✽ ✽ ✽

In an unforeseen turn of events, Taeyeon roused from bed…smiling. Eyelids low, but free of sleep. Bleached hair not a complete morning disaster. Her shower didn’t scald her to kingdom come before she flexed the knobs just right. She devoted fifteen minutes to grab breakfast: half a French toast bagel. Made of bread, carbs. Real food.

On her train commute, she wasn’t sandwiched into uncomfortable angles. The office’s ert doorman (known to ogle women through security monitors) got the boot. Cubicle hours sped by in scrolling, documented intervals. Her born-again manager’s daily salvation speech got drowned out by Spotify playing the most unskippable mix of EDM into her earbuds.

It was Thursday.

A good day.

Taeyeon remembered to pack an extra set of clothes--jeggings, a pawprint-ready t-shirt, her trusty Keds--for 6:30. 6:30 with Diglett. Ahem, Lennon. Lennon, the peanut butter to her lonely jelly.

She even gathered the nerves to clock out forty minutes early. Her manager almost impeded her escape, a sanctimonious lecture at the tip of his tongue, until Taeyeon smiled. Bidding him a ‘blessed night’ in pandering finesse.

He held the elevator door for her.

Taeyeon browsed her once-beloved pet store. She hadn’t dipped a toe in there since Diglett’s accident. The little bugger would sniff dutifully through every single aisle, pinkish nose roving to a stop for his favorite smells. One of many being a display of rawhide treats.

Tears welling, the grieving woman brought a bag to a checkout line. Eyes fluttering to the ceiling whenever customers sauntered by with their living, breathing dogs.

These were big steps. Elephantine steps.

All for Lennon.

And at 6:30, with a goofy pup grin and wiggly spins, he hailed her arrival. That is, the dog and Jessica, his reserved owner.

As the Corgi-Aussie glossed Taeyeon’s cheek in juicy , Jessica maintained distance. Typing on her iPhone, rummaging through Lennon’s travel tote, running a thumb across her short, manicured fingernails in teal flicks. Looking goddamned bored out her mind. Taeyeon sneaked glimpses at her, concluding the woman radically different from a ‘dog person.’

Lennon, in contrast, hailed their visitor like a romantic. All the kisses Taeyeon wanted (needed, to be frank). The clever animal nosied into her purse, unearthing the paper sack of rawhide.

“I bought him low risk, natural treats. Hope that’s okay,” Taeyeon mentioned, praying the spoiling wouldn’t stop here. She had oodles of love (and bank) to shower on little Lenny.

Jessica detached the sunglasses from her collar. “I trust you won’t poison him.”

Taeyeon would never poison Lennon.

Never, never.

It’d obviously been a joke. Yet, sentimental tears crept down Taeyeon’s cheek. If Lennon died, he’d mirror Diglett in his final minutes on this earth. His laboured breath slowing to a standstill, unfocused stare to where she hoped was an afterlife for dogs. A heaven full of slow squirrels, tummy-scratching technology, endless sausages, and no jackass motorists to harm any of them again.

“What’s the matter?”

In those long seconds, her creeping tears merged into a snotty, mascara-bleeding mess. Taeyeon her bottom lip, head shaking. “Can we do a lap around the park?”

Jessica drew a handful of napkins from Lennon’s tote. “Have these.”

Two fresh packs of tissues sat in Taeyeon’s own bag, but she accepted the gesture out of courtesy. She attempted to muscle up a smile in exchange and failed terribly. Because the memories continued to form. The heartache, the sadness, the resentment invaded her skull, threatening to enable her dissociative state.

Maybe she’d been hasty. Venturing out again endangered Taeyeon. Meeting new people and exposing her heart to a dog that wasn’t hers could lead to a tremendous, irrevocable crash.

First loves were bound to end.

And some fools, like Taeyeon, wouldn’t earn a second.

“I...” She hiccupped. The fingers brushing Lennon’s pelt trembled. “I...won’t...”

Taeyeon sagged sideways onto a tree, ashamed of blubbering in front of another human. Ashamed for letting her cloak of normalcy slip from her shoulders. Ashamed for her wasted past.

Then, a set of fingers, light in weight and warm to the touch, found Taeyeon. It was Jessica’s. She smelled like roses.

Jessica softly said, “I brought Lennon’s yellow ball” like she was mediating a crazy lady.

Fitting. Taeyeon hadn’t expected this drama, either.

The hand that’d been Taeyeon’s relayed the loop of the leash. It also pulled her off the tree.

“Shall we walk?” Jessica asked, stepping away.

No questions? No teasing? No what-in-the-hell-did-I-get-myself-into discussion?

Taeyeon stared, stunned.

Speechlessly, she followed Jessica’s lead through a block lush with greenery, high bar fences, and running space for Lennon, who’d been waiting patiently. A true gentleman through and through. A true Diglett.

Taeyeon tickled his pointed ear, giggling. He sure knew how to lift her spirits.

So, afterwards, she regained her composure and rewarded him with a hearty game of fetch.

 

✽ ✽ ✽

“What in the hell did I get myself into?”

Jessica leaned a cheek on her palm, enduring over an hour of Lennon and his playmate dirtying themselves in a field. For sure, those grass stains wouldn’t ever wash out of Taeyeon’s pants. She sighed, finding herself logically bewildered.

And illogically infatuated.

“Really?” Jessica groaned. “The stars aligned for this woman?”

She’d dated respectable professionals, for god’s sake! A sculptor, an architect! The pole-dancing Astrophysics major Krystal fawned over to this day. Why was Jessica Jung, bedder of the country’s most desirable women, wallflowering it up on a splintery park bench? In what depths had her self-esteem tumbled to feed off Taeyeon’s energetic sprints and scare glances? Weren’t there doctors to remedy this? A supplement she could scoop into her morning coffee?

Was Taeyeon even seducible? Or ual?

Damn those bashful, watery eyes. And her gorgeous smile that’d been reserved for Lennon and only Lennon.

Nonetheless, Jessica would sooner pledge celibacy before reaching Fetch: Hour Three.

She advanced on the happy couple. Neither seemed to have lost steam, to her annoyance. Behind giant sunglasses, Jessica announced, “Break time. It’s going on two hours.”

“is it?” Taeyeon asked without meeting her eye.

“Yes. Lennon’s probably thirsty.”

“Good thinking.”

“A store nearby sells an obscenely extensive ice cream selection.” Jessica pointed. “I’ll treat you to a cone, if you’d like.”

“I wish those places supplied dog ice cream, too. A kickass recipe online uses pumpkin purée, bananas, and plain yogurt as a base. You ever consider blending some for Lenny?”

This (no pun intended) was enraging.

So, how come Jessica wanted to yank Taeyeon in by her grass-stained pant loops and go to town?

“Sure. Until then, will you partake?” The overcast night sky did nothing to the humidity. She fanned herself, fighting a sweat.

“No, thanks.” Taeyeon re-fastened Lennon’s leather leash. “C’mon, boy! Wanna take five?”

--

Jessica purchased a Melona bar and bottle of water for her and Lennon, respectively. As stubbor