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It was a Sunday morning and she just finished her morning walk with her dog. Clearly, her dog isn't an active one so she's the one pushing him to it. It gets them both on the move so a tandem exercise is best for both of them. She isn't that active either so she knows her baby takes after her.
She pants hard, while carrying her dog, climbing the last flight of stairs up to their apartment unit. This is why she hesitates going out too much from their unit. She's too lazy to take on the stairs and stairs is good for the heart bullshit doesn't convince her, because she felt like dying for running out of breath. What if they had a run? She would've laid flat in the ground of the park and never move again.
"Yah, Dalgom. You should be climbing this with me." She ranted but her dog just stayed chill in her arms.
As she was almost halfway up, another set of footsteps caught her attention. A tall girl appeared before them and it took a lot of willpower for Jisoo not to faint.
Holy mother of hot people.
"Good morning!" The girl beamed, and Jisoo just looked at her, with her mouth agape.
Lisa.
Damn that girl. How dare her flaunt her abs so early in the morning while I'm trying to keep my breathing stable here????
Jisoo just looked at her with a dead expression, but that didn't really bother Lisa. She just continued going down the stairs, almost missing Jisoo's subtle nod. The other girl's eyes followed her until she was gone. Dalgom barked.
"I looked stupid? Way to state the obvious, Dalgom. Thanks!"
She stomped her feet to the rest of the climb on the stairs. They were in front of their unit and she put down Dalgom to insert the key. She glanced at the door on her right and whipped her head back to her door. She slammed the door once they got in.
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Two hours left before office hours end. She likes her job, to be honest. But today just seemed like a very long day and a boring one at that. She works for a publishing company and her position as a commissioning editor is a dream come true for a bookworm like her. She was almost done for today's work, finding and approving new books to be published. The new ones are great but nothing special so far, as some of them aren't really finished yet, so they're still being processed.
Her phone vibrated on her desk and Taehyung's face and number flashing on her screen. She picked it up.
"Hey, Tae."
"Noona! I'm on my way to your apartment. I'll pick up my stuff that I left last time. Are you home?"
"No, I'm at work. But yeah, go ahead. You have your key, right?"
"Yeah, I have it with me. I'll just grab them and go to this new audition I signed up."
"Alright. Good luck with your audition, charmer!" She smiled.
"You know it. Thanks, noona!"
Her brother ended the call and she sat back again, doing nothing. Maybe she should try cooking in the office like the woman she saw on Facebook named Ms. Yeah. Now, she just needs to find some stuff for cooking improvisation without using actual cooking tools...
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The evening rush hour was a pain in the neck but she's thankful that she still got home early despite the traffic. She just wanna order in some good food and watch a new mysterious series, while cuddling her dog.
As she closed her apartment door, she noticed something odd. Dalgom is not there to welcome her as he usually does. But then, she didn't make it a big deal and maybe her dog is just at some corner, sleeping. She went to her room and changed into some comfortable clothes before coming back out.
She went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She glanced around the apartment and called out her dog's name.
"Dalgom? Where are you?"
She roamed around her unit, checking under the table and the sofa, inside the storage room and even in the bathroom, but she couldn't find her dog. She knows her dog could be lazy sometimes, but he responds to her when she calls him. She heard nothing at all.
Panic is rising in her. Where could her dog go? Dalgom is not like other dogs to sneak out. Her dog is a home buddy and they usually just play indoors.
She opened her phone and dialed her brother's number.
"Pick up, Taehyung. Come on!"
"Hey, you've reached Kim Taehyung! Lea-"
Jisoo dropped the call after the third time that her call went straight to voicemail. Taehyung is probably busy with his audition so she stopped calling him.
She went outside of her unit and went down to the apartment's management office to ask about her dog. No one saw him, nor heard of him. They'll check the CCTV but it would take time to see every frame of it, so they just told Jisoo that they would contact her if they saw what happened to her dog.
She went back up to her floor with a sad face. She's worried that someone might have took her dog away or Dalgom might have went out in the streets. Her dog could be in danger and she has no clue with his whereabouts.
She paused for a moment in the hallway, thinking where would she go if she was Dalgom? She sighed and pressed her temple as a headache was starting to add to her misery. She suddenly got an idea to ask about Dalgom to her neighboors. There were only four units per floor so it would be easier for her to ask one by one.
