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Some days, Meng Yao missed flip phones and the ability to aggressively hang up on someone. The beep of the End Call button just didn't have the same oomph. He'd told Su She to take care of all of his calls for the rest of the afternoon, but apparently that hadn't been good enough for one of the firm's clients. It was looking more and more like he was going to have to come into the office on Saturday morning. He tried not to grind his teeth together. Dental coverage at Jin Corp was adequate, but not spectacular.
He was near the front of the pickup line at the elementary school, so he scanned the sidewalk for Jin Ling. He spotted him with his teacher and waved. Despite his bad mood, and the cold, gloomy weather, he smiled a little at Jin Ling in his oversized backpack that took up almost his entire torso. He was very into Pokemon at the moment, so it was covered in Charizards and Pikachus and all of the other most popular ones. Jin Ling's favorite, Houndoom, didn't have as much merchandise, unfortunately. Meng Yao was often on the lookout.
"Don't forget to give your permission slip to your grown ups, okay?" Jin Ling's teacher said as she helped him into the back seat of the car.
Jin Ling grumbled something in response and buckled himself in, crossing his arms in front of him. Meng Yao raised his eyebrows and made eye contact with the teacher. She just gave him a face that said 'good luck' and closed the door.
"How was school today, A-Ling?" Meng Yao asked, as he carefully pulled out of the line and back into traffic. It would take a few minutes to get out of the school zone and then another 10 minutes to get to the first of his afternoon errands, unless he got caught behind a school bus. He mentally crossed his fingers.
"I hate school," Jin Ling said, forcefully.
Meng Yao sighed. Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan had warned him about this. It was only a few weeks into first grade, and he was already having some trouble fitting in with the other kids. It was apparently a whole ordeal getting him to get ready for school most mornings.
"How come? Your teacher seems really nice," he said. He didn't actually know if that was true. He'd only met her once before, when he was put on the pickup list.
"No," Jin Ling said. He offered nothing else.
"Okay. Well, we have a couple of things to do, then we're going back to my house, okay?" Meng Yao said.
"I don't want to go to shushu's house, I want to go to my house," Jin Ling said, and his voice was already getting perilously close to meltdown territory.
"I know, but we're going to have a lot of fun tonight, I promise," Meng Yao said, though as soon as he said it, his phone started to ring. He pressed his lips together to keep from uttering out a curse. He pressed the button to answer it. "Su She, I can't take any more calls for the rest of the day."
"I know, I'm so sorry," Su She said on the other end of the phone, sounding so contrite, Meng Yao nearly felt guilty for the way he snapped. Su She continued. "It's Mr. Jin, he is insisting he have the Wang file on his desk by the end of the day."
Meng Yao nearly bit his tongue trying not to grind his teeth together.
"Shushu, I wanna go home," Jin Ling said from the back seat.
"I know, A-Ling. I'll send you the files as soon as I'm not driving, Su She. Forward them to Qin Su, with my apologies and a promise to treat her to lunch on Monday. She can email me if she has any questions," Meng Yao said.
"She'll want more than that," Su She said.
"Convince her on my behalf. I'll see you Monday," Meng Yao said, hanging up before Su She said goodbye. He glanced in the rear view mirror to see Jin Ling slumped over in his seat. "Jin Ling, sit up straight while I'm driving, please."
Jin Ling let out a whine that was about a half pitch away from crying, but he did sit up and lean back against the seat, his little face scrunched up and lower lip out in a pout.
It was shaping up to be a long day.
~
"It smells funny in here," Jin Ling declared as they entered the dry cleaner's.
"Hi, picking up for Meng Yao," he said, smiling a little apologetically. But the woman on the other side looked mildly amused as she walked towards the back, at least.
"It smells like Nainai," Jin Ling said.
There was a pretty strong smell of floral detergent in the lobby. Meng Yao couldn't argue with that. The family had been using this particular dry cleaner for years, so he was sure Mrs. Jin's closet smelled a lot like this.
The woman returned, but she was followed by a manager, who was holding the suit he'd dropped off the week before and looking grim.
