April 21^st

Jongdae walked with a bounce in his step, clicking his fingers softly to the beat pulsing through his headphones. In one hand he held a bouquet of freshly picked roses. He had gotten them himself and even though he was not so artistically blessed, he had managed to prettily tie a bow around the stems and arrange the flowers into a sloppy heart shape. Some of the stems still possessed their thorns and there were a few roses beginning to wilt, but the gesture came from the heart and he was relatively proud of his accomplishment.

As he strolled along, he passed a little elderly woman. He wasn’t too tall, but he guessed that she was still probably only half of his height. Her clothes were tattered and both hands clearly calloused. She stood behind a tiny, titled stand covered in handwritten signs and imaginative designs. Atop the stand were adorable bundles of chocolates, obviously homemade.

Jongdae was a er for old people and even more of a er for food. He retraced his steps and kneeled in front of the lady, offering her a charming smile and picking out the loveliest batch of chocolates. Her face lit up as he handed over a bundle of cash - reasonably more than she had asked for – and he immediately felt pleased, as though it was his good deed for the day. Waving at the elderly woman with a freely fluttering hand, he began to make his way downtown once more.

Another distraction popped up mere moments later. A litter of puppies wiggled around in a torn cardboard box, their yelps soft and precious. There was not a single person in sight and Jongdae hadn’t the strength to leave them behind, so with a sigh, he bent down to scoop them up. All but one of them were pure white and fluffy. The odd one out was brown, its fur much shorter than that of its siblings.  It was also a lot quieter and shyly wedged itself into the corner of the box, almost slipping through a decently sized hole. Jongdae knew he would definitely have to keep that one.

With roses in one hand, chocolates in his pocket and a box full of whining puppies, Jongdae continued on his way. It was a toddler that stopped him in his tracks next. With watery eyes and puffed, reddened cheeks, the little girl gazed up at him gloomily. Her hair was an absolute mess, only a single side pulled into a ponytail whilst the other strands toppled down her back. Both miniscule hands were painted with red dirt, as were her gorgeous denim overalls and tiny white sneakers. Behind her, creating a cacophony of terrible animal noises as they dangled over park equipment, were a bunch of rowdy boys around the same age. They snuck constant glances over at the girl. Jongdae assumed it was these kids who had made her so filthy.

His heart sinking into his gut at the sight of the little girl’s distress was what saw him sitting with her for half an hour, playing with the puppies and scolding the boys whenever they tried to come too close. When her parents finally arrived at the scene, they asked to take the white puppies with them because they had never seen their daughter’s smile grow so wide. Jongdae grinned as he watched the family walk off together, small clouds with legs yapping around at their ankles. The brown puppy was curled in his lap, completely unbothered by the disappearance of its siblings.

Jongdae tugged out his phone to call Chanyeol, when his eyes fell upon the time. He was late! Attempting to speedily scramble to his feet, Jongdae slipped and crushed the stunning roses. In too much of a rush to care, he scurried away, leaving them scattered across the ground.

He arrived at the restaurant minutes later and entirely breathless, hair glued to his forehead with sticky sweat. Jimin was there, as beautiful as ever with her hair styled perfectly and a loose fitted dress. Those plump lips were glossed a glistening red and her cheeks were a little pinker than usual. The gemmed light dangling above illuminated the angles in her face and caused her eyes to sparkle magically, in addition to making it seem as though her skin was covered in a light sheen of glitter. She was truly a sight to behold.

Jongdae swallowed the lump in his throat and approached, ready to spit excuses and apologies, but he choked on his words as she peered up to glower at him irritably. He reached into his pocket, hoping that chocolates could lighten the situation. They were squished and melted, the patterned box slashed through the middle. Moving on to his next plan, he raised the brown puppy in the air and forced an uneasy smile. Jimin rose from her seat, expression unwavering.

Before he could say anything, she stomped out of the restaurant with a huff. He tried to follow her, but she caught a taxi so quickly that he didn’t even have the chance to yell after her. Instead of sitting inside a warm room with delicious food and a stunning woman, Jongdae was left on the sidewalk with a nameless puppy and a destroyed batch of chocolates as he watched his date speed off into the distance.

When he arrived home an hour or so later, he plonked onto the couch face first and groaned into its springy cushioning. His arm lolled off the side and his legs jutted out over the armrest, so it was an incredibly painful position. He felt that he deserved to feel uncomfortable though and remained there for the rest of the night, a ball of fluff asleep atop his bottom. In the morning, he decided that he puppy’s name was Jim. 

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Ah poor Jongdae. Jimin is a difficult character, but he'll get a hold of her soon.

There's a long weekend here in Australia, so I hope to have the next chapter of the main story uploaded over that period.

Chu ~ <3