Not that Mingyu cared much. 

 

He was cuddled in his couch. A bowl of popcorn in his hand as he watched the replays of old dramas. Reaching for his phone, he thought about calling Minji or the boys up so they could hang out. He was bored out of his mind but he decided to go against it since he knew that Minji was probably busy with her campaign and the boys were probably sleeping at home or something. Getting up to refill his bowl of popcorn, Mingyu heard the doorbell ring. 

 

 

He was met with the person he least expected it to be. 

 

"I need your help," 

 

"What are you doing here?" Mingyu said boredly, ready to close the door in the person's face.  

 

It was Jinah. 

 

Mingyu figured she probably walked to his house considering how drenched she was. Her hair was soaking wet, gathering in clumps. She was gripping tightly onto the hood of her hoodie, looking down.

 

As she lifted her head, Mingyu softened. 

 

Jinah was crying. The cold rain was dripping down her face, mingling with her tears. Her teeth were clattering together so hard, Mingyu thought they would shatter. 

 

"What-what's wrong?" Mingyu approached her slowly. He'd never seen the bright and optimistic Jinah in such a state before. She bit her thumb. 

 

"Please just help me," Jinah wiped her face, she struggled to keep still. She took a deep breath before turning and pointing outside at the grass. Glancing towards the directon she was pointing to, Mingyu's eyes widened as he saw Leo lying on the grass, tail wagging weakly. 

 

 

 

 

 

Soonyoung groaned as he woke up from his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around him, half asleep. He wondered why he was still in the flower shop. As he tried to get up to leave, he felt something leaning on his shoulder. Oh, right. 

 

"Minji?" Soonyoung's sleepy voice was huskier than usual. He gently shook her. She stirred in her sleep before her eyes fluttered open slowly. 

 

"5 more minutes.." She muttered as she snuggled closer into Soonyoung's neck, wrapping her arms around his waist. 

 

Grinning like an idiot, Soonyoung shook his head as he took out his phone to check the time. 4.15pm. 

 

Soonyoung wasn't planning on falling back asleep but it was only 4 and he didn't want to go home, remember his loss and then become a puddle of tears. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head on Minji's. And compared to the cold rain outside, Minji felt warm. He liked that. 

 

-------

 

"Looks like he's not going to last any more days," The Vet, Ms Lee, told the two sullenly as she lightly pet Leo's fur. Leo was whimpering quietly, his eyes vacant and glassy. 

 

Jinah bit her lip. She reached out to pet Leo and quietly contemplated on what she should do about Leo. She felt so angry and helpless. Angry at herself for not noticing how much Leo had been suffering these past few days, angry for not being as great as a friend to Leo as he was to her. 

 

"Do you.. Do you think we could put him to sleep?," Jinah's voice cracked before quickly adding, "I mean- Will he stop being in pain if we do that?" Leo lifted his head to look at her, his eyes now looking tired. 

 

"We could do that…" Ms Lee nodded and shot a glance at Jinah, waiting for her decision. 

 

in a deep breath, Jinah nodded, "Yes, okay, we'll do that," Bending down so that she was face to face with the dog, Jinah Leo's head, a sad smile forming on her face, "Everything's going to be okay, okay? This is only going to hurt for a while…" Using the last bit of energy he had left in him, Leo got up slightly and her hand before he collapsed on the table again. Mingyu pitied the creature, momentarily forgetting the ill feelings he had for it. It was in pain and there was nothing they could do to ease it. 

 

Ms Lee put on her gloves and started to prepare a needle. Mingyu shifted uncomfortably in his place, he didn't know whether to stay in here with Jinah or to give them some privacy so he just stood awkwardly by the door. 

 

Jinah once read a book about how all dogs have a mission to fulfill everytime they came onto earth. They were each assigned to a home, whether with a human or with other animals. They'd have to finish their mission before they died for if they failed to do so, they'd keep coming back to earth. Jinah thought that Leo was assigned to her. 

 

"You've done a great job Leo…til the end," Jinah gingerly Leo's golden fur. He felt soft and warm. Jinah winced as she realised that he wouldn't stay like that for long. Ms Lee looked at Jinah for a second confirmation and Jinah gave a firm nod, pursing her lips. As Ms Lee injected the substance into Leo, Leo whimpered and his legs shook. 

 

"Shh.. It's okay… You're okay," Jinah his ear, "Don't worry.. You've fulfilled your task, you can rest now," Leo's whimpers softened and his legs slowly relaxed. Jinah in a breath. Ms Lee took out the needle and Leo's eyes slolwy shut. "I love you, Leo," Jinah gently brushed her thumb against the golden retriever's face, tears spilling from her eyes. Leo's leg brushed her hand as if to say "Thank you," Mingyu's heart sunk. 

 

-----

 

Soonyoung and Minji's naps were rudely awokened by a loud, banging noise. Soonyoung's eyes shot open at the sound of someone barging into the shop. His arms quickly stretched out infront of Minji, shielding her. Minji was also shocked, terror written all over her face as she caught sight of the shadow of the person standing at the door. 

 

"Ey, what are you two kids doing here?" A nasally voice called. The sound of boots dragging across the floor could be heard before the two saw a man towering over them, the expression on his face telling them that they were dead meat. He was probably in his early forties, and he was a glob of grumpiness. 

