Doubler || NCT || Completed

4

Both of the old businessmen were startled by the dog's sudden outburst. One of them even jumped backwards to get further away from the big white dog staring them down, deep growl rumbling from his chest.

"Whose filthy mutt is this?" the one, who had jumped, asked with a rather high-pitched voice. He scanned the café with hasty eyes, glaring at the remaining customers who were staring at the scene, intrigued by the sudden circumstances. The dog's growling got louder, as he probably was offended by the man's words.

Yujin saw, that one of the other customers looked scared of the situation, so she leaned against the counter in order to see the dog better, and tried to get his attention.

"Hey puppy", she called out with a relatively calm voice. She herself had been just as furious at the two stupid guys just a second ago but now she was aware of the situation as a whole. It would be better to solve it professionally, and having a muddy, bloody dog growl in the middle of the café wasn't really professional. "Puppy", she repeated with a more demanding voice.

The growling stopped immediately and the dog turned to look at her, clearly irritated by her call for his attention.

"It's yours?" the guy, who hadn't jumped, huffed. Yujin lifted her gaze from the dog, now staring down the idiotic customer.

"You should train your disgusting beast better and keep it on leash", the more scared man demanded. His voice had become significantly braver once the dog had quieted down.

"He won't bite you", Yujin answered, then turned back to the dog. "Calm down, puppy, people are scared of you", she told him, her eyes stern.

The dog stared at her for a second considering his options, before he returned to his corner and settled for glaring at the men instead of feasting on their flesh.

"I'm... I'm not scared of some pathetic mongrel!" the scared man sputtered. His nostrils were flared and his forehead was sweaty. Apparently, he truly was afraid of the dog.

Yujin glanced at his nervous face and nodded. "Okay", she said after a second.

"Girl, don't you dare look down on me!" The scared guy was angered by her detached response. Maybe he could see that she didn't believe him. "I want to speak with your manager this instant, do you understand me?"

Jiyoung let out a muffled giggle when she heard his words, and Yujin would've liked to giggle with her. The escalation of the situation had been rather surprising.

Now the less scared guy got offended as well. "Where is your manager, how has he even hired such unprofessional kids?"

Yujin sighed, it was almost time to close the café and she wanted to go home. It wouldn't make any sense to prolong what was going on.

"That would be me", she said flatly. "Since I'm the owner of this café."

The men stared at her, completely stunned by her words.

She supposed their confusion made sense. Sure, she was young, only 25, but looked even younger, thanks to her height, or lack thereof as well as her facial features that hadn't changed as she had grown older. Her round eyes, rather prominent ears and small mouth made her look like a bewildered little girl.

The scared man scoffed. "Don't play around."

When Yujin stared at him with a serious look on her face, the less scared man glimpsed at his friend.

"We can get our coffees from somewhere where they don't allow in scabby mutts", he said and, when he gained the other man's attention, he looked at Yujin and Jiyoung pointedly.

Yujin's once leveled anger flared out again.

"That sounds like a great idea", she tried to keep her voice calm, "since we don't serve assholes."

Jiyoung gasped silently next to Yujin. She had probably crossed a line there.

The men gaped at her, unable to answer immediately, and Yujin was pretty sure that all of the remaining customers were listening intently.

Well, since she had already ruined the Dalah Cafés reputation, she might as well get rid of the stupid men in front of her for good.

"And while we're at it, as a supervisor and owner of this café, I'd like to ask you to not come back, since I've received multiple complaints about your improper behaviour in the past", she told them. "I would not want to contact authorities over such issues, so I suggest that in the future, you'll get your coffee from elsewhere."

Both of the men seemed shocked by her announcement. The more scared one seemed like he would've wanted to pick a fight with Yujin but luckily the other one was smarter. He probably had realised that by now everyone in the café was staring at them.

"Let's just go", he mumbled.

The scared man glared at Yujin and Jiyoung, and then turned his attention to the dog.

When the man took a step towards the dog, Yujin spoke up again. "I won't stop him if you try something stupid."

The man's glower alternated between Yujin and the dog for a short while, before he finally followed his friend and stomped out of the café.

Yujin hurried to apologize to the few remaining customers, giving them small coffee vouchers as compensation for the unpleasant situation. Luckily, they were understanding enough and one couple even complimented the dog on his quick reflexes.

"I appreciate your actions but you shouldn't have done that", Yujin told the dog once they were in her car, heading back home after Yujin had helped giddy Jiyoung clean up the place for the next day.

The dog looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

Yujin ran her fingers through her hair, smoothing out some knots that had formed when she had released them from the ponytail they had been on while she worked.

"When I said that you can't draw any attention to yourself, I meant that. I don't know anything about your situation or why you're stuck in you animal form or whether someone is after you but you have to be more cautious", she explained.

"Especially if someone is actually after you, they won't give up just because they've lost you once. The people, who try to benefit from our kind, are really persistent and they're everywhere." Yujin's voice was dark. She felt a lump in her throat but tried to remain unbothered by what she was saying.

"I've had few encounters with them and it's not nice, believe me", she concluded after a short break.

The dog was still looking at her face.

Yujin coughed awkwardly, suddenly aware of the fact that he really was a doubler, meaning that there was a person listening to at least part of her explanation. Even though the doubler wouldn't remember everything she said and did, she was being way too sociable with him, considering that she had no idea who he really was.

"It would be good if you could change back to human as soon as possible. We should work on that, and if I can't help you, I'll call Taeil oppa and ask for his help", Yujin started speaking again, focusing on the streets ahead of her. "But that'll have to wait until tomorrow, because it's getting late and I want to go to bed immediately after eating dinner. I'm really craving something with cheese."

The dog huffed hopefully, and his tail hit the back of car seat as it started wagging.

"No, it's time for my dinner! You already had yours", she reminded him.

The dog sighed indisappointment, making Yujin laugh.