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♡WHERE IS MY BABY BEAR♡
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Jungkook is 24 years old, young enough to still feel the sharp sting of loneliness but old enough to have built his world with his own two hands. He owns a small veterinary clinic at the corner of the street, a place that smells of antiseptic and warm furrr, and every day he spends hours caring for animals that others often forget about. He is gentle with them, so patient that even the most frightened stray dog seems to calm under his touch. He talks to them in a soft voice, almost like a friend, and sometimes, when no one is watching, he hums little tunes while bandaging a paw or feeding a trembling kitten.
But with people, it is different. Jungkook keeps his distance. He smiles politely, helps them when they come with their pets, but he does not let them step into the soft corners of his heart. People, he thinks, are selfish. They abandon animals when they become inconvenient. They hurt them without reason. He has seen it too many times to pretend otherwise. So, he has learned to close himself off, to live quietly in the company of creatures who cannot lie to him.
7 years ago, he lost his only companion. It was a small parrot with bright feathers and an even brighter personality. That little bird had been with him through his hardest teenage years, filling his silent home with chirps and chatter. When it died, Jungkook cried harder than he ever had before, curling up on the floor with the empty cage beside him. The pain carved itself so deeply into his heart that he swore never to bring another pet home again.
He could heal animals, yes. He could help them recover. But he would not risk loving one, not when the thought of losing them felt like tearing open the same wound again.
Now his life runs in routine. Work in the day, home at night, the same meals, the same silence. Sometimes he turns on the television just to have another voice in the house, but most nights he simply sits at the window with a cup of tea, staring at the streetlamps.
The world outside looks busy, filled with people walking in groups, laughing, sharing something he does not have. Jungkook tells himself it is fine. He does not need them. He has his work. He has the animals that come and go.
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Tonight is just another long day. He closes the clinic after the last patient leaves, carefully turning the lock and slipping the key into his pocket. The street is quiet, the air carrying a faint chill that makes him tuck his hands deeper into his coat. The neon sign of the clinic blinks once before going dark, and Jungkook stands there for a moment, staring at it, breathing out a sigh that curls into the night. Then, with slow steps, he starts walking home, the sound of his shoes echoing softly against the empty sidewalk.
The street is quiet when Jungkook walks home, the faint glow of the lamps stretching shadows across the footpath. He is halfway through the block when his ears catch something soft... so soft that for a second he wonders if it's only the wind.