"Sir, we sincerely apologize," he said, and Meng Yao's stomach dropped. This was his only formal suit.
The man proceeded to show him the pants, which had frayed at the ends, and offered to try to repair or a full refund and compensation for the piece. Meng Yao listened, keeping Jin Ling in the corner of his eye, as Jin Ling had started bopping around the waiting room, looking for something to do. He had his Charizard stuffie with him and was making it fly over and around the chairs.
"Would you be able to do it by Sunday night?" Meng Yao asked, but as soon as he asked, the man's face crinkled up.
"Maybe, maybe. I can't guarantee," he said.
Meng Yao chewed on the inside of his cheek, weighing his options. If it couldn't be repaired, he would need a new suit. He truly didn't think he could do that with Jin Ling in tow, and he also wasn't sure he could find one last moment on a Sunday morning. He could ask to borrow one, but from who? His brother was taller and broader than him, as were his closest friends. Nie Huaisang, maybe, but he wasn't likely to own a suit at all, and certainly not one appropriate for a black tie fundraising banquet.
A clatter sounded from behind him, and they all turned. Jin Ling had managed to topple over one of the chairs. Meng Yao hurried to right the piece of furniture and make sure that Jin Ling hadn't injured himself somehow.
"Be careful, A-Ling," he said.
"I didn't mean to," Jin Ling said, clutching Charizard close to his chest. His face scrunched up and tears started to form in his eyes.
"I know, I know. It's okay. It was just an accident," he assured him. He turned back to the manager. "If you can repair it, please. As quickly as possible."
"No guarantee," the man said again.
"I understand. Thank you," Meng Yao said, and he started to escort Jin Ling back out to the car.
~
"I'm bored, Shushu, can I play games on your phone?" Jin Ling asked, shifting his weight in the grocery cart.
"I'm using it right now, A-Ling," Meng Yao said, crossing another thing off the list as he placed it in the cart. He was also half looking at an email Qin Su had sent him as they walked up and down the aisles, slowly formulating a response in drafts. Maybe by the time they got to the checkout, he would be able to press send. She was going to have to work overtime to finish the project he'd had Su She dump in her lap, and her overly bright tone and number of exclamation points told Meng Yao that she was pissed about it.
Jin Ling groaned, and he grabbed the side of the cart, starting to stand up.
"Remember what I told you? You can only ride in the cart if you sit down," Meng Yao warned.
"I wanna get out," Jin Ling said, already starting to swing one leg over the top of the cart.
"Okay, okay," Meng Yao said, rushing to his side to help him out and onto the floor. He was big enough he could probably have done it himself, but with the way Meng Yao's day was going, he didn't want to have to rush the kid to an emergency room and call his parents to end date night early.
"Can we get these?" Jin Ling said, immediately reaching for a box of brightly colored marshmallow cereal.
"I have the cereal you like at home. That's not on the list," Meng Yao said.
"But I want this one," Jin Ling whined.
Meng Yao considered whether he wanted to fight about this or not. Jin Ling wasn't his child. He sometimes yearned to be the fun uncle, like Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng. Jin Ling was always telling stories about all the things they did together and all the funny things Wei Wuxian did and said. What if he just said yes to everything he wanted like they did? What if he spoiled Jin Ling for the weekend? Wasn't it his right as an uncle? However, he was the one trusted to care for him overnight. Not his other uncles. Not his grandparents. Meng Yao. Precisely because he didn't get the kid sugared up and staying up too late playing video games that weren't age appropriate. Because he would ensure Jin Ling did any homework he needed to have done at the end of the day. Because he enforced regular bedtime and allowed very little screen time. Because he was good in a crisis, if Jin Ling were to fall and split his head open or break his nose regardless of everyone's best efforts.
"I have snacks on the list already. I think we should look at snacks and pick out something you like for after dinner," Meng Yao said. He thought that was a pretty good compromise, actually. He knew Jin Ling would rather have chocolate chip cookies or M&Ms for a snack when they got home.
