✓the three words • kim seungmin

t w e n t y t w o

edited 23aug21

• chapter 22: dog cafe... date?

For the sake of Jeongin, I agreed to continue to help him. I had no idea how was the old Seungmin, but when I saw him with Minha last year, he was like a different person.

"Seungmin hyung likes puppies. And books! You never know how much storybooks he had finished but there were tons of them in his room. Photography, of course. Aaaand sports. But I don't think you'd bring him to a court to play sports on Saturday."

None of this was my plan. It was Jeongin's, and I'm asked to comply it. I have nothing to do on Saturday anyway.

I felt nervous about this. It looked like I'm bringing him out for a date but it would be just a simple hangout. A hangout to bring his cheery self back.

When I asked him to do this, he surprisingly agreed and immediately suggested a date to hang out. It was really shocking, of course I couldn't hold myself from smiling because he is still my crush. But Jeongin was happier when he knew about this.

That boy, he is so precious.

"Am I late?" a voice greeted me. There, Seungmin was wearing a blue hoodie with his black pants. He had his hair parted to both sides, exposing a little of his forehead. This was my first time seeing him like this since he always put his hair down and what could I say more? He looked great.

I smiled as I shook my head. "I just arrive. Do you want to grab anything first?"

He shrugged, "It's up to you. You planned this anyway."

Seungmin

I don't know. I can't look at Hyemi properly.

As I said that she averted her eyes to somewhere else. "Let's go then."

I had no idea where is she bringing me. All she told me was she wanted a hang out and I had a feeling this was Jeongin's plan. The kid has been talking about her so much whenever me and the other guys are together. I get it he wants me to befriend with her, but I don't know why.

By seeing her outfit, I made a rough guess she's gonna bring me to a quite calm place, maybe. I mean, she wore a purple tucked in long sleeve sweater with a pair of jeans. I haven't said this out loud but she looked different with her hair tied up in a ponytail.

She looked carefree.

"Oh, wait a minute." she suddenly halted that I almost bump onto her. She to her phone before looking around with a confused face.

"What's wrong?" I asked after a few seconds of silence.

A small pout appeared on her face. "The shop is closed.." she mumbled while scrolling down something that I couldn't see.

What– the pout.

I removed the thoughts away from my mind, cursing mentally. "What shop?"

"If I tell you then it won't be a surprise." she replied, fishing in her phone in her pocket. "Nevermind, let's go to another one!"

What surprise?

We walked a little bit more as she continued talking. This girl, she's really talkative. No wonder the guys clicked with her that fast.

After awhile we reached the destination and she blocked me from seeing the signboard. When I asked why, she said, "Just don't look at it yet."

She's weird, but in a unique way.

"Ta-da!" Hyemi opened the door and I spotted a few puppies on the ground, playing with soft balls and cuddling with each other.

Puppies!

My eyes glinted in amusement and I stepped in as a bright smile formed on my face. I've always wanted a puppy but never get the chance to adopt one. When I was younger we used to visit dog café a lot with Jeongin and Minha, but as we grew older we had no chance to do that since we're busy with schools. It's been awhile since I last visit a dog café.

A chihuahua breed puppy jumped on my lap and let out a small bark. I giggled at the cuteness and pet its head.

"What's your name?" I nuzzled my nose with the small guy.

I really wished I have a puppy. It's so lonely at home.

I played with the puppy as more of its friends came. There were five of them. I occasionally pay my attention to each of them as they started to jump here and there, catching the small ball that I throw across the room. They'd come back running to me with the ball in between their teeth and drop it in front of me, asking me to throw it again. Their furry tail jiggle around which I found it's funny.

Who doesn't laugh when seeing cute puppies? They could snatch everyone's hearts even of the cold ones.

After a few minutes I remembered I came here with Hyemi. I looked around and saw her on one of the table on the other side of the room, scanning the books on the shelves beside her.

How did I forget about her..

Without further thinking I went there and sit in front of her. She glanced towards me, pushing a plate of tiramisu sliced cake and a chocolate shake.

"I don't know what you like so I just choose this since it's my favourite."

"It's alright, I just eat everything."

"Glad to hear that. It tastes coffee a little. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah," I took the fork. She returned to look at the books. From the side I could see her eyes moving from left to right.

I wonder what she's thinking.

"Why aren't you playing with the puppies?" I asked after taking a bite. Tiramisu is not that bad. I don't usually like coffee but this could go in my stomach.

She shrugged, "You like puppies?"

"A lot," I smiled, thinking of bringing one of them home. "But I never had a puppy. No one is going to take care of it."

"Your parents must be busy then." she concluded, sipping her mocha drink.

I tensed up for awhile but luckily she did not realise it. I bit my lower lip, looking away to the puppies.

It's alright, she doesn't know.

🥀