Kai yawned as he entered EXO's waiting room at the stadium in Busan.

  He and his group members were already made up, in their costumes and all set to perform for the annual concert festival.  

  If only their turn to perform would come quicker, he could already be sleeping in an hour, he thought resignedly. 

  As he stepped inside the room, he heard a joyful bark and was greeted by his dog Jjanggu who ran up to him and jumped excitedly in greeting. 

  He smiled at his beloved pet and bent down to pat its head before looking up into the angry eyes of Oh Sehun. 

  The smile drained from Kai's face and he winced inwardly, expecting the worst. 

  "Yah, Kai, can't you let me play with your dog in peace? What are you doing here? I told you to stay away," Sehun scolded from his position on the floor and pouted. 

  Kai secretly smirked. He knew it annoyed Sehun every time his dogs would come to him immediately the moment they see him. 

  Then he felt a bit guilty towards Sehun who was actually fond of dogs but never had any of his own. 

  The guilt disappeared, replaced with pride, when he thought about how smart his dogs were. It was all thanks to his hours spent on training them. 

  "Uh, I needed to..." Kai trailed off and looked around the room they were in, "... take that magazine."

  He pointed to a thin magazine that was lying on the coffee table and pasted a fake smile on his face. 

  Sehun looked back at him, raising a perfect eyebrow -- apparently not believing what Kai had just said. 

  Kai sighed. "There's nothing else to do out there. Where else was I supposed to go? This is EXO's waiting room and I'm part of this group, remember?" he retorted. 

  If only other SM Entertainment artistes were to perform at the event, Kai would have had an opportunity to visit their waiting rooms but EXO was the only one and he wasn't close to other artistes for now. 

  Sehun grumbled and looked dejectedly around the room at his other members, all doing their own thing and looking positively bored.

  Looking at the maknae who was now pouting, Kai sighed again as his guilt returned full-force. 

  He had brought Jjanggu today to the concert location because he had just picked the dog up from the salon and didn't have time to send it back home. 

  He had no choice but to take his pet along to the concert festival. Luckily their manager had allowed it. 

  Also watching Sehun sulk and pout sadly, Baekhyun walked up to the maknae and patted him on the back comfortingly.

  "Kai, you stay in here," Baekhyun suggested, "while Sehun and I take Jjanggu for a walk."

  He pulled on the leash that was tied to Jjanggu, trying to softly detach the dog from its master. 

  Kai shrugged and sank into the armchair that Baekhyun vacated, taking out his phone from his pocket. 

  "Don't lose him," he said in warning. 

  "Of course we won't," Sehun said incredulously, taking the leash from Baekhyun's hand. He looked serious, but Kai could see a smile growing on his face.

  Kai stared after them as they left the room, smiling at Sehun's eagerness to play with Jjanggu without him around. 

 

  Kai was nodding off in the armchair a little over ten minutes later when Sehun and Baekhyun burst into the room, giving him a shock. 

  "Kai ah, come with us quick!" Baekhyun said excitedly. 

  "To where?" he asked boredly, yawning.

  "A few girls out there didn't believe us when I said that Jjanggu will go straight to you when he sees you," Sehun explained. 

  Kai raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Which girls? Fans? And where's Jjanggu?"

  Baekhyun softly hit his head with his hand. "Ah, forgot to tell you. He's with Nicole and Hara-noona outside. We came across them when we were walking along the hall and they seemed smitten with him."

  At the mention of those names, Kai felt strange nervousness come over him. 

  He remembered that KARA was one of the concert's performing acts as well. Earlier when he was walking around, he didn't come across any of the members. 

  What did they want with him?

  "So why must I go out there?" Kai asked, struggling to sound calm and unperturbed. 

  "So that we can prove to them that Jjanggu will come to you when you call him," Sehun said impatiently. "Come on, show off your dog a little."

  Baekhyun grinned. "Yeah, the girls love him."

