PUPPY 45

“Starting tomorrow, I need to start looking hard for a place for Gureumi to be adopted.”

It was a relief that he had gotten a nice grooming at the animal hospital. If he just took some good photos and posted them, Juwon was right that many people would surely be interested. Seowoo decided to think positively.

“Are you going to keep him in the yard until then?”

“…Um. Probably?”

“I’ll ask the vet. See if he can stay there. Sometimes the hospital rescues animals and finds people interested in adopting them.”

“…Would that be okay? I feel like I’m relying on you too much.”

“Relying on me, what are you talking about.”

“I’m not coughing even when I’m with the puppy. I’ll talk to my grandma and grandpa and…”

Before Seowoo could finish his sentence, a firm voice flowed from Juwon.

“No.”

No matter how pitiful Gureumi’s situation was, he couldn’t just stand by with his eyes wide open and watch Seowoo bring a strange puppy into his house. There couldn’t be two puppies under the roof of the house Seowoo lived in.

“Uh…?”

“I’ll look hard too, so let’s find him a good owner.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

At Juwon’s words, Seowoo’s eyes crinkled into a smile again. Seowoo’s smiling eyes made Juwon feel as if his whole body was melting away.

“Juwon.”

Seowoo looked at Juwon, who was tapping the ground with the tip of his foot, thump, thump. The habit of not being able to keep his feet still stemmed from his old habit of digging at the ground with his front paws.

“Huh?”

“Earlier…”

Seeing Seowoo’s hesitant appearance, Juwon also became tense. A lot had happened in a short time, but the ‘earlier’ Seowoo was talking about seemed to refer to when he had closed his eyes.

“Uh…”

“Never mind. Just, get home safe.”

Contrary to Juwon’s expectation, Seowoo ended the conversation rather blandly. Perhaps he wasn’t mentally prepared, as he couldn’t bring himself to directly ask, ‘Were you trying to kiss me.’

However, even Seowoo, who had zero dating experience, could tell that the atmosphere between him and Juwon yesterday and today had been unusual. The fact that they were both guys and that they were friends had been weighing on his mind, but it felt like they had leaped over that stage in a single bound. It felt like they had become two people who were precariously peeking into each other’s hearts right before getting together, which made his heart tickle for no reason.

🦴

Between friends and a couple.

It seemed that Seowoo wasn’t the only one who recognized that their relationship was somewhere in the middle.

“Seowoo, come here.”

Juwon hooked an arm around the waist of Seowoo, who was about to return to his seat after getting a book from the back of the classroom.

“…Ah. Why.”

Seowoo, who ended up on Juwon’s lap without meaning to, twisted his body in embarrassment. The more Seowoo tried to get away, the tighter Juwon’s arm became. It was such common skinship between boys that no one looked at Juwon and Seowoo strangely.

“Let’s make an InXta, too.”

Juwon turned on his phone, his arm wrapped around Seowoo’s waist and stretched out in front of him.

“InXta?”

“My sister said to post about the puppy we’re fostering on InXta or Tweet. She said if we’re upfront about him being sick from the start and the treatment he received, only people who are truly interested will contact us?”

“Really? I have an InXta account, should I post it first?”

Surprised by Seowoo’s words, Juwon said in a startled voice.

“You have an ID?”

“Yeah. But I only have two pictures.”

“Show me… No, I’ll make an ID right now.”

“Okay. Follow me.”

Juwon started to sign up for the social media platform with a serious expression. ‘That ID is already taken,’ he muttered, tapping away at the screen.

“What’s your ID?”

“I’ll find you.”

Seowoo took Juwon’s phone, which was in front of him, entered his own ID, and handed it back. Immediately, Seowoo’s phone vibrated with a short brrr. He accepted Juwon’s friend request and immediately followed him back.

“What, why do you have so many friends.”

“Friends? I don’t have that many.”

Most of Seowoo’s followers were friends from school or cram school, and the number wasn’t that large. However, Juwon scanned Seowoo’s modest feed with a serious gaze. Seowoo’s feed had exactly two pictures, and his face wasn’t in either of them.

(Photo)

rsw0111 A cute-looking bird. Its name was an azure-winged magpie

k_dw___ Oh the feather color is so brilliant it’s insane

YJH_official Nice picture

odongdong00 #birdsta #birdstagram #highschoolboy #animalfarm

The first post to grace the feed was an azure-winged magpie with bright blue wings and tail that had flown into Seowoo’s yard. The next picture was of a karaoke machine. In the dark background, only the bright screen of the karaoke machine was shining.

