Lost & Found

Chapter Four

Present Day
22-Years-Old

Aera was still grinning for the next 20 minutes as Yoongi texted her while he waited for Sunhee. She was just about to text him again when he beat her to it.

Yoongi She's here! Gotta go.

"Eek!" Aera exclaimed. "Oh, I hope this goes well. I believe in you, Yoongs!"

She was just about to turn on the TV when her phone rang. She picked it up and furrowed her brow at the number. She didn't recognize it.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, are you Seong Aera?"

"Yes," Aera said cautiously. "Who are you?"

"I got your name from the police station. They said you want to babysit my nephew."

Aera's eyes widened. "Jungkook?"

"Yeah. So, can you?"

"Can I what?"

There was an exasperated sigh. "Babysit."

"Oh, uh, yeah, of course! When do you need me?"

"Right now."

Aera blinked. "I – "

"My wife is working tonight, and my buddies wanna go out. So, can you come over?"

"Sure," Aera said quickly, not believing her luck that she would get to see the sweet, shy little boy again. "Can you text me your location to this number?"

There was a grunt and the call was cut. Aera stared at her phone. Had she said something wrong?

But then a message came through with an address. Aera quickly checked the bus schedule and figured out where she needed to go. Before she grabbed her things, she opened her phone again to text Yoongi where she'd be. But then she paused. She couldn't interrupt his date.

So she grabbed a piece of paper and pen and wrote him a note. She'd either beat him home, or he'd find the note when he returned before her. She was sure to include the address of where she'd be at the bottom of the note.

And then she collected her things and left the apartment. Luckily, she didn't have to travel far. She made it there in just about 15 minutes.

It was not the best area of town, however, and that made Aera a bit nervous. Now that she was here, she wasn't entirely sure this was such a good idea after all.

But the thought of Jungkook compelled her to knock on the door anyway. The door quickly opened, and a large, unkempt man stood before her.

"Um, hello," Aera said with a small bow. "I'm Seong Aera and – "

"Took you long enough to get here," the man spat as he turned around and gestured for her to enter the dingy, dirty apartment. "The kid's in there." He pointed to a doorway down the hall. Aera nodded.

"I don't know when I'll be back," he grunted. "Have fun."

And then he was gone. Aera stood in the kitchen, nervously looking around, when she heard a small noise in the hallway. To her surprise, Jungkook was quickly moving toward the front door. He had just about opened it when Aera called out to him.

"Jungkook?"

The boy jumped before spinning around. There was terror in his eyes, and Aera knew she'd caught him doing something he wasn't supposed to do.

"Hey," she said quietly, carefully moving toward him. He moved back and cowered into a corner. "Do you remember me? From earlier today? I found you on the bus and my friend and I took you to the police station."