  He felt very uneasy as he reluctantly let them pull him outside to where he saw three girls petting Jjanggu. Apparently Seungyeon-noona had joined Nicole and Hara. 

  Baekhyun rushed to the girls and informed them of Kai's arrival. The girls looked over to him and ooohed when Jjanggu squirmed out of their grasp to run towards its master. 

  "Oooh! You were right!" Nicole exclaimed, watching Jjanggu jump excitedly around the visibly reddening Kai, who bowed to the girls in greeting.

  "That's amazing!" Hara said and Seungyeon nodded in agreement. "He didn't even call him!"

  "Yes, yes, it's as if Jjanggu has a sixth sense," Baekhyun joked, forcing a laugh. 

  Kai looked at his hyung incredulously. He was trying too hard to impress the girls!

  "Er, I don't know how he knew I was coming," Kai said modestly. "Maybe I... trained him well?"

  The girls laughed.

  "Of course. You must have spent a lot of time with him to have that special connection," Seungyeon explained. 

  Kai suddenly remembered that Seungyeon was on that animal programme once. 

  He shrugged. "I suppose I did."

  Seungyeon came closer to Jjanggu and put out her hand. "Annyeonghaseyo, Jjanggu. My name is Seungyeon. Shake!" 

  Jjanggu simply stared at her hand before looking back at her. 

  Seungyeon giggled nervously. "He ignored me!"

  Nicole rubbed Jjanggu's head softly to get his attention and made a shooting action with her fingers. "Bang!"

  Again, the dog looked at her blankly and had the gall to yawn. 

  "Aigoo! You haven't trained him to do anything yet, Kai-ssi?" Hara asked. 

  Kai looked affronted. "Of course I have." He looked at Jjanggu and called for the dog, who walked excitedly around his legs. 

  "Jjanggu ya, sit."

  The dog followed his command immediately and sat. 

  "Roll over." It rolled over. 

  "Come on. Stand up. Bang!" It fell to the ground somewhat dramatically. 

  "Uwah!" The girls, Baekhyun and Sehun looked on, impressed.

  "You really did train him well!" Hara said. 

  Kai smiled proudly at his dog and shrugged. "Dogs are special and brilliant creatures, I think. It's amazing how they can sometimes understand what you tell them. I've always considered them to be a good judge of character."

  The girls nodded with a smile, seemingly impressed by Kai's insight on dogs. 

  "Let's try it again!" Nicole said excitedly. "I'll hold Jjanggu and you go hide, Kai-ssi. Give me at least a minute to distract him before you come."

  Kai mutely nodded and smiled shyly at the female idol. He did as he was told, going to a hidden corner with Sehun and Baekhyun and leaving his puzzled dog with the girls.

  Once safely hidden, the two other members grinned and gave him a thumbs-up. 

  "Thank God you brought Jjanggu," Baekhyun stated. "At least there's entertainment for us."

  Sehun snickered while Kai looked oddly at them both. "Why are you so excited about this?" Kai asked. 

  "Come on, I think we can go in already," Baekhyun said, pulling him towards the girls and swiftly ignoring his question. 

  Like before, Jjanggu turned to see  Kai silently approaching and rushed towards him, away from Nicole. 

  "Oh my God! That's such a clever dog!" Nicole exclaimed in awe, just as the door to KARA's waiting room nearby opened. 

  Kai felt his heart stop beating when KARA's maknae — the girl he secretly had his eye on, the girl he secretly had been a fan of, the girl he secretly looked for whenever they have the same schedule or whenever she appears on TV, the girl that made his heart beat ten times faster every time he saw her, the girl he was crushing on — poked her head out of the room.

  "What's going on out here?" she asked her members suspiciously. 

  "Jiyoung-ah! Look! A dog!" Hara pointed to Jjanggu who had turned its attention away from him and to Hara. 

  Jiyoung's eyes followed Hara's line of eyesight and they widened when she saw Jjanggu. 

  "Omo!" Jiyoung exclaimed and immediately rushed towards the dog. She skidded to a stop when she saw the male idol standing behind the animal. 

