Ryeowook admittedly intrigued him.  Kyuhyun kept getting reactions from him that he didn’t expect but when he flipped out thinking that Kyuhyun intended to fire him, he actually felt sorry for him.  Instead of being a temporary employee, it seemed obvious that’d he’d like to stay on but why Yesung hadn’t offered him a permanent position confused him.  He intended to bring it up the next time he saw his evasive butler.

            Since Sungmin decided to stay for dinner, Kyuhyun refused to eat downstairs with everyone and lost track of time as he played his game.  Eventually he heard the door open and the pitter patter of little paws as Kkoming raced into the room and jumped onto Kyuhyun’s lap.  This time instead of assuming he knew who had entered, he looked over his shoulder and was surprised to find that it was Ryeowook yet again.

            “What the hell is she still doing here?”

            “The others all went to a movie and they asked if I’d watch her until they came back.”

            “Even Yesung?” he asked as his new cook rounded the sofa to collect the dirty dishes from dinner.

            “Even him,” Ryeowook confirmed.

            Kyuhyun paused his game, set down his controller and leaned back against the cushions.  Kkoming pawed at his chest, whining, and he began to pet the spoiled little monster, fur flying in every direction as he did so.  “So, you’ve made a new friend then!”

            “Mmmm, I think she’s not sure of me yet.  I tried to take her outside to use the bathroom and she refuses to go.  I don’t get what I’m doing wrong.”

            “That’s because she’s so pampered.  I better show you what you have to do before she pisses in my house somewhere,” Kyuhyun said, standing up and heading for the door, Kkoming following at his heels.  Ryeowook rushed to collect the dishes and followed after him, reaching the elevator as it opened.  “You’re such a temperamental little , aren’t you?” Kyuhyun lectured the dog.

            “Thanks for helping, sir,” Ryeowook only said.

            Kyuhyun looked at his watch.  “Why are you still collecting dishes at nine o’clock at night when you started baking bread before dawn?  I hate to break it to you, but you’re salaried.  I won’t be paying you overtime for working nineteen hour days.”

            “I wasn’t expecting to but I’d rather get these dishes done tonight than have them sitting around getting crusty and attracting mice overnight,” he explained.

            “You must have lived in some real holes if you’re main concern is pests,” Kyuhyun said, trying to imagine waking up to find a little mouse nibbling on his leftovers and frowning at the thought.  Ryeowook didn’t seem to have a response and simply looked down at the dog and smiled.  The door opened and Kyuhyun headed down the hall to the kitchen. 

            “Every time she needs to use the ladies room, Sungmin takes her on a walk instead of just letting her go in the yard, so she won’t go unless she’s on a walk with someone,” Kyuhyun explained.

            Ryeowook carried the dishes over to the counter and began to put them into the sink full of water.  As Kyuhyun put on a light jacket, Ryeowook began to scrub his plate.

            “What the hell are you doing?  Get your coat on, I’m not picking up dog crap!”

             If Ryeowook was shocked that he was being drug with, he didn’t show it and instead dried off his hands before walking towards the back door and waiting as Kyuhyun grabbed a leash off the wall next to the coat rack and hooked it to the dog’s collar.  He then looked Ryeowook up and down.

            “You better get your coat, it’s only about forty degrees at night still,” he warned the new employee.

            “That’s okay, I’ll be fine,” he insisted, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

            Kyuhyun grabbed one of his hoodies off the rack and tossed it to him.  “Wear that!” he demanded with enough force to demonstrate that he wouldn’t be refused and opened the door, letting Kkoming lead the way down the back steps and to the gate.  He noted that Ryeowook took a moment to zip up the hoodie but managed to catch up to them shortly after he exited the yard.

            “Thanks for helping me out,” Ryeowook said after they’d headed down the road a short distance.

            “I can’t believe you let them ditch you with the dog.  They should have dropped her off at home and invited you to go with them instead,” Kyuhyun said.

            “I don’t have any money anyway, so it doesn’t matter.  And I never had a pet growing up, so it’s kind of fun to pet sit for the evening.  We played fetch with Eunhyuk’s shoe for a half hour; she seems to like his best.  I wonder if it’s because he’s related to her owner and the scent is similar.”

            “No, it’s because his feet smell like ,” Kyuhyun corrected him.  “Dogs like anything that smells dead or like .”

            As they passed a large tree, Kkoming stopped and began to sniff around and found a spot on the grass to relieve herself.  Kyuhyun pulled out a bag from the attached holder and handed it to his cook as they waited for her to do her business.

            Ryeowook looked up at the dark, cloudless sky—perhaps at the stars—but Kyuhyun’s eyes were glued on the young man, contemplating several questions he didn’t know the answers to and he wasn’t even rude enough to outright ask without being invited to, afraid that he’d make him more uncomfortable than he already was.  The most prominent was: did Ryeowook even have many clothes.  The shirt he was wearing looked three sizes too big for his slender frame and threadbare.  They were likely given to him by someone else.  Did he even own a coat or was the one he had so embarrassing looking that he’d rather save face by not wearing one?  Not that he didn’t look goofy in Kyuhyun’s clothes either, as he was swimming in it and had to roll up the sleeves before reaching down to pick up after Kkoming.  But at least he wasn’t shivering.

           Whatever his circumstances before arriving at the house, they weren’t good.  Oddly enough, this bothered him.  Perhaps it was because, for a change, it didn’t appear that this person suffering from poverty had done anything to create this unfortunate happening.  It was purely his rotten fate to struggle to find a job that paid well enough and a home cheap enough to r