5:30 a.m.

Chan wasn't exactly what you'd call a morning person. Sure, he worked out, yes, he liked discipline, and alright, maybe he was getting older so waking up early just... happened. But 5:30 a.m. was absolutely not on his radar.

Not when he was curled up like a cinnamon roll under his blankets, with you nestled deeply into his chest like a heat-seeking cub, despite you being 26 with him being 28.

At least, he wasn't a morning person until Berry, his prized Cavalier King Charles Spaniel baby girl, started losing her absolute mind outside the bedroom door.

“Aargh—Berry, please,” Chan groaned, trying to bury his face further into the fluff of your sleep-tousled hair.

You shifted slightly against him but didn't wake. You had a pair of top with shorts on, your bare legs hooked around Chan's hips like vines, your lips parting in a soft snore.

Chan sighed lovingly, half annoyed and half enchanted by the sight of you. “You are lucky you're cute,” he whispered softly, directing it toward Berry's distant, muffled barks.

But the barking didn't stop. In fact, it got more frantic, followed by the sound of scratching—sharp claws scraping against the wooden door.

Chan finally rolled out of bed with the grace of a dying walrus. He was still wearing his favorite "World's Okayest Boyfriend" T-shirt and a pair of baggy grey shorts.

“Alright, alright, I'm coming—geez,” he muttered, cracking the door open.

The second the gap was wide enough, Berry sprinted inside and immediately bit the hem of his shorts, pulling with all her might.

“Excuse me?! Ma'am—hello?”

She barked once, her eyes wide, then turned around and bolted right back down the hallway.

“…Did I just get kidnapped by my own dog?”

Berry barked again from the bottom of the stairs, her tail wagging furiously as if saying, 'Hurry up, you slow potato!'

Grumbling and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Chan followed her downstairs, across the living room, and finally toward the backyard door.

The house he bought was two-floor, big, and cozy with a big backyard.

She barked once more, urgently pawing at the glass pane.

Chan frowned, the confusion finally waking him up completely. “You wanna go out now? Girl, you've been out all night—I swear I let you out before bed—”

That's when he saw it.

Near the little koi fish pond nestled in the corner of the yard, just beside the pebbled path he and Jisung had laid down last summer, there was... something.

Something stark white. Chan squinted through the glass.

“…No way,” he breathed.

Berry barked again, clearly growing impatient with her human's dumbfounded reaction.

With a quick shuffle, Chan unlocked the door and stepped barefoot onto the dewy grass. The crisp morning air immediately slapped him in the face.

The white shape stirred. A weak shift of legs. A long, labored breath.

It was a deer.

More specifically, it was an albino fawn—white as pure snow, with little twig-like legs that trembled violently as she tried and failed to stand.

Chan crouched down, keeping his hands out slowly as if he were trying to defuse a bomb. “What the hell...?”

The fawn looked like it had completely collapsed beside the koi pond. Its tiny chest rose and fell in rapid successions, its tongue lolling out as it panted heavily. There was no blood, and no obvious injuries, but the poor thing was clearly not okay.

Berry immediately ran up to the fawn and sat protectively right beside her, whining softly.

“Wait, you were with her? All night?” Chan asked the dog, his mouth gaping open. “You stayed out here?”

Berry gave a tiny, sharp bark, almost like she was scolding him for being so incredibly slow on the uptake.

Chan ran a hand through his messy bed hair, his heart thudding against his ribs. “Okay. Okay, no big deal. Just a wild deer in my backyard. In the middle of Seoul.”

He quickly pulled out his phone. “Do I call animal rescue? Or—what, Google the nearest vet? I mean, deer are legal to keep in South Korea...”

Behind him, the backyard door creaked open again.