“ Yahh, how can he just suddenly blurt out stupid things like that!” grumbled a disheveled Haneul on her bed, cringing at the memory.  “ I cant believe he remembered that dumb promise,” she mumbled, patted her flushed cheeks and sighed.

“ That was a child’s promise. Its nothing,” she reassured herself.

“ He’s my best friend, nothing more… nothing less.”

…………………………………………..

Minzy bounced into Haneul workplace one morning, all bright eyed and bushy tailed. Her friend was icing giant cookies with cute emotes. Ahh, today’s specials were the yummy cinnamon-honey giant cookies.

“ Annyeong~”

“ Hey minzyy,” Haneul said smiling, without looking up as she finished the white-iced cookie. The first batch were ready and they looked smashing! Minzy picked a cookie up and smiled adorably at it. “ Omoo, this one is too cute!”

Haneul laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm. “ I think the customers will love these..” she murmured. MInzy rolled her eyes, “ Duhhhh. This will be gone within seconds!”

“ Chaerin ah, arrange these nicely please and display them at the counter. Customers should be coming in soon. Second batch will be ready within the next hour!” Haneul called out to Chaerin who was leaning against the table, playing with her mobile. Chaerin looked up, raised a hand, grabbed her apron and quickly approached the cookies.

“ You want to help me ice the rest Minzy-chan?” Haneul smiled and brought out another tray of freshly baked cookies. Minzy smiled happily, and nodded. “ Sure!”

“ Just do any design you like, we’ll call it the Mingkki Special!”

“ Ooooh , I lovee the sound of that! You’re on!”

……………

“ Haneul ah~” Minzy murmured.

“ Mmm?”

“ I see you’re getting along well with Hyun Joong shi…”

Haneul smiled, “ What do you mean?”

“ You seem comfortable, you’re less … irritable with him than you are with other guys, normally,” Minzy grinned cheekily.

“ He was my childhood friend Minzy ah,” Haneul murmured softly.

Minzy picked up  a cookie, and set it in front of her. “ Well, you guys seem to reconnect very easily. If I were you, I’d probably feel awkward!  Especially when he became this uber hot guy from the fat kid you knew last time!” Minzy laughed.

Haneul smiled in amusement watching Minzy laugh to herself. Her friend was right, she wasn’t normally this friendly to a guy after Minhyuk. She was always on her guard. Haneul stared at the cookie in front of her, thinking.

Minzy noticed, and nudged her friend. “ Yah, yah, what’s with the solemn face all of a sudden?”

Haneul immediately snapped back to reality, smiling quickly, “ Its nothing…”

Minzy cocked her head to one side though, something was definitely on her friend’s mind. “ I don’t buy that. Spill!” She stared straight at Haneul, eyes squinting and appearing smaller than they already are.  Haneul sighed, and rolled her  eyes. “ It really is nothing Minzy-chan,” she laughed.

………………………………………………………………………………………

On that same day, Dongwoon had the day off from work and he was thoroughly enjoying himself at home, becoming a couch potato. He curled up on his bed, with his blanket wrapped nice and snug around him and appeared to be snoring. Hyun Joong walked into his brother’s room and leaned against the door frame, watching his little brother.

“ YAH,” he uttered and walked towards the bed.

“ Sleepyhead wake upp!” He shook Dongwoon’s shoulders gently at first. Dongwoon instead, rolled over and pushed his brother’s hand away.

“ Go away!” the boy answered groggily. He hugged the pillow tighter.

Hyun Joong crossed his arms in amusement. “ You’ve slept enough, get up!” he yelled.

“ Hyungg go awayyy. 5 more minutes~”

“ Your 5 minutes is 5 hours though!” Hyun Joong complained and pulled his blanket away.

Dongwoon opened an eye sleepily, frowned at his brother and continued his journey back to slumberland.

“ You’re hopeless!” sighed an exasperated Hyun Joong.

