The chilly winter air managed to seep into the small shop through the many cracks of the door and walls, making the boy sitting behind the counter shiver at times. The chirping of many birds and soft yapping, meowing of other animals was all he could hear, but they were quite enough to soothe him.

There had barely been any customers that they, so sadly, only a couple of happy critters had found new homes.

Leaning his head on the counter with an exhausted sigh, the boy wondered if he was like them; someone to take home and cherish as nothing but a pet would he be happy? Would he be ever able to learn being taken care of, being loved?

He honestly wasn't sure. Truth to be told, his past life hadn't been that horrible. He was the typical rich kid whose parents cared about money than they cared about him, and grew up alone in the lonely mansion. Only, the kids at his school never tried making friends with him for money, which at times, made him a little sad.

Not only was he unwanted, but his wealth was, too.

With a sigh, the boy shook his head a little, trying to forget about his loneliness. It haunted him wherever he went yet he still fought to defeat it. That was why, in the end, he started working in this pet story. Sure, it was rundown and quite smelly, but he had company and some of the regular customers were quite friendly to him. He had even been asked out by a few of them but in the end, he always refused.

Too many times had he been fooled into thinking that someone liked him like that. All those cruel pranks had made him close up more and more to others even if he wished to have someone who could break through the darkness that had slowly shattered his heart.

"Luhan, could you stay until eleven or so?" His managed whose nickname was Daisy after the flower asked as she pranced into the small room like some horse.

Daisy, despite how she had borrowed her name from a flower, was actually quite like an animal herself. She was tall and lean with cat-like eyes and seemingly sharp teeth. Her hair was usually quite messy, the blond locks lying in disheveled heaps on top of her head. Also, what actually scared Luhan about her the most, she had incredibly long nails. She always said they were fake just well done, but to the boy they seemed real.

And very sharp.

Still, although her looks were quite unique and somewhat scary, she was an incredibly sweet woman. Her voice was soft and gentle whenever she talked and she never actually got angry at anyone.

Luhan had never heard her yell before.

He knew quite well that there had been many instances when he had made her angry though. Although he was smart and had many products of the shop memorized according to price and such, he was incredibly clumsy.

The number of things he had knocked off the shelves or broke when falling couldn't even be counted but Daisy never got angry. She mostly just helped Luhan up and took care of the things, telling the boy to just sit down for a while.

She was quite motherly and patient, which had always made Luhan admire her. Given that his mother had rarely ever been there for him, he couldn't help but like the woman's caring attitude. He longed to at least befriend her but even at such thoughts, warning bells would go off in his head.

"She will hurt you..." He would think.

"Luhan?" Daisy's worried voice pulled the boy out of his thoughts."Are you okay? If you're feeling sick, I can stay."

"Huh? Oh no, sorry I just spaced out." The boy blushed lightly out of embarrassment, biting into his lower lip as he looked at the woman."I can stay." He added.

"Well, if you say so." Daisy shook her head with a smile, running a hand through her messy hair."But if something comes up, just call me."

"Okay. I like staying here at night, really." The boy said, his eyes lighting up when he spotted a small puppy dashing through the room, having escaped from its cage."Hey, didn't you know that going out is a no-no?" He asked, quickly reaching for the tiny animal. It let out a low whine in response before looking at Luhan sadly."No, young lady, as much as I love all of you, no one gets special treatment." With a loving smile, he quickly put the puppy back where she belonged and made sure to check if neither her, nor her sibling could escape."I hope that they will be bought soon. They are such an energetic bunch."

"They sure are." Daisy said with a chuckle as she walked over to the cage and let the puppies sniff her hand."Why don't you take one home? I could give him or her to you as a Christmas gift and... I know how much you love them."

"I can't." Luhan sighed softly, his eyes saddening."I just don't have the time for a pet, really." As much as he wished to have a pet, he knew that college and work was too much for him. Sure, he could have asked a maid to take care of the puppy he would get but if he ever had a pet, he wanted to raise it completely. Also, he was planning to move out of his family's house as soon as he had some money saved up. For some reason, the boy didn't want to ask his parents to lend him some... They just weren't that close to each other.

"I see. Well, if you ever need one, just tell me." Daisy said with a smile as she looked around before slowly going to the door. As she stepped out with a sad smile, she added another sentence that unfortunately, never reached Luhan's ears."The same goes for hugs."