"I want this one," Jin Ling said, stomping his foot.
"A-Ling," Meng Yao said, in a warning voice.
The boy inhaled, his face crumpling up, and Meng Yao closed his eyes, rubbing his temple. Maybe if he didn't look at him, the meltdown wouldn't happen.
No such luck, of course, and the cries started.
"Okay," Meng Yao sighed. He got down into a squat, to get eye level with Jin Ling, and put his hands on his little shoulders. "We don't need more cereal. But we're going to go to the cookie aisle, and you can pick out whatever kind of cookie you want, okay?"
"I don't want cookies," Jin Ling said, but his face looked wary.
Meng Yao cocked his head to the side.
"Are you sure? One hundred percent sure?" he asked.
Jin Ling looked dubious, but he wasn't likely to back down so easily.
"Tell you what. Let's go see, and if you don't like any of the cookies and don't want them, we'll come back and get this, okay? We're just gonna go look," Meng Yao said.
"Okay. We'll go look," Jin Ling said.
The rest of the trip went as uneventfully as it possibly could, considering he had a cranky, bored six year old and three different email threads going. Still, Jin Ling got to "help" the bagger put the groceries into Meng Yao's reusable bags, and the man seemed entertained by him, so Meng Yao was calling that a win. Until, of course, they got to the exit.
The sky had been a light gray when they'd entered the store, but now it was dark, and rain poured down onto the concrete in buckets. Meng Yao let out a sigh. He grabbed Jin Ling's shoulder to keep him from barrelling straight into the parking lot, both into the rain and into the oncoming cars.
Meng Yao had an umbrella, but it was in his car. He should have checked the weather. He should have thought. But he was so preoccupied with the potentially ruined suit, the grocery list, the to do list for the night, not to mention everything Jin Guangshan had chosen to throw onto him at the last minute, he hadn't brought it inside with him.
He glanced back into the store, where an employee had just rolled the display of umbrellas right beside the doorway. It was silly to buy another umbrella when he had one, a very nice one that he quite liked. But he also thought of a soaking wet Jin Ling getting into his car. Then again, wasn't that likely to happen anyway?
"Okay, A-Ling, we're gonna run to the car as fast as we can so we don't get too wet. Keep hold of my hand. Are you ready?" Meng Yao said.
"Yeah!" Jin Ling said, jumping into a 'ready to run' stance, looking more excited than he had been all day.
Meng Yao gripped his hand a little tighter, just making sure he couldn't slip out and take off. He looked both ways for cars, but none were oncoming.
"Go!" he said.
Meng Yao had the cart to maneuver, and an enthusiastic six year old running as fast as he possibly could pulling on his arm. The rain was really coming down, and there were already puddles all through the parking lot. He felt water pool inside of his shoe as he stepped into one, soaking his sock through. They finally got to the car and Meng Yao yanked the car door open, ushering Jin Ling into his seat. He hurriedly put the grocery bags into the trunk. He was parked close to a cart return, but by the time he sat down in the driver's seat of the car, his sweater and hair were soaked through.
"Did Mama pack you a raincoat?" Meng Yao asked.
"I don't know," Jin Ling said.
Of course he didn't. They would just have to get into Meng Yao's apartment as quickly as possible too. Maybe they could change into pajamas early and have a movie night. Meng Yao had watched the Pokemon movie so many times at this point he had it memorized, but so be it.
~
They were so close. So close to getting inside and having a normal, relaxing night. Jiang Yanli had indeed packed a raincoat, so Meng Yao helped Jin Ling put it on and put the hood up over his head so he wouldn't get wet while they trekked across the parking lot and up the stairs to his apartment. Jin Ling was holding the umbrella while Meng Yao retrieved the groceries from his trunk. He wasn't holding it high enough to cover Meng Yao, and he definitely had it tilted so that it was getting Jin Ling's legs and shoes soaking wet, but it was fine. Jin Ling needed a job to do, and this was enough of a job to keep him occupied.
"Shushu, look!" Jin Ling shouted, suddenly, as if he wasn't right next to him.
