aera is made to sit on the single chair, facing a group of guys, probably the ones jungkook was referring to earlier. they're six other than jungkook himself, who stare at her with confusion laden gazes along with a hint of worry for having a kid at a place like theirs.

aera's eyes linger over the six men, from the extreme left where this man with brown hair sits, dressed in a cozy attire that compliments the sharp features of his heart shaped face. next to him is a blonde man with full, plump lips, dark eyes as he's leaning a bit forward, looking back at aera with his head tilted slightly in confusion. there's another blonde guy, his shade is a bit darker than the previous one, lips are pressed into a thin line as he glances between jungkook and the girl. he straightens himself, adjusting the sweatshirt on his broad shoulders and sits back again, as if restraining himself from saying anything.

then is a man with light brown hair, his eyes are round and lips are thin with a mole on the lower one. next is dark brown headed man, almost ranging to red against his pale skin, probably paler than the rest of them. his cat-like eyes, hold zero emotions, staring at aera and then at the dog back with the same look that she has.

by the looks of it, they don't seem like hitmen or any kind of criminals.

the tall man from earlier clears his throat, earning a glance from the young girl who looks much smaller in front of the tall and muscular group of men. more fragile and figure subjected to empathy due to her appearance. she sighs softly, shifting her gaze shifts to jungkook, waiting for him to say something, "are you just going to sit here?"

"first, you cannot talk to me like that." jungkook growls, leaning forward from his place, now resting his elbows on his knees as he shoots are frustrated glare at the kid, "the only reason i'm not hurting you is because you're so young. don't take my mercy for granted."

"i told you just kill me." aera stares at him, "are you scared? you killed those men, why not me?"

"you're crazy," his hand rakes up against the dark fringes of his hair, letting them fall back on his face, a little more frizzy this time. he tosses his gun towards the girl, nodding his head at the weapon, "do it yourself. let me see how bad you wanna kill yourself, because i'm definitely not in the mood to do it for you right now."

"jungkook, are you stupid?" one of the blondes snarl, glaring at him, "take the gun back."

"she won't-"

"fuck no!" the cat eyed man, springs up, snatching the loaded weapon from the girl's hand who had it pointed on her forehead. "are you out of your bloody mind?! why do you wanna die so bad?! what is so wrong that you think living is not worth it?! idiot!"

aera huffs in response, not saying anything and sits crossing her arms on her chest while jungkook snorts mockingly, "he's yoongi. and trust me, you don't wanna mess with him."

"i'm jin," the taller blonde says, and points at the man next to him, "he's jimin, that is hoseok, this is taehyung. you already know jungkook and yoongi as he told you, then that is namjoon." he says, pointing at each one of them and glances back at the girl, "who are you?"

"aera"

"and why did you bring her here?" his words are now directed to jungkook, making the latter sigh deeply and glance at the girl.

"she saw me killing." he answers, "moreover she made me shoot another man who was following her for some reason."

"jeon jungkook, seriously?" hoseok exhales, massaging his temples, "you do that in front of a kid?"

"i didn't know she was there. but, seems like she's used to it." jungkook scoffs.

the guys frown, turning back to aera as the jimin guy speaks this time, "again, who are you?"

"aera ?" she answers again.

"no, but where are you from? and what were you doing out there at night alone?"

"why?" she asks back.

the man breathes deeply, saying, "because we might need to send you back home? you're not needed here, in fact you shouldn't be here."

"no, don't send me back." she shakes her head quickly and turns to jungkook, pointing at his gun, "kill me. but don't send me back."

the seven sit still in their places, watching the girl pleading jungkook to kill her instead of sending her back home. an uneasy feeling crept up their bodies, acknowledging that this kid has more of history to dig in. jungkook cracks his neck and places the gun away, showing his empty hands to the girl.

"i'll ask, and you'll answer. got it?" aera nods slowly in response, and he sighs, "great, did you run away from home?"

aera nods again, "words," he says firmly.

"yes,"

"what about your parents?"

"the one i used to l-live with?" she asks.

"obviously, how many parents do you have?"

"they're not my real parents. he bought me when i was seven, and i'm living with him since then."

"bought you?" jimin questions, the frown becoming more prominent when the girl nods, letting him know that she's aware of her words. "do you mean brought, like adopted or something?"

"no, they bought me, i know." aera tells him, "he said i costed him a lot, because he got me from someone who was very rich. and they said i'm pretty so that's why i'm worth more- more money."

the guys exchange glances, aversion for the world growing visibly in their dilated, dark pupils. sighing, jimin nods, shifting a bit forward, sitting on the edge of the couch and looks at aera with sympathetic eyes on hearing such words from her despite being so young and even wishing to die.

"so you ran away from there?" the girl nods in response, "why? what did they do?"

