Park Jihyo was a boy with big eyes, big voice, and an even bigger heart. His small stature just made him a cute, cuddly teddy bear, despite being extremely in shape as a gym rat and wrestler. His parents had problems with the boy’s kindness ever since he could move on his own, but they never complained, they love their little boy and just try to work around his impulses most times.

When Jihyo was two, he came home from daycare without his pacifier and hungry, when mrs Park asked what happened, he answered that there was this little girl whose mom couldn’t pack her lunch and just sent her a choco milk, so he traded his own food with the girl’s milk because her tummy was making noise. Then he gave his pacifier to another boy that didn’t have one and couldn’t sleep during nap time. The woman controlled her tears the best she could, asked her son if he wanted another pacifier, to which he answered it was okay without one. After she properly fed the toddler and put him to sleep, she told mr Park and both parents spent the rest of the night with teary eyes and warm hearts.

This kind of behaviour just continued, small gestures of kindness that usually went unnoticed but always appreciated. Once he was four, Jihyo walked across a pile of trash bags with his dad, coming back home from preschool, and heard a small whimper. He immediately stopped and ran to the noise, finding a small puppy in a piece of cardboard (not even a proper box) and immediately cradled the little dog and started crying. Mr Park had no other option but to take the pup home, despite the family not being able to raise it, mrs Park explained to her son they would take the puppy to the doctor and make sure it was alright, then they’d have to find a new home for it.

It worked, maybe too well, because as soon as they arrived at the vet’s office, there was a teenage girl crying because her dog had to be put down, Jihyo waddled over and started petting the girl’s head, who looked up and saw big, kind eyes looking at her in worry. When the boy asked what was the problem, she explained her dog was very sick and couldn’t come back home with her anymore (obviously she didn’t have the heart to say her dog died to a small kid), then Jihyo waddled back to his parents, got the puppy and brought it to the girl, telling her they needed to find a friend to the puppy and that it could be her friend if she wanted. Who would have the coldness to deny such an eager request from a little boy with starry eyes, certainly not that girl. And that’s how Jihyo helped his first stray.

By the age of six, everyone who worked at the local animal shelter already knew Jihyo on a first name basis, he had been granted his own employee pass despite not ever working there. Mrs Park started researching how to help strays after the third one her boy had brought home, and found the local shelter would take them, then she started taking Jihyo there whenever he brought a stray home, then the boy started asking to go to the shelter and play with the animals on the weekends, and it went from there. It has been two years now, and despite the little extra expense with getting all the animals they found through a check up and vaccinated before delivering them to the shelter, and also contributing with their food every week, but nothing they couldn’t handle.

At the age of ten, Jihyo was walking home from school, he had been allowed to walk to and from on his own, one his parents would follow him from a little distance everyday, and heard a cat, very weakly, around some bushes. He dove right in, mrs Park was the one following him that day and was much more calm than her husband, so she just waited a little to see if the boy would be able to get out on his own. Once little Jihyo did emerge, he was holding a big Chartreux, it’s usually lustrous fur a dull and muddy grey, the normally bright eyes, a dim yellow and looking like it was holding on by a thread. Mrs Park decided to pretend to run into the boy and help him out already.

“Hey, Ji.” She greeted casually. “What do you have there?”

“Hey mom.” The boy was struggling a little to hold the cat and his school bag. “I just found this guy in those bushes.”

“How about I take your bag so you can hold him better?” She asked and gently helped her son. “He doesn’t look too good, so we are taking him straight to the vet, okay?”

“Okay. But you promise he will be alright?”

“You know I can’t tell, you have to ask dr Kim about that.”

“I will, mom.” The boy struggled a little to get up the step to the house. “Can I just go to the bathroom before we leave?”

“Sure you can. No need to hurry, I’ll call your dad to tell him where we are going.”

“Thanks, mom.”

While Jihyo goes take care of his business, mama Park calls her husband while she prepares something for them to eat while they are at the vet. Jihyo will always refuse to leave before the doctor comes out and allows him to see whichever stray he had brought in. She also got another shirt for the kid, the one he was wearing was muddy from holding the cat close. Looking at it better, this one was an older cat, looking very abused, she didn’t excuse it, but understood abandoning the little ones, but getting rid of an animal that you lived with for years already, that was a whole new level of ty in her book.

It had been a while since they started helping strays, and both parents had come to a place in their careers where they got more stable hours and a better pay, mama Park was really torn this time around, don’t get her wrong, she felt deeply for the babies, but she felt worse for this older cat. It hit her stronger than it had before, and the woman made the decision to keep this one. She texted her husband about it while they were waiting to be seen, and he said he was fine with it, Jihyo was caring to any animal that they would come across regardless, and it was a good time to get the boy a friend to take care of.

That’s how the Parks got their first cat, a lovely ball of grump called Bomb. In a few months, Jihyo would meet the human version of Bomb in the form of Yoo Jeongyeon, and both friend and cat would become inseparable, to the point the boy would steal the cat sometimes, when it had been a while since they had seen each other last. Jihyo always beats his friend up whenever it happens, and Seungyeon is the one to tell him where the cat is. Whenever Jeongyeon shows up full of bruises and walking funny, nobody even questions anymore, they just appreciate Jihyo’s handywork.