Friends

Suddenly, I had to move to another town with my parents. My grandfather, who had been living separately, passed away, and we decided to live in the empty house where the owner had disappeared.

While my parents were calling carpenters to repair the house, I was looking around the town when I found a puppy on the outskirts. It had probably been abandoned by its owner; its pure white fur was all dirty and matted, but it was so cute, running straight to me and wagging its tail as soon as it saw me.

Watching the puppy, panting, *hek-hek*, and constantly licking my hand, I felt like this meeting was fate. A new town, and a new family. Thinking that way, I really wanted to raise this puppy.

So, I hid the puppy in the bushes for a moment and ran home, like a good kid, to ask my parents if I could raise an ownerless puppy. If I just brought the puppy home without asking, my parents would be in a bind.

As expected, my parents readily agreed to their child’s earnest request, since I had been depressed for days about being separated from my friends.

Happy, I headed to the bushes to bring the puppy home. But the puppy hadn’t waited for me and seemed to have gone somewhere else. Thinking it might still be nearby, I looked around and found a kid petting the puppy.

The moment I saw the puppy acting cute with that kid, *hek-hek*, just like it had with me, my heart, which had been filled with joy, instantly turned cold.

Our meeting wasn’t fate. That puppy simply liked people, and I was just someone it happened to meet. The way it rubbed against me as if it liked me wasn’t because it was ‘me’.

Realizing that the puppy’s behavior was simply because it missed human touch, I felt inexplicably angry.

The feel of the puppy’s fluffy fur that lingered on my fingertips felt unbearably unpleasant. I dusted my hands on my skirt and watched the puppy.

As the kid who had been petting it tried to leave, the puppy desperately followed, making the kid look embarrassed. It seemed they couldn’t raise a puppy, unlike me.

Eventually, the kid left the puppy under a tree and ran into the village, and the puppy followed for a bit before giving up.

I revealed myself in front of the puppy, which was drooping its tail and listlessly looking around. The puppy, happy to see me, came up and rubbed against my legs, which made me feel very resentful.

I picked up the puppy. It was dirty, but I could feel a warm warmth beneath its fur. I smiled at the puppy, which was looking up at me happily in my arms, and followed the sound of flowing water that I heard from somewhere.

There was a narrow, deep river there. Looking into the water from the wooden bridge that crossed the river, there were many fish, and it seemed like a good place to fish. Maybe a fisherman was watching. I looked around, but thankfully, no one was there.

I hummed and walked to the middle of the bridge. The puppy was quiet, as if it liked being in my arms. When I stroked its head, it stuck out its pink tongue and tickled my palm, which was cute.

I grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and threw the puppy over the bridge railing.

*Kkiing- kkiing-*! A loud noise and a *plop* sound were heard.

I stared blankly at the puppy struggling and whimpering. I’d never seen a puppy drown. Would it be different from what I imagined? I watched the puppy as it disappeared into the water and then reappeared, whimpering.

The unpleasant feeling disappeared, and a deep sense of satisfaction filled my chest, thinking that I had given the resentful puppy a fitting punishment. It felt like I had been greatly praised by my parents for something trivial.

But the puppy, swept away by the current, whimpered and somehow swam out of the water. Its body was soaked, and it shook its body with difficulty, as if all its strength was gone.

I clicked my tongue.

Too bad. I should have tied a stone to its body.

As I crossed the bridge and approached the puppy, which was shaking off the water on its body, the puppy stopped, stared at me blankly, and then ran away in the opposite direction with a frightened expression.

Feeling a strange mix of regret and annoyance, I sighed and returned to the village. When I came back empty-handed, my parents were puzzled that I had returned alone, but they smiled and comforted me with my gloomy explanation that the puppy had gone somewhere else.

That night, lying in bed, I fell into deep thought. Why did I do that to the puppy today?

If it hadn’t gone to someone else and had waited for me there, the puppy would have lived happily with me.

But the moment I saw the puppy being affectionate with someone else, I felt like something that was mine had been taken away. It made me angry and unpleasant to watch.

So, I threw the puppy into the river. With the intention of ruining it so that it could never fall into someone else’s hands again.

But the puppy desperately swam out of the water and escaped from my grasp. I’ll never know where it went now.

