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“Everyone up and at 'em!” Jimin wakes up first, running through their dorm to make sure everyone wakes up.
“No!” Ningning’s loud whine is heard first but she makes no appearance as Aeri is the first one out.
Aeri is barely conscious as she makes her way into the bathroom with a cat headband in her hands. Jimin prepares an easy breakfast and snack for them to eat in the car before their manager arrives since they have practice for their upcoming concert. Minjeong, who usually wakes up after Jimin, hasn’t shown her face and as the leader, Jimin finds that strange but she doesn’t ponder too much about it. She’ll allow Minjeong to sleep in a bit because she worries a lot about the younger one these days.
However, she’s even more worried when she finds that Ningning has crawled out of her room and not Minjeong yet. Jimin stops packing the light snacks and lunch in favour of waking up their busan-raised member.
Jimin knocks before pushing open Minjeong’s door and she smiles softly when she sees a minjeong shape slumped under the covers. However, it drops when she hears a whimper.
“Minjeong-ah?” Jimin steps into the room and approaches the lump, pulling back the blanket, and she doesn’t scream but she gasps so sharply that it breaks the sound barrier.
In lieu of Minjeong, there is a small Maltese dog.
“What the—”
“ Woof!”
“Minjeong-ah? Are you playing jokes this early in the morning?” Jimin looks around the room.
“Woof!”
“Are you hiding in here, Minjeong?” Jimin hums, trailing off with her words. “When did you even get time to get a dog…”
“Woof!”
Jimin sighs, looking around—almost losing patience for the younger girl.
“Minjeong, I’m being serious. If you’re in here and hiding, hurry up. We have practice in a few.” Jimin puts on an authoritative voice.
The dog barks again and an odd thought crawls into her mind. Her gaze travels back to the small puppy sitting at the centre of Minjeong’s bed, tail thumping against the pillow and whose face reminds her of the blonde.
She knows Minjeong likes to joke around in retaliation for her jokes, but she isn’t the type to mess around, knowing they have schedules ahead and she is a stubborn worker who likes to be good at her job, though she loves to rest.
She looks outside the room and makes sure the others don’t find her attempting something silly.
“...Minjeong?” She calls softly.
“Woof!”
She blinks.
“Minjeong?” Jimin tries again with clarity and the puppy barks again, moving around in the bed frantically. “Oh my gosh, what happened?”
She scoops the puppy into her arms and it wriggles around in her arms happily.
“Are you really Kim Minjeong?” Jimin asks with panic.
“Yip!” The dog barks and licks a stripe from Jimin’s chin.
“Oh my god, what do I do?” Jimin panics.
“Jimin-unnie! What’s taking you and Minjeong-unnie so long?” She hears Ningning whine.
“Uhm…”
“We have to cancel practice,” Jimin declares.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Aeri blinks.
“Is it Minjeong-unnie? Where is she? Is she not feeling well?” Ningning asks worriedly.
“Well, something like that.” Jimin says it hesitantly.
“Seriously, what’s up?” Aeri asks.
“This.”
Jimin holds up the puppy and she doesn’t get the response she’s expecting.
“Aw! Is she yours? She’s so cute!” Ningning squeals.
“What a cute puppy!” Aeri coos.
“Guys!” Jimin scolds them with a sigh. “Think rationally. When would I have time to raise a puppy in an apartment complex that doesn’t allow pets?”
“Is it Minjeong-unnie’s?” Ningning asks innocently.
“Wait, where is Minjeong, by the way?” Aeri tilts her head.
“Yap!”
“Minjeong?” Aeri blinks.
“Yip!”
“Uh. Why is the dog responding to Minjeong-unnie’s name?” Ningning raises a questioning hand.
“Because this dog is Minjeong!” Jimin sighs exasperatedly, holding Minjeong like how Rafiki held Simba to the pride landers.
“How?” Ningning’s eyes widened.
“I don’t know. I went to wake her and I found this lump under her covers.” Jimin sighs. “What do we do?”
"Well, we have to cancel practice now and explain this to the manager.” Aeri suggests.
“Right, let’s do that first.” Jimin nods.
The manager arrives to pick them up; however, Ningning drags her upstairs and in a gruelling fifteen-minute episode of three grown girls trying to explain that their fellow member and resident Maltese puppy has actually turned into a Maltese puppy overnight mysteriously, the manager almost doesn’t believe them until Minjeong starts responding to her name and rubbing herself against the leg of their manager.
