"You look different in the sunlight… in a good way.”

A knock interrupted the chatter throughout the apartment. The eldest, Kim Minseok, stood and sauntered to the door. Another knock rang out, this time louder, harder. He placed his hand on the cool metal by concealed at his hip. Then, in one swift motion he opened the door, tensed and ready with his gun out... Only to come face to face with a very drunk, very giggly Oh Sehun.

“Jesus, Sehun I almost shot you dead.” But Sehun, too drunk to register anything, continued to giggle. He reeked of alcohol, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were crinkled.

“Hyung has a gun,….” He pointed at Minseok. “Since when were you so short hyung? You know…Have I told you...You look like a baozi.”

All Minseok could do, all the other seven boys in the apartment could do was sigh and look on at the sad sight that was Oh Sehun. “You’re drunk.”

“No.But hyung why is the world spinning?” Sehun stumbled, his eyes unfocused. Minseok sighed once again, wrapping his arm around Sehun’s waist and carrying him in. “Hyung...hyung...where’d she go?”

“Where did who go?”

“That girl…Where’d she go hyung? Did she leave me too?” Though without context those words were simple. But to him and the seven other boys those words were so much more. Sehun who had been left too many times. Sehun was still laughing. Though the boys heard its hollowness.

Oh what a sad sight drunk Sehun was.

+

A few seconds before the clock struck ten was when a young Jisoo heard it.

A gunshot.
Screams of terror, of pain.. She could hear the thud of doors getting opened and slammed shut. The thud of running.

Another gunshot.
A pair of footsteps were getting closer and closer to the room she hid in. She reached for the knife by her side, eyeing the door. Her muscles were tensed, ready to pounce. The door creaked open.

"Don't worry. It's me, Jichu." Jiwon whispered peering in.To her instead of seeing simply her older brother she saw an angel, a savior. He stepped into the room. A hand of his reached out to help her up. She took it and didn't let go.

The two left the room quietly, though she doubted anyone could hear them over the gunshots and raging ruckus. In one hand Jisoo held her brother's hand, in the other she held the knife her mother had hidden under her bed for protection. The shouting was getting louder and louder the more they walked, but Jisoo trusted her brother. The only light guiding their way was the moon, casting dancing demons against the wall. Jiwon's grip on her hand tightened as they came to a stop. Jisoo in turn held her knife closer. A door crashed open. Shuffling followed. She could hear someone speaking down there, a scared yelp.

Jiwon began moving again, to the stairs, to where the person was. It was the only way out. The two stepped down each step as quietly as they could, hardly making a sound. There was a light coming out from one of the rooms on the bottom floor - the room the talking came from. Jiwon glanced down at her donning a small, small smile. He gave her hand one last squeeze before the two started moving across the bottom floor.

“WHERE IS MY F**KING MONEY?!” A male voice roared, Jisoo had heard it before. The strange man that hung around their uncle’s home. The sound of crashing tables followed. Jisoo flinched. Footsteps stomped around nearing the door. Responding quickly, Jiwon pulled Jisoo behind him to hide behind the nearest piece of furniture, the living room couch..

The door banged open.

And in walked her uncle and a tall, broad man dipped in ink and drawings from head to toe.

“Just give me a month -”
“I don’t have a month...If you don’t have any money then how about giving me that pretty little niece of yours? She’ll be worth quite the penny in the market. Plus she’s...pure.”

Jiwon growled lowly.

“I’ll pay you back in two weeks. Two weeks is all I need-”
“Now that I think about it, she’ll pay a lot better than you. Go get her.”

“Y-y-yes..”

From this moment on she would see her uncle in a new light, a light that showed who he truly was, a coward. A selfish unloyal coward. She watched with sharp eyes as he padded away up to their room. She felt hatred slowly fill her veins. This wasn’t the first time she had seen her uncle’s cowardice, those things are hard to hide. She knew he was cowardly, but not to this extent. She thought he loved her, but obviously not. Not enough. To sell his niece into human trafficking? Knowing very well what would happen to her. That she’d be , beaten, starved, harassed, tortured, and eventually killed. He was willing to sell her, who was not just a child but his family. He never loved her. And from then on he was no longer family.

Jisoo knew it wouldn’t take long for them to realise that she and Jiwon were missing. Her uncle would probably find them himself. Neither of them were surprised when her uncle came back shivering. Jiwon leaned to get a better view. She saw her uncle look in their direction. Without a hesitation he raised a finger, pointing at them.

“There-”

Jiwon sprung to his feet, fist colliding with a stranger’s face. His left sprung out and kicked another. In seconds Jiwon was picking up Jisoo and running. From behind them a low growl echoed. Jisoo heard the click of the bullet being placed but by the time she opened it was too late. Her warning was drowned by the bang of the bullet.