It might have learned a lesson and become a stray dog, afraid of people. Or it might not have learned a lesson from what happened today and might be affectionate with a kid in another village, just like it was with me today, and meet a kind-hearted owner.

If it had just died, it would have been mine forever.

After I had been looking depressed for a few days, my parents took me to a nearby city. And as a surprise gift, they gave me the opportunity to choose a cute puppy to take home.

There were many puppies in the cages, looking at me with eyes that desperately wanted human touch. Every single one of them, when I reached out my hand, rubbed against me as if not wanting to let go and constantly licked my hand.

But none of the puppies moved my heart. The thought that they would have done the same thing even if it was someone else made me lose interest.

The owner, who had been selling dogs for 20 years, noticed my sullen expression and quickly showed me a puppy in the corner of the store.

It was a puppy with brown, white, and black fur. Just the owner going near it made it tremble and curl up in the corner of the cage, and for the first time, my eyes lit up.

“It used to have siblings, but some bad kids put them in a sack and tormented them, and they all died except for this one. That’s why it’s afraid of people.”

The owner added with a sly smile.

“This kind of puppy doesn’t open its heart easily to people. But if you, little miss, put in the effort to approach it, it will open its tightly closed heart only to you.”

The owner opened the cage door and gave me a look that told me to put my hand in.

As I gently put my hand into the cage, the puppy became even more frightened and whimpered. It couldn’t run away anymore. I smiled at its desperate gestures.

“I’ll take this one.”

“Good choice.”

My parents were worried about whether I would be able to raise it well, but thanks to the smart and capable image I had shown them, it was easy to persuade them.

The puppy, which I named Choco, just hid in the corner even after coming home and didn’t open its heart easily. Even when I held out a bowl of food, it eyed me warily and didn’t eat until the person disappeared.

I really liked Choco’s behavior. I worked hard for several days to help Choco ease its wariness of strangers.

Now, when I put down the food bowl, Choco didn’t hide and carefully approached and ate the food. I loved Choco so much that I always hugged it after it finished eating.

But one day, I was playing with friends I had made in the village until late and forgot to feed Choco, so I rushed home late.

I saw Choco burying its face in the food bowl, receiving my mom’s gentle touch. It was even wagging its tail enthusiastically.

A strong sense of betrayal surged up in me.

I thought Choco had only opened its heart to me. I thought Choco absolutely needed me. But like that puppy back then, Choco just needed someone to feed it, not me.

I no longer loved Choco as much as before. It felt unpleasant instead. This isn’t the Choco I love.

I made a plan to bring back the Choco I loved. I deliberately threw Choco’s poop on my parents’ bed and wiped the table with a rag that had pee on it.

When the whole house started to stink, I suggested to my parents that we raise Choco outside. The two of them, who had been troubled, were happy that I had brought it up first and patted my head, saying I was a good kid.

Choco got a new home in the backyard. And when I promised my parents that I would take care of feeding Choco and taking it for walks every day from now on, my parents promised to buy me a nice gift as a reward if I raised Choco well.

That evening, I took Choco for a walk to the outskirts of the village. On the way to the mountain, where people didn’t go often, I put Choco in a sack that I had prepared in advance.

Choco, who had become accustomed to human touch and hadn’t resisted, started to freak out in the sack.

I picked up a nearby branch and hit the sack.

*Kkiing-kkiing-* sounds came out of the sack faintly, but I continued to swing the branch. Only after three branches broke did I open the sack to check Choco’s condition.

Thanks to the sack, nothing was broken or injured.

I took Choco out with a bright smile at the sight of Choco trembling all over with fear and looking at me with terrified eyes.

I hid the dirty sack, which had been soiled with pee and poop, back under the tree and pulled on the leash, dragging Choco, who was trying to run away, back home.

I tied the leash tightly so that it couldn’t run away like that puppy and came back to the backyard in front of my parents with a bowl full of food.

“Choco.”

When I called its name, it flinched as if having a seizure and hid in the corner of its house, which reminded me of our first meeting and made me smile.

I poured all the food from the bowl into the container that my parents couldn’t see and put the empty bowl in front of Choco.

Like that for 3 days.

Choco didn’t eat anything except water.

My parents, bothered by Choco’s constant whimpering, asked me.

“Is Choco sick or something?”

