Chanyeol is so very late for his mother's birthday that he thinks he'll need more than a bouquet of roses and chocolate to make up for it. He's never going to hear the end of it, his sister is going to make him regret this for a very long time, this is one of the few occasions during the year when the whole Park family gathers around a table and he is missing it.

Through his review mirror, Chanyeol looks at the orange bundle that slowly rises and falls on his backseat and sighs.

-

Chanyeol is never late, as much as his messy self might suggest so, he is always on time. He is, though, one to throw himself head first into things without thinking much, that's why he found himself with a rather big dog on the backseat of his car wrapped in his, once clean, jacket. The poor dog was on the side of the road and Chanyeol really tried to drive past it, but he could swear the dog had been looking at him, with his yellow piercing eyes and Chanyeol couldn't shrug off the guilt and drove back.

The dog had been unconscious, but still breathing and, even to a non-expert the poor animal looked like it had seen better days. At first he tried to wake the dog making very loud sounds and, embarrassingly, barking, but nothing happened. When he was sure it wasn't going to jump up and bite off his hand Chanyeol wrapped it in his coat and gently carried to his car and drove it to the nearest vet clinic GoogleMaps found.

The vet, doctor Kim, after a very brief check-up found the animal heavily malnourished and dehydrated.

“You said you found him on the side of the road?” doctor Kim asks again, for confirmation.

Chanyeol nods. “I was going to visit my parents. I saw it and I couldn't just leave it there”

“I understand. It's a very beautiful dog, and it's a shame that it is suffering so much... ”

Chanyeol nods again, his eyes trained on the exposed ribs under the thick black fur. “What will happen to him?” he asked.

Doctor Kim sighs. “I'll have to report him to the authorities, he'll be vaccinated and when he'll be healthy enough he'll be transferred into a shelter where they'll try to find him a new home”

Chanyeol dares to cradle his hand through the dark fun on the dog's neck. “We don't know what his response will be when he wakes up, he might turn out to be... difficult, it's not rare between dogs who went through traumatic experiences. Let's hope this is not one of those cases. Once healthy he'll be a very beautiful dog, but... people usually prefer puppies and he's already a young adult, his chances are pretty low, but we never know”

The dog stirs under Chanyeol's touch, for a moment he fears it is going to wake up, but next second it is already back in hi