You should've payed more attention to the dog door when you were first greeted inside instead of trying to make small talk with Minju, the woman you were sitting for. You should've realized that the colorful objects you glanced at walking through the living room weren't stuffed animals, but chew toys. You should've known that Ella wasn't just a person's name.
It was a last minute job that paid well recommended by a friend of a friend. Your mistake in accepting it didn't hit you until Minju had taken you to the backyard to meet Ella.
But puppies are cuuttteeee. What have dogs uwu ever done to you uwu? - asks every stranger ever.
Look. Cuteness didn't stop your irrational fear of them. You stayed as far away from possible from the barking white fluff ball Minju held in her arms. You knew you needed to get out of this.
"I thought I was going to be babysitting," you admitted. "I'm not comfortable around dogs."
"Oh no, I'm so sorry..." Minju replied. "But... I have to go to work. I don't have anyone else who can help right now. Could you please watch her? It'll just be for a few hours!"
"Um..." you hesitated.
"I'll double your pay," she offered kindly.
Double? you thought. I could buy SF9 tickets... Do I suffer for one evening or wait until who knows when for their next tour?
"Alright," you said, the money making you brave. How bad could it be?
1 hour later.
"GET BACK HERE," you screamed at the top of your lungs.
You had just been lying on the couch checking Instagram the whole time when a package had arrived for Minju. At the sound of the doorbell, Ella woke up and parkoured past you as you opened the front door.
You ran down the street in a panicked search. Oh my god. I'm going to have to pick up a dog. Okay. Oh my god. How do I even pick up a dog? What if I can't even fin-
You stopped running and saw a guy crouched next to Ella at the corner.
"You found her!" you stated relieved. The guy looked up at you. Whoa, he's really good looking.
"Found?... Oh! You must be who Minju talked about!" He scooped up Ella in his left arm while getting up then waved at you with his right hand in all his cuteness, smiling. "Hello, nice to meet you! I'm Hyunggu, Minju's brother."
"I'm Y/n," you smiled back. Hyunggu offered to shake his hand, but you felt nervous with Ella so close to him and shied away.
Noticing, he said, "Minju texted me to see if I could come home early since you're afraid of dogs?" You nodded. "That actually reminds me of a friend of mine," he continued. "He went to a dog cafe to try to get over his fear."
"Oh?" you said interested. "Did it work?"
"No." Hyunggu said seriously, looking off into the distance. "He's, uh, he's not okay."
"Oh..."
"But he's not okay for a LOT of reasons!" Hyunggu reassured quickly.
You laughed at his joke. In return, his smile somehow only got brighter.
You both walked back to the house, agreeing to watch Ella together until Minju got back. "Ella's really sweet. It might help to hang out with her a little more."
And it did. The rest of the day passed easily with you and Hyunggu just watching Kpop music videos. Ella would go past you or jump towards you, and it would faze you a little at first, but the urge to run away wasn't as present as it was before. Hyunggu would always distract you with various dance moves or take up all your attention with his contagious laugh.
Maybe cuteness could cure everything.
✧
Epilogue
The next morning
"Hyunggu!" Hui called as the former walked into the practice room. "Was everything okay?"
"What?" Hyunggu asked confused.
"Remember, yesterday?" Hui prompted. "You said you had to leave early because of a family emergency."
Yesterday... Hyunggu remembered how much fun it was to be with you. He learned about how kind you were and how much you loved kids too. He thought about how you shared your favorite songs together and made each other laugh. He didn't want the day to end so much that he had gathered the courage to ask if you would like to hang out again and couldn't believe you had said what he'd wanted to hear.
"Yes," he smiled dreamily. "Better than okay."
Hui only looked more concerned.
"Is this allowed?" Yuto whispered. "Is that allowed?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A/n: If this chapter seemed more specific, it's because it was based off my friend who's a Kino stan... and fantasy... but is afraid of dogs... yeah.
