chapter eight;

Minho could not fall asleep that night. Instead, his mind kept going back to that evening where a certain blonde Chihuahua caught his eyes.

And perhaps his heart as well.

He glanced at Changmin who was snoring peacefully, wondering if that senior of his ever had his heart captured by something else other than food. How Changmin managed to retain his thin muscular body even with that amount of passion for food he has, it was a complete mystery.

Just then, a creaking sound caught Minho’s ears. Alerted, he immediately looked up, his eyes roaming for the source of the noise. His eyes caught the sight of a pair of small four-legged animals who were walking casually side by side while sharing a hushed conversation. Instantly, Minho knew who they were.

“Yah, where are you two going?” he questioned them.

The bobtail was the first to glance back, followed by the bulldog. “We’re going out,” Jonghyun simply answered.

“Where to?”

This time, it was Key who replied. “Somewhere cool people like us hang out at,”

Minho scoffed. Cool people like you?

“Wanna join?” Jonghyun offered.

Raising an eyebrow, Minho did a brief calculation in his head. Not that he wanted to hang out with that odd pair of best friends, but he always wondered where they usually go late at night. Plus, he considered, he might be able to meet that pretty Chihuahua again.

“Are you coming or not?” asked Key irritatedly, in which Minho replied with a knowing smirk.

Taemin studied his surroundings confusedly. It was another place unfamiliar to him. He wondered if he had been spending too much time in Wooyoung’s room. “Where are we going?” he probed the tortoise whom he encountered by chance earlier that evening after leaving the terrorized Onew.

“Somewhere,”

“Somewhere where?”

“Somewhere cool,” the tortoise named Yesung replied brusquely. “You’re not that familiar with Seoul, right? I’ll introduce you to the wild life we stray animals have,”

Wild life?!Taemin stared at Yesung, aghast. “Don’t tell me we’re going to the jungle! I hate the jungle! It’s so creepy and dark and scary and dark and creepy in the jungle. Plus what if we encounter a strange ahjumma who gives a strange potion, and then we switch bodies whenever it rains like that drama Wooyoung loved watching?”

Yesung burst out laughing. “This is why you should go out more often! Of course I’m not taking you to the jungle, silly!”

Hearing that, Taemin relaxed a little, but his question was still not answered. However, he decided not to ask further but to follow the tortoise super slow steps very patiently.

Just as he was starting to wonder whether someone could fall asleep from walking too slow, Yesung broke the silence between them by announcing excitedly, “We’re here!” He pointed at what seemed to be an abandoned warehouse far from human’s sight, then he knocked on the metal door, and right away a pair of eyes appeared from a tiny rectangular hole.

“Password?” the voice inquired.

“C’mon, you know me,” Yesung said.

“Sorry but a rule’s a rule,”

Sighing, Yesung leaned in towards the hole and whispered something that was inaudible to Taemin’s ears. Soon, the metal door burst open after a loud ‘clank’, allowing the two of them to enter.

“Thanks,” Yesung mumbled to the person behind the door which happened to be a wide-eyed squirrel as they made their way in.

Eyeing the inside of the warehouse, Taemin stopped on his tracks with his jaw dropped open.

“A club? Really?” Minho gasped as he entered the warehouse. Its outer appearance was definitely deceiving as he would never expect its inside to be like this in a million years. The place was packed with all sorts of animals, even the ones he had never encountered before.

“Surprised?” Jonghyun asked, seeming proud of himself as he exchanged glances with Key who was wearing the same expression on his face.

“T-To be honest, yes,” Minho stuttered, still in awe. He studied the place which was painted with vibrant colours by the lights. The music was loud too. He wondered how on earth this kind of place could exist.

Upon seeing their friends, Jonghyun and Key excused themselves and disappeared into the crowds, leaving the astonished Minho alone by himself. Slowly, he made his way to the second floor of the warehouse and stood at one corner, his eyes roaming around the place. He could see the pair of pigeons he met earlier that day across the floor, chatting away to a group of seagulls. He tried to find more familiar faces, but realized that he did not have that much friends besides the ones who trained with him at the center.

All of a sudden, one particular figure appeared from a mass of crowds, looking awkward and lost. She was alone, too, he noticed. Clearing his throat, Minho gathered all his courage to take steps forward towards that Chihuahua ― the same blonde Chihuahua who made his mind a mess.

Spotting his approaching figure, Taemin threw Minho a glance, raising an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Minho cleared his throat again and took a deep breath before finally opening his mouth. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”