I raised the corners of my mouth at a carefully calculated angle.

I had been quick-witted since I was young. It was easy to smile according to the situation.

“No. It’s just asking for more food. It must have realized that it gets more food if it does that.”

“Oh, Choco must be smart.”

I said firmly to my mom, who was smiling as she said that.

“But you shouldn’t give it food if it does that. It’ll develop bad habits. The dog training book says to train it from a young age.”

I had bought a book about raising dogs in the city on the day I brought Choco home. But when I treated it with love according to that book, Choco betrayed me. Since the book was wrong, I was now going to make it the Choco I wanted in my own way.

“That’s a cunning dog.”

My dad frowned as if he resented Choco.

“Leave it to me. I’ll give it the right amount of food every day, so don’t give it any snacks either.”

“Okay, our daughter is smart as always.”

Because I had warned them firmly, my parents didn’t give Choco any food or snacks, no matter how much it acted cute or whimpered.

On the fifth day that Choco hadn’t eaten anything.

I approached Choco, who was lying weakly. Choco, startled as if it smelled me, curled up in the corner, and I held out the bowl full of food that I had hidden in the container.

Choco, unable to bear the hunger, ate the food ravenously. After a while, it seemed to be full and hid in the corner again, which made me smile.

My parents’ expressions brightened when Choco, who had been whimpering every night, became quiet. My mom, in a good mood, stroked Choco’s head and praised it. Seeing that, I didn’t give Choco any food again.

Choco whimpered to my parents again because it was hungry, but they had seen their daughter go out to the backyard with a bowl full of food, saying that she would take care of Choco first before eating, so they thought Choco was doing something cunning again and scolded it instead.

I repeated that about six times.

I held out the bowl full of food to Choco. Choco, who had been curled up in the corner, wagged its tail like crazy when it saw me.

Now, Choco doesn’t whimper even when my parents are around. It has realized that it gets nothing back even if it does that. Choco, who had even been hit by my dad, who couldn’t stand the whimpering every night, is now afraid of my parents’ touch like before.

Choco, who has thoroughly realized that I am the only one who gives it food, doesn’t wag its tail at anyone except me now. It goes into the house and hides when it hears people’s footsteps. Except for the sound of my footsteps.

“You’re really my perfect puppy. Choco.”

Rumors spread in the village that Choco, who was afraid of people, only followed me. It was a rumor spread through my mom’s mouth.

She’s usually a good kid who gets along well with her friends.

The puppy opened its heart because its owner loved it.

She’s a kid who’s good at making friends with anyone.

One day, a kid asked me, who had learned a lot through Choco.

“Can you be friends with my younger sibling too?”

It was the most popular kid in the village. All the girls liked that kid, who had a good personality and was handsome. Even the boys all felt a great liking for him. Even the picky adults in the village.

“Ugh, they don’t want to play with us.”

“Yeah, it’s no fun playing with them.”

“They’re stupid!”

The kid, angry at those words, shouted.

“Don’t say that about my younger sibling!”

Thanks to that, the atmosphere only got worse. While the kids were bickering and arguing, I quietly slipped out of there.

I didn’t intend to grant the request, but I looked around for a place where they might be, thinking I should at least have a conversation.

The place where I finally found that kid was outside the village, near the bridge where I had thrown the puppy into the river a while ago.

The kid, who had blonde hair and blue eyes like their older sibling, was sitting alone and lonely near the river, playing with pebbles.

As I approached, the kid turned around with wide eyes, startled by the sound of my footsteps. The sight of them shrinking their shoulders with wary eyes suddenly reminded me of when I first met Choco.

“Hello?”

When I greeted them, the blue eyes I met flickered with tension. That sight made me certain. I had found someone who would become my perfect friend, like Choco.

I tilted my head with a bright smile and held out my pure white hand.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said hello.”

The kid hesitated whether to take my hand, pursed their lips, and slowly backed away, so I suddenly grabbed their hand.

I asked the kid, who was stiff with tension with a bewildered expression, with a smile.

“I’m Eli. What’s your name?”

I sent a firm gaze that said I wouldn’t let go of their hand until I heard an answer, and the kid finally answered in a small, stammering voice.

“…Ro, Ross. My name is Ross.”

I asked with a bright smile.

“Want to be friends?”