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It’s hopeless.
Josh walked across the lost-and-found counter and back, trying to plan his next course of action. His sister, Luan, will be waiting for him and their dog Ibubu in four or so hours, so he has that much time to either find the little pupper…or never come home.
He cupped his forehead in mental pain.
“I’m really sorry, Sir. There’s been no reports of a found dog so far,” the lady at the counter repeated. Josh has been begging her to search their records again and again for any found dog reports, of course to no avail.
He muttered a frustrated thank you before walking out of the station. The sun had been too high and bright that Saturday. It was supposed to be a simple play date with Ibubu, as he promised Luan because apparently the pup had been missing him all week. The plan was, they’d go to the park, grab ice cream and puppuccino, and then go straight home. It was supposed to be an easy day, which is why Josh didn’t bother switching to contact lenses and kept his glasses, and wore an unbuttoned short-sleeved polo with an inner black sando top.
Unfortunately, they were only able to tick off one and a half item from that to-do list, because while he was busy at the puppuccino cart, Ibubu took the opportunity to run off and wander.
The past 45 minutes had been a nightmare for Josh. He searched the park where they went, looking under every bench and behind—and even on top of—every tree. He looked like a creep peering in every window of every store they had passed by, hoping to catch Ibubu idling inside to keep himself cool. He also crawled under most bushes he saw just for that chance that the pup may be napping somewhere.
As expected, nothing worked.
He was walking absentmindedly along the street where he last saw Ibubu when he tripped on something rather thick. A groan came from below him.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry!” Josh hurriedly stepped back to see what it was.
For heaven’s sake, it was a freaking person!
The figure tried to stand up from his position on all fours and cleaned his sweatpants. “Nah, it’s cool. Sorry for not seeing you too.”
When their eyes met, it was over for Josh.
The man had tan skin that glistened softly under the sun, his hair looked wet from sweat, which he pushed back with his long fingers. The dark gray muscle tee showed off lean but muscular arms, while his narrow eyes further narrowed as he smiled a bright smile showing a beautiful set of teeth.
Really, it was over for Josh.
“Sorry ‘bout that. You’re not hurt, are you?” The man asked in a deep, velvety voice.
It took almost all of Josh’s sense to keep his mouth from gaping wide open. “Yeah—I mean, no! No, I’m not hurt.”
First conversation and you blubber your way through. Great, dumbass.
Good thing that the man seemed easy to please. He laughed and it was easy and gentle and good. Josh smiled to himself, only to be reminded of a much more pressing issue at hand. He gasped before turning away. If he was fighting a blush, he was the only one to know and turning was the good thing to do.
“I’m sorry, I have to go.”
“Wait!”
But Josh had already run away.
—
Three hours and ten minutes.
Josh only had three more hours and ten minutes before his sister kills him for losing their baby. He still held on to that glimmer of hope that he’d find Ibubu, but in this vast city under the scorching heat, said hope was starting to evaporate into the sun.
He thought of other methods he can use to look for the pupper.
While thinking, Josh silently cursed Luan for not thinking of placing an Air Tag on Ibubu’s collar, because that would have saved him a lot of time in cases when he needed to track their pup. But he knew Luan would argue that Ibubu wouldn’t need one because they’d never let him be alone especially outside.
Change of plans, he now needed to think of rebuttals for Luan’s foreseeable arguments.
Deep in thought, Josh continued to walk along another street where he and Ibubu had passed by. He took a turn on the corner, only to bounce back after bumping into someone.
“Ow.”
“Oh god, I’m sorry!”
Familiar.
Josh looked up to meet the same narrow eyes he was captivated by an hour ago.
“Hey! It’s you!” The man smiled so wide and bright that Josh kept from shielding his eyes.
Why do I keep running into this guy?
Josh was about to bow and politely walk away—he didn’t want to run this time, that would already be rude—when the man gently gripped his arm and smiled at him.
“Wha—”
“Yeah, you’re not gonna dash out this time,” the man said with a teasing wink. “I wanted to ask you something, but you ran so fast and I’m not in the mood to chase. Or well…maybe a different chase would be okay.”
What?
The man continued. “You look like you’re looking for something, and as it happens, I am too. So, you know…” he let go of his grip on Josh’s arm before placing his hands on his pockets and smiled shyly. “Do you want to look for our lost ones together?”
How the hell was Josh supposed to say no?
—
Josh honestly couldn’t bring himself to worry about Ibubu as heavily as he did earlier, not with this really easygoing guy walking beside him. He had to remind himself repeatedly that they were not on a date, they were looking for their missing belongings together. Again, they were not on a date.
The guy introduced himself as Ken, and he was apparently looking for his missing action camera. He described it as a small black thing with a magnetic lining at the back, which made it easy to stick onto surfaces. He told Josh that he didn’t realize that maybe it had fallen off of his bag as he was preparing to leave the park after a morning run.
Josh watched Ken as he formed his right thumb and index finger into a narrow U shape, showing the former how small the camera was. For someone with relatively large hands, him flexing those fingers to such a tiny shape was a gap that Josh didn’t think he’d find adorable.
Again, he had to remind himself, it was not a date.
