It was past midnight for god’s sake.

You certainly didn’t expect an overly excited dog to bolt in to your apartment at this time of night. The door was left open for only a few minutes, enough for you to trail out into the hallway and throw out the trash.

Dogs terrify you, convinced that every one of them hates you and judging from past experiences, they just love to bite the living hell out of you.  You stood frozen by the doorway, already feeling your pulse picking up its pace. The creature innocently hopped onto your couch, wagging its tail frantically as it sniffed every inch of the furniture.

“Haute!”

As if you weren’t on the verge of pulling your hair out, the sudden yell from heaven knows where made you scream out of pure fear.

“Holy - I’m sorry!” He- the guy from across the hall, screams back and you were left stupefied because, what the hell is going on?

He scurries into your apartment without your permission and proceeded to chase the dog all over your living room. You’ve seen him a few times before, but the encounters never made it past a greeting with a subtle nod, or sometimes, a smile if you’re lucky. Lucky because- Christ, he’s attractive.

It was quite an amusing sight to witness. He was all limbs, gangly legs bumping into your coffee table and you hear him mutter under his breath, something about- damn it you’re embarrassing me!

He manages to grab a hold of the dog and was now lying flat on his stomach, the pet locked in between his arms. The dog whimpers and barks repeatedly and he catches you flinch in sync with the sounds.

“I’m so sorry.” He was breathless as he stood up, ping his hoodie to wrap the dog into his side. “He looks like he’s a handful but he doesn’t bite, I promise.”

“It’s- it’s okay.” You stammer, inching back as he nears the door. He bites back a smile, and he zips his hoodie up, with the dog still inside, leaving enough space for the creature to peep its head out right under his chin. He was weird, the kind to make you laugh because you can get mad at him only for so long.

“Not a fan of dogs are you?” He grins, and you wonder how he could be this bright after what just happened, “Shame, because it seems like he’s a fan of you.”

“He sure is.” You laugh warily, sounding far from convinced.

“Do you need help with those?” He points to the bin liners you’d forgotten about, and before you could respond he picks them up, “Never mind, I’ll do this for you from now on. Take it as my apology.”

“You don’t have to do that, really-”

“I have a feeling I’ll be coming here often seeing how Haute loves you.” He insists, and you were sure you heard the dog mewling in agreement. The two of them were two peas in a pod, and it was adorable. 

“I’m Seunghoon by the way.”

~