"You don't need to worry about them ever hurting you, darling. You'll be safe with us, sweetie. I'll protect you." Jin says, his voice raw with emotion.
"Jinnie and I will take care of you from now on, sweetie. We'll be the ones who'll take care of...
"Yo bro, you hear that?" Avery asks with wide eyes, glancing towards his flat mate Daniel. "Yes." Daniel answers with a nod, his voice tense. The cries of a young girl and the cursing of a man too loud for the two of them to overlook. "Should we go check?" Avery asks with a gulp. "I don't know man." Daniel says softly with a resigned look.
The two boys had moved in a week ago and were regretting their decision of renting a apartment in this locality with everything in their being. In their defense both of them were young foreign students barely knowing the neighborhood and at the moment that they signed the contract they only saw the huge apartment and the cheap rent.
Now, a week in, they already regretted it. They had already witnessed fights in the streets in the broad daylight and the one lesson the duo had learnt was that they should mind their own business. But the pitiful cries of a child broke their hearts and they knew they had to do something.
"The noise is definitely coming from upstairs." Daniel says as he paces around. "I think we should go upstairs and check. If it's something too serious we'll call the police?" Avery asks as he runs his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, let's do that." Daniel agrees.
"Hello. I'm Daniel and this is Avery. We shifted a few days ago in 202." Daniel introduces himself as soon as the door to apartment 302 is swung open. "Hi, I'm Katherine." Katherine says with a smile as she opens the door wider letting the two boys enter her apartment.
"So you two rented 202?" Katherine asks with a frown as the two nod. "Oh, what happened to the grandma that was living there?" Katherine asks with furrowed brows. "She hasn't been keeping well so her son took her to live with him." Avery answers, the overly friendly house owner had told them when they were finalizing the contract papers.
"Oh, okay. She is a very sweet lady. Used to babysit my daughter all the time." Katherine says with a smile. "Oh, you have a daughter?" Daniel asks as he shares a glance with Avery. "Oh yes, I do. Eun, come here." Katherine calls Eun who rushes into the living room.
"Say hello to Avery and Daniel. They are our new neighbors." Katherine says and Eun softly says 'hello' to the two of them. Avery observes Eun closely but their were no signs of any injuries on her. She looked perfectly calm and very much like a shy four-year old she stuck to her mom's side.
"Eun's appa isn't home otherwise I would have introduced you two to him." Katherine's voice snaps Avery out of his daze of thoughts. "It's fine. We are going to be living here so I'm sure we'd see him one of these days." Daniel says with a small smile making Katherine nod.
"I don't know. I don't think it was Eun. She looked really calm." Avery says as he shuts the door to their apartment. "Yeah, I don't think it's her either. So where were the cries coming from?" Daniel asks with a sigh as he plops down on the couch. "I don't know maybe we misjudged. We should check in 102, 201 and 203, I guess?" Avery says with a sigh as he shrugs. "Yeah, I guess we'll have to do that." Daniel nods. "Fuck it, let's check the entire building. I'm not gonna be able to sleep in peace if we do nothing." Daniel adds and Avery nods knowing he'd be in the same state.
"We have a delivery tonight." Jihoo states as he enters the apartment. Pushing Eun out of his way he heads to the kitchen where Katherine was boiling some ramen noodles. "You got one already?" Katherine asks, a little impressed. "Obviously I did. Now that we know that the wretched duo isn't going to give us any money I thought it'd be better to get off our asses and do some work." Jihoo says with a shrug.
"Where is it? And do we have a plan?" Katherine asks as she drains the water from the noodles and then mixes the sauce packet to the noodles. "We do. I got this covered. Just accompany me tonight. I'll explain to you everything later." Jihoo says, smirking to himself. "Fine." Katherine says with a nod.
It wasn't the first time Jihoo had planned a delivery. She always let him do the planning for the smaller deals, knowing that some day it might come in handy. "You hid it well I hope." Katherine says with a pointed look. "Obviously I did. Not my first time doing a drug deal Kath." Jihoo says as he rolls his eyes.
"Eomma I hungry." Eun says as she glances at the ramen bowl with pleading eyes. Her parents had barely fed her ever since she got back, with the last two days consisting of almost no food. "That's mine you brat. Always I want this and I want that. Shut up and go to the room. We are talking about something serious over here." Katherine snaps, making Eun jump and scurry back to the room.
"God this kid." Jihoo mumbles. "So listen, here's how it'll go tonight..." Jihoo explains the entire plan to Katherine who nods from time to time. "You actually are good at this Jihoo." Katherine mumbles as she pecks Jihoo's cheek. "Obviously I am. I learnt from the best." Jihoo says as he winks at Katherine, making her chuckle.
"Shit, what are we supposed to do with her?" Jihoo asks as they were about to walk out of their apartment. "I think we can dump her on the two new dudes in 202." Katherine says with a shrug as she pulls on a thick jacket. "Perfect. The usual lie?" Jihoo asks with a chuckle and Katherine nods.
"Go wake her up." Katherine tells Jihoo as she grabs the bag that Seokjin had bought for Eun. Jihoo heads inside and roughly shakes Eun awake. "Let's go." He says with a gruff voice making Eun squeak. Eun rushes to match Jihoo's pace and follows the couple timidly.
"Hey, Jihoo and I need to go to my mom's place because she isn't feeling well. It's kinda an emergency do you think you could watch Eun? It's really last moment I know.." "Whoa, we can. Calm down." Katherine's nervous rambling is cut off by Daniel's response.
"Thank you so much." Katherine says with a small smile as she nudges Eun towards Daniel. "Here's some of her stuff. Thank you once again. " Jihoo says as he hands Daniel the bag.
"Come on in Eun." Daniel says as he ushers Eun inside after bidding goodbye to the couple. "Who was it?" Avery asks as he peaks in the living room from his bedroom. "Eun's parents. They had to go out because of some emergency apparently. We are babysitting Eun for the night I guess." Daniel answers with a shrug as he ruffles Eun's hair.
"Oh okay." Avery was a little surprised. How could Eun's parents just leave her with two strangers that they barely knew? He shrugs off the thought focusing on Eun instead, who was awkwardly standing in the middle of the living room.
"You can sit on the couch you know?" Avery says with a chuckle as he approaches Eun. Leading her towards the couch, he picks her up setting her on the couch. Eun fiddles with her fingers not really knowing how to act around the two young men.
"Are you hungry?" Avery's words immediately catch Eun's attention. Eun nods, her eyes shining. "How about some mac n cheese, huh?" Avery asks softly as he caresses Eun's hair, making her nod again. He smiles, picking Eun up he brings her to the kitchen, immediately getting to work.
Daniel watches the duo from the living room, a little amused. Avery was a huge dude with tattoos and him being all soft and mushy for Eun was kinda wholesome and he couldn't help but stare. Plus, Daniel had never seen Avery being so gentle before.
The night was full of surprises for Daniel, little did he know that their were more surprises coming their way.
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