Just a little incident | Junhao

6

"I owe you big time for this." Minghao sighed as he passed a wriggling female dachshund over to Junhui. The older male hugged the small creature close to his chest, shaking his head. 

"It's no big deal." He brushed off. Watching the younger bring in the last of Lila's items, which mainly included treats and toys to entertain her for the next few hours, he sat down on the couch, letting Lila roam around and sniff the place. The younger stood up, awkwardly watching the two of them from the apartment doorway. 

Junhui eyed him discreetly. He offered him a drink, an attempt to break the silence in the house. However, the younger rejected him gratefully, explaining that he had to go soon anyway. 

"if you don't mind me asking, what's the occasion?" The older male asked. A small smile crept its way onto his lips as Lila tiptoed into his lap. He stroked the bottom of her cheek, allowing her to lie down on his crossed legs. 

"Oh, I'm having someone over." His smile dropped just a little. Minghao was inviting someone to his house? Despite himself, Junhui found himself curious about the mysterious person. Minghao never mentioned a partner, if he even had one. He shook his head aggressively, chasing the thoughts away. Either way, romantic partner or not, it shouldn't matter... Right?

Soon after, the younger bid farewell to Lila, leaving Junhui alone in his apartment with the little dachshund. He peaked into the duffel bag the younger had said contained some of Lila's essential things. Pulling said items out, he let out a chuckle at some of them. There was a lunchbox separated into two compartments, one of them containing some stale biscuits the older guessed was Lila's usual treats. The second compartment, on the other hand, had sliced up banana pieces topped with, the label read as 'dog-friendly peanut butter in case she freaks out'. 

Lila's toys included a squeaky one with its head nearly torn off, and a surprisingly intact dog stuffie from Ikea. The moment the toy had made its appearance, the cream coloured dog raced for it, chewing its ears between her teeth and hauling it to one corner. Junhui watched the pet fondly. He had to admit, though Lila was only going to be there for less than a day, the younger Chinese male had been really thorough. He'd even sent Junhui a long message from the night before, containing his home address in case of an emergency. 

Junhui placed all the items back, and crawled over to the tiny dog. At that split second, he had an idea. "Lila, how do you feel about learning to roll over?" 

As it turned out, Lila was an incredibly fast learner. With only three treats and two hours to spare, she'd figured out what rolling over meant, without him having to demonstrate it at least two times before. Not only that, she was also semi-decent at playing dead. Of course, other than the fact that her eyes remained wide open and she would still occasionally wriggle her paws around in mid air. 

"Good girl Lila!" he complimented, giving her a well deserved belly rub. He found complimenting Lila in a high-pitched baby voice seemed to harbour more motivation and much more effect. Lila, being the ever spoilt dachshund with her belly up, lapped the words up eagerly...

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Minghao POV

He was panting when he heard the doorbell rang. After all, he did run home a mere, he checked his watch again, one minute ago. It seemed like he was just on time as the door swung open, revealing a middle aged man, hair greying at his temples. 

"Mr Kim!" Minghao greeted and bowed politely. He reached his hand out to grip the older man's firmly. 

"Ah, now I see why you're so reputable in your field." Mr Kim guffawed, looking around the inside of Minghao's own apartment. The living room had a white theme, filled with bursts of colours here and there. The bright turquoise cabinet, the big canvassed abstract painting he'd created himself, a quirky red shoe cabinet he'd fallen in love with at an antique shop. He had always loved things to be kept minimal, but cozy enough that it felt more like his home than industrialised. Of course, he also had to take into account Lila, so much of his furniture was equipped with ramps and fabric that didn't let fur stick. Vacuuming had become so much easier, thank goodness.