"What?" Meng Yao asked, his eyes following the little boy's gaze.
He didn't have a chance to see anything, because Jin Ling dropped the umbrella and took off running.
"A-Ling!" Meng Yao said, fear tightening his body like a taut string. He hastily dropped the bags right back into the trunk and took off after his nephew.
He hadn't gone far, just around the corner of the building towards the dumpsters. He was on his hands and knees in a puddle, but he didn't look like he had fallen down. He was looking at something.
"A-Ling!" Meng Yao said again. "You can't run away like that! It's not safe."
"But Shushu, look!" Jin Ling said, pointing.
Beside the dumpster, trying to take shelter against the wall, was the most pitiful looking gray and white puppy, plastered to the skin with rain, ears and tail tucked under and eyes wide. It couldn't have been more than a few months old. Its paws and legs were streaked with mud, but it didn't look injured or hurt. Just very, very scared.
"Come here. It's okay," Jin Ling said, as gently as he was capable of speaking, tapping his hands on the wet ground in front of him.
Meng Yao tensed again. This was a strange dog he had never seen in the neighborhood before. He had no idea if it was dangerous, if it belonged to someone in the complex, if it might bite a stranger. It was just a puppy, but still, he shifted, poised to get between them if the dog decided to lunge. He thought for a moment that the dog was too scared to move, but it listened to Jin Ling's voice, its ears perking up and head tilting to the side.
"Good doggie! Come here!" Jin Ling said, in the kind of high pitched voice he must have learned from somewhere, listening to adults talk to animals. It was precious, actually. To Meng Yao's surprise, the puppy stepped towards them, its tail wagging tentatively. And when Jin Ling reached out for it, it came closer, allowing Jin Ling to rub its ears.
"Be gentle," Meng Yao reminded him, but he didn't need to.
The puppy's whole demeanor changed at Jin Ling's touch, its face lighting up and body straightening, no longer curled into itself. And it was clear, so clear, that Jin Ling was absolutely smitten. His eyes were sparkling and his grin was as wide as Meng Yao had ever seen it.
"Can we keep it?" Jin Ling asked.
Meng Yao had a sudden vision of this soaking wet dog and this soaking wet child walking through his threshold, running through his living room, jumping onto his couch, and soaking everything through with mud and wet dog smell. But he couldn't exactly leave this puppy alone in the cold, wet weather, could he? If it stayed outside overnight as the weather dipped even colder, it might not make it through. He still didn't know if a neighbor owned this puppy. Someone could be looking for it.
Jin Ling was staring up at him, eyes wide and pleading, waiting for his answer.
"We'll bring her home for now," Meng Yao said.
"Yay! Okay, come on!" Jin Ling said, and he started running back to the car. The puppy, tail wagging, followed him, right on his heels.
~
The logistics of getting everything inside and corralling the puppy and the child into the bathroom was an ordeal, but Meng Yao managed it. Meng Yao had never actually taken care of a dog before. He and his mother had never had pets, and he'd just never felt the need to have one as an adult. He frantically web searched whether he could use regular soap on a dog, and it turned out he could just use the barely touched bottle of some eco-friendly organic soap he'd been gifted by Lan Xichen as part of a housewarming package. It was shoved in the back of the linen closet. Jin Ling "helped," which mostly meant splashing at the water and riling up the puppy. By the time Meng Yao had cleaned off the mud and rinsed, he was somehow even more soaked through with bathwater than with rain. The bathroom was covered in wet towels, as he dried off the puppy as best he could. He managed to get Jin Ling to agree to take a bath too. He was at an age where he could do everything by himself, so Meng Yao focused on cleaning the bathroom best he could and making sure the dog didn't try to jump back into the tub with Jin Ling.
"I'm hungry," Jin Ling declared, as he toweled himself dry.
"Me too. Pizza will be here in a few minutes," Meng Yao said.
"Yay!" Jin Ling shouted, and the dog barked in response.
