Lovely Allergen

Chapter 25: Fear of Separation

Time never moved forward at a constant speed — or at least, not in a physical sense.

Yue Zhishi truly believed this as he worked on his physics homework over the winter semester break. He didn't know how the last semester passed by in such a fuzzy manner, to the point he seriously thought about looking up if scientists have ever done experiments on time. However, Lin Rong's phone call to him interrupted what may have possibly been Yue Zhishi's first ever paper research project.

"Yes, okay." Yue Zhishi walked down the stairs as he talked on the phone. "Song Yu gege went to cram school. I'll bring him there, I know where it is."

Placing down the phone, Yue Zhishi went to look for a leash to wrap around Cotton Candy and prepared to bring him to the vet for a physical check up.

"Let's get you all pretty while we're there, Cotton Candy. Your fur has been way too long lately." It was very cold outside, so Yue Zhishi wrapped himself in a thick white down jacket. The human and dog pair looked almost like two balls of cotton candy from far away.

Since it was winter break as well as the weekend, the vet clinic was extremely full. Yue Zhishi saw many cats and dogs, and even chinchillas. He felt very satisfied, and secretly imagined himself petting and playing with them all. The older sister in front of him in the line was holding two large dogs, one Alaskan and one golden retriever. When the golden retriever was being examined, the Alaskan seemed to be very cautious about its surroundings, constantly pulling around wildly, and its owner almost couldn't hold onto it as she was also distracted by the golden retriever.

"Excuse me, would you mind holding onto the leash for me? He might be a bit scared, so I'll hug him for a bit."

"Ah, sure." Yue Zhishi placed down the obedient Cotton Candy in his arms and used his other hand to help the older sister with the Alaskan dog's leash. Holding the leash of such a large dog felt very novel to Yue Zhishi — when he looked at his left hand holding onto the Pomeranian and compared it to his right, that hand pretty much was dominated by the dog and almost looked like the dog was walking him instead.

The female owner knelt down to rub the Alaskan's head. After a few minutes, the dog quietened down slightly and no longer fussed around. Yue Zhishi could finally relax, thinking it was good thing Cotton Candy was a quiet and obedient dog, and fished out a dog treat from his pocket. He prepared to award it to Cotton Candy, but he noticed the other end of the leash he was holding was empty only after he turned his head. Cotton Candy was missing.

Yue Zhishi panicked and searched the small clinic upside down, holding out Cotton Candy's favourite treat as he called out his name. It was useless, so Yue Zhishi ran out to the road and looked all around him. He was still unable to find any signs of Cotton Candy.

He searched around and around that nearby area, and his first reaction was to give Lin Rong a call when his searches were all fruitless. But it seemed Lin Rong was too busy with her food importation issues and was uncontactable. He had no other choice but to call Song Yu.

The call only rang once before it was picked up. It was like Yue Zhishi had finally found his saviour, the first words out of his mouth covered with tears. "Song Yu gege, Cotton Candy's missing."

Song Yu told him to calm down. Yue Zhishi took a breath, and his ability to think returned in a moment.

"Let's search for him separately. I'm on my way home now. You're closer to Yanghe Qizhe, so go look for him there."

Yue Zhishi didn't know why Song Yu told him to search for Cotton Candy at the restaurant, but he went anyway. Right before he hung up the phone, he heard Song Yu say, "Don't worry. We'll definitely find him."