It wasn't that Hyungwon didn't like people; he had his own group of friends and family and all, but he just never knew what to do when he was with them. Even if someone was chatty and friendly enough to approach him, he could never seem to find the right things to say to them. As he matured, he found it as some sort of curse in himself, as if he were doomed to never have the right words or was just extremely paranoid at the thought of conversing with others, hence defining his somewhat introverted personality. A social worm among social butterflies, he sometimes thought. That was the reason why he opened up the animal shelter.

Though not many people visited, Hyungwon was always busy, and satisfied with his doings. He even chose to live at the shelter just so he could accompany the animals, even after hours; there were always things to be done like cleaning cages, feeding, or generally just letting the animals in or out to roam freely. It became a full-time job for the brunette.
 

In other words, the shelter was his life. He admits, he feels lonely, but with this sense of purpose in his job, it was fulfilling. People walked in and out of it almost every day, but few were worthy of remembering during his job as an owner of his own care shelter.
 

A small corgi loped up to Hyungwon and barked, breaking the male out of his own thoughts. He smiled down at the puppy. Although a person who didn't enjoy playing favorites, the young dog particularly stood up to him ever since the first day he was brought to the shelter. A girl who did so claimed she found the poor corgi beside a dumpster, shivering and struggling in the cold Seoul weather during Winter late last year. She gave him a name: Cocoa.
 

The tall male recalls Cocoa when he was just brought in: sickly, thin, and juvenile. His bones were almost protuding out and although Hyungwon didn't find any scars on the corgi, his tail had been stumped; but Cocoa still kept a bright personality and wagged it continuously as if he had a proper tail. He didn't also seem to notice the fact that he was comparatively smaller to the rest of the animals in the shelter, which led to rescue attempts when he pushed Jake, the short-tempered golden retreiver, too far.
 

"Ready to go back inside?" Hyungwon says to Cocoa, and the latter jumps excitedly
 

The brunet lets out a shrill whistle to signal for all the dogs, summoning a herd of them to come running and crowing themselves into the door. All except for Momo, the small brown husky who didn't move from the corner she was laying in and just looked at Hyungwon fazedly. 
 

"Come on, Momo. Inside."
 

Momo did a fantastic job of ignoring him completely. Hyungwon sighs and trots over to her, glaring hard. "Inside, Momo." he commands, nudging the husky with his leg. In response, she gives an exasperated glance from the corner of a blue eye, the brown one staring scarred and unseeing straight ahead. The brunet was told of its unfateful encounter with an adult fox, but he couldn't bring himself to feel sorry for her at the moment, especially not when she simply huffed and rested her head back onto her paws. Confused dogs were wandering back to the yard, and Hyungwon was losing his patience. "Fine, we'll go in without you then." he declares finally, motioning for the other dogs to get back inside. 
 

When Hyungwon went back inside as well, Momo trotted right past him, unregarding the brunet. He shook his head and closed the door behind them. After successfully herding the dogs into their respective kennels (it was a first) and breaking up a fight between Jin and Rin, the twin Yorkies, he headed back to the front desk to take a well-deserved rest for the early afternoon. He stopped short, though, when he noticed there was a male browsing around the kittens section. The male stopped to poke a finger into a cage, a huge smile playing across his face. Hyungwon adjusted his hat subconsciously as he mustered the courage to talk to the guy. It didn't help that he was hot. There was no way Hyungwon would ever have the courage to actually approach him, he was sure of it.
 

That is, until he recognized the cage the guy had stuck his finger into. "Wait!" Hyungwon cried out, "don't–"
 

The guy swore under his breath and recoiled, his finger dripping dark red at the tip. 
 

Hyungwon rushed over to him, apologizing profusely. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Are you hurt? Is it bleeding badly? Do you need a band aid–" 
 

The answers came back in a jumbled rush as the man tried to keep up with the questions posed, "It's okay; no, I'm fine. It hurts a little, but no, I'm okay..." Hyungwon had vanished by the time he finished, though, and the male laughed when the owner of the shelter reappeared with a first-aid kit out of nowhere. "Dude, stop freaking out; I feel like I'm supposed to turn into some were-cat or something."
 

"I'm sorry," Hyungwon apologized again as he dabbed an antibiotic ointment on the male's injured finger. "It's just... Berry, that cat... She hates men and she's always hurting people. Most people don't take it that well."
 

"There's no need for you to apologize," the guy chuckled. "It just bruised my ego a little, that's all. I don't really like cats anyway."
 

Hyungwon looked up after he bandaged the cut himself. "Why were you looking at them, then..?" he asked, then silently berated himself afterwards for asking such a stupid question. It wasn't any of his business. 
 

The guy smiled again, and wow, he had a great smile. "Couldn't find the dogs," he explained. "I'm Minhyuk, by the way." he adds, extending his uninjured hand. 
 

"Oh," Hyungwon gapes, staring at the outstretched hand for a moment before realizing he was meant to take it. He was proud of himself for managing to interact this much with someone, more or less someone hot, for his entire life. "Um, Hyungwon. I am, I mean– You know."
 

"Cool," Minhyuk replied, then stood silently for a moment.
 

Hyungwon shifted under his expectant gaze. What did he want now..?
 

"Dogs?" Minhyuk reminded, smirking a little.
 

Hyungwon straightened. "Right. Uh," he spun a full circle, then beckoned Minhyuk to follow him. "Yeah, I just let them in. This way."
 

