A Man's Bestfriend ⇢ malum [✓]

Chapter 2

"Drop me off here."

"Where are you going, Calum?" Ashton asked as he pulled the car over.

"Just gonna grab some snacks. I'm gonna check out the new store over there too so you don't have to wait, I'll Uber home."

"I'd come along... but I'm tired," Michael mumbled.

Luke was already dozing off in the back seat. Calum took Ashton's keys to the house and got out of the car. As he walked towards the shops, he dialled for Joy.

"Hey, honey!" Joy sounded elated to hear from him.

"Hey, mum, I'm craving for your special lasagna."

"If you miss me, just say so!"

"Of course I miss you, but you're in L.A. with Mali! I'm at the grocery store and I want to get the ingredients for it."

Calum walked over to the pastry equipment aisle, searching for the same aluminium pan that Joy uses. He ended up pushing his trolley cart around with his earpieces in as he listened to his mother listing down the ingredients. Calum had asked her to send him a list instead but she refused because it was all on memory. When he finally got all the ingredients he needed for his favourite lasagna, he walked over to the snacks aisle to grab some chips and other tidbits.

"Are you gonna teach me how to cook it over the phone too?" Calum asked, sarcastically.

"No, silly. You can find that on the Internet. I'll send you the link."

"Thanks, Mum. I love you."

"I love you too, honey. Cook safely, I'll see you soon!"

As soon as Joy hung up, Calum received a text from Michael.

Michael:
Doritos please and thank you

Calum clicked his tongue and grabbed yet another bag of Doritos when there was already four of it in the trolley.

After the payment, Calum stuffed all the bags back in the trolley and headed out by the main road. Seeing that there was too many items in his trolley, he decided to check out the new retail store another time, maybe then, Michael would tag along. His Uber driver was shown to be 10 minutes away.

Calum looked upon the empty road when he spotted a golden retriever oddly standing in between the lanes. It was limping its way across the road towards Calum.

He looked down on the clear road and made a run for it. Calum grabbed the retriever, but he placed too much of his body weight forward when he ran across that caused him to stumble. Calum held the retriever close and curled his arms and legs around it, protecting it from getting hurt furthermore. His rounded body structure rolled him over to the lane that goes in the opposite direction.

A car was speeding towards them — but Calum struggled to untangle himself to get up and neither did the driver seem to be able to jam a brake.

BANG!

The car not only hit Calum and the poor retriever badly, but also caused them to fly far from the car and hit the ground with greater impact.

A crowd of passers-by began to surround them — some of which called for help while the daft and ignorant were busy documenting the scene of the accident.

It was cruel that the love to save a life ended up destroying two.