Beautifully Untamed

Chapter Thirteen:

The soft melody that played just beside him made Ji Yong feel warm as he curled up around something big, soft, and very, very much safe. It was warm, welcoming, and he felt so completely at peace just lying over it. Soothing, nimble and long fingers ran across the traces of his hair and lulled his half idle mind to sleep.

A gentle breeze suddenly made him shake, and there was the distinct reminder that he couldn’t stay here much longer. That soon he was going to have to leave this warmth behind and return to reality. Burying his face deeply into the soft big thing, he noted as he was brought into an embrace.

“You’re getting so big,” someone near his ear whispered- so tender and fond “Please don’t grow up just yet,”

Ji Yong mumbled, struggling to open his eyes as well as lift his head from that person’s chest. He suddenly wanted to see them, that voice, so distant, yet so familiar to him… “Wha…?” His voice was muffled, and then he found himself falling into the cold darkness that suddenly surrounded him.

His eyes snapped open, looking around himself. A vast ocean of black that seemed to confuse him because the world was nothing but a dark void and he shivered, missing the warmth that had surrounded him before- and loneliness gripped his heart.

What was he doing here?

He had been dreaming again.

Ji Yong numbly rubbed his eyes as he sat up. For a moment the fog of the dream seemed to consume his mind as he tried to get himself moderately awake. Glancing around the practically empty room, he took a deep breath and finally nudged Gaho awake. Every passing second grounded him back to reality and far away from whatever his dream had been about.

From there, it was a quick morning as he cleaned himself and changed into new clothes from his usual ones. The baggy black shirt made him look like he was drowning in it, and his jeans a light blue pair were so skin tight on him, and his shoes a pair of colorful Osiris. He knew he had a lot of things that he needed to do today, one of them being to attend the rehearsals for the play that he had been skipping from now.

Yet, he couldn’t really focus his mind on just that.

There was still something that he was searching for and he just didn’t know where to find it. That was why he found himself walking now down a familiar path to the home of a sickly old woman--The same woman that he had met three days ago. Her name was Min Jun, and she seemed to like to collect useless things- but amongst those things she seemed to love to collect stray animals that she rescued from the streets.

Her house, although pleasant to look at from the outside, but on the inside it was a mess of dirty rags, trash, and in some unfortunate corners even dog feces . Ji Yong had scrunched up his nose the first time that he had entered it; the place stunk of wet dog, rotting, excrement and things he couldn’t even place a name to. It was starting to annoy him, because the smell just wasn’t going anywhere. Yet, it was not for the old woman that he truly kept coming back, it was for the dogs.

This had been the first time he had met a human so in love with animals. The light surrounding Min Jun was warm, but at the same time so painful. Gaho had mentioned that the light was more than likely her homely soul crying out for release in this world.

 “Why?” he had asked when he had first learned as to what she was doing, making Min Jun turn to him with a questioning look. “Why are there so many of them?” Ji Yong had asked clearly making her smile. Min Jun then turned her head back to her pets, running her fingers through their fur with the tenderest of touch.

“I never meant to have so many of them, but ever since I was young I would see people just abandon the poor little things,” She sniffed, shaking her head, “I could never stop the ache in my heart that went out to them. My parents saying no all the time really got to me. So I finally, after so long, decided to take action- you know, in this world we don’t live long. We could meet an end at just any point, whether old or young, and I could no longer stop myself and live the way that others did. I decided it was time I did what I wanted.” Min Jun closed her eyes briefly, “Even if no one else agrees, or would even offer to help, I’ve taken this burden on myself.”

She was right, not many humans would offer to help take care of so many pets. In fact, they would turn their heads and call her crazy before they even gave a real thought to what she was doing. But Ji Yong wasn’t human. He walked over to her, pressing a hand to her shoulder. “I’ll help you,” he said in a way that surprised himself. “I want to help you take care of them”

“Thank you!” Min Jun smiled brightly, for the first time ever someone didn’t think that she was outright crazy!

Ji Yong couldn’t help but to think that it was noble and fine that she wanted to help so many animals, but at the same time extremely foolish on her part. He could tell what she was trying to do was with the best intentions of her pure heart, but they could end up hurting her. The best thing he could do though was decide to help her.

After that, Ji Yong kept coming back to visit her. It was something he could focus his mind off besides whatever feelings he was having towards one Choi Seung Hyun. It was also something else he could do besides going to rehearse. He welcomed the distraction, but found himself in a frustrating situation when it came to Min Jun and how she liked things to be done. Even the mention of picking up some of the trash and tossing it had the woman going on a rampage.

