chapter four;

“Hyung,” Taemin called, his forehead creased as he studied the buildings around him. “I don’t think we’re in the right place,”

Onew paused and glanced back at the worried Chihuahua. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, this place doesn’t look like Gangnam,”

Onew’s face broke into a smile that seemed assuring. “That’s because this is not Gangnam,”

Upon hearing Onew’s reply, Taemin felt as if he was just being told that he was actually a unicorn instead of a dog and his whole life was a complete lie. “Hyung!” he raised his voice at the chicken, fuming mad. “Didn’t I say my house is in Gangnam?”

“You did,” Onew replied nonchalantly. “What, you want to go there?”

Taemin wanted to smack his own forehead and mentally face palmed himself. Why did I agree to follow this airhead chicken?

“You should’ve said it clearly. I thought it was just something you said to initiate a conversation,”

Why on earth would I initiate a conversation with you?Taemin glared at Onew and thought of his master. Chicken is Wooyoung’s favourite dish and he eats it every day for every meal. Inside Taemin’s tiny head, he calculated whether he should let Wooyoung’s family maid cook Onew once he gets home.

The night was already approaching, so it was getting dark all around them. Taemin was too tired to argue since they both had been walking all day. Never had he walked this much before. Taemin let out a sigh and fret over his life. What sin did he commit to receive this punishment?

All of a sudden, Onew’s face expression changed.  “Ah, Taemin ah…” he hesitated.

“What?” Taemin asked, annoyed.

“Behind you,”

Taemin had goose bumps all over his body. What was behind him? Taemin hated ghosts and horror stories the most. God knows how much he despised it whenever Wooyoung forced him to stay every time she felt like watching ghost stories in her room. As if the loud sound from the home theatre was not scary enough, Wooyoung would switch off all lamps and let the curtains down as well so that the only light source in the room would be from the television screen.

Not that Wooyoung was a brave little girl. She would start screaming her lungs out just two minutes after the movie began.

Taemin puckered up his courage and slowly turned around. Fortunately, it was no spooky ghost with long tattered white dress and black hair. Unfortunately, it was similarly eerie looking boy who reminded him of the Chucky doll from a haunted movie he once saw with Wooyoung. Taemin tried hard to recall the title of that movie, but then he realized it wasn’t really the perfect time to do so.

“Well, well. Look what I found,” said the boy with a bizarre dialect and a disturbing smirk. “A dog and a chicken. What an odd pairing, but what a dinner,”

Taemin and Onew exchanged glances. Dinner?

However, unlike Taemin’s frightened look, Onew’s eyes lighted up. “Taemin ah, is he going to feed us dinner?” Onew asked.

Once more, Taemin felt like smacking his own face. Can this chicken get any more stupid? He wondered. “Actually,” Taemin began. “I think he meant he wants to eat us.”

“Oh,” Onew replied. It took him several seconds to understand the real meaning. “You mean he’s going to cook us?” he asked in a terrified tone.

“Yup,”

“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s ruuuun!” Onew yelled and took off without a second thought to save his life, leaving Taemin behind still blinking confusedly and unable to grasp what had just happened.

“Yah, where are you going?” the boy screamed after the chicken.

My thought exactly, Taemin agreed. How dare Onew abandon him after bringing him to this place. Taemin decided he would never trust a chicken ever again in his life.

“Looks like only you left, doggie,” the boy said, turning his attention to the Chihuahua.

Taemin’s eyes widened in horror. Crap, crap! Think, Taemin, think!

Step by step, the boy advanced towards Taemin with an evil grin spread on his face. Terrified, Taemin immediately thought of Wooyoung and recalled the bad things he had done. “I’m sorry I ed about you to Kai, our neighbour’s pet poodle behind your back. I’m sorry I refused meals at times when you didn’t give me the expensive Korean beef I wanted. I’m sorry I wasn’t a good pet to you,” he sniffed. “Wooyoung ah, I promise I’ll be a good dog and won’t outshine you with my prettiness anymore, so please come and save me!”

Taemin closed his eyes, preparing for what would befall him. But it never came. Instead, he heard a shriek.

“YAHH, LET GO!!” the boy yelped.

Taemin opened his eyes and saw the boy being attacked by a seagull. It was a very strange sight. First of all, he didn’t think there was a sea or even a beach nearby. Second of all, the seagull was turquoise in colour. Turquoise. Seriously? He wondered if he was in one of his magical dreams where he was in the Harry Potter books/movies in which he was Draco Malfoy, the all grown up daunting Death Eater who had risen from his fall after the fall of You-Know-Who. Taemin does, after all, have blonde fur which really matched Draco’s hair colour.

Back to the seagull. Yes, it was turquoise, no matter how much Taemin blinked and rubbed his eyes.

The seagull managed to shoo the creepy boy away after a minute long battle. He then turned to Taemin. “You alright?” he asked, his voice much deeper than it appeared to be.

Taemin was still having troubles digesting the whole situation. Everything happened too fast, nothing like how it usually was back at home where he would spend every passing day being lazy.

“Hello?” the seagull tried again.

At last, Taemin returned to reality and faced the staring bird. “Yeah, I am. Thank you for your help,” he smiled politely.

“No problem. That Sukhyun boy always harasses every animal he lays his eyes on,” explain the seagull. “You don’t look familiar though. You new here?”

Taemin shook his head. “Actually I’m kinda lost. I’m from Gangnam,”

“Then how did you end up here?”

“Long story short, I followed this, uh, senseless chicken here. I thought he was going to show me the way home,”

The seagull burst out laughing out of the blue. “Are you talking about Onew?”

“You know him?”

“Yeah, he’s always giving the wrong directions to the lost animals he came across and ended up causing them to be more lost than they originally were. Did he mention that he is lost himself?”

“He did. Aish, I shouldn’t have trusted him,” Taemin sighed.

“You really shouldn’t,” the seagull nodded. “Anyway, what’s your name?”

“My name’s Taemin. And you are?”

“Everyone calls me TOP,” he grinned.

“Uh, may I ask why are you turquoise unlike normal seagulls?”

Again, TOP laughed. “It’s a long story. I don’t think one night is enough to explain it.”

Taemin frowned. Although he was curious, it was not the time to listen to the seagull’s story. Going back home was his number one goal. Determined, he turned to face TOP, this time with a serious expression. “Help me find my way home, please!”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want to, but I have this too talkative dongsaeng who could cause troubles in a split second whenever I’m not around. It’s not a good idea to leave him alone for long,” he apologized. “But I can help you find Onew if you want. I’m sure he’s not far.”

Taemin sighed again. After what happened just now, he had lost his trust for that traitor chicken. “Never mind, I’ll go off alone,” he replied.

TOP raised an eyebrow. “Positive?”

“I’ll survive,” he told the bird, but it sounded more like he was convincing himself than his new friend.

“Okay then. Good luck! In case that Sukhyun boy appears again, just yell out loud and I’ll come to your rescue,” said TOP, before he flapped his wings and flew off, leaving Taemin by himself.

Taemin watched the turquoise seagull’s flight until he disappeared into the horizon, then faced forward. “Now, Taemin, let’s find your home.”