Ken then asked about the item that Josh was looking for.
“Oh, it’s not an item,” he replied, grateful for the distraction. “It’s my dog, a black and white shih tzu.”
“You…lost your dog?” Ken asked, his lower lip jutting out while frowning.
Freaking cute, damn it.
Josh scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. “You would think I’d be able to keep watch over my dog, especially with these huge-ass glasses, but no, he wandered the minute I wasn’t looking at him.”
“He must like you a lot then, because he wanted you to only look at him. Maybe that’s why he ran off too, so you would keep him in your mind,” Ken said in comfort before chuckling. “Well, maybe not the best approach for it, but hey, one can hope.”
“You give him too much credit,” Josh chuckled back in response then heaved a sigh. He remembered Luan repeating over and over again that Ibubu hasn’t been his usual energetic puppy self since Josh went back to working late nights and leaving the house in early mornings. Not like he had a choice though, their company had an incoming big account, and he was tasked to prepare the sales pitch deck for their meeting next week.
If Ibubu will be gone forever, Josh thought, no one will greet him happily as soon as he lets himself inside their house, or kiss his face to wake him up. No one will put up with his awful cooking—he made efforts to cook Ibubu’s food when he can—or lounge with him in front of the TV. No one will be as loving towards him, and he will have no one to care for anymore.
“So when di-whoa, hey! You okay?”
Josh was pulled out of his depressive reverie when he felt a strong grip on his shoulder and a hand brushing something wet from his cheek.
Oh.
Josh removed his eyeglasses and cursed under his breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry you had to see this.”
“What are you saying? It’s okay to feel bad, it’s your pet that’s missing! Anyone will feel bad for losing someone they hold so dear,” Ken argued while running his hands up and down Josh’s arms to soothe him.
Josh just wiped his face and didn’t say anything about that. Instead, he changed the subject and kept walking. “Your camera’s dear to you too, though, and you’re not crying under the freaking sun in the middle of the street.”
“Well, that camera’s only valuable because of the memories it contained, but it’s not as irreplaceable as a pet.”
To keep the next surge of tears, Josh insisted that Ken talk about his camera, and thank heavens the man was happy to oblige. Probably because he felt that if he didn’t, Josh would end up crying in front of him again.
Ken shared that the camera was an investment he had bought for himself; he thought that if he documented his fitness journey, he would be committed to work out more. He said he’d had it for a couple of months now, and he’s since started making edits of his workouts and races. The camera currently contained clips of his most recent hike in Pampanga and his run that morning.
“As I said, nothing of great value. Memories are good but only as good as you being in the moment,” he continued with a smile.
That made Josh smile too.
Ken visibly became relaxed then took his phone out of his pants pocket. “I guess one good feature of that camera is its ‘see me’ feature. It lets me see its view at the moment. Kind of like a portable CCTV, if you will, but the signal keeps popping in and out right now.” He then scratched the back of his head. “I actually found its view on ground level. That’s why I was crawling on the cement when you tripped on me.”
“I’m really sorry about that,” Josh apologized again, unsure if for the tripping over or the mini-simping he did earlier.
“Nah, it’s okay. I’m more than happy to catch you either way.”
Josh blinked. “What?”
Ken blinked back. “What?”
—
Two hours and thirty minutes.
It had been an awkward quiet walk together for Josh and Ken since forty minutes ago. Both were looking away from each other, Josh to his left and Ken to his right while glancing at his phone from time to time. They were trying to catch the view of Ken’s camera, which had also been moving to different places at random times. They would also find snaps of the camera at random angles, which made the search more difficult.
“Josh, wait.”
Josh stopped walking and his heart raced at the call of his name. He turned around, only to find Ken stopped a few steps behind him and made no signs of moving. He took it as a sign to walk back to his companion’s side.
“The camera’s moving,” Ken murmured as soon as Josh was within his reach.
“Oh…and?”
“It’s at a very low eye level.”
“Uh…huh,” Josh tried to respond with a raised eyebrow. He really had no idea what point Ken was trying to get to.
“Do you know what it means?” Ken asked, his voice suddenly filled with hope.
“No…”
Ken’s head snapped to Josh’s direction, his smile as bright as the sun up above as he handed Josh his phone. “Josh, call me crazy, but maybe Ibubu has my camera with him?”
Josh’s eyes widened and looked at the phone screen.
It showed a view of people walking but it was up to their ankles, and the view itself was moving at a very low level, as Ken had said. It also dangled from one far side to another at a very relaxed pace. Surely, this view is too low for a person. So either it was the view of a crawling baby or a small animal.
Josh was suddenly filled with hope. Ibubu…
He then felt a hand on top of his that held the phone. Josh then looked up to meet a narrow pair of eyes smiling at him.
“Find him with me?”
Josh fought back the oncoming tears and the warm feeling in his tummy and nodded.
--
The atmosphere between the two suddenly shifted for the better, Josh had realized. They became comfortable talking to each other again. It felt so much better that they even afforded themselves a quick break to grab ice cream to fight off the heat.
Again, Josh reminded himself one more time, this is not a date.