She didn’t like change, and Ji Yong could clearly understand her on that. The problem was that the trash and the smell it made combined with the dog feces were starting to severely affect her health. So in his own way, he picked through every now and then and managed to throw a few things out without her knowing. Because, as much as she claimed that every piece of trash and rag there was some sort of  memento to her, it seemed as long as she didn’t notice she didn’t miss it.

 It was also why now he could come to understand why her daughter would show up. She would argue about keeping useless junk and that she needed to take the dogs to the dog kennel where they belong! Ji Yong could almost agree, if Min Jun had not started to tell him horror stories about how animals that were old and unwanted were more than often put to sleep.

Meaning that they were killed--

Not that Ji Yong knew whether this was true or a lie, but the woman had never given him a reason to think that she was dishonest.

“Ji Yong!” Min Jun suddenly called, the blond was currently struggling with bathing the dogs. “Have you seen Ghost?” She asked in a panic. Ghost was the number one residential cat. He was large and heavy, with the cutest sky blue eyes and a meow so sweet that it melted hearts.

“No, I haven’t.” he said, gently scratching behind the wet dogs ear.

“He’s gone! He’s missing,” Min Jun pulled at her hair in desperation. “I have to go out and look for him!” she cried, making her way back into the house and to the front yard, Ji Yong jolted as the dog that he was bathing, little Chip, and Min Jun’s youngest and currently the one that was most attached to her ran off. Ji Yong fell slightly into the soapy dirty water as he lost balance and then pushed himself up.

He was half wet and half sweaty as he made his way to follow after Chip- and found himself entangled by a hoard of dogs blocking his path. A second too long, he thought as he moved past them and towards the house.

A yellow cat by the name of Castiel dropped onto his shoulder, sinking his claws into his flesh. Ji Yong gently removed him, because he knew that if he tried to jerk him off the hook like claws of cats would truly rip a lot more skin than necessary. “What do you want?” he asked him, making the cat meow and then wiggle out of his grasp.

Stepping further into the messy house, he nearly tripped himself when a black cat ran into his legs, and hissed at him. He blinked down at the cat known as Blitzkrieg. She was one of the little trouble makers and one that was named after some sort of war tactic that her name made absolute sense.

Ji Yong sighed as he decided he would get nowhere fast if he wasn’t careful, and started to slowly make his way through the mess.

“Ji Yong!” Gaho barked, panic in his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, making his way over to him.

“Come on! Min Jun is out in the streets!” 

“She’s looking for Ghost,” Ji Yong nodded, as if it was normal to go out looking for a cat in the street.

“No! She’s literally in the street!” there was urgency in Gaho’s tone. This still didn’t register with Ji Yong as he finally made his way outside and walked into the front yard. He looked around as he descended the two steps and crossed down to the fence, and then walked out to the sidewalk. He looked down both sides of the sidewalk and didn’t see Min Jun or Chip for that matter.

“Chip!” he called out. Ga Ho glared at him in frustration.

“Follow me this way!” he snarled and Ji Yong did just that, running fast to keep pace with Gaho who ran down the right side of the walk way. This side led to a large intersection of four, where traffic always got heavy. The closer they got to it, the more they could hear a commotion happening. Somewhere near them, a lady let out a screeching scream and several other people gasped in shock. The deafening sound of honking and cars coming to abrupt stops filtered the air around them—all in a matter of seconds before there was shocked silence.

That silence was quickly replaced by Chip’s insisting and panicked barking.

Gaho picked up the pace, forcing Ji Yong to do the same.

They found Min Jun in the middle of the street, twitching and looking half dead with blood spilling into the corner of . Her right leg was still under a car and seemed to be thoroughly crushing her, but there was fear of removing the car just yet.  Ji Yong realized then what Ga Ho had been trying to tell him and immediately rushed out into the street. The cars around and the people didn’t matter to him as he reached Min Jun and pressed his hand to her head. His heart clenched at her state, and his fingers burned with whatever little bit of magic he had left and willed it to help her not die.

She suddenly mumbled something, her eyes looking glossy as she seemed to be in a daze, but undoubtedly still alive. It was annoying, how people were just watching and doing nothing, Ji Yong gritted his teeth when the man who hit her asked if she was okay.

Obviously, she was not okay! Couldn’t he see the damage that he had caused? Idiot human.

“Someone, call for help!” Ji Yong snarled.

That got people moving. It still felt like an eternity before police officers and an ambulance came to the scene. They had been able to help Min Jun, but the woman was never going to be able to walk again. What was even worse was that she had suffered such a harsh conclusion that she was no longer considered mentally capable to take care of herself anymore. She was half dead and half alive and he cursed that there was nothing that he could do to further help her.

