ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗧𝗘𝗡
─◌✰್ 𝖺𝗌𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗅𝖾 𝗇𝖺𝗆𝗃𝗈𝗈𝗇

matchatess shoutout me for helping with the chicken 😋
> catdad_lee no shoutout for you, you burnt half of them
> dingdonghong @catdad_lee let's not forget you were distracting her...

ramenoodlaska no it's a cute pic bitch
> ryerye no it's not tsk
> ramenoodlaska @ryerye yes it is bc i took it 😒
> changaroo97 @ryerye it really is, i like it!
> mymymy @changaroo97 omg daring channie era???

nomnominnie it was rude you made me get out of my seat for this pic...
> mymymy oh hush you're okay
> minniemouse- @nomnominnie we got a drama queen in our midst 👀
> cheesecakehannie @nomnominnie turning into @the.official.hwang

No matter what you thought of Se Ri, in that moment, she was a lifesaver.

Not only had she gotten the local animal shelter to agree to fund the dog training event in exchange for shoutouts on social media, but the she had come up with the genius idea for them to bring shelter dogs to join the event, free of charge! The animal shelter had enthusiastically agreed, because they had heard of your veterinary clinic through Instagram and TikTok, your doing, of course.

Now, the dogs were arriving at camp, exhausted but excited workers in tow. They would not be staying for the entire camp, but they would come by to periodically check up on the progress and health of their animals.

You were positively buzzing when Se Ri broke the news to you. Not only would you get to stay and work with your friends for the entire month, but you'd get to meet and work with new dogs! Life couldn't get any better.

"Hua, the vans are pulling up!" Mya called from across the clearing. She was squinting at the dirt road, waving to you as they rounded the bend and pulled in next to your four cars.

You hurried towards the two dark gray vans, taking a few deep breaths to calm yourself. Everything had happened so fast. Right when you'd arrived back from the lake, Se Ri had called, saying the dogs would arrive in two hours. The lot of you barely had enough time to shower and change before they got here. You'd had zero time to decompress or think about the day.

Suck it up, Hua. You sighed inwardly. You'd have alone time later. Now, you had a job to do.

One person hopped out of each van, a man and a woman.

"Hi, are you Lanhua?" The woman, in her mid-thirties, approached you. She had a kind, freckled face with a pair of dog-hair covered overalls on top of a striped yellow and blue t-shirt. She had a smudge of dirt on the tip of her nose and a huge smile across her face.

"Yes, that's me!" you said, trying to match her grin. "It's so nice to meet you..."

"Cho Minji." The woman stretched out an unmanicured hand, shaking yours firmly. "It's nice to meet you too! We brought three dogs, I hope that's enough! We didn't want to overwhelm you too much, since we know you've already got a couple here. Would you like to meet them?"

"Oh my gosh, yes! Can I??" You tried to keep the eagerness out of your voice, but from Minji's indulgent smile, it didn't work.

"Of course! Namjoon, could you show Lanhua Areum, Miso, and Bingsu?" Minji called to the man who had gotten out of the other car.

"Sure."

You turned around at that deep voice, and your eyes widened.

Holy hell, he was attractive.

Standing at a strong 5'11 with styled chocolate brown hair, you couldn't help but stare. He wore a crisp suit and a perfect dark blue tie, and his brown loafers looked entirely out of place here in the middle of the forest.

You smiled and nodded at him politely as you approached.

He grinned, running a hand through that immaculate head of hair.

Oh, he was so your type.

But as you came to stand next to him, arms straight at your sides, there were no butterflies, no catch in your breath. Old you would have been tripping over her feet to impress this man. But no more. No matter how attractive he was, you weren't into to him.

Apparently, it took a certain gorgeous 5'6 man with muscles for days to change that.

But this Namjoon didnt seem to realize said lack of mutual interest.

"So, you're Lanhua," he said, voice dripping with entitlement. He was definitely used to getting any woman to drop her panties for him, no questions asked. "Se Ri didn't tell me you were so stunning. I'm Kim Namjoon." He reached his hand out, a smug look on his face.

Damn, since when were animal shelter workers so cocky?

"I'm Seo Changbin, and I know I'm stunning."

You spun around, coming face to face with the man you couldn't seem to get out of your head.