 

"The owner of the shop," Soonyoung quickly whispered in Minji's ear as he tugged her up. 

 

The man said nothing but raised his eyebrows.

 

Soonyoung bent down and collected dust in his hands and cleared his throat, "Um. We were just.. cleaning up?" It came out sounding like more of a question than an answer. Soonyoung smiled slightly, embarassed. 

 

"Really?" The man approached them,turning his head to the side to spit, much to the disgust of the two teens. Soonyoung gulped

 

"Get out of here or I'll call the police," The man raised his gruff voice. Soonyoung glanced at Minji. 

 

"Out. now." 

 

And they were out. 

 

~

 

"What now?" Minji brushed the dust off her jeans before looking up to lock eyes with Soonyoung. 

 

Shrugging, Soonyoung started to walk, "I don't know. I don't wanna go home because it's probably in the worst state I could ever imagine. I mean, if my home could get any worse," He looked up at the sky, gritting his teeth, willing the tears not to come. He couldn't look at Minji, he didn't want to look weak. 

 

"Hey!" Minji stood on her toes and ruffled his hair, "Don't be so negative," 

 

Soonyoung gave her the my-grandmother-just-died-and-my-family-is-in-a-severe-financial-crisis look. 

 

"Fine," Minji replied as she crossed her arms, thinking of what they could do to bring up Soonyoung's mood. Suddenly, her eyes glowed and a smile spread across her countenance. Soonyoung raised a brow. 

 

 

Grabbing Soonyoung's hand, they intertwined fingers and soon they were running down the streets lined with shophouses, occasionally getting into the way of passersby, but they didn't care. 

 

-----

 

Mingyu glanced at Jinah worriedly for the nth time. Not surprisingly, she was still staring at the river, the look in her eyes empty, slightly opened. 

 

Moving his palm up and down in front of her eyes, Mingyu broke the long silence, "Hello? Jinah?" 

 

"He used to wave his paw too," Jinah mumbled, her eyes not leaving the river. 

 

"Oh come on," Mingyu groaned and shook his body frustratedly on the bench. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as he turned the other way. He heard Jinah sigh loudly and he shook his head. 

 

Then, a thought struck his head. Mingyu whipped his head to face his depressed friend. A sly smile forming on his face. Never letting his eyes look away from Jinah, he slowly slid in closer to her, lessening the distance between them. Jinah felt someone staring at her so she looked at Mingyu. She made a face and turned away. 

 

"Don't touch me," Jinah muttered and reached her arm out to slap Mingyu but she found herself hitting air. What the. She  slammed her palms down on the bench and whipped her head towards Mingyu's direction. To her surprise, he was gone. Ready to leave and hunt him down, Jinah got up but she felt something snuggling into her leg. Glancing down, she came face to face with Mingyu. On the ground, on his knees, snuggling into her leg and barking. Suppressing a smile, Jinah sat back down and crossed her arms, putting on an unamused look. 

 

Mingyu looked up and smiled, flashing his perfect set of teeth. The two teeth at the corners of his mouth reminded Jinah of canines. She shook her head and looked down, trying to cover up the smile creeping up on her face. Mingyu jumped up and pressed his palms on the space on the bench beside her. Struggling a little, he hopped up to the bench and faced Jinah. 

 

"Look, I'm Leo. I'm big, yellow and scary-" Mingyu said in a low voice, that was nothing like how Leo would've sounded like, and then stuck out his tongue. Jinah gave him a look. 

 

"Okay, not scary but very fluffy and.." Mingyu looked at Jinah, she raised both brows, willing him to say the word. 

 

Mingyu gulped, "And cute," He never thought he would have ever used that word to describe Leo but as he saw Jinah's face light up, he felt relieved. 

 

She reached out to ruffle his hair and snuggled closer into her shoulder. She let out a giggle and pulled him closer so that she was hugging his neck. Mingyu stiffened at this contact. The odd thing was that instead of pulling away, he wanted to curl up closer to her. 

 

"Oh- I'm sorry-" Jinah abruptly let go, realising the situation. Mingyu cleared his throat and they both awkwardly stared at each other. 

 

"Hey, mum look! Is it a human dog?" A small excited voice called from their right. It came from a little boy smiling at the two, an amused expression written all over his face. He pointed to them with one hand and his other held onto his mother's hand. His mother, on the other hand, had a seriously worried look on her face as she hurriedly tugged her son away from the weird scene in front of her. 

 

"Wha-" Mingyu opened his mouth before realising that he was still perched on the bench on his knees. Jinah laughed out loud as Mingyu stumbled to get to his feet, hiding his embarassed face by looking at the ground. 

 

Huffing, Mingyu glared at Jinah and started towards the exit of the park. 

 

"No word about this. To anyone," Mingyu shouted, annoyance clear in his voice. 

 

Still in a fit of giggles, Jinah shook her head and got up to her feet and followed him, "Wait up, neighbour!" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A/N: well.. it's been awhile. I'm sorry for not updating!! But if you're still here reading this dumb story, I love you <333 Please continue to support this fic! Keep commenting and sharing. Thank you!!