He didn’t have his magic, and there was deep doubt in his own mind that he even had been able to use any to save her. It was a complete miracle that Min Jun was still alive. Yet, as he had closed his eyes and beg his magic, willed it to help him—he had felt as though it was there- just so out of his reach.

And Min  Jun’s daughter, whose name Ji Yong refused to even learn had turned to him with ire he knew he didn’t deserve- but completely accepted.

“This was your entire fault! You encouraged this of her!”

“I…”

“I don’t want to hear it!” the woman snapped. “I’m taking my mom away from here and I’m calling animal control to deal with this mess” there was finality on her tone as she walked away to make the phone call. Ji Yong didn’t pay much mind to her, as now he was faced with the predicament of sneaking every pet out of the house without her noticing.

Turning his head, he was met with the glassy look that had taken over Min Jun’s face, and Ji Yong found it a bit unsettling. As the daughter prattled around the house collecting God knows what, Ji Yong slowly approached Min Jun, and placed gentle fingers over her forehead. The woman’s eyes focused just slightly, and smiled up at him. Ji Yong smiled back, feeling oddly strange. 

No matter what he thought about humans and how he disliked them, this woman had proven something for him and softened him just a bit. It wasn’t humans that really counted, but the souls that they possessed deep inside, and Min Jun’s heart was as warm and pure as they came. It vaguely reminded him of something fond and warm that was just sitting in the very back of his mind. Something he had not thought about and couldn’t even pull to the forefront of his frustratingly limited mind. 

“I’ll take care of them,” he whispered, his fingers brushing the bangs out of Min Jun’s eyes before he stepped away from her completely. He thought he saw something like a light glow within Min Jun’s eyes, but then again, he could be mistaken. He moved about to do what he planned, not minding the daughter who was done collecting whatever it was she so thought they needed before taking her mother with her to her fancy silver car.

Ji Yong moved swiftly, collecting every pet and rounding them up. The several dogs and cats were there, except for one he noted—Ghost really had gone missing. By the time Ji Yong found a way to maneuver the animals around, the house had been hauntingly empty—as if no one had ever lived there before. Yet the strong stench and trash suggested an otherwise.

Finding homes for each pet was difficult. The cats ran off on their own accord, and all he could do was wish them luck. But still, there were just too many of them, and he had managed a few homes for three of them before he had been assaulted by animal control and stopped. They had explained that they would clean the animals, take care of them, and make them presentable so people could come in and offer suitable homes. He didn’t like it, and at the end took what he could and ran.

Now it was just he, Gaho and the last pup left that he just couldn’t let go of—Chip.

Ji Yong sighed deeply as he carried Chip in his arms. He was feeling completely down about having lost all the pets to the animal control. Ji Yong was the only thing those animals had left, and here he had lost them and had been unable to find them proper homes. It felt strangely as if he had betrayed them. Taking a few deep breaths, Ji Yong kept berating himself as he aimlessly walked forward, not noting that he had made his way to a nearby shopping center.

“Should we keep Chip?” Ji Yong asked Gaho whom through everything had been pretty much silent. The small pup on his shoulder sighed.

“I don’t know,” he said, “We can barely fend for ourselves, and you have a completely different diet” Not that Gaho didn’t mind Ji Yong spending time with Min Jun. It had taught his charge that other animals ate different things, not just raw meat of some poor unsuspecting animal that they had hunted down.

“Yeah”

Noticing that Ji Yong was not about to argue or say anything in stride, Gaho just nodded his head. “Let’s keep him; Chip doesn’t have anywhere to go and no one to care for him. Let’s keep him,” he finally said.

Ji Yong nodded, his feet automatically leading him to a store. Half way there he paused though, in front of one of the restaurants and thought about the amount of money that he had—zilch. He had none. He had stopped working and had collected nothing for his absence—and he was starting to regret it.

He was about to turn around and figure out something that he could do, when a familiar voice caught his ear. He turned his head, and his eyes widened at the moment that he saw Choi Seung Hyun—but that was not the issue. Far apart from his heart skipping a beat and his breath getting caught there was something else that made his blood run cold. The problem was that Sandara was there as well, and she was clearly hanging off Seung Hyun’s arm and giggling at something he had said as they exited. They walked past him, not noticing him as they made their way to the parking lot.

He was frozen in his spot, eyes wide as he watch Sandara reach for Seung Hyun’s head, looking up at him with a strange look in her eyes. Seung Hyun made an amused face, and then leaned down to capture her lips in a soft, intimate kiss. Chip Yelped and Gaho jumped away from him but he was not paying attention to them.

His body was trembling…and…

What was this burning feeling deep inside his chest?

Hehehe I really need to start focusing this story a bit more XD okay guys, be prepared for more gtop from this point.