Doubler || NCT || Completed

2

"Be careful, puppy", Yujin reminded the dog when they entered the elevator of her apartment building. The dog was still limping and nervous, but luckily its injuries had been taken care of by a vet Yujin had found with a quick Naver search after getting the animal into her car.

The visit to the vet had been quite awkward, as the receptionist had made Yujin feel like the worst person alive when she had explained how she had accidentally 'lost her brother's dog she was taking care of for him', and how it had taken her a while to find it, and how that was the reason behind the injured and dirty state it was in.

The receptionist's opinion of her hadn't improved when Yujin had slipped out that she didn't know the dog's gender (it was a male, the receptionist had told her), age (an adult but a young one, this piece of information was also provided by the receptionist) or breed ("it's obviously a Samoyed!" By this point, the receptionist had been outraged by her ignorance). When asked for the dog's name, Yujin had panicked and said "Puppy", and the receptionist had actually facepalmed at her.

"Tell your brother to get a real pet sitter next time", the receptionist had hissed like an angry cat, once the vet had been done with the check-up and had given Yujin a permission to take the dog home.

Yujin had accepted the reprimanding quietly, knowing that stretching the truth and bearing the responsibility for it was the only thing she could do. Had she told them that she had found the dog from the streets and had no real connection to it, the vet might've taken it in, promising to search for his real owners. And telling the real truth about the dog being a doubler was not an option, Yujin could never be selfish and cruel enough to expose one of her own kind like that.

Yujin led the dog through the hallway to her apartment she shared with Taeil oppa. It was located close to the elevator and staircase, so that it would be easier for them to escape in case someone tried to harm them.

"It's been really quiet for a long time, so you don't need to worry", she reassured the dog while putting in the code to the keypad so that they could enter her apartment. "No one has bothered us in ages, I don't think they know where we live."

The dog froze when they finally got in, and the door closed behind them with a click. Yujin put on her slippers and took her wet umbrella to the bathroom so that it could dry out, letting the dog get used to his new surroundings. After hanging her coat in the closet, she turned to look at the dog, only to see that his furry tail was wagging wildly against his back. The dog tilted his head expectantly, with his ears alert, before pattering further into the apartment with quick steps despite the injured paw.

"What are you doing, puppy?" Yujin questioned as she followed his footsteps around the apartment, carrying the shopping bag with her. After checking every room, the dog's excitement seemed to diminish and it turned to look at Yujin, tilting his head once again.

Finally, Yujin understood what was going on. "Did you smell Taeil oppa's scent?" she asked, flabbergasted. The dog's tail went crazy when he heard the name, and it was wagging so much that it shook his entire body. "You know Taeil oppa?" Yujin concluded, and the familiar name made the dog take a few happy steps on his place, making it seem like he was dancing.

"He's not here at the moment, puppy. He's on a business trip in Shanghai", Yujin explained, hoping that she wouldn't disappoint him too much. The dog looked up to her, its tail still swooping against his back in a hopeful manner. He followed her when she went to the kitchen to put away her groceries.

"But if you know him, he should know you as well, right? Should I call him and ask who you are?" she wondered while taking a block of cheese from her bag. It smelled so good. "In that case, Taeil oppa surely knows your identity and where I should take you", Yujin continued her thought aloud.

The dog sat down next to her and stared at the cheese in her hands. "Are you hungry? You must be", Yujin realised, seeing the dog's intense eyes.

Yujin prepared a meal for the dog, utilizing rice, cheese and some uncooked meat Taeil had forgotten to prepare before his trip to China. She put the bowl down to the floor together with another one filled with water. The dog sniffed the bowl and its tail wagged once again, but when Yujin was about to leave the kitchen to fetch her purse, the dog looked up to her and barked.

"What?" Yujin asked, walking back to the dog and his bowl. "Are you a picky eater?"

When the dog saw Yujin come back, he lowered his head and started to wolf down the food. Yujin couldn't help smiling.

"You didn't want to eat on your own?" she hummed, sliding down to the floor next to the dog, resting her back against the cabinet. "Your human side is showing, puppy. Or maybe you're just a sociable creature in whichever form you are."

The dog was already almost done with his food, apparently it had been really hungry.

"Taeil oppa is like that too, you know, he never wants to eat alone. It's kind of funny, since he isn't a pack animal. Or is the correct word gregarious animal? Whatever, it is funny", she talked while looking at her knees which she hugged against her body. She didn't want to make the dog feel uncomfortable by staring at him while he was eating.

"He has a lot of doubler friends, kind of like a real pack. We all went to the same high school, and one of them, Kim Jungwoo, was in my class but I don't know what his animal form was", Yujin reminisced, before falling silent for a second and glancing at the dog next to her. He licked the empty bowl a couple of times and then turned to drink some water.

"Though, I do think that he is a rodent of some kind, like me. He seemed like that", she continued after a while. "I don't know much about his other friends, so I have no clue if you're one of them. I'm sorry about that."

She felt something against her face and looked up from her hands to see that the dog was now standing next to her. He had licked her cheek. She smiled, reaching her hand to pet his white, soft head and ears. When he sat down next to her, she was reminded that he had been hiding in a stinky alley, and that even though the vet had washed him briefly, there still was some blood and mud stuck in his fur.

"You smell", she pointed out, receiving a huff as an answer. The dog lowered his head to her shoulder and it felt like he was doing that just so that the smell would be more prominent. She side eyed him but he was looking past her with seemingly innocent eyes. "Are you trying to annoy me?" she asked, wondering how close to the surface the doubler's human side was.

"If you can change back to human, please do so", she told the dog. "I'm sure that your family and friends are worried about you." If he was part of Taeil's 'pack', there would be many worrying about him. To her knowledge, there were at least 20 doublers in their group of friends.

She would've called Taeil and asked him about the situation but she knew that a call like that would completely derail him, and that, in the worst-case scenario, he might mess up his meetings and they would lose a business deal they had been working hard on.

The dog looked into her eyes and she furrowed her brows when she saw how confused he looked. "You can't shift back, can you? Is something blocking you?"

The dog whined softly, his head weighing down her shoulder. Slowly she rested her head against his, caressing his fluffy forehead with her cheek.

Yujin was well aware of the fact that while she was cuddling a dog, she was actually doing it to an unknown guy as well but she didn't care about that. The doubler next to her was afraid and confused, unable to change back to his human form, and that was a position she wouldn't have wished upon anyone.

"It's okay, puppy. It has happened to me in the past, and if I managed to overcome it, you'll figure it out as well", she spoke gently, and the dog sighed in response.

Yujin tilted her head, looking up to the ceiling. Despite her encouraging words, she was uncertain. Unlike Taeil, she wasn't used to hanging around doublers, unless they were her family members, and she didn't know how she could help the one sitting beside her. And that, truth to be told, wasn't her biggest worry.

She couldn't stop thinking about the possibility, that instead of being an accident or a random attack, the doubler might have been attacked on purpose by someone who knew what he was. If that was the case, would they try again?