's face, "what was that? do you know chelsea from anywhere?"

"not really," jungkook shrugs.

jimin sighs, shaking his head at the younger and pats his shoulder, "look, she has to live here for aera. please don't create anything unnecessary,"

"i know, hyung. relax," jungkook nods, "that girl just really likes being on my nerves."

"you won't do anything stupid, that's all that i'm saying," jimin pats his head, then looks at aera, "now go and sleep for a while. i'll talk to manager lee and arrange everything here. there's absolutely nothing in the kitchen."

"yeah, call him and then you should rest too, hyung." jungkook says, "and don't worry too much,"

with that said jungkook heads to his room, bringing aera with him. aera sits on the bed, while jungkook goes through the closet, sighing on seeing very few clothes there as no one really ever lived here. taking out a pair of joggers for him and the only t-shirt for aera, he closes the door and puts the clothes on the bed.

"hyung, tell manager lee to get some clothes as well!"

"alright," jimin responds.

jungkook kneels down near the bed, handing the t-shirt to aera, "go and take a shower quickly, you'll feel good." he says softly, but all the kid does is to lean forward and hug him, resting her head on his shoulder. "what happened princess? you don't wanna shower?"

"oppa..." her voice comes out as a low whisper– so low that it's only a miracle jungkook could hear it.

"yes, my love?"

"that..." she pulls away, glancing down at her hands trembling, "b-blood..."

"there's nothing, see?" jungkook holds her hand, caressing her skin gently and places a kiss on her palms, "it's all okay. there's no blood. and no one is hurt,"

"o-oppa..." aera whimpers, tears spilling from her eyes again.

"jiminie?" he asks, glancing at the door with a soft smile knowing the elder would be extremely happy on hearing her calling for him for the first time since yesterday. "hyung, ri's calling you!"

the door opens the next moment and enters a hurried eldest brother, nodding for jungkook to tell him if they need something. however jungkook just smiles, gesturing towards aera, "she was asking for you,"

jimin gasps, going near the bed instantly and sits beside aera, "yes honey? what's wrong?"

"oppa..." she mumbles, looking at him with crying eyes and leans forward which jimin understood immediately and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close in his embrace.

"it's okay, it's okay," he whispers, rubbing her back, "don't cry baby,"

jungkook strokes her hair lightly, standing up as he goes to fetch a glass of water for her and when he returns, jimin has already calmed her down much than before, the job being easier for they knew she was tired already after not getting an ounce of sleep the whole night and spending the time in the police station since yesterday around 3 pm.

jimin wipes off the tears from her face and kisses her cheeks, "everything's gonna be okay," he whispers and jungkook smiles softly, nodding in agreement.

"drink this," jungkook hands jimin a glass off water, gesturing him to let aera have some. he kneels down like before and strokes her side, "take a shower, i'll get something to eat by then."

"i've called manager lee, he's coming." jimin tells the younger earning a nod. "you both should wash up, he'll be here by then and i'll prepare something to eat."

"call the staff, you must be tired too." jungkook says, "they can cook and do rest of the work."

"that'll take time. i'll do it, don't worry." the elder assures and turns to aera, making her stand up in front of him and cups her face, "now, don't cry okay? we don't want riri to have a headache do we?"

"headache..." aera nods subtly, touching her head.

"it'll get better," he says, unbuttoning the button-down shirt and turns her around to make sure she was actually fine. sighing, he rubs her back, gesturing her to go to the bathroom. "tell me if you need something hm?"

aera nods slowly, going inside the bathroom and leaves the door slightly open, making the boys sigh in sympathy. jungkook gets up and sits on the bed, taking a deep breath before speaking, "what do you think happened?"

"i don't know, i was at the company when i got the call," jimin looks down, shaking his head, "they just said noah is dead, and aera was with him. i couldn't believe my ears, kook. it's not just any accident or prank or anything like that,  it's a murder and our aera witnessed that. i cannot even imagine how traumatized she must be."

jungkook hums softly, adjusting on the matress as he holds his arm, placing it under his head, staring blankly at the ceiling, "what was noah doing at home?"

"god knows what he was doing,"

"did he cll you or something? maybe he came there to meet you– or one of us maybe?"

"no, i don't think so, he didn't call me. in fact aera was supposed to be at school, but yesterday she didn't go."

"why?" jungkook frowns, tearing off his eyes from ceiling to the elder brother,

"there was a notice about a holiday because most of the teachers were busy for an upcoming event or something."

"noah too?"

"probably,"

"what event? where's the notice?"

"i don't know, it didn't mention anything clearly. just said that it's a holiday." jimin says, shrugging his shoulders and faces jungkook, "do you think it's connected?"

"might be," jungkook thinks deeply, "because... look, pay attention to this– the school suddenly announces a holiday for an uncertain reason. noah comes home for who knows what. then someone kills him. aera was at home and is found near him. it seems connected to me,"

"so you're saying it's all planned?"

"certainly," jungkook nods, "this is interesting. hyung, i'll go out now and look into this. you and ri should stay at home. also! avoid going out if it's not necessary, because this news is all over the media and they'll leave no opportunity to get to you and aera. and don't talk to anyone about it unless i'm present there."

"okay? and why are you so important?"

"because i'm the lawyer," jungkook grins, "i'm taking the case."

"do we have to do this?" jimin sighs, "she's just thirteen and... court, police, interrogation and all that y'know? it's not okay,"

"i know, but we have to do this hyung, if we want to prove our aera innocent. don't get me wrong, no one said it straight up to you but they all believe aera is responsible for noah's death."

jimin frowns at that, visibly scowling as he doesn't approve of those words leaving anyone's mouth. jungkook looks away, realising he said it wrong and shouldn't have told the elder brother about it especially right now when everything is so fresh. 

"uh i mean, nothing is proved yet. so they cannot technically blame her but kang's already got her as a suspect so that's a little... y'know...?"

"she did not do anything like that," jimin declares, standing up as he doesn't spare another glance at jungkook and walks to the bathroom, knocking on the door as though the younger brother does not exist in the room. "ri, are you done, kiddo?"

he grabs a towel, handing it inside. aera opens the door a few moments later, coming out dressed in the t-shirt jungkook gave her earlier and a pair of black briefs. jimin takes the towel from her hands, helping her dry her hair and makes her sit on the bed.

jungkook presses his lips together, glancing at the elder brother talking to aera casually about what he'll cook for her and that she needs to eat everything and also drink a glass of milk later. aera didn't actively engage in the conversation but he knew she was listening when she looked up at the mention of milk, making the brother smile, shaking his head.

"uh i'm sorry, hyung,"

"you had to go out right?" jimin looks at him, making him shut his mouth at once, only nodding slowly as he gulps thickly at the firm tone of his brother. "then get going,"

"y-yeah, i'm gone." jungkook grabs his shirt and pants from the closet whichever look the most presentable to him and puts them on, forgetting about the showering part since ghe elder scared him so much. jesus christ.

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a/n- did you guys watch the concert?? i couldn't because of my classes and other stuf 😭😭😭😭 but i've little tit-bits here and there on social media and it looks awesome! ❣️

stya tuned for more chapters this series's gonna be so different. i mean i've never written anything with so many characters connected to the lawful system yk? so i got to learn a lot from this, and still i apologise for any misunderstanding or wrong information because my sources are google and sometimes google cannot be trusted lol

do vote and comment if you like the chapter, what do you think is gonna happen ahead? 😉

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