The moment the three of them stepped into the animal shelter the next day, Hyunyoung cowered behind the two, tall males in hopes she could just disappear. She was really terrified and even though she knew the two of them would watch over her, she couldn't help but think she might be slain by the animals that day.

Sungjong turned around and saw how scared she was and softened. He took her hand and hugged her lightly. “You’ll be fine,” he murmured soothingly, “you can do it. I know you can. You believe and trust me, right?”

She nodded and took a deep breath.

But he could see how freaked out she was and tried to think of a way that could help her. “Remember when I was nervous before stepping into the theatre on my first day as director?” he asked her. “Remember how you were there, supporting me? Now it’s my turn to support you, Hyunyoung-ah,” he went on.

Sungyeol smiled softly, watching the pair. He went over to them. “If you’re really scared, we’ll leave,” he told her. “I don’t want you to stay here if you’re going to be scared. But if you’re willing to give it a chance, I can guarantee you that it’s not as bad as you think it will be. It’ll be fun.”

“I’m in with the idea,” Sungjong chimed in.

Hyunyoung didn’t want to let the two of them down, especially when they were being so nice. Plus, she had made it this far. Chickening out and going back home now would just prove what a coward she was. She took another deep breath and bravely walked further inside.

 I can do this, she conjured a mantra in her head.

“You can do this,” Sungjong encouraged, smiling positively.

“Sungjong, I’ll show her the ropes first while you get started and go take care of the dog pen?” Sungyeol offered, not wanting to go anywhere near Benji that day.

Sungjong grimaced, automatically knowing what his sunbae was implying but he nodded. Sungyeol was more familiar with this place than he was and would know where Hyunyoung would be safe best. “All right. Just — come to my aid if I start screaming because of that dog, okay?”

Sungyeol narrowed his eyes and cocked his head over to Hyunyoung.

Oops.

He probably shouldn't have said that because if Hyunyoung was terrified a moment ago — she was beyond scared at the mention of ‘come to my aid if I start screaming because of that dog’. So Sungjong just grinned sheepishly and hurried away with a little wave. “I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me!”

Sungyeol glared at his back before turning to Hyunyoung with a small smile. “Don’t mind him,” he told her. “He’ll be fine.” He glanced at her and softened. Suddenly he had a great idea. “I know!” he exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “Come with me, you’ll love this, I promise you.” He grabbed her hand and dragged her over.

“Where are you taking me?” she squeaked as she was helplessly dragged by him.

They past by cages of animals, dogs barking with excitement and cats looking curiously at them, until they reached almost the end of the aisle, where it was a lot quieter. Hyunyoung glanced around and saw that there were almost no animals in the last few rows and wondered what Sungyeol had planned to do with her. Was he just going to leave her here while the boys do everything? Or was he going to make her clean the place where there weren’t any animals so she wouldn’t be scared?

But when they reached the end of the aisle, Hyunyoung saw there was a lone German shepherd dog. It was beautiful with a tinge of sadness in the eyes and Hyunyoung felt her heart beat racing with compassion for this animal. She cautiously walked over, making sure she didn’t startle the animal.

“Her name is Pepsi,” Sungyeol told her, watching her from where he stood. “She was abused and abandoned. So now she has trust issues with some of us. She keeps to herself and doesn’t make any interactions except when they needed to feed her and give her a bath. She might bite unless you’re careful.”

Hyunyoung crouched down, unable to keep her eyes off her. Pepsi stared intently at her. She smiled at the dog and slowly reached out to grab hold of the cage. Pepsi eyed her before coming over, sniffing her scent.

“Hey, girl,” she said softly.

Sungyeol was amazed. Hyunyoung wasn’t scared of Pepsi and Pepsi was actually interacting with her. The more he watched, the friendlier the two of them got. He was beginning to feel like he was being a third-wheel. “I’ll just go and do my stuff, you can be in charge of Pepsi, okay?” he said to her.

Hyunyoung was too distracted with Pepsi to notice that he had left. “I’m going to open the cage, okay?” she said in a soft murmur, her fingers trembling as she reached for the latch. Pepsi watched her carefully. She smiled softly. “It’s going to be okay, I won’t hurt you.”

Pepsi whined softly, getting up on her feet.

“It’s going to be okay,” she went on, opening the door. Her hand inched closer to Pepsi. “I won’t hurt you, you gotta believe me. Okay?”

Pepsi pressed her muzzle against her palm, still whining softly. She paused before giving a light at her palm.

“Hey,” she smiled, petting her head. “You’re a good girl. Would you like to take a bath, hmm?” She stood up and ruffled Pepsi on the head. “Come on.” She cocked her head toward the place where animals are bathed.

Sungyeol wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead with the back of his hand and glanced up. They had been there for about three hours now. There were a lot of volunteers that day so the workloads were done pretty fast. In fact, they were allowed to go back now and they could have lunch on the way back. Sungyeol took a bath before coming out to see Sungjong coming from the showers as well.

“Hey . . . where’s Hyunyoung?” Sungjong asked, wiping his hair dry with a towel that was hung around his neck.

“Oh, I left her with Pepsi from the start of the day so she should still be with —” Sungyeol started to say but then he froze when he realized just what he had done and what he was about to say. “I left her alone with an animal. And Hyunyoung is afraid of animals.”

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