“ It seems that I’m going to have to finish that sashimi and sushi by myself then,” Hyun Joong continued.

“ More for me to eat, that’s not bad, “ Hyun Joong wondered loudly,laughed and turned to walk away from the bed.

Dongwoon opened his eyes and sat up as fast as lightning. “ SUSHI?!”

…………………………………………………………………………

“ Slow down.”

“ Neh?” Dongwoon looked up from his plate, chewing his sushi. “ hjaskjasughj,” he mumbled.

Hyun Joong shook his head and calmly ate his share,  a stark contrast to Dongwoon who was wolfing everything down. “ Dongwoon ah, take that to work with you later, alright?” He suddenly spoke up and pointed to two paper bags sitting on their kitchen counter.

“ I made extras for your friends at work,” Hyun Joong smiled. His brother half-smiled and nodded a thanks just as Hyun Joong got up to leave for his classes.

“ Going?”

“ Yeh, I’ve got to meet-up with some friends to discuss our assignment. See ya later kiddo.” Hyun Joong grabbed his knapsack, and left.

“ Don’t forget to eat lunch hyung!” Dongwoon shouted as the door slammed shut.

…………………………………………………………………

“ So, that it then. I’ll see you guys tomorrow yeah?” Hyun Joong packed his files and stuffed them in his bag. “ Annyeong!” he waved and walked away.

He checked his wristwatch and was surprised to see that it was already 3 in the evening. “ Three already? Where did the time go?” he lamented.  On his way back home, he stopped by a small shop to buy some rice cakes and dinner for himself and his brother. It was a small shop yet bustling so, with so much activity. The aroma was tantalizing and Hyun Joong could already hear his stomach growling, and he  felt somewhat embarrassed. “ Aish,” he cursed, paid and quickly left.

He walked home and suddenly felt uneasy, as though someone was following him from behind. His skin prickled with alarm and he tried to peek behind him to check. Immediately he frowned, for he saw no one walking behind him. “ Weird,” he muttered.

He continued walking cautiously, ready to act if something were to happen. He heard the sound of feet walking again and a strange pant behind him. “ What the….”

He stopped walking, took a deep breath and whirled around to face his stalker, ready to swing at him if needed. What he saw shocked him so, that HE  yelped and staggered a few steps backward.

“ OMMO! KYAA!”

……

“ WOOF!”

The puppy barked and panted heavily, staring at Hyun Joong with his wide eyes.  Tail wagging happily in the air.

“ W-what do you want?” he said shakily and took another step backward. “ Go away. GO.GOO. ” He made gestures trying to shoo away the puppy but the puppy stated still and stared at him, unblinking.

“ WOOF WOOF!”

“ Nice p-puppy… easy..”

The puppy went closer to Hyun Joong and he retreated further.

“ What’s that!!” Hyun Joong suddenly shouted and pointed to his right. The puppy followed the direction of his hands and stared. Almost immediately, Hyun Joong bolted away from the puppy, straight home.

“ WOOF!!”

“ WOOF WOOF!!”

Hyun Joong glanced back at sure enough, the puppy was bounding towards him and it looked as though it was grinning. Exasperated, Hyun Joong cursed and continued running till he reached his place.

…………………………………………….

“ Aish!” Hyun Joong gasped and leaned against his door. Safe and sound from the puppy outside. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and steadied his breathing.

“ That, was scary.” he breathed out.

…………………………………………………..

The next morning.

Hyun Joong ah, get us some buns from Heaven’s Bakery before you come for class will you?

Hyun Joong read the text sleepily and replied his friend. He yawned and walked to the bathroom to get ready. Class was later in the morning, so he still had time. Maybe he’ll have breakfast at the café first.

Alright. Anything specific? 

Not really. Make sure you get enough for our group aits. I haven’t finished my work, need a lift later?

Yeah, pick me up at the bakery at 10.30am.

See ya.

