Lee Chaerin was not a dog person, period.

“Come on, Chaerin-unnie, I don’t want to leave them in the dog shelter! Who knows what they would do to my precious babies!” A red haired woman whined whilst clinging onto the older woman’s arm.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself, Minzy? My answer is no.” The blonde retorted with a deep scowl etched on her face. “Why don’t you ask Bom-unnie? She likes dogs, doesn’t she?”

Minzy let out a long, drawn out dramatic sigh. “Already tried Bom-unnie, she wasn’t so keen on the idea.”

“So what? I’m like your last retort huh?” Chaerin clicked her tongue in annoyance, turning away to continue with her work. “There is no way in hell am I agreeing to this.”

The red head folded her arms over her chest. “You know the dogs I look after are incredibly fussy on who looks after them, they were very taken with you when you first met them—“

By ‘taken’ you mean being annoying little s? But of course, she didn’t voice this opinion as she merely soldiered on, her eyes planted firmly onto her laptop screen as her fingers typed at a consistent pace.

“I won’t even be gone long, you’ll see! It’s supposed to last a day or two, but it could end earlier than planned! You know I’ve been so excited for this audition for months now, Chaerin-ah…if I would ever ask for just one favour off you, this would be the only one I would ask...please, Chaerin-ah?”

Don’t look her in the face. Don’t you dare think about turning around and looking into those puppy dog eyes of hers—

But, the older woman had found that she didn’t have to even move a muscle. She could just about make out from the peripheral of her eye, Minzy right up close and personal, her hands clasped together under her chin and her eyes more pronounced and wide. “…Please do this one favour, Chaerin-ah~”

And that was that settled. Chaerin sighed internally, her fate had already been sealed for her the second Minzy had strolled into the room. Looks like a messy few days, just exactly what I needed in my life right now.

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It was finally the day. The same day that Chaerin had been dreading with a passion.

She had spent the most of the afternoon driving through the countryside, her only company for the long car journey from the city was her trusty old satellite navigation device, with its electronic voice breaking into the empty air with the occasional direction pointer.

I can only hope that there’s only a couple of dogs.

Minzy was known very well for taking care of dogs, both from breeding at the farm and abandoned dogs in the kennel. She had a heart of gold when it came to animals, Chaerin remembered the days where the younger girl had been consistently begging for a dog of her own to look after, then a couple or so years later, she found herself being recruited by her grandparents living in the countryside to look after the variety of dogs at the farm. But that wasn’t all that Minzy was passionate about.

For as long as Chaerin had known her, the girl in question was always dancing. She loved it, there was no disputing that at all. The amount of time, effort and pure energy she had invested into something that used to be brushed aside as a hobby was now starting to become a career that she had always dreamed of. Minzy had attended all kinds of different workshops, conventions and even potential auditions for top entertainment companies.

She knew how much this audition meant to Minzy.

Maybe…deep down, I would have agreed anyway. What’s the harm in a few days?

Famous last words.

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“So, I’ve put sticky notes pretty much everywhere in case I forget to tell you anything. I’ve given them food in the afternoon, a few hours just before you came. They usually eat again in the evening, roughly around eight o’clock towards.” Minzy paused to breathe briefly, trying to pluck through her brain to check if she had forgotten anything.

“I’m sure whatever it is you’re thinking of, it’s written somewhere on a sticky note.” The blonde smiled slightly, her gaze partly trained onto the front door where the terrors were currently. She could practically hear their paws scratching at the door impatiently.  

“You’re right, I’ll just text you in case I remember!” With a bright, beaming face directed towards the older woman, she pushed a key ring with a dozen assorted keys into Chaerin’s palm. “I cannot thank you enough for doing this for me, this means more than you’ll ever know!”

“Knock ‘em dead, like I know you will Minzy-ah.” She lifted her free hand to ruffle the smiling girl’s hair. A strong feeling of a sense of a proud parent settling in the blonde woman as she watched on as Minzy placed the last of her baggage into her grandparent’s car before waving them all off until the car silhouette had faded away.

Well, I don’t have any more excuses now. I can’t run, not when Minzy needs me to do this. Time to face them. Was her first thought as she glanced back apprehensively at the door. With slowly planned actions, she lifted the key and placed it into the lock.

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On the other side of the room, the occupiers already knew who exactly was behind the door at this precise moment.

With wide eyes, noses perked up at its highest and tags wagging furiously, they all waited with immense patience and anticipation as they heard the locks begin to shuffle, thus unlocking the door. 

There was no doubt about it, she was back.

Chaerin slipped through the door, with an overnight bag slung over her shoulder, a weary look etched on her face as she smiled at them.

And they weren’t planning on letting her go, this time.

With that thought in mind shared by the twelve grown dogs, they all stared at the one woman they had been longing to see for so long. But, for some, the urge was far too strong to ignore. Before Chaerin could realize what was going on, one minute she noticed two of the—hyperactive she had initially assumed—dogs were racing towards her.

You can do this, Chaerin. For Minzy. Trying to convince herself was one thing, but having to face something which she wasn’t particularly fond of was going to be difficult, she could already see.

The next minute, something happened that Chaerin had never thought would happen. The two dogs that were sprinting in her direction with equally crazed looks in their eyes, pounced on their unsuspecting victim. But, not as dogs.

But as full sized human males.

These few days were going to be interesting, to say the least. But in Chaerin’s perspective, it was going to be hell.

Or at least, by the intense stares she was recieving from the majority of them, she would be lucky to get out at all.

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