When Chanyeol volunteered for an abused hybrid rescue mission, he had already expected the worse scenario. However, what he did not expect was an extremely heartbreaking one – enough to pull his heartstrings and to leave him immediately attached for the first time to the hybrid he saves.

At an old rundown house, Chanyeol, together with two other volunteers, were called in to rescue a half-human half-dog hybrid – reportedly to have been locked up, chained and not well taken cared of for months after the hybrid was adopted.

The report was nothing new to him as there has already been a long list of cases with the same report over the years ever since hybrid pets were introduced to society. And Chanyeol, having been a volunteer at the Hybrid’s Welfare Organization for months now, had been used to it.

Of course, to be greeted by a setting that is far from an ideal dwelling for any type of being, was always distressing. The hybrids Chanyeol always encounters and saves are left either traumatized, in a very bad state of both mental and physical health, or are already in a state of indifference – a sad reality that they have already gotten used to their ugly environment.

But this time, even if it was a scene Chanyeol had seen many times before, his heart just broke into a million tiny pieces; all the more when the hybrid looked at him in the eye full of fear.

Violently shaking at a corner of a dimly lit filthy basement, Chanyeol and the other volunteers were greeted by a boy who looked extremely scared for his life – , dirty and one leg chained to the wall. His black hair unruly and white fur no longer white due to the dirt it has accumulated. He had a few scratches and a few other big wounds scattered across his body that he is sure needs immediate treatment. And he was all curled up, ears so low they looked permanently glued to his head, and tail tightly curled in between his folded legs – another sure sign of his fear.

At first, the hybrid avoided their looks; looking down with hands tightly clasping each other to his chest, body evidently shaking. The only time he looked up is when Chanyeol crouched down to his level – shaking becoming more intense after he had done so – and this is where Chanyeol’s heart broke the most.

The look in the hybrid’s eyes was full of fear, pain, and anxiety – the obvious maltreatment he went through far too obvious in the shine of his eyes. He looks absolutely terrified of what these strangers might do, and from that alone Chanyeol figured that he had gone through a lot to respond like this.

“Hey…it’s okay. I won’t hurt you.” Chanyeol talks in the gentlest voice he could muster, slowly holding out his hand in an attempt to touch him.

But the hybrid only flinches, plastering himself even more to the wall than he already is.

“No no…no it’s okay it’s okay…” Chanyeol tries again. “Shh.. I’m here to help you. I won’t hurt you. I won’t.”

Chanyeol does not give up, and it takes him over thirty minutes of repeating his assuring words before the hybrid calmed down – he was still shaking, but no longer as violent as earlier. From then, it takes him another few more minutes before he was able to finally touch him without the hybrid flinching – his hair soothingly to slowly gain his trust.

“Are you hungry? Here, eat this.” One of the volunteers said crouched down beside Chanyeol as she handed out bread for the hybrid to eat. Thankfully, albeit hesitant, the hybrid accepted the food and started to munch on it slowly.

Meanwhile, Chanyeol continues the hybrid’s hair and ears to keep him calm while the other volunteer struggles to unchain him.

On the few times the hybrid looked at him, Chanyeol gives him a smile, seeming to calm him even more as the shaking reduced significantly until it was gone. He never looked at the other two – continuously avoiding their eyes and flinches the few times they get too close for comfort – only at Chanyeol. His ears were no longer tightly glued to his head and both it and his tail was now lying limp, reassuring Chanyeol that he has finally gained his trust or at least enough to leave him placid.

“Thirsty?” Chanyeol holds out an open bottle of water, patiently waiting for him to take it.

Just like earlier, the hybrid accepts it with hesitancy, but if he avoided the eyes of the volunteer who gave him food, he looks at Chanyeol for assurance – his smile enough to comfort the hybrid as he took it. He drinks from it roughly, as if he hadn’t had water for days and that just pained Chanyeol and the other two volunteers; feeling pity over the poor boy and anger to whomever was given the right to adopt him, let alone adopt a hybrid in general.

“We’re going to get you out of here, alright?” One of them said, unfolding a blanket to wrap the hybrid with it. But as she neared him, he flinches and goes back to shaking; his ears and tail folding once again in fear. She sighs and turns to Chanyeol giving him the blanket. “Here, you do it. He seems to trust you more.”

Without hesitation Chanyeol moves in slowly, and thankfully, he does not flinch – letting Chanyeol comfortably wrap him up. Still scared but a lot more at ease, he unconsciously snuggles at the soft blanket earning smiles from the volunteers and a silent chuckle from Chanyeol.

When everything was all set and done and time to finally get the hybrid out of the filthy basement, and much to Chanyeol’s delight and to the other two’s dismay because they too wanted to take care of him, he carries him out of the house to his freedom.

♠♠♠

The hybrid was brought to the shelter for immediate treatment and is left under their care for recovery. Before the team brought him in, he had fainted due to extreme fatigue and dehydration – Chanyeol remembers panicking with absurd thoughts if a hybrid just died in the back of their van. Apparently, he hasn’t been fed properly for days and due to the long months he was locked up and chained and away from sunlight, he also had a hard time adapting to the new cleaner better environment.

For Chanyeol, it took another two weeks before he got to see him again. Although dismayed, he had thought his work was done as per usual and usually, he wouldn’t be visiting due to the hectic schedule he had in university; able to only lend a hand the few times he is free. But after he gets a call one night telling him to drop by the shelter the next day for reasons connected to the hybrid he last saved, Chanyeol did not hesitate.

It was odd, how he felt jittery visiting the shelter when he had gone to it more than a hundred times since he started his volunteering. But at the thought that he was seeing the poor hybrid that tugged his heart in pain that one time, he felt nervous. He didn’t know what to expect – is he healthy by now or is he still sickly and two weeks is not enough for recovery, how does he look like now – does he still look skin and bones, but surely he had gained at least a little weight from that time.. right?

All these thoughts kept running through his head that Chanyeol does not notice he was already in front of the shelter’s entrance, and was welcomed in by the usual staff he had come to know over the last months.

“I’m glad you came, Chanyeol.” One of the shelter’s doctors said as she guides him inside. “I know you’re usually busy, but Eunbi said the hybrid trusted you the most back when you saved him.”

“What’s the problem, doctor? Is he alright?” Chanyeol follows as she began guiding him through the hallways to the room the hybrid is currently staying at; making him feel even more anxious as he walked.

“He’s okay, better than ever. But he refuses any of our further care. We’re only able to medically treat him. Things like going outside or meeting other hybrids he constantly refuses.”

They stop in front of a door with a small window, Chanyeol’s heartbeat accelerating – whether in excitement or nervousness, he doesn’t know.

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