Hyun Joong opened his wardrobe and deliberated on what to wear. In the end, he simply chose a simple white tee and a pair of jeans, matched it up with a pair of bright blue sneakers.

“ Done.”

He grabbed his backpack and left. He put his headphone over his ears, plugged it into his Ipod and touched the play button before he tucked his Ipod nicely into his pocket. He walked casually towards the bakery/café making light observations of his surroundings.

After a while, he felt the same sensations he felt yesterday of someone tailing behind him. He gulped and stopped walking. Hyun joong turned around and sure enough, a few feet away was the puppy.  The puppy also stopped and barked at him. Hyun Joong frowned and quickened his pace.

Still, the puppy followed.

Hyun Joong turned around, and pointed at the puppy,” Stop following me.”

“ WOOF WOOF! *tail wags in the air*

Hyun Joong decided to run for it, and run he did.  When he reached, he saw Haneul at the entrance .

“ Haneul!”

Alarmed, Haneul whirled towards the direction of the voice and was shocked to see her friend running towards her.

“ Y-yah Kim Hyun Joong.. wae-yo?”

When he reached her, he was panting and looking behind him worriedly, causing Haneul to look at the direction where he came from also, to see who he was running form.

“ You gotta help me…”

“Neh?”

“ I-Itt keeps following me!”

Hyun Joong immediately hid behind her when he saw the blur  bounding towards them. The puppy stopped a few feet away from them and panted heavily, tail wagging, eyes sparkly.

“ T-that.”

Haneul stared incredulously at Hyun Joong and spluttered, “ This?”

“ You were running away, from a puppy?”

He frowned immediately at the way she phrased it, it made him look stupid. “ Puppies are smaller. That’s not small.” He argued.

The puppy barked and wagged its tail happily and Haneul squatted on the floor. “ Hey sweetie… Come here..”

The puppy approached Haneul slowly and Haneul patted the head in a friendly manner. While doing so, Hyun Joong quietly slipped behind her and went straight into the café.

“ PHEW!”

“ SAVED!”

………………………………………………………………..

Hyun Joong sat quietly at a corner, sipping his Earl Grey tea, in an attempt to calm down when Haneul finally walked through the doors. She hid a grin as she looked his way, and walked past him, into her kitchen.

“ Pabo..” she muttered to herself in amusement.

Half an hour later, Haneul  came out from the kitchen, a paper bag in hand and books in the other. She was headed for class. A thought crossed her mind and she sneaked up quietly behind Hyun Joong who was reading a newspaper and smiled.

When she stood directly behind him, Haneul imitated the puppy. “ WOOF!”

Hyun Joong jumped in his chair and Haneul bursts out laughing just as Hyun Joong whirled around to face her.

 Y-your face… hahaha, omg. Funny. Aigoooo.,” Haneul laughed.

Hyun Joong scowled, “That’s not funny. You could have given me a heart attack.”

“ With… what? A puppy?” She asked innocently, struggling to control herself.

“ How can you find that thing cute? That slobbering, panting little ball of fluff… Urghh,” he sighed and gulped down the rest of his drink.

Haneul took the seat in front of him, still grinning.

“ I cant believe you’re scared of a dog!” her eyes twinkled.

“ Be quiet!” He hissed and looked around him hurriedly.

Hyun Joong shifted in his seat uncomfortably as Haneul stared at him with her smiling eyes. “ Darn it, now I look like a fool to her,” his heart lamented and he squeezed his eyes shut, letting out a sigh. Haneul giggled, stood up and walked to the window nearest to her, peeking out.

“ Pabo-joong ahh.. Your puppy is still outside,” Haneul pointed.

“ Yah! It’s not my puppy!”

“ I think she’s waiting for you…,” Haneul shrugged.

“ SHE?!” spluttered Hyun Joong in disbelief and he got up to stand beside Haneul..

Haneul did not realize that he had gotten up, and was murmuring to herself, laughing silently.

“ How do I escape that ball of fluff?”

