CANDID. ᵏᵗʰ

CHAPTER 01; 𝙇𝙄𝙇𝘼𝘾 𝙎𝙆𝙄𝙀𝙎

"eat."

taehyung shook the styrofoam container and opened the lid wider.

"i got this for you."

dark, wary eyes stared back at him.

taehyung cocked his head to one side, his brow furrowed, and he shifted to rest his weight on the other leg tucked underneath him. he was careful to avoid brushing against the alleyway's dirty, uneven stones. "please? i promise it's not going to hurt you," he said quietly, placing the take-away box of meatballs onto the ground and pushing it away from him.

the stray barked once. in response, taehyung nudged the food closer toward it.

"you're so thin," taehyung murmured behind his black face mask, resting his chin on his left arm as he examined the dog. it had no collar, nothing to indicate any sort of ownership. taehyung felt his heart ache for the poor animal when it limped forward hesitantly, staring steadily at taehyung.

the silence between him and the dog was broken with a sudden splash of rainwater on concrete, a car's tires sweeping water up onto any passersby who had the unfortunate luck of being caught in the splash zone. taehyung startled, remembering suddenly that he was still out in public, out in the rush-hour streets of seoul. the dog jumped back several steps and taehyung regretted moving so quickly.

"no, no, i'm sorry," taehyung fretted, his hand extending slightly, "no, i'm not going to hurt you. just got scared by the car, is all." he let out a small laugh, trying to soothe the dog.

he fell quiet again, watching as the dog crept forward again, its head bowed but its eyes trained on him. it stopped about a metre away from him in a patch of thin grey light streaming into the alley from behind taehyung.

seeing it in better light made taehyung's frown deepen. he saw—properly now—how the heavy coats of dirt and dried mud clinging to the dog's matted fur did nothing to hide its skinny body. there was virtually nothing between the bones and the skin.

the dog was not a puppy, which meant one of two things: someone had thrown it out of their home, or it had been forced to fend for itself since birth.

taehyung didn't know which was worse.

"i really wish i could take you in myself," taehyung said, as if the dog understood his words, "i hate seeing strays so sad and lonely. i don't understand why people throw you guys onto the streets when they get bored of you. there's nothing really separating us from you, nothing putting us above you, is there?"

taehyung glanced up at the lavender-grey sky and pulled his beanie further over his hair in case it rained. "you can feel happy, we can feel happy. you can feel sad, we can feel sad. we both get scared sometimes. where does our difference lie? laws? language?" he pursed his lips. "no... i know orcas have specific sounds within each pod, and they differ between pods. that should count as language."

the dog seemed less tense and taehyung kept talking to encourage it, keeping his voice low and gentle. "i, um, watched a documentary last night. blackfish. it was about seaworld, sealand, and one of the people who was sent to capture orcas said that when the babies called out and cried, the rest of the pod was near, calling back over the nets. i'm sure i cried a little bit."

the dog stepped forward and dipped its head to sniff the food taehyung bought. tentatively, it took a meatball into its mouth, chewing. taehyung beamed and he swayed from side to side, not enough to make him overbalance.

"is it nice?" he asked, and the dog took another, and another, and another, until it was scoffing the food down like it was afraid that it would be taken away the second it stopped eating.