The former didn't really mean to stare as Minhyuk roamed the rows of dogs, but he couldn't really help it. Even if he wasn't as hot as he was, Minhyuk still had this sort of... posture. Some thing about the way he held himself demanded attention, but yet remained open and friendly at the same time. Hyungwon had never seen anything like it.
 

It was only when Minhyuk looked back at him that Hyungwon flicked his eyes away, biting his lip. "So... how long have you worked at this shelter for?" Minhyuk asked, going back to wandering the cages. 
 

"Oh, um. I opened it. Own it. Live here, really.
 

Minhyuk made an interested humming noise. "Sounds a little lonely."
 

Hyungwon shuffled his feet. "I like it. Being alone, I mean. Well, the shelter too, but– I mean, I'm just... Somewhat withdrawn. A little. Actually, a lot. Sort of."
 

Minhyuk met his eyes, smiling warmly. "You're really nice, did you know that?" he tells him. "There aren't enough people like you. You should go and share that with the rest of the world."
 

"T–thanks," Hyungwon flushes as color flooded his cheeks. "I mean, yeah, I guess, um–" he looked around, searching for a distraction for his panic. Dogs? Good enough. "Can I, um... May I make a suggestion?"
 

Minhyuk nodded and Hyungwon led him to Cocoa's kennel. The chemistry was immediate; Cocoa jumped to latch his paws onto the bars of the gate, and Minhyuk burst into a radiant grin, falling to his knees to play with Cocoa through the bars.
 

"What's his name?" Minhyuk queries, playing poking at the corgi's feet, pulling away right before Cocoa nipped jubilantly at the finger.
 

Hyungwon took a breath and prepared to rattle off the well-practiced introduction on Cocoa, but he only managed to get out "This is Cocoa, he's a–"
 

"Cocoa? Really?"
 

The laugh had no malice in it at all, but Hyungwon still had the urge to shrink back a step. "You can change his name if you don't–"
 

Minhyuk waved a hand, interrupting Hyungwon again. "No, his name is fine; it's just that there's this drink..." he shook his head, still chuckling. "Nevermind. May I play with him?"
 

Hyungwon didn't answer; he just opened the gate and watched Cocoa barrel out excitedly from his cage, slamming square onto Minhyuk's chest, flipping over, spinning around, and then finally settling on Minhyuk's lap as he rubbed the corgi's ears enthusiastically. It dawned on Hyungwon right then that Cocoa had found his owner. Hyungwon would never see him again.
 

Though the thought hurt, he accepted it gracefully as he handed the paperwork to Minhyuk and bid his farewells to Cocoa. Hyungwon gave one last wave when Cocoa's new owner got to his car.
 

"Take good care of him," Hyungwon whispers hopefully as Minhyuk pulled away.

Life at the animal shelter went on, though Cocoa's absence was very, very present. Hyungwon would often find himself staring at the empty kennel as if he expected Cocoa to randomly appear. Some of the dogs felt Hyungwon's crest-falling, staring up at him at times with sad eyes and drooped tails.
 

He gradually came to accept it though it was difficult, knowing that he had made the right decision. Cocoa deserved a new home, and that's just what he got. Hyungwon was ready to move on. Just when he decided that, though, something happened that he didn't expect: Minhyuk came bounding into the shelter one day, Cocoa in tow.
 

"Hey, Hyungwon!" Minhyuk chirps as he leaned over the counter with an opened, wide smile. Hyungwon wished he could smile like that. Without his permission, his mouth spewed out, "Is there something wrong?"
 

Minhyuk seemed taken aback by the question. "Wrong? Does there have to be something wrong for me to want to see you?"
 

Hyungwon's cheeks heated up as he fumbled with what to say next. "I guess not, but..." he glanced down at Cocoa. He looked just fine; only moving restlessly as he nipped at Minhyuk's shoelaces and wagging his stumped tail.
 

"Cocoa seemed a little upset without your presence," Minhyuk explains. "I figured I'd drop by so he could say 'hi'." 
 

The corgi yipped in agreement.
 

Hyungwon got up to round the counter, dropping to his knees to receive the leaping dog. He laughed softly when the puppy wiggled onto his lap and flipped over, exposing his tummy. 
 

"I missed you," Hyungwon told Cocoa as he rubbed his belly.
 

From the corner of his eye, the brunet caught Minhyuk grinning. "I could tell."
 

Hyungwon looked pointedly away from him. "I miss every animals that leaves this shelter with an owner. I just... Cocoa held a very soft spot in my heart."
 

"Okay, now I feel terrible for taking him from you," Minhyuk says, and Hyungwon could feel his frown. 
 

"Don't," Hyungwon says quietly, and he meant it. "I wouldn't have shown him to you if I didn't believe that you deserved him, or that he deserved you." After the brunet says this, Minhyuk crouched so that his eyes were on level with Hyungwon's. 
 

"He deserves you too." Minhyuk compliments, and pulled out a business card and pushed it into Hyungwon's hand. "Call me; come by and see him some time."
 

"I don't want to be a bother," Hyungwon protested as Minhyuk starts to get up. 
 

"You won't be," Minhyuk said simply. "I would love to have you around."
 

Hyungwon's face grew hot again at that. He distracted himself by saying goodbye to Cocoa as Minhyuk prepared to leave. The latter turned back to look at Hyungwon. "You'll call me, won't you?" he asked, his eyes begging.
 

The brunet gave a non-committal shrug. "Maybe; I might."
 

Minhyuk cocked a hip jokingly. "I will visit you every day until you do, and don't think that I won't. You will get so damn sick of me, I promise you."
 

Hyungwon didn't answer, only smiling as Minhyuk spun his heel and left. He didn't call for a few days.