Changbin shot his arm out, grabbing Namjoon's hand before either of you could react. He shook it so hard you thought Namjoon's arm might pop out of its socket. And Changbin must have been squeezing equally as hard, because Namjoon winced, trying to escape his grasp.

"Geez, who is this guy? Your boyfriend or something?" Namjoon raised a groomed eyebrow in your direction. "He seems a bit controlling, maybe you should leave him."

You rolled your eyes at Changbin, before piercing Namjoon with a strict stare. "No, he is not. Now, I would love to see the dogs, so we can get started training them, like Minji asked."

Changbin immediately backed up, a look of discomfort crossing his face. You wanted to grab his hand and pull him back, but you didn't. You couldn't. It would look extremely unprofessional, especially given that you had just denied having any relationship with him.

Because you weren't in a relationship with him, you reminded yourself.

Namjoon smirked at Changbin's retreating and leading you towards the first van.

But even as you headed over to see them, Changbin hovered close nearby. You couldn't help but smile. He was nothing if not persistent.

Miso and Bingsu, two male dogs, sat next to each other, tails wagging. Miso was a two year-old brown mini poodle with an outgoing, yet stubborn personality. It was clear from the get-go that he was incredibly intelligent, but you worried about his trainability. Bingsu was a gorgeous three year-old Samoyed with huge puffy white fur. He was playful, goofy, and eager to please. He would be the perfect dog to train.

In the second car was Areum, a one year-old Norfolk terrier. She was spirited and companionable, and she immediately tried to jump in your lap.

"She likes you," Namjoon commented, watching you both with an impressed look on his face. "You certainly have a way with dogs."

You managed a smile his direction. Despite the fact he was being more friendly and less flirty, you still didn't trust him. Those kinds of guys would do anything to get in a girls pants, then bail. You couldn't believe that you used to be into guys like him. "Thank you." Was all you could say without wanting to die.

"It makes me wonder..." he paused, a self-satisfied smile spreading across his face. If he wasn't so full of himself, he would be handsome.

You raised your eyebrows, not interrupting but not inviting him to continue either.

He moved closer to you, and his breath tickled your ear. You suppressed a shudder. "If you have a way with men too. Based off your looks, I'd say you do. Care to let me find out?"

"Ah, well Namjoon, that's really nice," you began, trying in vain to keep this interaction professional. "But I don't involve myself with people I work with, especially not clients. And seeing as we're now working together..."

"You're saying no?" The man's face twisted, transforming from poised and polite to angry and disgusted in a heartbeat. "How dare you-"

"Stop." You held up a hand, standing up. "Thank you for working with me and Park and Paws, but that's all this is, or will ever be. Please help me harness the dogs, and I will see you in a week."

"Oh, you'll come around, Lanhua." Namjoon's eyes narrowed as he followed you to harness Areum. "No woman has ever said no to me before, and you certainly won't be the first."

You rolled your eyes. Where did he get off? If you weren't so focused on this event going perfectly, you would probably roundhouse kick him in the face. It probably wouldn't work, but you could try.

Changbin was changing you even more than you thought.

—————————

"Oh. My. Gosh." Alaska gaped at Bingsu. "He is PERFECT! I pick him, like, forever!" She raced over to the puffy Samoyed, who was grinning at her like she was his entire world. And maybe she was, now!

Felix met your eye and let out a resigned sigh, an endeared smile spreading helplessly across his face. "I'll work with Laska and Bingsu. Looks like I'm the third wheel now."

You paired the rest of the dogs up with your friends, with the help of Minji. Namjoon stood uncomfortably close to you, just watching.

"I love her so much!" Mya sobbed as she hugged Areum. "Can we keep her? Is that possible? Can we?" She stared at Riley with huge brown eyes.

Riley rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that, it's not my decision!"

Chan and Minho were paired up with Berry, Robin and Han with Bbama, and Jeongin and Hyunjin got Kkami.

"Berry is already pretty well trained," Chan said proudly. "But she probably won't want to go on walks, so watch out for that."

You also decided that Seungmin and Renee could be with Junjie, and JJ and Tessa would be with Miso.

"You really wanted work with me, huh Hua?" Changbin's arm snaked around your waist, and you tried to hide a smile. Fuck lying, and fuck Namjoon. If you wanted Changbin to hold you, you'd let him. You were supposed to be having fun, right?

"How did you know?" you said slyly, gazing up at him under your eyelashes.

