9. High Hopes

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I sit at the stop light with JungWoo staring out if the window with a dull look in his eye. His normally chocolate colored eyes are almost a yucky grey color.

I sigh and lean my head on my hand that is propped up on the door. I wince as my right wrist begins to hurt. I reach down to grab it when I notice that JungWoo is clutching his right wrist.

I groan when I notice that is wrists are rubbed red and have bruises all over them.

I hold my self back from reaching over and holding his hand. I know that by doing that, it would not make things better for us.

I look forward and grip the steering wheel with both hands, watching as the light turns green.


I take a deep breath as I turn off the main street and onto a small isolated road, leading to the shelter. I glance over out of the corner of my eyes, but JungWoo's expression does not change at all.

We pass by a small farmers market, a gas station, and a park. Soon, I pull into the shelter's driveway. I park and stop the car before looking over at sign.

TXT Animal Rescue and Sanctuary

I look over at JungWoo.

"Please at least try to enjoy yourself today..." I whisper before getting out. I walk over and open his door. He slowly climbs out and looks up at the sign in confusion. He looks at me with a head tilt.

"You love dogs. I was hoping that maybe playing with one will cheer you up..." I explain. He slowly nods and I lead the way, opening the door for him. I walk up to the front desk.

"We have an appointment today under Amber Liu." I explain.

"Of course, give me one minute then I will get one of our employees to come help you." The woman says before typing on her computer. I nod and lean against the counter, looking over at JungWoo.

"Hello! My name is Kai. I'll be helping you out today. I heard that you wanted to look into the dogs, correct?" A boy with long, curly black hair says, smiling.

"Yes, that is correct." I nod.

"Okay then, follow me." He smiles before leading us to a door. I follow him as JungWoo walks in front of me.

"So do you have any idea what breed or size you are looking into?" He asks, leading us down a quiet hall.

I look over JungWoo.

"Small please. I'm not sure if the breed though." He says, smiling softly. I smile and nod.

"Of course." He smiles and turns down a ball that has a sign pointing to it saying "small breeds".

"You said in your application that you did not mind age but they did need to be house broken and playful, correct?" He says, looking up from his clip board.

"Yes, that is true." I smile, seeing JungWoo look confused before he shrugs.

"So the first dog that we have is Smack. She is a Lhasa Apso - Poodle mix. She 2 years old and really sweet. When we first got here, she would bark alot because she didn't know what was going on. We would say things like "You sure are talking a lot of smack." And she would bark back at us. She doesn't do that anymore but the name stuck." He says, laughing softly. He leads us to a pen room where she lays in a doggy bed.

JungWoo looks in but shakes his head no.

Kai runs us through the list if dogs he has but each time, JungWoo just says no.

Kai sighs before walking to the very last room at the end.

"This is JackJack. He is a Chihuahua mix. He is about 4 years old. He was a drop off that was tapped up inside of a box. We are not sure of what his life was like before us." Kai explains.

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