"Here's the money Uncle Gary promised." Yura held it out to Sojin.

"Ah, thank you." Sojin accepted the envelope absently. She was still wrapping her head around the fact that she actually agreed to the deal. Did she bite more than she could chew?

They arrived at Sojin’s apartment after Gary's personal driver dropped them off. That made Sojin feel worse when they got to their destination. The unit wasn’t in the best neighborhood and she didn't know what kind of luxury these girls were used to. Heck, Sojin didn't even know them at all. She had basically invited strangers to live with her for the next few weeks. Taking in a slow breath, Sojin finally opened the door after fumbling with the keys.

When Yura first walked in, the only word that popped into her mind was white.

White walls, white curtains, white furniture. The blank canvas begged somebody to color it with the warmth of a home, she noted.

Sojin seemed to only have the bare minimum amount of furniture a single person needed.

A worn couch sat against a wall of the main room with a simple coffee table in front of it. The nicest appliance was the decent sized television, but even that was a few years old. There were no chairs or dining table. A small hallway led to the master bedroom. The bathroom just off to the side.

Generic decorations were placed scathingly throughout the room. The walls didn't exhibit a single personal picture.

"Sorry about...everything. I wasn't exactly prepared for guests as you very well know. Please, make yourself at home."

“We don’t mind,” Hyeri reassured. She made her way over to the couch and plopped herself onto it, bouncing a few times. “Just staying in a different scene is a whole new adventure.”

"What should we call you?" Minah asked as she took off her shoes and sat next to her sister.

"Sojin-ssi?"

"Miss Park?"

"Imo?" Hyeri joked.

"Yah!" Sojin blushed red. "I'm not that old. Call me Sojin unnie."

The sisters shared a secret grin. "Will do."

"Anyway, I guess we should introduce ourselves too," Yura suggested. The other two had left her alone to struggle with their luggage. "I'm Kim Yura, the oldest sister of those two brats, and I'm fifteen years old. We're all two years apart."

"I'm Minah." The girl said simply, though her eye smile begged to differ.

"And I'm the pure, pretty, vitamin maknae, Hyeri!" She threw in a peace sign for effect and batted her eyes. Sojin thought it was cute.

"Don't believe everything Hyeri says. She can be pretty evil at times." Minah stated a matter-of-factly, moving away from the younger girl lest she get hit. Hyeri was suprisingly strong for her age.

Sojin chuckled and glanced up at her clock. “It’s almost 4 o’clock. Are you guys hungry for anything in particular?”

Yura, prepared for the specific question, spoke up. “How do you feel about chicken?”

~ Flashback ~

An eight year old Yura bounded into her father’s office while her parents were occupied with a crying Hyeri. Her teacher had required the students to bring in a picture of themselves from when they were younger and she was determined to find the cutest picture to show off.

“Ah, there you are,” Yura whispered to herself.

The sturdy box where her father kept all their momentos sat high on top of the shelf. Yura dragged the desk chair right under it. Stepping higher, she slowly slid the box towards her body.

Hah! Success!

But when Yura tried to descend from the chair, the unexpected heaviness of the box caused her to lose her grip and it fell onto the floor. She squealed, clambering to clean the mess before her parents walked in.

As she rushed to gather the glossy pictures into a pile, one particular photo stood out to her. The print didn’t have the same shine to it as the others. Instead, the picture looked like it was taken with one of those film cameras she often saw in her grandparents’ house.

Yura brought the photograph closer to her face. Upon inspection, she deduced the young girl in the picture was not her nor her sisters. She oddly seemed to resemble them though.

In the image, the girl was clapping her hands with glee at a vanilla cupcake in front of her. She was wearing a floral red dress, a silver pendant adorning her neck.

“Yura-yah, did you trip over air again?” Yura was so preoccupied with the picture that she didn’t notice her father enter the room. He froze when he saw what she held in her hand.

“Appa. Who is she?”

Kim Jongkook sighed. He figured this day would come. No amount of time could prepare him to brace the inevitable anyway. “She’s...she’s your sister, darling. She should be about seven years older than you.”

Yura had a dreadful feeling about the answer to her next question, but curiosity got the better of her. “What happened?”

Jongkook sat down next to his daughter on the floor, taking the photo from her hand. He grazed his thumb against the face of the little girl smiling brightly up at him.

“She was kidnapped,” he said simply. “And I couldn’t save her.”

Yura patiently waited for her father to continue.

He stopped his finger movements and just stared at the picture. “This was taken a few weeks before our lives changed forever. It was her fifth birthday. I remember it well because she had refused to let your mother cook a special dinner.” A faint smile appeared on his face. “Instead she begged for the fried chicken from a nearby restaurant, her favorite.”

Jongkook cleared his throat. “Realizing that she was growing up before my eyes, I made it my mission to spend more time with her. As you know, our family wasn’t very well off back then. It took a lot of my begging on my part before Sukjin sajangnim agreed to a few days of break.

“We were playing hide and seek in the field near our old house. I usually pretended that I couldn’t see her most obvious hiding spots, but that one time, I really couldn’t find her. As I grew worried that the sun was beginning to set, I remember how my blood ran cold when I heard her scream.”

The muscular man closed his eyes tightly. Yura noticed his hands were starting to shake. She grasped one in an attempt to comfort him.

“Some hateful man had her hoisted over his shoulder off in the distance, dumping her into his car before slamming the door shut," Jongkook spat before calming himself down. He didn't want his daughter to see the ugly side of him. The side he reserved only for those who threatened his precious family. "He peeled away quickly but I sprinted after them. I ran for miles trying to catch up and save her. A neighbor found me passed out on the road and brought me back to the house and your mother.

“We were heartbroken, of course. Why did it have to be her? What if I had run faster that day?” He squeezed her hand. “The only reason your mother and I are able to smile to this day is because of you girls, don’t forget that. We love you all so, so much.”

Yura rested her head on her dad’s broad shoulder. “I understand, and I love you too, Appa. What was unnie’s name?”

“Kim Youngmi.”

~ End of Flashback ~

Over the years, Yura, Minah, and Hyeri had managed to extract some more details of their older sister from their father. They felt guilty for causing his mood to turn melancholic whenever he talked about her, but the girls also observed he showed hints of comfort to be able to keep his eldest daughter’s memory alive.

Now, the three perched on the edge of their seats, anxiously waiting for their possibly long-lost-sister’s answer.

“I’m not a big fan...”

Yura felt her heart drop. Very few details about her unnie were known and one of the leading clues was that Youngmi had loved chicken. The chances that Sojin was her seemed to reduce significantly in that moment.

“Of chicken feet, that is. Creepy little things ‒ it doesn’t even look like food. But fried chicken? I could eat that for days,” Sojin enthused.

Minah nudged her older sister to reassure her. It wasn’t the end yet.

In fact, their journey with Sojin was just beginning.