Kim Hye Mi was scared of dogs. She didn't know why. It was just that one day she woke up and saw a crazy dog barking like the world would end. From then, she declared that she was terrified of them--absolutely terrified.

This is in contrast to her boyfriend who loved dogs and even owned one. Baekhyun knew how scared his girlfriend was of them so he decided to bring his family's dog, Mongryong, to condition Hye Mi in hopes that she would no longer hyperventilate whenever a dog walked past her.

That's where it all started.

•

 

Hye Mi woke up by the sound of a spoon hitting the side of glass. She smiled and stretched, knowing who was in the kitchen. Yawning out loud, she caused the person to halt his activities to turn to look at her.

"You awake?" Baekhyun asked. Hye Mi didn't reply; instead, she sat up and stretched again. She heard a shuffling before something warm pressed on her head. Hye Mi let out a blissful sigh and turned to her boyfriend.

"Good morning." She rasped out. Her voice was hoarse and scratchy because she had just woken up so Baekhyun could not help but chuckle.

"Good morning," he greeted back and raised his mug of coffee. Hye Mi shook her head, not taking the invitation, and her boyfriend just shrugged. Baekhyun walked towards the couch, kicking aside the blanket before slumping down on it.

After stretching for a minute, Hye Mi started to gather the blanket and pillows. Last night, they slept in the living room because they were watching late night movies. Hye Mi fell asleep in the middle of the show so Baekhyun thought that they should just sleep in front of TV.

Baekhyun watched as his girlfriend gathered the blankets and pillows. She was already done when, suddenly, there was a loud bark. Hye Mi practically jumped into the air, causing the furniture she had just arranged to scatter everywhere, and ran to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun, who had just taken a sip of his coffee, jumped when Hye Mi crashed herself into him and spilled his coffee onto the white couch. He stared at the stain on the couch and then back at Hye Mi disbelievingly. He knew it was pointless to be angry at her so he just put the cup on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay, sweetheart," he soothed, "it was just a dog,"

"I hate dogs," he heard his girlfriend say. "I also hate our neighbor," Hye Mi released herself from Baekhyun's hold and stared daggers at him. "Why did they have to get a dog?" She said angrily, to which Baekhyun could barely hold in his sigh.

"Hye Mi, it’s their choice to have a pet or not. Besides, dogs are cute,” he said, still trying to convince his girlfriend. Hye Mi, however, was intractable—a few words would not get her anywhere. She opened , wanting to argue back, until she caught the stain on the couch. Her eyes widened in horror and she immediately scrambled to the armchair.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, feeling guilty. She knew how much Baekhyun loved his couch—not to mention that it was white. “Oh my God, Baekhyun… I’m so sorry,” she apologized. From the looks of it, she truly felt sorry; but, what was done is done. Baekhyun just gave her a wobbly smile and ruffled her hair.

“It’s okay, Hye Mi. I think this can be cleaned…” he said, but his tone made it obvious that he was unsure about it. Hye Mi felt even guiltier.

Baekhyun was still smiling when he started to gather the scattered blanket and pillows. Seeing that, Hye Mi brushed his hands off and gathered them instead. “Let me do this,” she said, not looking at Baekhyun, “and let me do the cleaning too.”

Without giving Baekhyun a chance to reply, she scurried off to their room with the furniture, determined to make him feel better. Baekhyun gaped at her, trying to call her back before realizing that it would be useless. He sighed softly but then chuckled. He turned to stare at the coffee stain and smiled. It was true that he loved this couch; but it was also true that he loved Kim Hye Mi more than this couch.

 

•

 

After taking a bath, putting on suitable clothes for cleaning, reaching for her phone to type ‘how to clean the coffee stain on the couch,’ and following the instructions on one of the websites, Hye Mi could finally breathe properly. She stood from her crouching place beside the armchair and sighed in satisfaction as she overlooked her handiwork.

All is well, she thought. She even the cleaned the kitchen and living room. She didn’t clean the rooms though, because Baekhyun was using their own bedroom and they barely used the other rooms so it would just be a waste of time to clean it.

Hye Mi picked up the Febreeze and rags and walked towards the laundry room. Putting the things into one of the drawers, she then strode over to Baekhyun’s study room, where she assumed he was busy finishing writing his novel. Walking into the room, she could see that she was right; Baekhyun was on his chair facing his laptop on the table.

