'In the Nick of Time' is a story of how love creates wonder in time, finding either love or heartbreak in perfect timing. A cliche, yet intriguing fate was brought upon Junhoe and Jinhwan. Whether it was love in the nick of time, or another ill-fate...
"Dingo, hey. Give me that. You're not supposed to eat your toy. Spit it out now." Jinhwan's voice was authoritative yet ever so gentle.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A cute fluffy milk-brown Pomeranian pup gave him that pleading look while it still had its stuff toy in its mouth. There was already a small hole from it and the cotton material was everywhere. It wasn't good for dogs to swallow such thing, so Jinhwan was trying to get it out from the little pup's mouth which was to no avail for over 3 minutes already.
"Dingo-ya. That's bad. Come on. That's a good boy. Dingo's going to spit it out now, yeah?" The fluffy dog flinched his ears and wagged his tail upon hearing a familiar voice.
Jinhwan didn't break his gaze from Dingo but seeing the same reaction from it every time he hears that man's voice, he sighed in defeat. After just a couple of seconds, Dingo let go of the toy and excitedly ran to the owner of the voice behind Jinhwan.
"Yes! Good boy." The man petted Dingo fondly and smiled at Jinhwan with eyes telling him 'I won again'.
"He never listens to me, Hanbin-ah. I'm close to feeling rejected by a dog." Jinhwan joked at him while collecting the cottons from Dingo's play area.
"You look scary when you're glaring at him, so he won't listen to you. Maybe if you soften your approach a little bit, he'll do what you say." The other man carried the dog on his arms and put him back in his play area that is now cleaned.
"I'm literally doing that just now." Jinhwan discarded the dangerous stuff from the place since dogs were playing everywhere.
He worked at a dog café just 45 minutes from their home during weekdays and he also had part-time job in a Samgyupsal House dining as a server, not too far from his regular job, during night and Saturdays. They came from an average class family – never worried about finances. But life challenged them after the accident and Junkyu being a med student now, Jinhwan really needed to work for his brother. He couldn't find a stable job when he was still blind, so Junkyu had to mature early and support both of them. After he got his sight back, he promised his little brother he would devote his life for them as he did for him when he was in pitch darkness. So, despite Junkyu's persistent request of allowing him to do part-time jobs again, he insisted. He believed his parents blessed him with his sight again, so he could play his role as an older brother who's supposed to take care of his little brother.
Jinhwan, feeling unwanted by Dingo, just then replenished the food dispensers attached from the wall. He struggled with opening the lid when the bottom container holding the food suddenly crashed and fell. Thanks to his quick reaction, he caught it before it hit the floor. A casual laugh, kind of teasing, made him flinch and turned his head to the direction.
"Aigoo, Jinhwan the destroyer at it again." Hanbin, his co-staff, jokingly hissed at him. But he gave Jinhwan a helping hand anyway.
"Sorry. I don't know why this always dismantles every time I open the lid." They both fixed the dispenser and Jinhwan filled the container with dog food.