He had been planning to cook them a nice, healthy meal, thus the grocery store run, but that ship had sailed the moment he decided to bring the dog inside. In his haphazard research about soap, he also searched for what was safe to feed a stray puppy, and he ultimately decided to just order a bag of puppy food from a store nearby. That would get here within an hour or two as well. If the dog had an owner, he could just give it to them.
"Are you cold, Sushu?" Jin Ling said, and he held the towel out, wrapping it around Meng Yao's waist.
Meng Yao almost laughed at the gesture. He didn't realize it until that moment, but his teeth were chattering. He was cold, actually. His clothes were still plastered to his skin, and though the dog's bath had been warm, the water had cooled rapidly.
"I am. Put your pajamas on, A-Ling. I'm going to change into something warm too," he said.
The doorbell rang nearly as soon as he stepped out of the bathroom, so he answered the door, and took the piping hot box of pizza from a very pleasant deliveryman. He dropped the box onto the kitchen table, just as A-Ling skipped out of the bathroom in his Pokemon themed pajamas, the puppy on his heels. Her fur was half dry now and starting to fluff up.
"Don't let the puppy eat any," he said, taking down plates and getting a slice for Jin Ling.
"Her name is Fairy," Jin Ling said, sliding into a kitchen chair.
"Fairy? That's a very good name," Meng Yao said, raising his eyebrows. He didn't tell Jin Ling that the puppy might already have a name, might already have an owner. He didn't know how. He should probably be stopping Jin Ling from getting too attached, just in case they had to give her back. The puppy, Fairy, sat down right beside Jin Ling's chair, watching intently as he took a bite from his slice of pizza. "Don't give her any. It's not good for her," Meng Yao reminded him.
He finally went to go peel himself out of his wet clothes and changed into sweatpants and a hoodie. He immediately felt a little better, though after Jin Ling went to bed, he planned to take a long, hot shower and scroll mindlessly on his phone for at least an hour.
"I didn't give her any pizza," Jin Ling declared, a smear of sauce across his cheek. He was still eating his first slice, nearly to the crust, which Meng Yao knew he was going to discard. The puppy had laid down at his feet, staring dejectedly at the linoleum. She raised her head when he entered, wagging her tail lightly.
"Good. Thank you for listening," Meng Yao said. He checked on the pet store order. The driver was checking out with the bag of dog food, and a collar and leash he'd picked at random. He reached for a slice of pizza. He couldn't remember if he'd actually eaten lunch or not, in all the chaos of the work day, and he suddenly felt ravenous.
"If Mama and Baba don't let me keep Fairy, can she stay at your house?" Jin Ling asked.
Meng Yao paused with the pizza halfway to his mouth, his world warping around him. He was pretty sure she was a Husky, which meant she was going to grow significantly larger than she currently was. The expenses started lining up in front of his eyes, listed out on a spreadsheet alongside his regular budget. Dog food, toys, annual vaccines and vet appointments, surely a dozen other things he wasn't thinking of as someone who had never owned a pet. He took a bite to stall and give himself a moment to think.
"Maybe, A-Ling. We'll talk to your parents tomorrow," he said.
"Okay," Jin Ling said, happily, presumably imagining either his parents saying yes or getting to come visit his uncle and his dog.
It certainly would give him "fun uncle" points to have a dog around. And he could probably do with adding regular walks into his daily routine.
~
When the delivery driver arrived with the items, he fed the puppy according to the package directions (estimating, since he didn't know her age or weight), who wolfed down every bit of it like she hadn't eaten in days. It was possible she hadn't eaten much besides what she could scavenge, if she had been out on her own for a while.
Jin Ling wanted to watch Pokemon (as Meng Yao predicted), so Meng Yao turned on the original series for him, picking up where they last left off a few weeks ago, somewhere in season two. He was sure Jin Ling had seen every episode multiple times by now, but it didn't seem to matter. After putting away the leftover pizza and doing dishes, Meng Yao settled back down on the living room couch with Jin Ling. He'd already told Jin Ling that Fairy wasn't allowed on the furniture, so Jin Ling was sitting on the floor, leaning back against the couch. The puppy was curled up on his lap, and he had his arms around her, running his fingers through her fur absently as he stared at the Pokemon fighting on the screen.