Practice is cancelled and Jimin finds herself carrying Minjeong inside her jacket with the top of her head popping out from under Jimin’s chin. They’re all covered up in hats and masks on the way to the nearest pet shop to get what they need to care for the puppy. Minjeong stays comfortably in Jimin’s hold since she’s oddly been following the leader around the whole morning.
They bought a small pet bed, puppy pee pads, a bunch of toys because Aeri was so fascinated with the selections, a leash and harness, dog food and customised dog bowls because Ningning wanted them to be bedazzled.
Now they’re back at the dorm, all three girls sitting on the floor crowding around puppy Minjeong as their manager supervises them from the couch.
“Minjeong, sit!” Ningning beams but frowns when Minjeong doesn’t.
“Roll over!” Aeri tries.
“Spin!” Ningning makes a motion with her hand but puppy Minjeong doesn’t seem to care to follow.
“Minjeong, hand!” Aeri tries again but Minjeong only scratches her ear carelessly.
“Maybe we need to train her because she’s a puppy now.” Ningning scratches her hair. “What if she pees all over the house?”
“ Grr…” Minjeong growls lowly and Jimin giggles.
“Puppy, come here.” Jimin pats her lap and immediately, Minjeong trots over and curls into Jimin’s lap.
Ningning and Aeri’s jaws drop and Jimin pays no mind, only opting to run her hand through Minjeong’s soft fur—happy to see the puppy’s content little face.
“Wha—no fair!” Ningning complains.
“Why’d she listen to you?” Aeri pouts.
“Because maybe she doesn’t want to be forced to do tricks.” Jimin says. “She’s still our Minjeongie.”
“Unnie’s right,” Ningning pouts. “I’m sorry, Minjeong-unnie. I love you even if you’re a puppy.”
“Me too, Minjeongie.” Aeri says.
Both of them lean over to pet Minjeong, who relishes the petting and licks Ningning and Aeri’s hands to placate them because she was definitely ignoring them earlier.
It becomes late after hours of googling how to care for a pet and also what to do when someone you know transforms into a puppy. They also end up stumbling across the kdrama ‘a good day to be a dog’ and Ningning theorises that Minjeong must have to be kissed in order to be turned back, but Aeri dismisses it with the argument that Minjeong doesn’t have a fictional curse and that Haena in the drama was kissed before turning into a dog, and they've been with Minjeong all week so they know she hasn’t been kissed.
Jimin sits back and watches the two argue fondly and just strokes Minjeong in her lap. She’s never had a pet growing up, so it’s actually kind of nice having a small animal around. And especially if the animal is as cute as puppy Minjeong.
Later, the manager leaves and tells them that they can’t avoid their fansign schedule the day after tomorrow because she already told the company that Minjeong is sick again to avoid suspicion. The secret of puppy Minjeong remains inside the dorm.
Minjeong’s bed is set up in her room with all the puppy's belongings beside her on the floor as well and the rest of the girls head to bed but not before showering Minjeong with affection. It’s so much easier to hoard Minjeong to kiss her, tickle her and pet her now that she’s a small, defenceless puppy.
Jimin lays on her bed, seconds away from sleep, when she hears a familiar sound of whining. She sits up and rubs the sleep from her eyes, adjusting to the dark. She steps out of her room and finds Minjeong at the foot of her door, scratching the door with the biggest puppy eyes.
Jimin crouches down with a small smile.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Jimin coos. “Need to go potty?”
Minjeong dismisses her and walks right into Jimin’s room, somehow launching herself right onto Jimin’s bed. Jimin blinks, seeing Minjeong sitting on her hugging pillow.
“Oh. You didn’t want to sleep alone?” Jimin grins.
Minjeong makes a sound in between a purr and a bark and Jimin imagines it’s a sound of agreement. Jimin crawls back into her bed and tugs Minjeong into her arms, who makes herself very comfortable, snuggling into Jimin.
The night comes easy and Jimin dreams of a fluffy white cloud.
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“I can’t do it!” Ningning cries out. “Please, it hurts!”
“Do we really have to?” Aeri pouts.
“But manager-nim said...” Jimin hesitates.
Minjeong sits by the door with the biggest puppy eyes ever and it makes Jimin want to throw up. How can you say no to that face? This feels as bad as abandoning the puppy, even though they’re only leaving Minjeong for a few hours to head to a schedule.
Somehow—somehow once again , they convince their manager to bring Minjeong along and pose as Minjeong’s owner. Jimin just thinks their manager has a weak spot for Minjeong, especially if she’s temporarily or permanently trapped as an adorable and defenceless Maltese.