"...he was bad and he lied to me. he said he was a good person who helps people, but he used to kill beat them and give them that... i don't what it's called but it's not good, the maid aunty said, and he takes money and buys people and guns and the bad things. he was talking about a- a big deal or something that involved my name. maid aunty said he was going to sell me again because someone is giving more money for me, and she told me to go away. so me and charley escaped from there." she says, fiddling with her fingers as she recalled how long she ran to get away from that dreadful world.

her eyes lifted up, meeting jimin's empathetic ones, "please don't send me back. he'll punish me and then give me to someone like him. you don't know how bad they are. it hurts a lot."

that was doubtful. they didn't know? the elders stayed quiet, none of that was new to them, just that a fourteen-year-old mentioning all the jobs they do nonchalantly without even thinking twice for a living, made them question their own morality. this girl sitting in front of them, is asking for help from similar criminals like the father she ran away from? irony.

jimin averts his gaze, glancing at the member next to him who sighs as well, nodding his head slowly, "who's he?"

"why?" aera questions, sounding a bit defensive to let out the name yet. as of what she has seen till now, jungkook and probably his whole gang, is a group of criminals too.

"because we wanna know." jungkook states firmly, "just answer the question."

"no," she says, "i told you about my home and that i ran away. now you tell me who are you all?"

"alright, but you have to tell us your dad's name." taehyung says.

"...fine"

"our group is called bangtan boys, or bts for short. and we're uhm you can think that we are businessmen? just that our business is kinda more secretive, something like your dad's." namjoon says. "jungkook was out for work today, and unfortunately you witnessed a knockout, so you're here now."

"you sell people too?" aera asks, cautious of her words as her one hand, rests on charley's back, earning a glance from the dog. he stands up, next to her, growling at the seven while aera is holding his collar, one command away from having him pouncing on them.

"no," jimin says, "your dog is great by the way."

"yeah," she nods, glancing at jungkook who is glaring at her, "he doesn't like jungkook though."

"no one likes him." taehyung snickers, making aera frown as his smile actually suits him a lot, and with that on, he doesn't look like a criminal at all. jungkook rolls his eyes and focuses on the girl, gesturing his hand towards the dog.

"tell this crap to be quiet, or i might have to use my gun."

"no wonder why no one likes you." aera says, "you know what? i'll just forget you ever murdered anyone and head my way. thank you for helping me earlier, i'll go now."

"where will you go at this time?" he cocks an eyebrow at her.

"i don't know." she mumbles, "come on, charley."

the dog barks in response, following her closely as she walks slowly to the main door, but stops on hearing a voice of concern, of jimin as she recognises it now, "are you hurt?"

"no, it's fine." she shakes her head.

jungkook stares at her limping state and the stain of blood on her hoodie, sighing deeply as he glances at his hyung who is also looking at the girl, noticably feeling somthing indescribable in his chest too ever since the moment he saw the kid, "yah!" the youngest male calls, "you're staying over tonight. i don't wanna see the news people exaggerating a kid's death due starvation tomorrow." he scoffs.

"i'm not hungry!" aera retorts, glaring at him, instantly being shut up her growling stomach.

"of course." jungkook mocks sarcastically, "you can stay here for tonight. but remember, tomorrow you're going back. so don't have any hopes from us, especially from me."

"g-going back?" she looks at him, seeing him smirk as he shrugs.

"yeah," he stands up, taking confident steps towards her, "don't you wanna go see your daddy, little one?"

aera glares at him, regretting telling them about her family, more like the people who she was sold to. her jaw ticks in anger, standing right in front of him, tilting her head up as he's still a lot taller than her and grits out, "of course, even my daddy tells me to never trust people. and now i know why, because people like you and him cannot be trusted. y'all just bend towards money."

jungkook's brows scrunch in fury, eyes throwing daggers at the young girl, "you have no idea what you're saying." he growls.

"really? i won't even be surprised if you take me back to my dad for a few dollars from him. you have nothing of yours, do you? how can i trust someone who's job is to put their trust on sale?"

"shut up!" he yells, grabbing her by the arm and leans down to match her height, however pulls back instantly as charley leaps forward at him, growling loudly. aera grabs the dog's collar, keeping him from attacking as jungkook holds his gun at the dog that made his hand bleed.

"jungkook, stop it." yoongi voices, "and you, keep that thing away." he nods at the growling german shepherd.

jimin sighs and steps forward, "he won't do anything," he says refering to jungkook and lowered his gun as he noticed how aera tensed, holding onto the dog tightly, "our trust is not for sale, it's a give and take thing like any other thing in the world. you put some input and get some output. try to trust me just once, if i ever let you down, feel free to shoot me."

aera stares at him, trying her best to locate the lust or cheat in his eyes, but fails miserably in the attempt. her eyes lower to his hand as he holds hers gently, placing a gun on her palm and secured her fingers around the metal, "there are six bullets, one is enough to take a life, if aimed correctly."