From time to time, they looked at Ken’s phone, trying to figure out where the camera [and hopefully Ibubu] had been moving around. Sometimes it would walk a little faster, sometimes it would stop. The view was always either of shady bushes or walking ankles. One time, the camera jostled so hard and dangled forward to a wall. Josh feared that the camera would fall off the entity it was attached to [which was hopefully Ibubu]. He breathed a huge sigh when it didn’t and later on walked again at a lazy pace.
Ken was incredibly patient with him too. It took most of Josh to fight the blush and the butterflies in his tummy when he would see Ken smiling kindly at him when he was antsy to monitor the camera but was too shy to hold the phone himself.
It would have been a very cute and tender moment worth cherishing right there and then, had their circumstances been different.
—
Some time and after a few more walks later, they watched as the camera’s view on Ken’s phone stopped moving. It looked like the camera [and hopefully Ibubu] had stopped to watch a ball rolling across a grassy field then a child—or the legs of one—running after it, with a wooden bench situated from afar under a mango tree.
“Wait,” Josh gripped the phone on Ken’s hand. “I know that tree…”
“Y-you do?”
When Josh turned to Ken to ask why he’d stuttered, he realized their faces may have been a little too close for casual comfort, and his grip on Ken’s hand that was holding the phone may have been too tight.
“Uhm, yeah! I think that’s where the puppuccino cart was under, at the park where Ibubu and I played this morning,” Josh hastily said while drawing his hand back and shyly turning away.
“Great! Let’s go then!” Ken exclaimed in glee, not minding the fact that Josh was two breaths away from his face.
Really, his energy was just so contagious that Josh felt excited too.
They walked briskly towards the park that, apparently, was also the same place that Ken had rested in that morning. Theories were exchanged about what happened, that maybe Ibubu—fingers crossed that it’s him—found it tiring to roam around and decided to walk back and wait where he had last seen Josh.
Ken had finally insisted that Josh hold the phone himself so he could closely monitor the camera’s view and make it easier for him to locate it and whoever it was attached to. With Ken’s phone in hand, Josh all but ran to the park as soon as they got to the entrance, while Ken kept a steady pace a little behind him.
Josh walked towards the mango tree where he believed the puppuccino cart was earlier. His eyes started to water before looking at the camera’s view, which showed what he believed was the back of his and Ken’s legs and shoes. He turned around to face the bench opposite the tree. There, he saw a black and white shih tzu sitting perfectly and patiently, black-brown eyes quite obscured by the fuzzy fur around them, but he knew those eyes saw him, knew him.
He couldn’t have bolted across the park fast enough.
Good thing Ibubu had walked from under the bench where he sat because Josh almost dived to the grass under the bench to get him.
Letting his tears flow like a waterfall, Josh scooped Ibubu up from the ground before cradling the pup in his arms and burying his face in black and white fur. Ibubu still smelled a bit like the dry soap Josh had sprayed on him before they went out. And being the ever-chill dog, Ibubu stayed still as Josh cried all over him, except for his tail that never stopped wagging since he was carried off the ground.
Josh let himself cry on Ibubu’s torso, wordless at the relief he felt. In that moment, he was just happy to have his baby back.
After what felt like a long while, he lifted Ibubu up in the air. “You cheeky patootie, why’d you run off like that?! You had no idea how worried I was! Imagine if I didn’t come back here, what would’ve happened to you?!” He then kissed the pup before lifting him up once more. “The only reason I was able to locate you is—”
Josh froze, with Ibubu on air, when he remembered.
He whipped his entire body around to find Ken standing relaxed a couple of feet behind him. His eyes and tan skin were almost too sparkly under the afternoon sun, hands on pockets as he watched Josh with the kindest smile.
“Don’t get mad at him so much. You returned here in the end, didn’t you?” Ken chided as he walked to where Josh and Ibubu were.
The next thing Josh knew, Ken had reached out to pet Ibubu in his arms, then reached for the pup’s collar and picked something up on it. He then held a small black object between his fingers and winked at Josh. “See, I told you we’d find our lost ones.”
Josh tried so incredibly hard to not run up to Ken’s arms and cry, much like he did with Ibubu earlier.
“I can’t thank you enough, Ken. Really, I wouldn’t be able to find Ibubu if not for you.”
“Well…” Ken grinned as he looked at Josh. “Technically, you can thank me enough.”
“Huh?”
“How about a cup of coffee and a slice of cake?”
Josh blinked, processed the request, and smiled back at Ken, whose grin widened, as if he knew what Josh’s answer was going to be.
To be fair, it was pretty obvious, as if there would be any other answer.
“I know a pet-friendly café nearby.”
“Awesome! Mind if I pet Ibubu while you text your sister you might come home late?”
Josh raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you would need plenty of hours to finish a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.”
Before Josh could even continue, Ken’s arms were already shrugging Ibubu off his. With a wink, he whispered, “Maybe, but I would need plenty of hours to get to know you, no?”
Ah, damn it. Here we go.
To: Luan
Subject: Extend Play Date
Lu, don’t wait up for Ibubu and me. It’s a long story, but we’re okay.
We just found something we didn’t know we lost. Love you!