Since it’s been so long since the last update, let’s do some recap:

on the last chapter, we were given more insight into Luhan and Sehun’s lives as children, and how their close relationship turned estranged over the course of time. Meanwhile, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo’s story shows progress, but will Baekhyun really make it easy for Kyungsoo to earn his affection again, or will he turn down his advances as planned? On the other hand, Jongin’s feelings are beginning to get conflicted – is he really starting to like Chanyeol as more than a friend? What about Sehun?

The previous days were quite stressful what with the midterms approaching – the entire week had been hell, frankly, but this day, in particular, had migraine pounding into Jongin’s head. He noticed even Baekhyun seemed to be running low on energy and didn’t spout as much nonsense as he usually did. Most of their teachers kept on dumping school work on them simultaneously and Jongin’s going to snap pretty soon if this went on.

“That’s it for today, class. Be sure to work on your group projects, I don’t extend deadlines.”

“Sure you don’t,” Jongin mumbled under his breath so that no one but Baekhyun hears. “Extensions are out of discussion since you want us dead.”

“My, my!” Baekhyun let out a yawn through his obnoxious smirking. “Jongie is unusually cranky. This is new.”

“You wouldn’t understand the struggle,” Jongin rolled his eyes as he packed his things back into his bag. “You have your little boyfriend to do half of the work for you. Sneaky bastard, if I wasn’t your best friend—”

“—you still wouldn’t rat me out ‘cause you’re nice like that,” Baekhyun interrupted, winking in an ingratiating manner. Jongin stared, unamused, and Baekhyun sniggered. “You love me. I know.”

“You didn’t even try to correct me on the ‘boyfriend’ part,” Jongin muttered under his breath the second time. Either his guess about Kyungsoo being Baekhyun’s lover was true or his best friend was just starting to become deaf.

Jongin stayed behind for his routinely, after class track and field practice, but halfway through it, fatigue began to seep into his bones and ultimately he decided to forego practice. Grabbing his belongings, Jongin lugged his body out of the running field and out of the campus. His eyelids felt like they weigh 100 pounds and he just wanted to go to sleep, but all thoughts of rest vanished upon the sight of a familiar Corvette waiting for him outside the main school entrance.

The eighteen-year-old stopped, a little flummoxed. How could he forget about Chanyeol? The older man must have been waiting for him for god knows how long considering today’s classes were dismissed earlier than usual. You couldn’t be any more stupid, Kim Jongin.

Jongin approached the vehicle, a bit embarrassed, and knocked on the window. No more than a second later did it roll down, revealing Chanyeol’s face – the same kind face that had been making his heart go haywire the last few weeks.

“I’m sorry, did you wait too long?” Jongin began after getting settled into the passenger seat.

“Not really. I just got out of the clinic as well,” Chanyeol smiled, starting the engine. As he maneuvered the car out of the school gates, Jongin heard a lot of rustling behind the back seat. Initially, he ignored it, but nearly jolted out of his seat a second later at the three consecutive little barks that pierced the silence.

Jongin looked back and there it was: a baby corgi sitting comfortably inside a box, wrapped in a huge cute red bow, staring directly at him with its tiny beady eyes as if it wanted him to pick it up. It was in constant motion, wagging, wriggling and jumping – a living store of pent-up energy waiting to release itself on the world. It was adorable and for Jongin, it was love at first sight. If it wasn’t for the seatbelt keeping him in place he would’ve leaped onto the back seat already.

“What is – y-you bought a freaking puppy?!” Jongin practically screamed, all the while choking back sobs as he reached for the corgi, enfolded the pup with both arms, and clasped it to his chest. It was so small Jongin wanted to die and cuddle it to no end. “Oh my god, you bought a puppy, oh my god, she’s so tiny, god, oh my god.”

“Looks like she’s happy to see you,” Chanyeol couldn’t help but burst out into laughter, watching Jongin’s hysterical reaction as he fawned over the equally perky pup. He always knew the boy loved animals, most especially dogs, but it’s still hilarious to see him cry literally after seeing one. “Her name is Byeol, a three-month-old welsh corgi. I expect you to take good care of her.”

Jongin’s eyes widened. “No way, no way no way no way.”

“Uh huh,” Chanyeol chuckled, keeping his eyes on the road. “Bought her for you.”

Jongin almost went into cardiac arrest. Chanyeol’s expression – that look right there, with his eyes crinkled into half crescents and his dimpled smile making an appearance as he settled his gaze onto Jongin for a fleeting moment – it took the younger’s breath away. Tears of pure exaltation gathered in his eyes and he tucked Byeol’s head under his chin, blubbering, further feeding Chanyeol’s gaiety. He’s too overwhelmed to speak at the moment. It’s been far too long since he had a pet, not to mention no one had bought him one before.

Baekhyun did try to buy him a fancy rat, though. Only, his broke was short of two bucks.

“Oh, babe…” Chanyeol caught himself saying in the midst of Jongin’s emotional meeting with his new puppy, and stammered, “I-I mean – Byeol – she’s just a baby, and she…uh…needs your full attention, so yeah. Take good care of her. Yeah.”

Despite the red spreading across his cheeks, Jongin managed to nod vigorously and sob, “I will, oh my god, thank you so much, you don’t even know how happy I am right now!”

Chanyeol felt a soaring satisfaction to see Jongin bond with Byeol with such an ecstatic face. He noticed that school was stressing Jongin out recently, and he hated to see the boy looking so drained all the time, that’s why he felt the need to buy him something that was guaranteed to relieve all his stress. And by the looks of it, he did a job well done.

