Jinyoung ran over to the other side of the couch, but then Dalgom ducked behind and crawled over to the other side. When Jinyoung tried to intercept there, the dog turned tail and ran the opposite direction.

“Dalgom!” he clenched his jaw. He was starting to get annoyed chasing this dog around the couch. “Sit! Here, boy. Come here.”

Blackpink was out of town, and Jisoo had asked him to take Dalgom back to his dorm to dog-sit for the week. Jinyoung was never really a dog person, but he was happy to oblige. Right now, though, taking Dalgom home didn’t seem likely. The little white dog evaded him at every turn.

Finally, he realized that instead of waiting for Dalgom to crawl out from behind the couch, he could just move the couch. So he did, but as Jinyoung bent down to pick Dalgom up, the dog turned and started snarling at him. Then came the yapping.

“Shh! Quiet!” he held a finger up to his lip and prayed to God that the walls were thick enough to drown out the barking. “Quiet!”

He had already loaded up the dog food, Dalgom’s bed and toys, and his leash in the car. All there was left to do was get the dog himself. But when he bent down to grab Dalgom around the middle, the dog snapped its teeth at his hands. Jinyoung drew his fingers away.

“Hey!” he said. “Bad dog! No biting. Come on, you’re spending the week with me while your mom’s away. Let’s go, I got your stuff already!”

Dalgom kept snarling and trying to bite him each time Jinyoung attempt to hold him. Jinyoung frowned at the dog.

“Your mom asked me for this favor, alright?” he said, pointing a finger at Dalgom. “You’re coming home with me today, that’s that. Do not try to bite me again, I swear…”

He reached out, and sure enough, Dalgom snapped at his fingers. Jinyoung had enough. Fine, he thought. If that’s the way it’s going to be…

He returned to the car and unloaded the dog bed, toys, and food. He replaced all the things around the apartment and then put some dog food and water in Dalgom’s bowl. He reminded himself to text Jisoo later and tell her how this went, let her know that as glad as he was to look after her dog for her while she was gone, Dalgom was less enthusiastic about the arrangement. And that he had decided that he was would check on him everyday instead of bringing him back to the dorm. 

After making sure everything was in order, Jinyoung head toward the door. He turned and gave the apartment one last look, and he found Dalgom lounging on the armrest of the brown leather couch. The dog was gazing at him with wide brown eyes. Jinyoung scowled, then he turned and left.

It was getting colder in Seoul. The mid-autumn festival came and went, and the weather was barreling onward toward winter and Christmas. The sky became gray and dark, and clouds threatened rain. The day after Jinyoung went to check on Dalgom, those threats turned into actual rain and then into a thunderstorm.

That morning, Jinyoung looked out his window and sighed. It would have been nice to stay in all day, maybe catch up on some reading and make something warm to drink. But he supposed he still had to check on Jisoo’s dog. 

As he was getting ready, he considered maybe bringing along the dish washing gloves. If he was going to make another attempt to bring Dalgom back to the dorm, the gloves would help if the dog tried to bite him again. He wasn’t looking forward to the errand. On top of having to step out in the middle of a thunderstorm, he knew that Dalgom wasn’t going to be especially enthused to see him. Jinyoung was pretty good with kids; dogs, not so much.

The rain pelted the windshield of his car as