However, he was not typing on the keyboard. Instead, he was busy tapping on his phone. The light from the phone was glowing; making it so that Hye Mi could see his face clearly. He was smiling at whoever he was texting and it made her curious.

“Baekhyun?” she called. He looked up at her and his smile widened.

“Hey!” he said excitedly and waved his hand, asking her to come closer. She followed his order without question and stood by his side.

Then, she knew why he was smiling.

Hye Mi saw a conversation between Baekhyun and his family. They were talking about the usual things: his novel and, of course, her. She blushed when she saw that Baekhyun sent them a picture of her sleeping. It was obvious that Baekhyun snuck to capture that picture and she slapped Baekhyun’s shoulder for it.

“Baekhyun!” she glared while Baekhyun tried to muffled his laughter. “Are you trying to embarrass me or what?”

“What? I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, feigning innocence. Hye Mi threw him a dangerous look but Baekhyun simply ruffled her hair and pinched her nose. She slapped his hand and looked away, her face slightly red.

“Okay, fine. I won’t do it again,” Baekhyun finally said after Hye Mi would not look at him. With that, Hye Mi finally turned at him and smiled cheekily. Baekhyun just shook his head.

Hye Mi sat on a stool beside his closet because she sometimes liked to sit beside him when he wrote his novel. She put her chin on his shoulder and continued peeking. Meanwhile, Baekhyun’s fingeres continued to slide through the collection of pictures his family sent. The laptop was still open and the cursor was blinking but neither of them cared about that.

There is a photo of Baekhyun’s mom, his dad, Baekbeom, his niece and also… his dog.

Hye Mi quickly leaned away and scrunched her nose. Even though it was merely a picture, she was still scared. Baekhyun turned at her and shook his head.

“Hye Mi, it was just a picture,” he sighed. Hye Mi didn’t budge. Baekhyun fumbled with his phone before shoving it toward her face. Hye Mi leaned away again; not because of the picture, but because of the light. She snatched the phone and gave her boyfriend a glare. Then, she took a look at the gadget and immediately regretted it. She winced and gave Baekhyun his phone back.

“Baekhyun…” Hye Mi whined. “Why’d you showed me a picture of Mongryong?”

He snickered at her and locked his phone. Putting it aside, he cracked his knuckles and stretched a bit. “What? He’s cute,” he said as he glanced at Hye Mi and smiled when he saw her pout.

“But, you know how scared I am of that thing…”

“But Mongryong is not like other dogs,” Baekhyun argued back at her. He mimicked her tone and facial expression, making it so that Hye Mi could not help but snort. She punched his arm softly, making Baekhyun smile at her.

“Hye Mi, you know I love dogs. I assure you, dogs are not always like what you think,” he said, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and putting her head on his own.

“You think?” Hye Mi deadpanned, and Baekhyun was quiet at first.

“Okay, fine. Some of them are crazy,” he said with a huff, making Hye Mi giggle. He shook his head and put his chin on her shoulder. For once, they were quiet.

“I want to live with you forever, you know,” Baekhyun started after a while. “You know that I’ve always wanted to have at least one pet and to see it playing with our kids,” Hye Mi’s heartbeat sped at the thought, but owning a dog still didn’t sound appealing to her.

“About that, we can always try having a cat,” she replied with a small voice. Even so, Baekhyun could hear her clearly and he let out a loud laugh.

“Hye Mi,” he said after catching his breath. “Don’t you remember that one time you brought a homeless cat home and its fur got stuck in your clothes, our couches, and… just everywhere, and when I got home I kept sneezing and wheezing and then I fainted?”

She winced again at the thought. She totally forgot that Baekhyun was allergic to cats.

“You’re really heavy,” Hye Mi replied lamely, causing her boyfriend to snort. She wrapped her arms around his body and sighed.

“I’m sorry… I’m just…” Just what? She really didn’t know.

Baekhyun sighed and tightened his hold around her. “That’s okay, I understand. But,” he pushed Hye Mi off so he can look at her better. Hye Mi was startled at this, but still tried to listen to him.

“Hye Mi, I want you to overcome your fears.” he said seriously. Her eyes widened, and she started sputtering nonsense.

“B-But, I-”

“What, Hye Mi?” he asked and sighed. “You have to. I want you to see them the way I see them, not because of me, but because your fear is making it harder for you.” He held her face and looked at her softly.

“I love you, Hye Mi. And I can’t afford seeing you so scared because of one simple thing,” he confessed, and with that, her heart softened. She still wasn’t sure about this, but at the same time, Hye Mi could clearly see her boyfriend’s effort.

