Nany drove home faster than usual to get to poor sick Kitty earlier. Kitty was her oldest cat, and she had initially planned on taking the day off at work but the only other cook was already off on holiday with his girlfriend, or something. Even though Guacamole Thursdays always wore her out, after work she was planning on taking Kitty to the vet. Fortunately, Manatí's claim to fame was the largest pet store/ veterinarian centre in the country, and just for Nany's luck, it was open twenty-four hours.
Oddly, Nany arrived to an empty house. Her parents were out at work, and her younger sister, Noly, had gone to the mall with some classmates- nothing unexpected there. However, Kitty, too, had disappeared.
"Kitty!" Nany started shouting around the house like a maniac, looking for her child. She searched between curtains, under the bed, and even in the shower- but no sign of Kitty. She was already starting to think the worst when an inexplicable force in the universe compelled her to check her phone.
"I have Kitty," Noly had texted hours before. Nany felt instant relief, but she still felt sort of blue because she was looking forward to spending quality time with her number one.
Meanwhile, Noly was at the mall with a group of vapid fifteen-year-olds who couldn't figure out if they wanted the double push-up or the fůck-mè-üp-daddy bra at the lingerie store. She honestly hated spending time with most of the girls in her grade, but her parents were getting tired of her spending "too much" time at home.
"That blue one looks nice," Noly said, trying to be part of the conversation.
"Are you kidding? It's got like- no padding," said one of them- honestly, who could even bother to remember all their names? The Vapids were all the same: loud and lacking a personality.
"Okay, I'm going to the pet store to check on my cat," Noly announced. She had had her daily dose of Vapid for the day.
Entering through the large double doors at PetHome's had a feeling equivalent to entering through the pearly gates of heaven, or at least to Noly but what could she know- she had never been dead. Either way, PetHome was her favorite store at the mall, other than the book store, because she could spend hours looking at all kinds of animal paraphernalia but her favorite part of the store was the back, where they had animals up for adoption.
She walked up to the back, skipping the aisles, as she had been through most of them earlier when she dropped off Kitty. Before she even had the chance to start looking at each little critter in detail, one of them stood out to her immediately.
"Hey there, little guy," she said to a small puppy- clearly mixed, not a pure-bred. The puppy, upon noticing the attention he was receiving, got excited and began wagging his tiny tail, pressing his pink little nose against the cage that kept him from jumping on the nice human.
"You should be free," Noly whispered. She hated seeing animals in cages. She hoped someone would hurry up and adopt the cute little guy, if she did not get to it first- her parents would kill her if she brought another animal home, though.
"Puppy," someone exclaimed from behind. Noly turned around to see a guy in a white shirt and jeans staring at the object of her attention. He was clearly not from around, or else his face would be familiar: she was sure she would have noticed a boy as gorgeous as him at school, but unfortunately, all of her classmates were objectively ugly.
"He's adorable," Noly said, looking at the puppy, partly because it was cute and partly because she was shy and did not want to make eye contact with the attractive stranger.
"It makes me sad having to see him like that," the guy said, "I wish I could get him."
"Why don't you?" Noly suggested.
"I have to leave in a month," the guy said, "I'm only shooting a music video with my group here."
Oof, a musician. Noly liked that.
"That sucks," she said plainly. Noly wasn't accustomed to wasting words or spending energy on pleasantries: she preferred going directly to the point.
"It is what it is," he said, "but I kind of want to get him."
"If you can't take proper care of a pet then you should leave them to someone who can," Noly pointed out.
"You're right," he replied, shaking his head as if to get rid of that horrible idea.
"I'll get him," Noly blurted out.
"Wha-"
"I've had dogs before, and to be honest I don't have much to do at home. And if you feel lonely during the month, you can always come visit him," she offered, not knowing why she was being so sweet to the stranger.
"That's so kind of you," he said smiling from ear to ear, "by the way, I'm Jungkook. It's nice to meet you."
"Noly," she answered, no "nice to meet you too." She hated wasting time on small-talk but gosh, this boy had her going crazy too- she felt shy.