Meng Yao paused, staring at them, his throat doing something strange. He was overwhelmed with love for his nephew in that moment. He took out his phone and sneakily took a photo. He would send it to his brother and sister-in-law after he told them about the puppy. He had no idea how to broach the subject with them. But if they didn't want to keep Fairy, if she didn't already have an owner, he was keeping her. It had been a foregone conclusion the moment Jin Ling asked, he realized. He would do anything for him. It wasn't even a question.
He settled onto the couch and looked up at the screen. He knew this episode. Misty's Pokemon would evolve at the end of it.
"What did I miss?" he asked.
"Psyduck's tail is glowing," Jin Ling said, and he launched into a play by play of everything that had happened until that moment, when Team Rocket arrived. Meng Yao added the appropriate "oh?" and "wow!" at every turn, until they went quiet to watch the Pokemon battling. That was Jin Ling's favorite part, after all.
Meng Yao pulled up the online neighborhood group to see if anyone had posted any missing dog ads in the last week. There were two, but neither of them fit Fairy's description. He sent an email to the apartment complex as well, knowing he wouldn't get an answer until the next morning. Then he searched where the best place to check for a chip would be. The animal shelter opened the next morning at 9:00 AM, so he supposed he and Jin Ling would go on a quick adventure before his parents arrived.
Jin Ling yawned, drawing Meng Yao's attention again. His head and eyes were drooping. Fairy was sleeping soundly in his lap. Meng Yao waited until the episode credits started to roll, knowing that if he stopped it before it ended, Jin Ling would protest, no matter how tired he was.
"Ready to go to bed, bud?" Meng Yao asked.
Jin Ling rubbed at his eyes.
"Can Fairy sleep in my room?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," Meng Yao said. "Go brush your teeth and pick a book to read. I'm gonna let her out to potty."
The rain had turned to a very light drizzle. He had no idea if the puppy was potty trained or not. He somehow doubted it, but she hadn't had any accidents inside. She went as soon as they got to the grass, and then hopped right back up the stairs with him, like she knew she lived here now.
He found a blanket for her to sleep on and joined Jin Ling in his room, which also doubled as Meng Yao's home office and a guest room. It was half full of his things, a desk and a printer, file cabinets, whatever he might need to get work done at home. The other half was the full sized bed, a shelf of children's books and stuffed animals, a night light, and everything Jin Ling needed to be comfortable.
Meng Yao arranged the soft, thick blanket next to Jin Ling's bed. Fairy sniffed at it, shoving her nose into the folds and spinning around a couple of times, before settling down into it. Jin Ling had chosen a book with a dog on the cover, one that Meng Yao had acquired relatively recently from a library book sale. It had a few different dogs inside of it, but he remembered at least one of them was a Husky.
"She looks like Fairy," Jin Ling said, pointing to a dog on the first page.
"She sure does," Meng Yao said.
They settled into the bed, and Meng Yao started reading, Jin Ling leaning his head on Meng Yao's shoulder so he could see the pictures. His eyes started dropping within a few pages, but Meng Yao kept reading until he was sure Jin Ling had fallen asleep. He stayed there for a while, listening to the boy's breathing.
~
Fairy hadn't had any accidents overnight, Meng Yao was pleased to find. She was so young, he was expecting it at some point, but he was starting to hope he'd gotten lucky. She was so well behaved, he found it hard to believe she didn't have an owner. The sun was bright against a clear, blue sky when Meng Yao took Fairy outside, and that's when he got the first phone call of the day, from the dry cleaner.
"Hello, Mr. Meng! One of our cleaners worked last night and fixed the hem of the suit."
"Wait, really?" Meng Yao said. In the excitement of finding the puppy, he'd entirely forgotten about that whole disaster. "Oh, that's such good news. Thank you so much."
"You can come by and pick it up anytime," the manager said over the phone, sounding a mixture of pleased and relieved.