  "Oh! Sorry, didn't see you there. Annyeonghaseyo," Jiyoung greeted softly with a bow, which Kai didn't return as he was too stunned to see her. 

  She didn't notice it though, as her attention was mostly on the dog. 

  Shyly greeting the other EXO members, she approached Jjanggu excitedly and squatted down in front of it. 

  The dog looked back at Jiyoung without showing any reaction to her.

  "So pretty!" Jiyoung gushed and briefly looked up at Kai, who was blushing and still blatantly staring at her. "Is this your dog?"

  When no answer came from him, Baekhyun stepped forward and nudged him on the side. 

  "Yes, it is," Baekhyun answered, nudging Kai. 

  Jiyoung giggled and softly patted Jjanggu's head. "What is its name?"

  "His name is Jjanggu," Sehun answered when Kai didn't. 

  Jiyoung beamed and smiled appreciatively at Sehun, who blushed and smiled back. 

  "Annyeonghaseyo, Jjanggu! My name is Jiyoung. Let's be friends, okay?"

  She held out her hand, smiling gently at Jjanggu. To everyone's surprise, Jjanggu put his right paw into Jiyoung's hand.

  "Wow! How did you do that, Jiyoung ah?" Seungyeon asked. 

  Jiyoung looked surprised by everyone's facial expression. "Do what?"

  Without giving a chance for them to answer, Jiyoung turned her attention back to the dog.

  "You're a handsome dog, aren't you?" Jiyoung cooed, scratching Jjanggu's head and running her hand over its soft fur.

  The dog gave a delighted bark and her hand. "So gorgeous!" Jiyoung squealed.

  Kai looked down at the female idol in amazement. Right on cue, his heartbeat was now a thousand times faster than normal. 

  "Very gorgeous," he whispered as he looked her over. 

  Jiyoung was grinning at the responsive dog as it placed its right paw on her knee as a way of greeting. 

  "So friendly and sweet!" Jiyoung added, laughing as Jjanggu came closer to her and her nose, his tail wagging rapidly. 

  Jiyoung cupped Jjanggu's face with her hands and kissed it before laughing some more. 

  Kai gaped at the beautiful sight. He took the opportunity to check out the girl closely. Similar to her members, Jiyoung was wearing a white see-through blouse with a white tube top underneath and a pair of white cut-off shorts. 

  Kai marveled at her very fair and soft skin and her long dark red hair that had soft curls at the end. 

  Jiyoung's squeal broke his train of thoughts. Apparently Jjanggu had jumped excitedly on her, making her fall back on the floor. 

  The other girls, Baekhyun and Sehun laughed at Jjanggu's antics.

  Panicking a bit, Kai nervously pulled on Jjanggu's leash, trying to calm the dog down and hold it back. 

  "Sorry," he muttered, glaring at his dog. 

  "Wow. Jjanggu isn't usually this comfortable around strangers, right, Kai?" he heard Baekhyun address him. 

  Kai nervously cleared his throat before mumbling, "Yes." He made a mistake of looking down into her sparkling eyes as they gazed at him.

  Now his heart was beating so fast that it almost hurt.

  "He seems special," Jiyoung said softly to Kai, who managed to move his facial muscles and form a smile, even though contorted. 

  "Yeah, he wasn't this excited when he saw us, right?" Nicole asked Hara and Seungyeon. 

  They hummed in agreement. 

  Seungyeon said, "Jiyoung loves dogs more than anything. She has four of her own."

  Of course Kai knew all about her dogs. He knew their names and breeds too. 

  "Aah," Baekhyun acknowledged. "So maybe Jjanggu could sense that Jiyoung-ssi is always around dogs."

  Kai saw Jiyoung's eyes widen as they focused on Baekhyun. "Are you saying that I smell like a dog?" she asked, pretending to be offended. 

  "No, that's not what I meant!" Baekhyun laughed uneasily and the others laughed at his nervousness. 