Sometime after Jongin had finally calmed down, nursing a snoozing Byeol in his arms, he opened up another conversation. “You know Chan hyung, as much as I’m grateful for your gift, what’s the occasion? Why did you buy me a puppy?”

Chanyeol shrugged. The mansion already was in sight as he drove through the peaceful neighborhood. “Does there need to be an occasion in order to give a present?”

Jongin opened his mouth but closed it again. He smiled and smoothened out Byeol’s soft fur. “I suppose not.”

“Consider that a token of our…friendship,” Chanyeol said as he waited for the security to open the gates for them. Jongin suddenly seemed to be immersed in his own thoughts, though it’s obvious what he’s thinking of, and Chanyeol tousled his hair. “You don’t have to return the gesture. Just make sure you don’t forget to feed Byeol. She has quite the appetite for a three-month-old.”

“Thank you for this, really,” Jongin grinned, and Chanyeol could swear his heart skipped a beat at that. There was only one thing running in his head as he looked at the younger. A pup holding another pup. “You’re the best!”

Anything for you, Jongin. “See you tomorrow, kid.”

Jongin closed the passenger door, all the while holding Byeol with careful hands. “Drive safely! Text me when you get home. And no overspeeding!”

Chanyeol laughed. Jongin sounded so much like his mother. “I will. Good night.” He bid the other goodbye and sped away, Jongin still watching long after Chanyeol’s car disappeared from his sight. Practically walking on a cloud nine, he took Byeol inside the mansion, several maidservants greeting him. If they were surprised at the puppy he was holding, they chose not to comment on it.

“Oh, is that…a dog?”

Jongin jumped at the sudden voice that came up from behind him. He turned and was met with a pair of mischievous eyes. Luhan studied Byeol for a short second, soaking in the information that Jongin stood there holding an actual dog in his arms, before a -eating grin formed on his face. Which in turn suddenly sparked nervousness in Jongin. What was the older guy smirking for?

“Where’d you get that lil’ thing from?” Luhan asked, eyes hinting interest. Jongin perked up at his question and smiled as he put down Byeol to let him walk around for the time being.

“Chanyeol hyung gave her to me as a gift.”

“Really? How nice of him.”

It seemed the mere sight of Byeol lifted Luhan’s spirits up, though not for the reason Jongin thinks of. Luhan chuckled and muttered something under his breath but Jongin was only able to catch the words ‘sehun’, ‘die’, ‘before sunrise’. Before he was able to fully process what he heard from Luhan, Sehun came walking down the huge spiral staircase, paying no heed to his brother who passed by him with mirth plastered on his features.

Sehun intended to just…well, ask Jongin out for dinner for a change (part of this had something to do with the fact that he refused to share the dining table with a certain named Luhan) but one look at the thing Jongin’s holding and his whole body froze in horror, thoughts about tonight’s dinner promptly forgotten.

Jongin was rooted to his spot as well. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about Sehun too. He’s just eighteen yet elder people have sharper memories than him.

“Why,” Sehun pinched the bridge of his nose, appearing to be calm yet distraught. “is there a dog in this house?”

Before Jongin could react, however, Byeol sprang toward Sehun in bounding steps that were almost like jumps. She wasn’t able to reach the first flight of stairs and so she pawed with her forepaws for attention. Nevertheless, Sehun was faster than a speeding bullet to make sure he was ten feet away from the puppy. “ – get that thing away from me!”

“Sorry!” Jongin hurried to pick Byeol up to his chest, and the pup started sniffing on his chin as he prepared himself to apologize to the older guy. “I’m really sorry, I forgot you were allergic to fur…I’ll just…give her back to Chanyeol hyung…”

“Chanyeol? So that thing came from him?” Sehun’s face turned sour. Damn bastard, obviously he forgot about my allergy, too. “What for?”

“No reason. He just wanted to give me a pet.” Jongin muttered with downcast eyes as he looked at Byeol sadly. He already formed an attachment to her but as much as he wanted to keep her, he couldn’t just endanger Sehun’s health for his own selfish wants.

Sehun’s memory flashed back to the time a black cat had suddenly jumped in from outside his opened window. Jongin was so crestfallen when he sent the feline away, it was clear he wanted to keep pets but decided not to for Sehun’s sake. And the latter didn’t understand why he felt guilty now when years back he barely gave much of a flying rat’s about trivial things like this.

Seeing the younger being so affectionate of the dog made Sehun think twice about sending it away. It would be too cruel of him not to allow Jongin to have pets, especially now that he’d noticed lately how exhausted Jongin always seemed to be after coming home from school. Because by the looks of it, Byeol was the perfect stress reliever for him.

“Wait…where are you taking the thing?” Sehun called, seeing how Jongin was just about to head for the door. The younger turned to face him again, confusion lacing his eyes despite how glum he was.

“I’m going to return her to Chan—”

“I didn’t say you weren’t allowed to keep it,” Sehun crossed his arms. It took but a short moment for his words to start sinking into Jongin. “My allergy isn’t as bad as before…just don’t let it come near me.”

Jongin mumbled a drawn-out “no way” under his breath, his once flabbergasted face lighting up like a bulb. Oh Sehun, the guy who despised furry animals with a passion, was permitting him to keep a corgi in their house.

Was Jongin in the same reality? This couldn’t be possible. He expected Sehun to giv