"w-why are you-"

"because i don't want you to die." he whispers, "you remind me of someone, and i... i hope you live."

aera tilts her head, staring at the older guy with hesitant eyes, contemplating and fighting her own self if she should believe him or not. having nothing to lose at this point, a gun in her hands and charley by her side, she sighs, nodding her head slowly.

__

as much as jimin wanted to hit the younger brother and scold him for being so obliviously rude to the girl, he was holding himself back, just wanting to tackle the anger with a glare that already has jungkook sighing and shifting his place right away.

"you have no conscience, do you?" the elder growls, "she's just a kid for god's sake jungkook!"

"i'm sorry," the younger murmurs, "did you see how she was talking? of course i'd get mad."

"i wanna hit you right now."

jungkook sighs, glancing at the eldest, virtually whining for him to say something and calm his brother down. jin shakes his head, passing jungkook's wish to the person next to him, "namjoon-ah, kook's saying something." he whispers, nudging the taller man.

"what?"

"nothing" jungkook sighs, "but i don't get why jiminie hyung is so defensive of her."

jimin rolls his eyes, standing up from the couch in frustration, not minding the six pairs of eyes following his figure towards the door and stops with him near the glass railing. he breathes deeply, glancing down at the lounge area where the girl is still sitting quietly with her dog, saying something to him and in response charley licks her face, making jimin smile involuntarily when she smiles.

"look at her," his voice is soft and airy for the boys to hear, soothing between the restlessness in their world, "if aera was here, she would've been around her age."

"hyung..." jungkook frowns, shaking his head as he stands up, "she's not her. there can be hundreds of girls named aera."

"i know," jimin chuckles sadly, "but still... did you see how she was looking at you when you said you'll kill her? she doesn't fear death jungkook, she's too exhausted to fear death. and it's not a good sign, at least at her age."

"he's right," the eldest nods, "she knows things that she shouldn't know. she's seen people hurting and killing other people, selling, trading illegal and... knows herself that she was sold, and that too not once."

"y'know jungkook, you should have some sense when you talk." jimin says, tearing his eyes off the girl and looks at the younger brother, "that dog is all she has. and when you threaten to kill him, you're killing a part of her too and that hurts more than death. i get that you don't feel bad or stuff for killing people, but she's not one of them. i guarantee you kook, you won't be able to breathe peacefully after hurting her. you know why? because you're a human too, and she's not meant for this."

jungkook averts his eyes, unknowingly staring at the girl he brought home a few hours ago. his hand digs in the pocket of his pants, pulling out a shiny, silver thing that he now notices is a star shaped pendent that aera gave him earlier in the alley as his payment. he chuckles lightly, observing it carefully until his smile fades away.

his finger pushes a little button like thing, making it click open into two halves. his brows are knitted together as he takes the two pieces apart, hoping to see a picture, but finds a smiley on one and princess written on the other half. the handwriting is bad, resembling to that of a child much younger than how old she is now.

"jimin has a similar kind, right?" taehyung mentions, earning glances from the members, "that. the locket." he points at the one jungkook is holding.

"isn't this... uh no," yoongi shakes his head.

"it is..." jimin whispers in a voice that shows how impossible this is, "this- i... where'd you get this?" he asks hastily to his brother, taking the pendent in his hand, having his fingertips brushing over the small peice of paper that is stuck on one side with the alphabets scribbled in a messy way but clear enough to make out what is written.

"uh she gave it to me," jungkook says, unsure of his own words, recalling how she's a stranger yet felt familiar to the point he was doubting his sanity, "-when i shot that guy who was following her."

jimin keeps mum, staring at the locket and then at the girl downstairs who is now still against couch, having charley cuddled up close to her, both looking exhausted and in need of some peaceful sleep. he heaves out a breath that feels quivering in the air, lingering for a moment of warmth until it's all cold again.

"i want all the information about this girl and where she came from." his voice is directed towards his members, eyes fixed on their little guest, "even if she's not our aera, she needs help, and i'm willing to do it for her. any questions?"

when he heard nothing from the six, he nods glancing at them, "great."

"hyung..." jungkook looks up hesitantly, "i don't think it's a good idea."

"then let me work on it alone." jimin sighs, "as simple as that."

"i think jimin is right," jin says, glancing at the others for nods of affirmations which he recieves in a moment and smiles, "we gotta help this kid. we've lost aera once, and we cannot let someone else lose their aera too."

"she has no one." jungkook reminds.

"she doesn't know anyone." yoongi corrects, "there's a difference."

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a/n- today's update is to say thank you to all of you as we've reached 20k reads on this book! to every person who reads, votes and comments, thanks a billion for your support! it wouldn't be possible without you guys, y'all are great! ❤️❤️❤️

please keep showing your love in future too, it feels great to have such amazing people as my audience. i'm really really glad for this. thank youuuu 🤗

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