  Meanwhile, Jjanggu kept whining and pulling on its leash to go towards Jiyoung, who reached out her hand to pat him on the head. 

  "Jjanggu ya, sit," Jiyoung said. 

  Kai blinked in surprise when his dog did just that and visibly calmed down.

  "Roll over!" When Jjanggu's belly was exposed, Jiyoung took the opportunity to rub it, much to the dog's delight. "Good boy."

  "Uwaa, Jiyoung-sunbaenim. I've never seen anyone else who could get Jjanggu to do that," Baekhyun said in wonder.

  "Yeah. Just now Seungyeon-Unnie and I tried doing the same thing but he ignored us," Nicole complained. 

  Jiyoung looked back at them wide-eyed. "I... don't know. I just did what I usually do with dogs."

  "Yah, why does he like you so much suddenly?" Hara asked, pretending to be jealous.

  Jiyoung giggled. "I don't know!"

  Kai also wanted to know why and was giving his dog a questioning stare.

  "Hey, let's try that thing again with Jiyoung," Nicole suggested excitedly. 

  "What thing?" Jiyoung asked curiously, turning to look at her members. 

  Baekhyun said, "Wait and see. Kai and Jjanggu have a special bond. Sometimes it's like they have telepathy."

  Jiyoung looked at Kai in surprise. "Wow. Really?"

  Kai was stunned to suddenly be in the spotlight. "Er, what?"

  Baekhyun shook his head hopelessly at him and told Jiyoung, "Just wait and see, sunbaenim. You hold Jjanggu, while we go and hide."

  At Baekhyun's orders, Kai let go of the leash and Jjanggu jumped into Jiyoung's arms happily. 

  The girl in turn giggled and sat down carefully cross-legged on the floor, still holding on to Jjanggu. 

  Kai didn't turn away from the sight until he, Baekhyun and Sehun reached the turning into the hallway. 

  As they kept themselves hidden from Jjanggu's eyes, Baekhyun rounded on Kai. 

  "Yah, what's the matter with you? Suddenly tongue-tied?" he scolded. 

  Sehun nodded. "Yeah! Before Jiyoung-sunbaenim came out, you were talking just fine."

  Kai winced and sighed. He couldn't tell them about his crush on Jiyoung. He would be teased till next year!

  "I'm sorry. I'll speak up more," he mumbled, without really meaning it. 

  He shouldn't have followed them out of the room. He wasn't like Baekhyun who could talk up a storm with anybody. 

  He wasn't like Sehun who could put on the calm and cool attitude whenever he wanted to. 

  Sure, he could be manly and tough and strong and stylish when the situation calls for it, but whenever she was around, he would turn into a puddle of mush. 

  "Do you like her or something?" Sehun asked him suspiciously. 

  Kai's eyes widened at the question. "No!" he answered, too quickly and too loudly. 

  He saw Baekhyun and Sehun looking back at him skeptically, almost identical when they each raised their right eyebrow.

  Looking to change the topic, Kai said hurriedly, "Come on, Jiyoung's waiting. I mean, uh, Jjanggu's waiting."

  Before the other two could interrogate him about his slip-up, Kai turned the corner and quietly approached the girls. 

  He did hear Baekhyun say, "Did he just refer to Jiyoung-ssi informally?"

  Kai winced inwardly. That's what he was used to calling her in his dreams! He couldn't believe he let it slip.

  "I didn't know they're friends," Sehun said, sounding affronted at being left out. 

  Kai rolled his eyes as he tried to ignore the duo's busy-body chatter. 

  From far, he could see that Jjanggu really enjoyed being around Jiyoung. 

  He was comfortably sitting on her lap facing her, his face reaching towards hers. 

  The girl was positively glowing as Jjanggu nuzzled into her neck and her cheek. 

  Kai stopped in his tracks as he stared at the scene. 

  "And what is up with your dog?" he heard Sehun ask, with a mixture of wonder and annoyance in the latter's voice. 

  Kai honestly didn't know the answer to that question. Jjanggu was acting very strangely indeed. 

