seven eleven - choi chanhee

45

"ok, i'm just going to check if we can get through without anybody seeing. i have six siblings so there's a very high chance," he said, heidi nodding as he spoke.

"i'll wait here,"

taeyang opened the door and peered his head in. his bedroom was on the second floor so all he had to do was get up the stairs with her and make sure nobody saw them.

"let's go," he said, coming back into the driveway and taking her hand. the two ran tiptoeing up the stairs, careful not to alert lexie and chanhee who were in the living room.

"okay, this is my bedroom. i have a spare mattress underneath my bed, so you can stay tonight." taeyang said, opening the door. but before they could both enter, a voice was heard from behind them.

"is this your girlfriend, oppa?"

taeyang turned around noticing it was his younger sister aera. he let out a sigh of relief with the thought that she believed she was his girlfriend and not just a random girl he met today who was staying in his bedroom overnight. he gestured for heidi to go inside, and she did, taking in all of her surroundings.

his room was tidy, clean. not what she was used to. at the orphanage all she had was a blanket on the wooden floor. the walls were covered in posters, pictures, and a floor to ceiling mirror which she saw herself in.

"i look disgusting," she muttered under her breath.

meanwhile, taeyang closed the door to his bedroom, and bent down to aera's height.

"yes, she's my girlfriend. but you cannot tell anybody that she's here,"

"why not?" she said, with her big curious eyes looking up to him.

"just...because. i haven't told mom and dad yet."

aera nodded and moved her fingers over her mouth, as if zipping it shut. she then put her hand out as if handing taeyang the key and he followed by taking it and putting the non existent key into his pocket. he smiled and patted her head, before she ran to yeona's room in an attempt to comfort her.

"i like your room," heidi said, as taeyang entered and closed the door behind him.

"thank you..." he said. "now...could you please tell me about you? it's ok if you don't want to...it's just, i'd like to get to know you better,"

heidi nodded and smiled, taking a seat on the edge of his bed and patting the space next to her for taeyang to sit on.

"i was born in syria. but i don't know how long ago or what date. there are no records of my birth, i never went to school there. my parents, my little brother and i were split up because they wanted me to come to canada for a better future. i don't even know if my parents are alive or not. and all i know is that my brother is in the uk, i don't know where, i don't know who he's with. but staying at the orphanage here was like hell. i had a few foster families but none of them actually connected with me, they were all just in it for the money. i don't feel safe at the orphanage. there's always the chance a fight will break out, because i never really got along with anyone there. and today, well...i couldn't take it anymore,"

taeyang reached out and took her hand. "you're safe here, heidi,"

he really admired her for being so brave, and she admired him for being so compassionate. "heidi was the name someone at the orphanage gave me. i've never really liked it, but i have no other choice. i was never told my real name because i left syria so young and my parents weren't able to contact the orphanage,".

"how about i give you a new name?" taeyang said.

she nodded whilst taeyang began to think. "how about cali?"

she nodded in excitement. nobody had ever showed this much interest with her before. the truth was that she didn't really like the name itself, but she loved it because it was from taeyang.

...

it was dinner time in the choi household. everybody was there except jaemin, mirae, hyejin and chaewon as chaewon was meeting kai's parents, hyejin was in korea and mirae and jaemin were living at their own house.

yeona was getting better slowly, and being surrounded by her family made her feel a lot better. she knew that they cared, they loved her.

meanwhile aera was annoying hayoon by poking her cheeks and taeyang was just hoping and praying that cali didn't make a sound upstairs.

"this is really nice, my four youngest babies," lexie said, pinching taeyang's cheek lovingly and sitting at the end of the table opposite chanhee.

as dinner went on, the six of them talked about all sorts, including hayoon's unclear relationship with felix. everybody was curious as to what was going on but she just told them to mind their own business and that's when they all knew to stop.

there was a small noise from upstairs, that sounded almost like something being dropped on the floor with not a lot of weight, but enough to create a noise that could be heard. taeyang thought quickly and coughed to cover it up.

"did you hear that?" chanhee said, taeyang's eyes widening immediately with trepidation because he didn't know how to cover this up. he'd never done anything like this before.

"you're probably just hearing things, dad," he said, chanhee took his word for it and nodded without giving it a second thought, meanwhile lexie couldn't hear for the sound of aera whining about the lack of tomato sauce.

and taeyang was just praying that nobody else found out.