He puffed out a laugh, tearing his gaze away from you. "Don't look at me like that Hua, you'll make me want to-"

"Aren't you supposed to be training these dogs?" Namjoon interrupted sharply, those harsh brown eyes boring into you like a laser.

You pursed your lips at him, not pulling away from Changbin's grasp. "We're just getting to that. Thanks for your very helpful input, but this is my job. I can handle myself."

"Plus, aren't you supposed to be leaving soon?" Changbin raised an eyebrow at Namjoon, his free hand curled into a fist. It was clenching and unclenching, like he was using every ounce of self control to stop from reaching out and punching the guy.

"Yeah, I think it's time for you to leave," you said, faking a bright, professional tone. Honestly, anything to get him out of here. "Minji, thank you so much for your help, but I can handle it from here!" You approached the woman with a real smile.

Minji turned around, having just finished showing Alaska how to make Bingsu sit. "Of course, we'll get out of your hair!" she exclaimed. "I'm sorry if we overextended our welcome, I just love these dogs so much."

You shook your head. How was she so kind, and Namjoon was so... him? "Of course not! I just know it's going to get dark here soon, with it being autumn and everything, so I don't want you to have to drive home like that. Again, thank you for all your help."

"If you need anything, please call!" Minji added as she made her way to the first van. "We're just a twenty minute drive away, it's really no big deal. Thank you for organizing this whole event. Really, these dogs will benefit so much from what you're doing."

You waved goodbye to Minji, nodding to Namjoon again. Just because he wasn't going to be a professional, didn't mean you would stoop so low. This was important to Se Ri and Park and Paws, and you were the face of the company today.

"You did so well with that asshole," Changbin said, his hand grabbiing yours as you turned back around to start working with Jiao again. "He didn't deserve it."

You groaned, letting out a laugh for the first time that evening. "I didn't feel like it. I wanted to slap the shit out of him."

Changbin smiled, and for a moment, that same shadow from earlier crossed his face. You wanted to ask him if something was wrong, but before you could formulate the words, the look was gone, replaced by a devastating grin.

"So, Dog Whisperer, what should we do first?"

Your cheeks warmed, and you reluctantly dropped his hand. "Okay everyone, we're going to teach all of the dogs how to sit! I assume at least a few of them already know how, but I want to get a better understanding of Miso, Areum, and Bingsu's knowledge. So please, take the treats that Minji and I handed out, and start using the word 'sit'. If they do not sit, gently push on their backs until they do. Then, give them a treat. When they follow directions, give them a treat. We'll continue this for about twenty minutes, before taking a break. I'll be walking around to help if anyone needs it. Does everyone understand?"

"Yes Ms. Lanhua!" Robin called out.

You rolled your eyes, but couldn't help smiling. "Seriously, if you start calling me that, I will kick you."

As all the groups started working, Changbin placed a hand on your back, a gentle smile on his face.

"Ms. Lanhua?" he said, eyes sparkling with amusement.

You groaned, closing your eyes and hiding your head in his chest. "God, is that nickname going to stick? Because I am not above kicking you too."

He chuckled, wrapping his arms around you in a warm embrace. "Oh, I know Hua. You're more badass than any of us."

—————————

You laid in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling, and an uncontrollable smile spread across your face.

God, you hadn't been able to stop smiling. Not for that entire afternoon, all through dinner, and even during cleanup, when you, Riley, and Renee were relegated to dish duty.

You'd always thought that you weren't cut out for a real relationship. That no matter how hard you tried, all you were capable of getting were shitty, stuck-up, rich guys. Guys like Namjoon.

But now... with the lingering sensation of Changbin's hands around your waist and laugh in your ears, a tingle of hope lanced through your heart.

Maybe things could change. Maybe they already were.

laska's note —
okay, let me just say that i am NOT a namjoon hater, i love him so much and he's actually my bts bias! so please don't hate me for using him as my bad guy for this universe 🙇‍♀️ it just worked for the plot, and i wanted to use his name! anyway, i just love writing changhua fluff they're so precious together! so ig u know what has to happen, right? 😁 half kidding, but that means i'll wanna hear all your predictions about what the hell happens to them, when everything seems to be perfect! and what are you looking forward to, now that the fic is really getting underway? 🤭 give me everything!

𝖭𝖤𝖷𝖳 𝖴𝖯：
𝟭𝟭 - 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝘀
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