  How on earth was he able to get close to a girl so easily? 

  Kai couldn't believe he was jealous of a dog. For some odd reason, he wished he was one. 

  "Are you sure you haven't been bringing Jjanggu to see Jiyoung-ssi every weekend to get acquainted?" Baekhyun asked curiously with an eyebrow raised.

  Kai shook his head vigorously. 

  "Then how do you explain this picture?" Baekhyun gestured towards Jiyoung and Jjanggu, whose tail was wagging excitedly. 

  "I don't know, okay?" Kai said tiredly. 

  Jiyoung looked up and smiled as Kai silently walked up to her and Jjanggu. 

  Usually by now Jjanggu would have sensed his presence and run to him but to Kai's horror, the dog appeared oblivious and continued to sit on Jiyoung's lap. 

  "Eh? How come he's not coming to you?" Baekhyun asked Kai, scratching his own head. 

  "That's weird!" Seungyeon said.

  "Yeah. Just now I was holding him and when Kai-ssi came, Jjanggu immediately went to him. Kai-ssi didn't even call him," Nicole told Jiyoung. 

  "Ohh," Jiyoung acknowledged, looking down at the dog. She looked at Kai and shrugged. 

  Kai was fuming inside. How dare Jjanggu humiliate him like this?

  "Jjanggu ya," he called, trying hard to calm his rage. 

  He frowned in horror when Jjanggu lifted his head to look at him boredly and yawned but made no move to leave Jiyoung's embrace. 

  "Jjanggu ya,"Jiyoung said to the dog, who turned to look at her. "Your appa is calling."

  Jjanggu turned to look at Kai for three seconds before nuzzling Jiyoung's neck again and her cheek. 

  The KARA members, Sehun and Baekhyun laughed at Jjanggu's ignorance towards its master. 

  Stifling her giggle, Jiyoung continued to hug the dog and her hands on its silky fur.

  "Man! It's like he's in love with her or something!" Baekhyun exclaimed in amazement. 

  "Did you wear a special perfume that attracts dogs, Jing?" Nicole asked jokingly. 

  "Unnie!" Jiyoung scolded, laughing. 

  "Kai-ssi, you now have competition for Jjanggu's affections," Hara told the reddening idol. 

  The others laughed while Kai felt his face redden.

  Jiyoung glanced at Kai, guilt etched on her face. Holding Jjanggu in her arms, she stood carefully and walked towards the male idol. "Here you go," she said with a smile, passing Jjanggu over to him.  

  Kai wordlessly took the dog into his arms and stared at the girl as she briskly wiped her hands on her bottom to rid off dust from her shorts. 

  He secretly cherished whatever little skinship that they had just then. When their skin touched, he certainly felt a tingle. 

  He wondered what it would be like to actually hold her hand. Or better, to kiss her. Would it be electric?

  He tore his gaze away when Jjanggu whined pitifully, as if begging to be held by Jiyoung again.

  The girl giggled, reached over and scratched Jjanggu's head. "So precious," she said softly, lifting her gaze to look at Kai in the eye. 

  Kai stared back in a daze and mutely nodded. He felt that everything else was quiet around them when she smiled at him, the corners of her eyes crinkling in excitement. 

  He felt himself smile back but Suho's voice broke into his train of thoughts. 

  "Guys, we need to be ready soon. Come on," Suho said, running up to s before noticing the girls. "Oh, annyeonghaseyo, sunbaenim."

  "Annyeonghaseyo," the girls greeted back, smiling. 

  Baekhyun, Suho and Sehun started to walk back to their room, leaving Kai behind with the girls, who came closer to give Jjanggu one last pat on the head. 

  "Bye, Jjanggu," Seungyeon, Hara and Nicole said, before heading towards their own room. 

  Nicole looked over her shoulder and said with her eye smile, "Bye, Kai-ssi!"

  Kai absently nodded at her before giving his full attention to the girl in front of him, who hasn't shown any sign of wanting to leave. 