“ Hyun Joong-shi! Your order is ready!” A voice called out suddenly, and Hyun Joong turned around to see the girl at the cashier waving at him. He nodded and raised his hand before turning back to the problem.

The puppy.

Hyun Joong turned around, approached the cashier and collected his goodies. “ kamsahamnida..,” he smiled at her before approaching Haneul again.

“ Who are those for?” she suddenly turned towards him, asking.

“ Friends,” he replied, casually.

“ I see … okay, I guess I’ll be going then,” Haneul murmured as she glanced briefly at her wristwatch. “ I don’t want to be late for class…”

She turned away from him and walked towards the entrance and Hyun Joong followed suit. “ Haneul ah…”

She turned around, “ Wae?”

He pointed outside and produced a meek grin, “ The puppy is still outside,” he said seriously.  “ Aish! I look so pathetic like this, but it must be done!” he thought angrily.

“ Could you… you know… urmm…” he mumbled, struggling to find the words.

Haneul cocked her head to one side and a smile spread across her face, “ be the decoy?”

“ Decoy? AH YES!” Hyun Joong clapped his hands together, grinning.

“ Please?” he added sweetly.

Haneul rolled her eyes and laughed. “ I cant believe I’m doing this.”

Hyun Joong cringed and nodded, “ I can’t believe I’m asking a girl to help me run away from a puppy, Kim Hyun Joong, this isn’t cool AT ALL…” his heart complained.

“ You’re a guy for goodness….” She trailed off when he glared at her.

“ Arasso, fine fine… Let’s go,” she teased and he grunted.

…..

Beep beep! Haneul fished her mobile out of her pocket and hid a small smile when she read the text.

Gomawo Haneul ah. I owe you one. ^_^ - KHJ

…………………

Later that evening..

“ Aigooo, you still here  darling?” Haneul cooed at the puppy who lied down on the pavement, waiting. When she saw Haneul, her tail wagged happily and she barked. “ Its late already.. don’t you have an owner?” Haneul looked thoughtfully at the puppy.

The door of the bakery opened and out walked Dongwoon holding a small paper bag, “ Here puppy puppy puppy…” he cooed.

“ There you are!”

“ Eh, noona! You’re back?” Dongwoon approached her, smiling.

“ Deh..”

“ Arasso.. noona, look at her, she’s been here since just now. Isn’t she cute?” Dongwoon murmured and patted the puppy happily.

“ Should I take you home with me?” Dongwoon suddenly said and Haneul’s eyes widened in surprise.

“ Mworago?? (what)”

“ Ngee.. I’ve always wanted a dog!”

“ But your brother…”

“ Ahh… that,” Dongwoon ruffled his hair and gave a sly grin. “ Hyung is going away for a few days, doing some work with his friends.. soooo,” he trailed off.

“ so?”

“ she can stay with me!!”  Dongwoon’s eyes sparkled in excitement. “ um um um… Just till we find her owners!”

Haneul shot a scrutinizing look at Dongwoon, staring at his smiling face grimly.

“ You sure that’s okay?”

“ Of courseee,” Dongwoon said confidently and picked the puppy up. “ You hear that little one, you’re coming with me,” he whispered happily at the puppy.

“ Aren’t you forgetting something Dongwoon-shi? Your hyung is afraid of puppies,” Haneul pointed out.

 “ You cannot expect me to leave her all alone out in the BIG BAD WORLD ,noona!” Dongwoon wailed and waved his hand in the air.

“…….”

“ Alright, its your call,” Haneul turned to enter the shop smiling to herself. “ Just call noona if you need help with anything…”

“ Oh man, Hyun Joong won’t like this,” she laughed, her eyes twinkling with humor.

……………………

A few days later

“ Yah ottokehh! No one reported you missing little one,” Dongwoon tickled the puppy. She looked up at him innocently. He got up and paced up and down the kitchen nervously.

“ Hyung is coming back today.. and I haven’t found your owners yet!” he exclaimed.