She took a deep breath and nodded. Baekhyun was right, she thought. Someday, I need to get rid of my fears.

“Okay, I will.” she said, and when she was greeted by Baekhyun’s grinning, she knew that she had made the right decision.

She hopes.

 

•

 

Three days later, while Hye Mi was busy preparing for breakfast, Baekhyun came from behind her and said, “Let’s start today,”

“Start what?” she asked, even though she had an idea of what he meant. Baekhyun hummed while circling his arms around her waist and put his chin on her shoulder.

“Overcoming your fears,” he chirped and kissed her cheek. Hye Mi pursed her lips. Shutting off the stove, she turned around and stared at him. He could clearly see how nervous she was so he tried to ease her by rubbing her sides and kissing her nose.

“Don’t worry. We’ll start slowly, from the bottom, okay?” he assured, and Hye Mi, who didn’t have any choice, just nodded. He nodded too, and turned back to glance at her.

“Now, let’s go eat.” he chirped and pouted. He rubbed his stomach and made a puppy face. “I’m hungry… woof woof.”

Hye Mi rolled her eyes at his lame attempt to do aegyo and slapped him lightly. “Go away,” she kicked him out playfully, and Baekhyun laughed before leaving. Hye Mi shook her head and sighed when she remembered her deal with him.

Well, Hye Mi, you can’t be a scaredy-cat forever. She thought, assuring herself that she could do it and that Baekhyun just wanted the best for her.

 

 

 

 

“Okay, so…” Baekhyun started when they were in the middle of a meal, “let’s start by determining the extent of your fear.”

Hye Mi gulped down her water and looked at her boyfriend incredulously. “Seriously? Now?”

Her boyfriend gave her a nonchalant look. “Yes, now.”

“At least let me finish my breakfast,” Hye Mi grumbled and then sighed after a moment. “Fine, so how should we start?”

Baekhyun munched on his breakfast while glancing at the ceiling, probably thinking of ways to start their ‘lesson’. After a while, he looked at her and tilted his head.

“How about… you tell me of when you became scared of dogs,” he said. Hye Mi pursed her lips, her mind wandered to the thoughts of when she was a child.

“Um… probably since I was 8? I don’t remember much about it. Besides,” she narrowed her eyes and pick up her food, “didn’t I tell you about this before?”

Baekhyun chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. “Well, I want details Hye Mi.”

Hye Mi sighed and gulped down her water. “Fine.” she said after finishing her glass. “When I was young, I always played at the park not far from my house. Usually, my brother would come with me but one day, he was hanging out with his friends so he couldn’t. I remember my mom not giving me permission to go outside but I was bored, and I was little, so I snuck out without her knowing.”

“Well, you could say that I was having a lot of fun, until this one dog kept barking. I ran to him because I thought he needed my help. He was wearing a leash so I thought that maybe he wanted to walk or something,”

Hye Mi took a deep breath. She was starting to shake in fear, and she definitely didn’t want that. Baekhyun, who saw her discomfort, took her hand and gripped it tightly. It eased her heart a bit, but the panic was still there. She reminded herself that it was for her own good and so continued.

“While I was trying to figure out how to unlock the leash, he suddenly jumped on me. I yelled, and tried to get free but he bit my left leg and I cried so hard that my throat hurt.”

“Luckily, there was a passerby that helped me with the dog. I don’t know how he did that, but he succeeded. He sent me to the hospital and yeah, that’s basically the end of it. I was grounded by mom for, like, 3 months I think and since then, I was afraid of dogs.”

Baekhyun nodded understandingly and Hye Mi couldn’t help but throw him a questioning look.

“Wait, I thought you knew…”

“Of course, I knew.” Baekhyun cut her off.

"Then, why you’d ask me to tell it all over again?” Hye Mi glared at him, causing Baekhyun to chuckle.

“No reason,” he said nonchalantly, and Hye Mi’s face turned into disbelieving look. Before she could scold him, he stood, picked up the dishes, and kissed her temple.

“At least, you didn’t get panic attack just now,” he said before walking to the kitchen. Hye Mi trailed her eyes on him, wondering since when he turned into a psychologist… or something.

 

•

 

When the clock eleven, they decided to wash all their sheets. Baekhyun suddenly insisted on doing it outside their apartment, since "the weather was nice," he said. Hye Mi had no idea what he was planning.

