|Weak Hero| Dawn Na

Chapter 20

"You sure you're fine with heading home by yourself?" Hyunjin asked. "I can accompany you if you want,"

"I'll be fine," Dawn waved as she left.

On the way home, she heard muffled whining and whimpering followed by some shouting and hitting. The whining and whimpering did not sound like it belonged to a human, so Dawn was concerned. She saw a woman walking away from an alley. Once she was gone, Dawn carefully peered into the alley.

A black pitbull with green eyes and a bleeding wound across his muzzle was tied up and covered with cuts and bruises. He growled when Dawn tried to approach him.

'He's just scared and hurt,' Dawn took a few steps closer, knowing that she had to get the rope off of his muzzle so he'd be able to eat and drink. She slowly walked towards the dog and managed to pull the ropes off, but got scratched on her arm in the process. The dog backed away from her and fled. 'Ow...I wanted to take the dog to the vet, but he's scared. I'm worried about him because there's a negative stereotype about pitbulls and someone might try to hurt him or tie him up again,'

Dawn spotted a store nearby and decided to buy some a can of dog food and water. She placed it in the alley in case the dog decided to come back. After waiting a few minutes and still seeing no sign of the dog, she headed home.

XXX

"What happened to your arm?" Gray asked his cousin. 'It doesn't look like scratch marks from a human but rather  from an animal,'

"Stray dog," She wrote down with her free hand as Gray tended to her wound. "Some lady tied him up and hurt him. She abandoned him in an alley. I freed him but he ran away,"

"You need to be more careful," Gray advised. "You're lucky he just ran away instead of continuing to attack you,"

"I had to help him. He was just like me when I was younger. I want to be like my dad. I want to help others,"

"I'm not saying to not help strays," Gray told her. "But at least be more cautious and maybe wear some thicker clothing,"

"Do you think our apartment allows pets?"

"You want to adopt him?" Gray deadpanned. "Dawn, a dog is a lot of work and responsibility,"

She gave him her best puppy eyes, but Gray was unaffected.

"If you really want to adopt him that badly, ask Donald and Kingsley for their input,"

XXX

"We adopted a bunny," Donald gently cradled the small rabbit in his arms. "Her name's Jawbreaker,"

"One of our classmates' pet rabbit just had a litter and Donald wanted one," Kingsley explained.

"So our apartment allows pets?"

"Yeah," Donald nodded. "Jawbreaker is a baby giant bunny so she'll grow to the size of a small dog,"

"Dawn wants to adopt a stray dog she encountered," Gray informed. 

"Is it the same dog that hurt you?" Donald spotted the band aid. 

"She said that the dog was abused and abandoned," Gray explained.

"Donald, we were just like him when we were kids. You didn't immediately trust Dad when you first met him. He's only aggressive because he's hurt and scared. If I show him love and affection, he'll trust me and realize that not everyone is a bad person,"

"I can't argue with your logic," Donald replied. "But one well-placed bite to the neck can kill you,"

"He doesn't have that much strength since it didn't look like he ate for a period of time. He was so skinny and malnourished,"

"Better safe than sorry,"

XXX

The next day, Dawn returned to the flower field where she once again encountered Seongmok and Dongha. 

"Gonna attempt flower crowns again?" Dongha asked. 

"Picking flowers for my brother's new pet bunny," 

That caught Seongmok's attention. "I have a bunny too,"

Dawn curiously tilted her head. "You do?"

Seongmok took out his phone and showed her a photo of him an a little black bunny dressed as Captain Hook. "His name's Killian,"

"Cute!" Dawn smiled. "My brother's bunny is female and her name's Jawbreaker,"

"By the way," Dongha spoke up. "Seongmok told me that he wants to adopt you as our sister,"

"This is literally only our second time interacting," Dawn deadpanned. 'What is it with people wanting me to be their sister? I already have an older brother,'

"Hey sis—"

"I didn't agree to being your sister,"

"What happened to your arm?"

"I said I'm not your sister," Dawn shook her head, knowing that they'd probably be like Jake. "A stray dog was scared and ran away. I plan on trying to get him to trust me before adopting him,"

"Want us to go and catch the dog for you?" Dongha offered.

"No, you'll only end up making him even more terrified than he already is,"

Seongmok handed a handful of flowers to Dawn. "These ones are safe for rabbits. Not all plants are safe for them,"

"Thanks," Dawn placed the flowers in her basket. 

The rest of the time was spent by Seongmok teaching Dawn tips on caring for a bunny while Dongha braided flowers into their sister's hair.

The dog's name is Alexander the Great. No, he isn't Alex Go. Alex still exists in this story but Xander just resembles him.