her? ⇢ chensung ✔

vierundsechzig

time passed by much faster than he expected.

chenle was leaning on the couch uncomfortably as he placed his hand on his stomach as he cursed underneath his breath, seemingly getting more and more irritated for no reason whatsoever. composing himself, he peered over to see bae and daegal playing without a care in this world, the poor bichon having trouble keeping up with bae's hyperactivity.

"bae, let daegallie rest of a moment, she's tired..." chenle called out to her as a smile curled his lips at the wholesome scene in front of him. he snickered to himself as he recalled how exactly was bae's reaction when she saw daegal for the first time, and how easily the two bonded with each other in the time of 1 and a half months.

"oh my god...is that a dog?!" bae squealed out loud as she gazed at the white fluffball in chenle's hands, cuddling comfortably with him. she started to jump up and down as she could not handle her excitement anymore while pleading to let her have a look. "can i hold it? please, please, please...?"

"bae, you're too young to take care of dogs, besides, it'll bite you because it doesn't know you," jisung stated firmly as he looked at her in a serious expression, which made the child back off in a pouting mess. "after all, we should let daegal adjust here first, right? let it sniff around for a while when it wakes up."

chenle, on the other hand, had his figurative jaw on the floor at how seriously jisung handled the situation. he tilted his head as he gazed at the older curiously, wondering if he had any prior experience when it came to pets. "h-hyung...do you...happen to have experience in taking care of dogs...?"

jisung merely chuckled at that sentence. "of course, i do. i had two babies like daegal, but when bae was born, i had to adjust and ask my friend to take care of them..."

chenle could clearly see jisung had remorse lacing that sentence, for he missed his pets really badly. sighing, he started to speak out, trying his level best to console the older. "ah, hyung...you can still take care of daegal though...if you want..."

"i'd love to, but..." jisung trailed off as he looked down to see bae still pouting at him, waiting for her chance. "looks like someone else wants to take care of daegal instead..."

giggling silently to himself, chenle crouched down and kept daegal on the ground, adjacent to a very excited bae. the small fluffball whimpered for a moment as she could no longer feel the warmth of her owner, but decided to look around at this new alien place. she padded through the wooden floors as she sniffed miscellaneous objects scattered around the place, adjusting to the cold and slippery wood and the contrastingly fluffy and warm carpet.

bae followed around the bichon as she made sure to not let daegal know that she was right on her tail. as daegal walked by, she realized she was being followed and when she turned her head to see the child smiling at her. daegal could not help but let out a small feral bark before realizing her owner was there, and hence fell silent and merely stared at the girl before sniffing her hand.

both adults could not help but smile at the wholesome scenario in front of them.

"uh...chenle? you're zoning out..."

jisung's voice brought chenle out of his childish remembrance as he shook his head vigorously, before letting out a small, barely audible apology. "ah! s-sorry hyung..."

"it's alright," jisung waved it off as he beamed at him before he decided to query him a question. "uh...it's evening, and the park near the college dorms is open right now, mind if you want to join me and bae?"

chenle nodded in the affirmative as he oh-so-carefully pulled himself up while clutching on to the older's hand as support. jisung slipped his hands underneath daegal's body and picked her up to give her to chenle, but bae defended. "daddy, can i hold daegallie, please...?"

jisung turned to the younger in concern. "is it alright if i...?" he trailed off as chenle immediately nodded in the affirmative, which led to him lending the white fluffball to the toddler, who was more than happy to hold her.

🍂

the four strolled to the park as the sky glowed a bright orange, a strong breeze flowing by the cul-de-sac. bae and daegal were leading as they were wandering around, stopping every now and then when something catches their attention. jisung and chenle, on the other hand, were lagging behind at a reasonably slow pace, having their eyes on the two adorable balls of sunshine so as to make sure they don't stray away.

as they walked towards the line where the asphalt changes to soft, fresh grass, daegal stopped in her tracks as she started to whimper and sniff everywhere, but chenle waved it off as this place was maybe a bit too vast for daegal to realize where she is.

unfortunately, the whimpers grew louder and louder until daegal let out a sad, high-pitched bark which startled both jisung and chenle. crouching down, chenle caressed the bichon's body, trying to calm her down. "what happened, daegallie...?" chenle asked, and almost immediately, daegal charged and ran through the grass, much to their dismay.

"bae, stay here with aunt lele, okay?" those were the only words jisung spoke as he ran to chase daegal and bring her back. "daegal!" he shouted as his eyes scanned the meadow, hoping to find her as soon as he could.

fortunately yet unfortunately, jisung stopped in his tracks as he saw daegal literally pounce on a boy's shoulder, and then wagging her tail and licking his arm. baffled, he approached the boy— who looked dangerously cadaverous, might he add, and tapped on his shoulder, sighing in relief.

as he turned back, jisung sighed as his mind raced to form an apology. "uh, s-sorry about that, my dog, daegal...i don't know what went through her...i'm really, really sorry!"

the boy hitched his breath before fidgetting with his fingers as he stood up, holding daegal in his hands, who was somehow very comfortable being in this stranger's arms. without saying a word, his head drooped down as he handed the fluffball over to jisung, tears almost threatening to fall from his eyes.

"thank you, uh...i'll see you later then..." jisung trailed off as bid farewell to the younger, and for some reason, he did not even reciprocate the gesture. 

without wasting anymore time, jisung ran towards chenle and bae, slowing down as he beamed gleefully at chenle. he lifted a very uncomfortable daegal up, sighing in relief. "found her," jisung started, "god, i don't know what went over her, she was literally wagging her tail in front of a random college student! you really have to train her, chenle."

chenle fell silent as he heard that sentence come from jisung. his head drooped down as he sighed, wanting to get everything over with. "it's alright, daegal's not even trained yet, she's just too friendly with strangers..." he trailed off, knowing clearly that was a blatant lie as daegal kept on whimpering to be in that random stranger's arms.

"and i'll help you with that," jisung stated as he sat down next to chenle on the grass, heaving deep breaths after the impromptu dog-chasing marathon he just had. "god, i'm exhausted...daegal's too fast for me, oh lord..."

chenle merely let out a small snicker, albeit he felt guilty for dismissing him as just a random stranger that daegal's gotten a liking to. trying to distract himself, he gazed at bae who was playing with the fluffball this time, and surprisingly, daegal still has energy left in her even though she literally made jisung chase her through the diagonal of the park.

🍂

jisung, who was watching everything unfold from the corner, could not help but choke out a sniffle as he took notice of how much happier chenle was with the unknown stranger rather than himself, and as much as he wanted chenle back, he knew he cannot control chenle's decisions...

...and he will respect those decisions, even if it hurt him so much, tearing his heart into two.

a/n: guess who got her random motivation to update lmao