She went to the unit across hers and knocked. It was a unit belonged to a group of guys who were also around her age. They have been her neighbors since she got here five years ago. But to no avail, none of the guys also have seen her dog. She also went to the other unit that belongs to Jennie and Chaeyoung, but no one was answering her knocks so they're probably not home.
The last unit in the floor is Lisa's. Her emotions are all over the place right now so she's not worried about talking to the girl that took her interest. But she sure hopes that the girl at least knows something about Dalgom's whereabouts.
She knocked at Lisa's door. Her anxiety was creeping up, making her chew on her lip while waiting for her to open up. Seconds later, a tall girl appeared before her with a smile on her lips.
"Hey, you're here. Jisoo, right??"
"Yeah, it's me Jisoo. Uhm, have you-"
"Your dog is here. Come inside." Lisa opened her door and let the other girl come inside her unit. Jisoo was dumbfounded and happy at the same time, she didn't know how to act. She stood in the middle of the living room and saw her dog strutting towards her, with his tail wagging.
"Dalgomie! I thought I lost you." She carried him and hugged him close, feeling all the worries dissipate and be replaced with comfort and relief. Lisa just watched them with a warm smile.
"Thank you, Lisa. Really. I was starting to get crazy..."
"No worries. Good thing I found him. Well, he was scratching at my door so he technically came to me." She chuckled.
"He did?"
"Yeah. He was scratching and barking at my door so I checked. I tried knocking on your door but no one was answering and the door was locked so I just took him in while you were away."
"Oh. He might have sneaked out when my brother dropped by earlier... I'm sorry for the inconvenience. This never happened before."
"It's not really a bother to me. He was a good company, even though we're not that close yet. We're getting there, right, Dalgom?" She scratched the dog's ear and Dalgom replied with a bark and a wagging tail.
Jisoo felt loud thumping on her chest, but she didn't mind. She thought it was just Dalgom's tail or breathing making vibrations on her chest. Looking at Lisa longer made her think about the beautiful features of the other girl's face. The girl looked so flawless right up close and it made her feel a lot of things she shouldn't be feeling.
She snapped back into reality.
"We should leave now. We don't wanna bother you anymore. I still have to order dinner and feed Dalgom." She smiled.
"You should come stay for dinner! I cooked and it's kind of more than I can finish."
"Oh no. We don't wanna impose." She was about to turn around when Lisa grabbed her arm.
"You're not, silly!" She chuckled. "I insist. Besides, this is my first time to actually get to know you. So please, stay."
"But Dalgom needs to-."
"I also have some dog food here since I babysit Jennie's dog sometimes."
Lisa had this excited and hopeful expression plastered on her face and Jisoo could only give in to her request.
"Well, we can't really reject the offer now, can't we?"
"Nope! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll just prepare the table so we can eat now." Lisa rushed to the kitchen and did what she had to do.
Jisoo brought Dalgom up and turned him to face her. They stared at each other for a moment and Jisoo squinted her eyes at her dog. She saw a little smirk on him, which was too fast for her to confirm. Either way, she raised her brow at him and whispered at him.
"You planned this, didn't you! You sneaky lil fur ball!"
Dalgom only looked at her with an innocent face, his head tilted at the side.
"Stop playing innocent." She squinted her eyes at him. Dalgom only huffed.
"Dinner's ready, you guys. Let's eat!" Lisa shouted from the kitchen. Dalgom wiggled from Jisoo's touch and she put him down. He walked a few steps further towards the kitchen but before he stepped foot in it, he turned his head to look at his owner and stuck his tongue out.
Jisoo gasped as she watched her sassy sneaky dog sat by the feet of Lisa, as if waiting for her to pet and feed him.
"Unbelievable."
It's as if Dalgom thought of a plan to make her interact with her long time crush. Maybe having to listen to all the rants, frustrations and dreamy-stories about the next-door neighbor already annoyed Dalgom of Jisoo's weak flirting game and lonely single life.
Jisoo might be shocked and suspicious of her dog's antics right now, but she can't really be mad at him when he made the move to help her talk to Lisa and spend time with her.
A dog is a man's best friend after all.
And maybe, a wingman too.