The fansign goes through with stride and no problems arise as their manager stays off stage with Minjeong on a leash in her arms. They finish signing albums and then it’s time to hang out with their fans. Jimin takes a few photo ops and even spots Minjeong’s fansite in the crowd. She pouts and smiles for them because she feels bad because Minjeong should’ve been here as herself.
Some time during the fansign, when the manager is distracted, Minjeong breaks free and runs right onto the stage when the background video of Armageddon is playing. Jimin’s eyes widened, seeing the little white ball of fluff prancing around centre stage, barking along to Armageddon.
Their fans, usually shy and collected during meetings, audibly awed, and Jimin panicked. She turns to their manager, who’s spinning around in circles, looking for the dog.
“ Is that Minjeongie?!”
A fan calls out and Minjeong chuckles nervously.
“So cute!”
“Right?” Ningning scoops up Minjeong to stop her from running around. “Isn’t Gyeoulie, our manager’s dog, just as cute as our Maltese, Minjeong-unnie?”
Jimin exhales slowly.
Ningning saves the day without a hiccup.
Minjeong ends up sticking around for the rest of the fansign and each member takes a photo with the puppy and Jimin imagines the cutest fansite pictures will come out on the timeline. Minjeong does fall tired after a while and ends up resting in Jimin’s lap the whole time and even on the car ride back to their dorm.
At night, Jimin finds Minjeong outside of her door again and lets her into her room, where she ends up curled in on herself on Jimin’s chest in her arms.
🐾
The following days are filled with schedules that are worked around to fit Minjeong’s human-shaped absence, as they have individual shoots and recordings as well. On this particular day, Jimin is very busy and when she comes home, she could almost collapse right at the door.
She takes off her shoes and squeaks in surprise when Minjeong bumbles over and jumps on her hind legs excitedly.
Ningning had taken Minjeong earlier on her schedule, but seemingly the younger had returned to leave Minjeong at home. She picks up Minjeong and enters their home, finding a note on the table that was probably written just before Jimin came home.
Went to buy food
–Aeri and Ning <3
Jimin smiles and puts the note in a safe spot before putting Minjeong down to refill her water and to give her snacks too. Jimin plays around with Minjeong with the few toys they have and Minjeong doesn’t seem to have much interest in playing, but when Jimin lies down on the couch, Minjeong follows her and hopes up to rest on Jimin’s stomach.
“Aw, you cuddle bug.” Jimin chuckles.
Minjeong scoots up and nuzzles her ears against Jimin’s clothed stomach. Jimin giggles as she scratches behind Minjeong’s ears and gives her tummy rubs too. Minjeong flops on Jimin’s torso and pants happily with her tongue out.
Soon, Jimin finds herself succumbing to a well-deserved nap with her hands in Minjeong’s fur.
“Do we tell her?” Ningning blinks.
“Uh, I’m not sure I want to.” Aeri is between disgust and bursting out into laughter.
Jimin is asleep on the couch and Minjeong lays on top of her chest, licking her face and not leaving an inch dry. Ningning’s eyes light up in horror and Aeri’s jaw drops as Minjeong licks Jimin’s lips over and over.
“Bad puppy!” Ningning squeals, running over to pull the naughty dog off Jimin. Ningning drops Minjeong to the floor and she harrumphs petulantly. Aeri almost bends over in laughter, wishing she caught it on video to blackmail Jimin or Minjeong because it works both ways.
“Wha—what happened?” Jimin stirs from her nap, rubbing her face with her hand.
“Ew...” Aeri grimaces.
“What?” Jimin blinks.
“Uh, nothing!” Aeri smiles sheepishly.
“Unnie, go shower right now!” Ningning tells her. “God knows how long, uh, how long you’ve been sleeping here!”
“How long was I out?” Jimin is disoriented.
“Long enough for us to leave and come home!” NIngning exaggerates. They were only gone for a little over an hour.
“Uh, jeez. Okay. I must’ve been tired.” Jimin stretches her body and walks to her room to get a change of clothes before jumping in the shower.
Minjeong tries to follow, but Aeri scoops her up in the nick of time.
“Uh-uh, puppy, you’ve done enough.” Aeri scolds her and Minjeong deflates.
🐾
“She’s gonna escape!” Aeri shrieks.
“Close the door!” Jimin yells.
“She’s slippery!” Ningning whines.