“ OMMO OMMO OMMO!” *Dongwoon freaks out*

Woof woof!

“ What do I dooooo, he’s coming home this afternoon!” Dongwoon wailed.

Dongwoon raised his hand and looked at the time cursing, “ I’ve got to go to work! I’ll be back later okay? Be good!” He pointed at the puppy.

“ Arasso?”

WOOF! WOOF!

“ Good girl,” Dongwoon smiled and left.

………………………

  “ Dongwoon ah, wipe that table please!” Chaerin called out and Dongwoon nodded curtly in reply, working like a machine.

“ So many customers today of all days! Omomomo, its 12 already?!” he thought despairingly.

“ The puppy…,” he thought worriedly.

…………………

An hour later…

“ Thanks for the lift guys!” Hyun Joong waved at his friends who had dropped him off. His hair was a mess, and he was mentally drained but still, a smile was on his face. “ Home,” he thought happily.

He inserted his keys, and turned the doorknob before entering his crib. Hyun Joong walked into the living room and dropped his bag on the couch, before he stopped dead cold when he saw something small running in the kitchen.

Alarmed, he grabbed the broom lying against the wall and tip toed his way to the kitchen. Surprised, he didn’t see anything. “ Weird…” he whispered and turned around to walk back into the living room.

What he saw next got him frozen on the spot.

“ Y-YOU!”

He pointed at the puppy with the broom, his face paling. “ HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET INTO MY HOUSE?!”

The puppy barked happily, tail wagging when she recognized Hyun Joong. She attempted to approach him but stopped when he waved the broom around, her head cocked to one side in confusion. She just wanted to play, why was he waving the broom around?

“ ANI(NO), Stay back!”

“ OMG OMG OMG! HOW DID YOU GET IN?!”

Hyun Joong edged away carefully, keeping the broom in between him and the puppy.

“ How are you in MY HOUSE?!” he bellowed.

………………………………………

Dongwoon’s story…

“ LUNCHBREAK! JYEAH!” Dongwoon exclaimed happily and took off his apron.

“ Chaerin ah, I’m going to go home for awhile kay?” He said hurriedly, and placed his apron in her hands. “ Be back soon,” he said. Before Chaerin had a chance to say anything, he bolted out of the shop and in an instant, was gone.

Please don’t be home. Please don’t be home. Please don’t  be home.

Dongwoon’s face paled when he got to the house. His brother was home, he could feel it. He took a deep breath and walked into the house, mustering the courage to face his hyung.

*sound of shouts and barks*

“ H-hyung?” Dongwoon called out.

“ Dongwoon ah! PALIIIIIII! “ Hyun Joong shouted from the living room. Dongwoon cringed and hurried over. Hyun Joong could be seen waving a broom at the confused puppy and Dongwoon could have laughed, but the expression his brother wore changed his mind. Hyun Joong’s face paled and was strained, immediately a pang of guilt stabbed at Dongwoon’s conscience as he remembered why his brother was afraid of puppies.

“ Y-yah, how did this puppy get in!” the disheveled Hyun Joong exclaimed loudly.

“ Don’t worry hyung, I’ve got this…” Dongwoon reassured his frantic brother and knelt down. Dongwoon tried coaxing the puppy to him, and after a while, the puppy obediently went to him. He held on to the puppy tightly, and stood up, refusing to meet his brother’s eyes.

“ Why is Dongwoon so comfortable with the puppy… unless?” Hyun Joong thought.

When Hyun Joong calmed down, he slowly put the broom down, and stared icily at his brother who was absent-mindedly the puppy nervously.  “  Kim Dongwoon.”

..

“ Yah,” Hyun Joong added, with an edge to his voice causing Dongwoon to cringe. He lifted his eyes, to meet his brother’s gaze.

“ How did-“

“ Hyung, I can explain!”  he said frantically.

Heee~ UH OH! xD What's gonna happenn nowww? :)