Letting go of self-restraint 6 - Can we keep him... pretty please?

Chapter 3

A-Yuan could clearly feel and see that his daddy was very worried about him and he was sorry for causing him such a shock. He knew that he did not like dogs, he was never present when he played with Uncle Cheng's dog when they visited Lotus Pier. That was why he was making sure to hold the puppy at all times, just in case it would want to run greet his father.

He had found the dog in Caiyi Town today, together with his friends. It was limping pitifully and looked very small and helpless, all of them wanted to help it but they did not have the courage since they knew the teachers would not allow them to bring it to the Cloud Recesses with them. So they only gave it some food and left.

Not so A-Yuan however; he had been always told that if there was a good cause, he should act on his best judgement. If that meant breaking the rules, it was not too important. That was what his parents had taught him time and time again. And now he judged that he could not leave the puppy to fend for itself and had to bring it with him to be treated.

It looked like his father agreed with him because when he had checked the small animal's injury, he took it into his arms and turned around, looking at him with pride. A-Yuan beamed when he was praised: "You did a good job."

He wanted to go and take care of the puppy, but daddy was still holding him tightly, it looked like he was not about to let him go any time soon, probably still worried about him. A-Yuan knew that it was not right of him to scare his parent like this so he turned around in his embrace and apologized: "Daddy, A-Yuan is sorry. But the puppy was injured, it needed help."

His daddy unglued his eyes from the puppy and looked down at him, his expression strained. Then he smiled brightly and patted his head: "I know baby, you have such a good heart. It is important to help those in need."

A-Yuan beamed right back at him, happy that his daddy was not mad at him for breaking the rules and more importantly for bringing a dog into their room, an animal which he knew his parent hated.

When he had been hiding the puppy under his robes so his teachers would not notice, he had not been thinking about what he would do once the animal was treated. Now that he had spent almost half a day with the fur ball, he had gotten unexpectedly attached to it. The puppy was very sweet and it was licking his hand every single time he tried to pet it. Well, aside for that time when it had gotten startled by his daddy's noisy arrival and tried to protect him.

He had already gotten to love it, even in such a short amount of time. He was sure that his parents would let him keep the puppy until its injury was healed but he did not know what would happen to it afterwards. If they released it back to Caiyi Town, would it find his family? Did it even have one? Or would it be abandoned and starving again? A-Yuan almost started crying when thinking of the fate of his little friend.

No, he would not let that happen! He would beg his parents to be allowed to keep the puppy. Sure, it was against the rules to have pets in the Cloud Recesses, but they had their bunnies; so why would A-Yuan not be allowed to keep a puppy. Of course somewhere where Uncle Qiren and his daddy would not be able to see it. One would not be happy because of the rule breaking, the other simply because he did not like dogs.

So A-Yuan made his most adorable face he knew his parents could not resist to and begged: "Can we please keep it?" He was looking at his daddy as he said it, making sure his parent saw his pleading eyes.

For a second, his daddy's expression became extremely fond and A-Yuan though he had won and would be able to keep the puppy despite everything. Then however, his daddy looked at his other parent. There was a long silence in the room. A-Yuan knew that his parents were talking between themselves and he did not want to disturb them, so he kept quiet, waiting for their decision.

After a while, when he had already become fidgety from waiting, his daddy looked down at him again and shook his head: "No, we cannot. You know the rules, A-Yuan. We will keep him until his injury is healed but then we have to get him back where you found it. It is possible that it belongs to someone who is now desperately searching for it."

A-Yuan stilled for a second, this option did not even occur to him. He now imagined how sad he would be if his friend disappeared suddenly, just like one of the bunnies did just a few weeks ago. He had cried for a long time then. Even when he and his parents had searched the whole Cloud Recesses, they could not find it anywhere, the little bunny was just gone. No, if someone was still looking for the puppy, of course he had to return it. But what if the animal had no one?

"But what if the puppy does not have anyone? What if it is all by himself? Will we keep it then? Pretty please?" A-Yuan was not giving up. He was sure that his parents would suggest first looking for the owner and only if they would not find it would they be open to another discussion, but he did not want to give up so soon. It never hurt to already tell them what he wanted so they would know when the time came.

His parents looked at each other again, communicating silently again. After a moment, just as A-Yuan had been expecting, his father spoke: "Let us first look for the owner and then see."

It was not exactly a promise, but A-Yuan decided it was close to one and contented himself with it.

"Tomorrow is a rest day, so let us go ask around the Caiyi Town, what do you say?" his daddy asked, finally in a good mood after discovering the puppy.

Although A-Yuan though it was way too soon and wanted to spend some more time with his new friend, he understood that they should go look as soon as possible. If there was another child crying because his dog was gone, they had to find him immediately. A-Yuan nodded eagerly his approval.

His daddy patted his head again and smile at him: "That is my good boy. Now, do you want to tell me how was your day?"

A-Yuan nodded again and his daddy finally set him down. All four of them sat around the table, the puppy now sleeping peacefully on A-Yuan's lap, and he was eagerly explaining all that he had learned today and how he had rescued the puppy. During all that time, he was making sure that the small animal would not wake up and would not go anywhere near his daddy. He was happy he was allowed to keep the puppy at least for the day but he did not want to cause his parent any more distress.