With a start, Taeyeon looked up from washing Ginger’s plastic bowl as she realized they’d had him for coming on two months.

She knew this because it was September 27th when Tiffany had brought him home; she remembered noting down the date with a kind of surgical detachment as she steeled herself to say the words she didn’t end up saying. His vaccination was in late October and now, mid November meant Ginger had been living with them for nearly two months.

A pattering on the kitchen tiles alerted her to the puppy’s presence. Taeyeon smiled down at him — he was still small, and would always be small, but wow, had she ever realized how much bigger he had gotten? Ginger sat down politely by her feet and barked once, looking up at her with his intelligent brown eyes.

“Almost,” she said, rinsing the bowl. “Remember what I said about being patient?"

Ginger barked again before rolling over.

“That’s playing dead, baby. Patience is stay! Okay? Stay!"

She stepped carefully over him and took out the bag of dog food. One large scoop and a half scoop. Taeyeon was just closing the cupboard door when she heard pawsteps. “Nuh uh,” she pointed at Ginger, who was poised right over the unattended bowl, “stay. Not yet, Ginger."

Taeyeon picked up the bowl and set it in his designated corner, next to the water dish. Ginger stood right by his food, and when Taeyeon finally said, “Okay!” he dug in with gusto.

Watching him eat, Taeyeon felt a hint of disappointment. Or maybe that was too strong a word? Mainly, she wished Ginger would just…like her more. She was the one who played with him first, every evening; the one who gave him his dinner; the one who clipped his toenails, even though he hated that. Was it the toenails? Was that why he always, always chose to sleep on Tiffany’s bed every night, instead of with Taeyeon?

“Ginger,” she called softly. The puppy looked up for a moment, ears twitching, before going back to his food.

What’s worse, she thought, was that the heating in the apartment was pretty terrible. They had one heater, and, though Tiffany had put up a surprisingly strong fight, Taeyeon had won in the end and insisted that it be kept in Tiffany’s room. After all, Ginger didn’t sleep with blankets and seeing him shiver in the cold made Taeyeon feel ten different levels of guilt. She could make do with more layers. It was just...

Taeyeon shook her head. It was many things. Things that wouldn’t be solved even if she moped about them for hours. So, instead, she started to make dinner.