  He was awestruck by his and her close proximity. He kept staring at her face up close and admiring her beauty when she came closer to Jjanggu in his arms. 

  Jiyoung held Jjanggu's head with both hands and kissed it. "Bye, Jjanggu. Be a good boy, okay?" she said to the dog, who whined woefully.

  Jjanggu struggled and tried to jump towards Jiyoung but Kai remembered to tighten his grasp on the dog. 

  Jiyoung giggled and glanced briefly at Kai before gazing back Jjanggu. "Stay with your appa, okay? You have to go now." 

  Jjanggu whined in reply, making Jiyoung giggle some more. 

  "I'll miss you," Kai blurted suddenly. 

  Jiyoung looked up sharply at him, her smile slowly disappearing from her lips. 

  Kai blinked when he realized what he had just said. 

  Nervously, he forced a laugh and cleared his throat. "I mean, uh, that's what Jjanggu would say. That, uh, he'll miss you."

  Jiyoung's face broke into a huge grin that made Kai's heart skip a beat. "Oh really?"

  Kai blushed, nodded mutely and looked away before discreetly grimacing. 

  Mentally slapping himself, he wished he could turn back time to undo his mistake.

  Or at least erase her memories.

  Or at least will the ground to open and swallow him whole.

  "Well, then, I'll miss you too, Jjanggu," she heard Jiyoung say softly. 

  Confused, he glanced back at her nervously. He found that she was looking at him in the eye and trying not to smile.

  "I hope to see you again," she continues shyly but not breaking their eye contact, pointedly adding, "Jjanggu."

  Kai took a second to get what she meant before bursting into laughter, which she also joined. 

  She meant that she'd miss him! Not Jjanggu! Kai felt like breaking into a dance sequence at that moment. 

  Now both idols were blushing away and looking shyly at each other. 

  "Um, we better go," Kai said, resigned when he heard Chanyeol's voice calling him.

  Jiyoung sighed. "Okay." She smiled at Jjanggu and patted his head before walking backwards towards her waiting room. 

  Looking at Kai, she said, "Well, see you around, Jjanggu." 

  Kai smiled hugely at her as she gave him one last radiant smile, tore her gaze away from him shyly and disappeared behind the closing door. 

  Kai's smile didn't falter one bit as he made his way to EXO's waiting room. Suddenly he felt like skipping in happiness. 

  He looked down at his dog, his anger due to his previous humiliation now has disappeared. 

  Jjanggu looked back and whined. His reaction towards Jiyoung only strengthened Kai's belief that Jiyoung was a keeper.

  "Won't it be great if she was your umma?" Kai asked him. 

  The dog barked excitedly and his nose. 

  "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

  It barked again. 

  Grinning, Kai rubbed Jjanggu's head with his palm and purposely kissed where Jiyoung had previously kissed it. 

  He laughed to himself when he realized that he and Jiyoung had shared an indirect kiss. 

  Then his mind wandered over to how cute and pink her lips looked when she puckered it to lay a soft kiss on Jjanggu's fur.

  He felt his own lips pucker as he imagined himself sharing a kiss with the girl.

  "Okay, then you're going to help me get her," Kai told his dog.

  Jjanggu gave one last bark before his master's cheek, as if saying, "Let's do it!"

  Grinning, Kai began thinking rapidly as he imagined how Jiyoung and his dogs' play date would turn out. 

  And how the play date could potentially help him get closer to the girl of his dreams. 

 

FIN

 

Author's note: Even before finishing this story, I had thought of the continuation of that ending part there. Sigh. When I have an idea, I just can't seem to stop. However, since I've written quite a lot for the continuation, I think I should publish it, but it is currently undergoing some repairs. It's too corny and cliche at the moment. So, let me clean it up first.

Sorry, if I made everyone so out of character. And I'm not sure if Sehun has a dog or not. :P

And, I picked Jjanggu because he is Kai's favourite, and so because of their their bond, I thought they would have similar preferences. XD