Nevertheless, she agreed because she also thought that the weather was beautiful. Not to mention that Baekhyun was willing to help her get all the sheets; that’s saying something. They walked to the backyard, greeting some middle aged woman on their way out. Luckily, it was a common thing to wash sheets outside of their house so they were able to transfer the sheets without having to care about others’ weird looks.

Hye Mi put the sheets into a big pail while Baekhyun the pipe, letting the water flow from the hose onto the pail and sheets. When they thought the water was enough, Hye Mi asked Baekhyun to close it and to put in bubble soap. After that, they stepped in and started stomping on the sheets.

It was quiet for a moment until Baekhyun suddenly let out a laugh.

“Never thought that this could be fun!” he yelled a bit and chuckled. Hye Mi couldn’t see the point of his yelling but she just brushed it aside and beamed at him.

“If you think so,” she ducked and picked up some bubbles. Before Baekhyun could ask her what she was going to do them, she threw them onto his chest, causing his t-shirt to soak through. He gasped and Hye Mi laughed at his incredulous reaction.

“It’s a new t-shirt!” he exclaimed, but Hye Mi just stuck out her tongue.

“Do I care?” she yelled and laughed. While she was distracted, Baekhyun smirked, quickly scooped up some bubbles, and threw them right back at her. Hye Mi gasped at that and slowly looked up to see Baekhyun smirking deviously.

"You didn't," she hissed, but Baekhyun barely gave her any attention.

"Karma's a ," he said seriously, and Hye Mi just smirked in return.

And then, they had a bubble fight.

It was full of their laughter—mostly Hye Mi’s. From bubbles, they changed their tactics to splashing water on each other. Both of them were soaking wet and neither of them cared. It was in that moment that Hye Mi knew this was special—that being with Baekhyun was special.

Suddenly, something caught Baekhyun's attention. He perked up and exclaimed.

"Dog!"

Hearing that, Hye Mi jumped and sprinted toward Baekhyun. He was not ready for the sudden attack so by the time Hye Mi attached herself to him, he was already on the ground, wheezing for her to let him go. Baekhyun could feel the water leaking from the pail and he groaned at that.

"Hye Mi," he called. He reached for her arm that was wrapped tightly around him and tried to break the hug, but her hold was too tight. "Hye Mi, let go of me." He wheezed, wincing as he felt a sharp jab on his back. Probably rocks, he thought.

"Hye Mi, my back-" he stopped when, all of a sudden, he felt his girlfriend's body start to shake. His eyes widened in horror when he heard a sniffle and he adjusted their position so the he could sit with Hye Mi in his lap.

"Hey, Hye Mi," he said, worried when she didn't move. He rubbed her shoulders and shook it a bit, hoping that she would finally give him attention. "Hye Mi, look at me,"

After a moment, she finally looked up at him. His heart ached at the sight of her runny nose and unshed tears.

"I'm scared," she stuttered, and Baekhyun didn't hesitate to engulf her in a much-needed hug.

 

•

 

After trying to calm his girlfriend for God-knows-how-long, they finally decided to head back home. On the way to the elevator, Baekhyun asked two eleven-year-old boys to finish cleaning their sheets. After promising to give each of them 10,000 won, they finally agreed and Baekhyun quickly sent Hye Mi to their apartment to freshen up.

Ignoring that he was a bit wet too, he went to the kitchen to make some malt chocolate while she took a shower.

After 15 minutes, when Hye Mi had finished showering and putting on clothes, she slumped onto the couch, watching a re-run of her favorite drama while drinking Baekhyun's malt chocolate. She was staring blankly at the television screen when she felt a poke on her arm. She slowly turned her head and saw a freshly showered Baekhyun looking worriedly at her.

"You okay?" He asked, but Hye Mi was kind of distracted by the way he looked. He was only wearing a black t-shirt and shorts. His hair was a bit wet, and there was a towel hanging over his shoulders. Hye Mi tugged his shirt, asking him to come closer, and he did.

Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him and stuffed her face on his shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked again, and Hye Mi just replied with a nod. Baekhyun pursed his lips and returned the hug.

"I'm sorry," for surprising you, He thought.

Hye Mi shook her head. "Don't be," she murmured. Then, she tightened her hold around him. "I'm sorry," for not trying hard enough, she thought.

Both of them stayed like that until Hye Mi, embarrassingly enough, fell asleep in Baekhyun’s arms.

 

---

Part two will be up someday T_T