The second phone call came from Qin Su, while Jin Ling was sleepily eating his cereal and the puppy was wolfing down her breakfast. Meng Yao was halfway through his first cup of coffee and already contemplating another.
"You're taking me to a Michelin star sushi restaurant this weekend," she said, sounding very pleased with herself.
"Am I?" Meng Yao asked, amused.
"Yes. And you should get Su She a gift card to that boba shop he likes," she added.
"Noted. Should I also be asking Father to promote you?" he asked.
"As if he would," she said, and he could hear her eye roll over the phone. They didn't need to get into that. Nepotism only went so far if your name wasn't Jin Zixuan, and if it wasn't, you had to work twice as hard for half the recognition. They had all accepted it by now. "Is A-Ling there?"
"Yes. A-Ling, do you want to say hi to your gugu?" he asked.
"Yes! Hi Gugu! We got a dog!" Jin Ling shouted, before Meng Yao had even handed him the phone.
"You what?" he heard Qin Su say as he handed the phone over. He really needed to talk to Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli.
The leasing office had emailed him back and said there were no missing pets they'd been notified of, none of the neighborhood online groups had mentioned a Husky puppy, and there were no "missing dog" flyers around that Meng Yao could see, so as one final step, they made their way to the animal shelter to check for a chip.
If Meng Yao had been asked the night before, he would have said he hoped there was an owner nearby. But now, as the shelter employee scanned Fairy for a chip, he felt dread in his heart. What was he supposed to tell Jin Ling if the puppy did really belong to someone else?
"Looks like she doesn't have one," the woman said, giving Jin Ling a little smile, and looking back up at Meng Yao. "It doesn't look to me like she's spayed either, and there's no way to know if she has all her shots, so you should make a vet appointment soon."
"Looks like it," Meng Yao said. "Do you want to go to the pet store and pick her out some toys?" he asked Jin Ling.
"Yeah!" Jin Ling said, throwing his arms around Fairy, who started licking at his face.
~
They arrived back at Meng Yao's apartment with half the toy section in tow, plus some other things Meng Yao thought she might need. While Jin Ling was laughing and playing tug-of-war with her and a rope toy, Meng Yao's phone chimed. It was Jin Zixuan, letting him know he and Jiang Yanli were on the way. Meng Yao exhaled, rehearsing everything in his mind for the umpteenth time.
All of that went out the window the moment his brother and sister-in-law stepped through the door, and Jin Ling ran at them, yelling, "Mama, Baba, I got a puppy!"
Fairy followed right on his heels, barking as he started excitedly telling them everything about her, including her name and a list of all the toys they'd just bought her. She went right up to Jiang Yanli, rubbing up against her legs.
Jiang Yanli leaned down to pet the puppy, listening to her son attentively. Jin Zixuan's eyes went right to Meng Yao.
"I can explain," he said.
"Uh-huh," Jin Zixuan prompted.
"We found her outside in the rain last night. She doesn't have a chip, and I can't find any missing ads, so I think she was abandoned. Jin Ling loves her, and she's a good girl. You don't have to take her, she can live here with me," he said, which wasn't at all what he'd planned to say. It all just sort of came out.
But Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli shared a look, and Jiang Yanli smiled. She stood up and came up to Meng Yao, while Jin Zixuan took his turn to listen patiently as Jin Ling relayed the entire rainy adventure from the night before.
"We were going to take him to get a dog from the shelter for his birthday," she said, quietly. "It's a little early, but she's perfect. Unless you'd like to keep her here?"
Meng Yao exhaled, rearranging his life a little bit in his head, finding it to be significantly less stressful. He'd done a little bit of reading about Huskies the night before. They required a lot of energy and attention, energy he wasn't sure he had in him with his position at Jin Corp.
"I think she'd be better off living with you. But A-Ling is welcome to bring her when he comes over," he said.
"Then it looks like it was meant to be," she said, and she hugged Meng Yao.
"I think so," he replied, leaning into her hug. It was looking to be a beautiful day.