(Photo)

rsw0111 After exams

k_dw___ My throat is so dry after hitting the 3rd octave today

└ odongdong00 #Kim Dongwon #boyfriendpic #idol #idolaspirant #PleaseVoteForKimDongwon #getnervous #KPOP

└└ k_dw___ ㅗ

YJH_official You’ve posted after a long time, the notification popped up so I came in lol. This was when we went to karaoke after finals, wasn’t it. Was this when my ears went deaf…

└ rsw0111 It has been a while lol. I have nothing to post]

While Juwon was intently looking at Seowoo’s social media, Kim Dongwon and Yang Juhyeon, who had been loitering nearby, came over.

“What are you doing?”

“Juwon made an InXta account.”

“Oh… Are you done with the mysterious act now.”

Yang Juhyeon, who curated his feed with a consistent tone and aesthetic, had quite a few followers. He was also very interested in social media activities. Yang Juhyeon took out his phone and asked Juwon for his ID.

“What’s your ID? I’ll follow… Hey, didn’t you just say you made the account?”

Yang Juhyeon’s eyes widened as he looked at his phone screen. Kim Dongwon, who had turned on social media to follow Juwon but had fallen into the algorithm’s swamp, turned his head at Juhyeon’s surprised voice.

“Why?”

“Look at Cha Juwon’s follower count.”

At Yang Juhyeon’s words, Seowoo also opened Juwon’s account.

“What, it’s already over 200.”

It was an account that had just been made, but every time he refreshed, the number of followers was increasing noticeably.

“I’m posting a picture. The one I took with you, Seowoo.”

“Which one?”

Juwon lightly bounced his leg up to adjust Seowoo in his lap. Then, with his chin resting on Seowoo’s shoulder, he answered.

“I posted it.”

Juwon’s voice wasn’t loud, but because of the close distance, it sounded low and pleasant. He felt like his heart was starting to beat faster and faster, perhaps because the area of contact had become so large.

(Photo)

juwon.chaaaaa Puppy I’m fostering with Seowoo

The picture Juwon posted was a selfie they had taken yesterday, holding the puppy with their faces close together. They had taken a few solo shots of the puppy, and this was one they had taken for fun at the end, but it ended up being Juwon’s first post. While Seowoo was contemplating how to react after checking the photo, Juwon turned off the screen and placed his phone on the desk.

At the same time, a drrrk, drrrk, drrrk sound was heard as the phone vibrated and jumped on the desk.

“What’s this.”

Juwon turned on the phone screen with an annoyed expression. Then, a remarkable sight unfolded. The social media notifications were being replaced at a very high speed. All the vibrations from a moment ago were social media notifications.

“Wow, I thought Cha Juwon’s phone was broken.”

“Are all those alarms? I should leave a comment too.”

The picture Juwon had just posted already had a huge number of likes and comments pouring in. It seemed he had told Oh Dongjae his ID, as Oh Dongjae’s comment was already there.

odongdong00 Cha Juwon, starting your first post with a lovestagram?

└ k_dw___ Doesn’t seem like he has any intention of hiding it

└└ odongdong00 Isn’t it just a #familyphoto?

YJH_official You look good together. I’ll be rooting for you!

fxxking.monday Are you @grace.the.one boyfriend?

arminayad Heyy. Nice pic.

dfasdf Tired of people using puppies for clout

goxochlrh700 Hello. I really like the atmosphere of your feed 🙂 I’d like to inquire about a sponsorship, so please check your DMs.

only_art_ @taruru @rudolphoo. The Pomeranian is so cuteㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

└ taruru Did you really tag me to look at the Pomeranian?

└└ rudolphoo Ah there was a Pomeranian there,,,

myboyfriendisadog1109 The puppy is cute and the high school boys are deliciou— I mean handsome!♥♥♥♥♥

.

.

.

Juwon, after a quick glance at the continuing comments, poked Seowoo’s back with his chin and asked.

“This is the annoying stuff I didn’t sign up for… Seowoo, how do I turn off these notifications?”

“You can go into settings and choose the notification method. Should I do it for you?”

“Yeah.”

“Which notifications should I turn off?”

Even while Seowoo was adjusting the social media notification settings, the phone continued to announce new comments and likes. His claim that he hadn’t signed up until now because it was annoying didn’t sound arrogant at all and was immediately understandable.

“Should I turn everything off except DMs? Since someone interested in adoption might contact you through DMs?”

“I guess I should…”

“Why are there so many useless DMs.”

“There’s not a single one actually about the puppy.”

Messages with a confusing mix of emoticons and text, making it difficult to even distinguish which country’s language they were in, were pouring in. Seowoo, who was staring blankly at the screen, took out his own phone. Then he started to write something down. It was a new post.

(Photo)

rsw0111 Puppy I’m fostering with Juwon.

He posted the same picture that Juwon had. The caption added to the picture was also the same, just with the name changed. Although it didn’t receive the same fervent response as Juwon’s, a notification popped up that his friends and Juwon had ‘liked’ it.