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A heavy thud cut through the peaceful dreams of the slumbering little ferret and Hyunjin stirred, pink nose and long whiskers twitching. He was just about to drift back into his sweet dreams of frolicking and dancing in a gorgeous flower meadow when a sharp, indignant squeak interrupted his dreams again, dragging him back to wakefulness.
Still caught halfway between the realms of dreams and reality, the little ferret flicked his tail lazily and curled himself into an even tighter ball to savour the warmth of his own furred body. His mind was in a blank, hazy state as he lay there with little willingness to get up.
Eventually though, Hyunjin decided to uncurl himself in search of a tasty snack, his pink tongue licking at his snout in anticipation of what delicious treat he might find.
As the little ferret stretched his long, lithe body, he saw a flicker of a shadow out of the corner of his eyes but by the time he had turned his keen eyes in that direction, the person or animal peeking at him through the door had hidden himself away swiftly. Hyunjin shrugged and resumed stretching out his flexible, noodle-like body before opening his jaws in a tiny yawn. He simply assumed that it was Changbin sneaking looks at him again, the other having an unusual tendency to act like a smitten little dwaekki in love around him. It was strange and inexplicable to Hyunjin but he had simply written it off as one of the many weird things about his group members.
Hopping down from the pillow he had been perched on, the little ferret darted across the room towards the open door. His ears felt strangely heavy as he ran, which led to him coming to an abrupt halt in confusion in the middle of the room. Pawing at his ears with his front paws, he quickly realised that there was something clipped to his ears.
Hyunjin tried to dislodge the object from his ear, scratching at it with his paw but his efforts proved futile. Then, he attempted shaking himself vigorously to dislodge the object but that didn't work either.
Dizzy from all that vigorous shaking, the little ferret stumbled in front of the full-length mirror in the room. It was only then that he discovered what was on his ears at last.
It was a pair of baby pink ribbons.
The little ferret stood up on his back limbs to study his reflection in the mirror. The cute ribbons made him look even sweeter and adorable than usual and he found that he quite liked the way the accessory looked against his snowy-white fur.
Since they didn’t hurt his ears and made him look pretty like a little ballerina, Hyunjin decided that the ribbons could stay.
He did a graceful twirl in his spot like he was the little ballerina he felt like before getting back on all four paws and continued scampering towards the door. His sudden surge in confidence filled him like helium, making him feel almost weightless as he leapt out of the door and into the living room.
Once out of the room, he slowed down his pace when he saw that his fellow group members were in the living room in their animal forms too, playing with some bright orange ping pong balls that he didn’t remember them having in their dorm. He treaded daintily up to them, whiskers bobbing furiously in his excitement as he sniffed curiously at one of the ping pong balls scattered across the ground.
It was only when silence descended abruptly on his surroundings that the little ferret’s attention was diverted away from the ping pong ball and he lifted his snout to blink at the other little animals. As though someone had pressed the pause button on them, the world around Hyunjin seemed to have frozen in time.
The big grey wolf had halted mid-step, his paw still dangling in the air as his jaw fell wide open. The little squirrel who was being chased had screeched to a stop and the little yellow chick who had been chasing him collided into him, causing them to roll across the ground in a brown and yellow blur before crashing into the wall and landing in a heap. The little fox forgot all about the ball he had been holding in his jaw as it slipped out of his mouth and landed on the head of the little white rabbit beneath him who did not react to the impact of the ball bouncing off his head at all.
Rubbing at his snout with his paws, Hyunjin wondered what was going on with the others.
At the same time, a quick wondering thought flashed across his mind but before he could even begin to look around for the missing animals in their group, a streak of pink rushed up to him until all that filled his vision was bright pink fur and a pair of sparkling dark eyes. The usually rambunctious little dwaekki just stared quietly up at the little ferret with those sparkling eyes and his curly pink tail perked.
Hyunjin waited for several moments for some kind of reaction, movement or sound from the other little animals but when seconds passed and the resume button on the others still hadn’t been pressed, he lost interest in them and the ping pong balls. With another flick of his tail, he turned to head towards the kitchen, mind already on the treats that would fill his empty little tummy.
As he went into the kitchen, the snack-loving little ferret didn’t look back once.
But if he only did, he might see the other little animals unfreeze with little smitten sighs of admiration at the beauty of the sight which had just graced their eyes. Perhaps he might have discovered the little pink dwaekki trailing right behind his tail and following him everywhere he went as those sparkling bright eyes remained glued to his figure the entire time.
Or maybe, he might even have discovered the little puppy hiding behind a wall with an overly smug expression as he praised his own handiwork.