Soon as Ren convinced the German Shepherd, it stopped growl. She followed its gaze and saw Mizuki beckoning her to come. Ren’s gaze dropped at Elli once again. It just stared silently at him before slowly approaching. She remembered Minhyuk once mentioned that animal had best instinct of assessing good or bad people.

 Another thing was Elli had that habit of being over-protective of their family and territory, especially if not socialized correctly. She was not inclined to become immediate friends with strangers unless Ren whispered the word —which she’d familiarized it now—to her ear. Recalling Minhyuk’s statement, she wondered if Mizuki did have good intention toward her after all.

Ren watched the two of them in complete silent, slightly irritated. Elli should have not given in too easily. She and Elli tended to put distance toward stranger. They both should be convinced that the person won’t do anything to harm them, that then; they would finally accept them in their circle. And this was the reason why she and Elli made a good pairing.

 “Elli.” Ren called. It turned its head and returned to her place at once. Small smile tugged the corner of her lips. She Elli’s neck and muttered, “Good girl.” and saw Mizuki carefully walked towards her.

 “You ran away,” he said. His voice was barely audible. “Why did you run away?”

“I did not.” Replied her shortly. “I came here because I wanted to accompany Elli.” Said her again, crouching down to meet the dog’s eyes. “Elli, let’s find a shelter nearby, shall we?” asked her, smiling and she got a on her face as reply.

She was about to leave him, but stopped her track.

“Let’s go” called her without turning her head.

- - -

To his credit, Mizuki hid his astonishment well, immediately walking behind Ren and Elli. Although he’d been planning to follow her regardless of what she said or did—it was his job, in any case, and he simply wasn’t the type to neglect his duties—it was a pleasant surprise that she did at least acknowledge him this time.

Did this mean that she was slowly opening up to him? Whatever reason Ren had for doing so, Mizuki would take whatever he could get. At this point of time, it was about one of the very few things he could do for her. 

Falling into step with her, he slowed down his gait when they were finally side-by-side, Elli between them. It was starting to drizzle by the time they left the riverbank, and without saying anything, Mizuki took the umbrella from Ren’s hand and opened it to shelter her and Elli, leaving only a little for himself. 

“Where are we going?” he asked, breaking the silence.