A terrible case was reported this afternoon—Aeri was having a yoghurt snack when tiny Minjeong approached her and scared the living daylights out of the human. Aeri jumped and the yoghurt dropped from her hands right onto Minjeong’s pristine fur. As to why they’ve been led to the bathroom in a three-person operation of trying to keep tiny Minjeong in the tub.
The three of them manage to get Minjeong clean and Aeri takes on the job of drying her fur, though Jimin has to supervise as Minjeong gets snippy with Aeri.
Ningning refills Minjeong’s food and water and doesn’t question why Minjeong’s bed looks as clean and untouched as when they bought it from the pet store. After the girls have their meal and Minjeong does too, Jimin takes Minjeong on a night walk to digest and to let Minjeong play outside and do her business.
When they’re at the park, Jimin takes the leash off Minjeong, though Minjeong doesn’t like straying far from Jimin. She stays right by her heel and it makes Jimin giggle.
Minjeong does her business but doesn’t do it until Jimin’s fully turned around and Jimin finds it a bit comical, though everything has been comical about this situation for days.
Jimin then thinks it’s a great idea to take Minjeong on the playground equipment, but after they go down the slide together and Minjeong lays flat on the ground with her tongue out—faking exhaustion and dizziness—Jimin realises it’s not a great idea to play too rough with a small dog, and if said small dog is also cute little Minjeongie.
Jimin sits on the swings and Minjeong runs around her before opting to sit in front of her as Jimin swings on the equipment. Minjeong blinks in and out of Jimin’s view as she goes up and down in the air.
“Mm, do you like being a puppy, Minjeong-ah?” Jimin asks softly, swinging back and forth slightly on the swings as Minjeong sits in front of her on the ground. “Is that why you’re not turning back?”
Minjeong looks at her blankly and Jimin wonders whether or not the longer she stays as a dog, the more she forgets her human counterpart. Or whether Minjeong hasn’t been able to understand them this whole time. She sighs, smiling kindly at Minjeong. Her shoes skid against the sand and she comes to a stop, looking down at Minjeong.
“Must be nice being a puppy.” Jimin sighs wistfully. “No job and you don’t have to pay for anything. You have three members to care for you and a manager too. All you do is follow me around all day. Do you like it, Kim Ppoppi-ssi?”
Minjeong tilts her head and Jimin chuckles.
“Make sure to have play and fun while you can, puppy.” Jimin speaks softly into the night. “But make sure you come home to me soon. Unnie misses you.”
Minjeong yips and Jimin grins before getting off the swings.
“Come on, let’s get home. It’s too cold now.” Jimin picks up Minjeong in her arms instead of holding the leash and hurries home.
She washes up and dressed warmly, with Minjeong trailing at her feet at every turn. Once she’s ready for bed after doing her skincare, she hops into her bed, and Minjeong follows after to lay on her chest like it’s routine. Jimin thinks human Minjeong would be horrified if she found out this is how she’s been living for days on end.
She watches the final episodes of ‘A Good Day to Be a Dog’ before growing sleepy. She switches off her TV and looks down at the quiet and obedient Minjeong laying on her chest. Her eyes are round and boba-like as she stares back at Jimin.
Jimin smiles softly before leaning forward to press a kiss on Minjeong’s snout.
“You’re so cute, puppy.” Jimin sighs sleepily. “I miss you, Minjeongie.”
Minjeong whines softly, nuzzling into the skin under Jimin’s chin.
When Jimin wakes up, she definitely notices something different. The absence of a puppy is present, but a heavy weight presses down on her body. She blinks awake and finds her sight blocked by a mop of blonde hair.
“Minjeong…?” Jimin croaks.
“Jimin-unnie?” Minjeong whines sleepily. “You know, unnie... I’ve had a weird dream... I was a puppy and... wait.”
Minjeong raises her head and looks down to find herself cuddled on top of Jimin. Yu Jimin, also known as Karina of aespa—a member and leader of the group aespa that they are in together—and Yu Jimin, whom she’s trained with and been friends with for almost eight years. (And Yu Jimin, whom she may or may not adore a little too much for normalcy.)
Minjeong feels a blush rise to her cheeks. “Unnie, why—”
“Shh. Lie back down, puppy.” Minjeong is dazzled by Jimin’s bright grin.
“But—”
“Shh.” Jimin smiles happily, forcefully pushing Minjeong back down, wrapping her arms around Minjeong’s small frame and hugging her back to sleep. She nuzzles into Minjeong’s familiar scent, although she still smells a hint of the puppy’s cookie-like scent.
“Hmkay…” Minjeong finds herself being lulled back to sleep. “You… You’re like a warm blanket…”
THE END <3
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