✔ enhypen imagines

𝗷𝗮𝗸𝗲: 𝗽𝘂𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲

1047 words

jake was heading along his usual route, with his best friend, his dog, layla. being home in australia after years of work overseas, he couldn't think of anything he would rather be doing.

letting his mind wander, he thought back to the last time that he had visited this park, years ago, with dreams of being bigger than it. he felt overwhelmed with a sense of pride, a sentiment of security and self-assurance.

letting his dog drag him around (for him to follow), they covered lots of ground, and layla found lots of sticks that she preciously showed jake, one by one lifting them up in her mouth to him, as if to say 'look what i've just found for you'. it made him smile nonetheless. to be a dog, he thought.

he followed after the dog, trying not to pull harshly on her lead, walking in circles. layla reached a busier path, and started barking hysterically, and pulling on the lead. jake looked up, following the direction that the dog's nose was pointed in, and stared at the crowds of people in front.

past the old cafe, that had been shut down for some time, he remembered buying puppy icecream and chilling with his friends.

past the lake, he remembered boat races that he never won, and days swimming when it was just too hot outside.

other dogs, other people, and other noise, was ahead. layla yanked down and dragged jake through the groups, zigzagging past children and adults all the same. layla stopped suddenly, sitting down, and catching jake off guard. looking straight ahead, he saw a much larger labrador, with long black shaggy hair, barking back at the smaller dog.

jake looked up to its owner, seeing a beautiful woman of a similar age to him, who was trying to quieten her dog. "sorry, he doesn't usually get this excited."

jake smiled, "neither does she." he loved her accent, it was the same one he had, and one he had sorely missed. he imagines for a second what it would be like to bring a girl from brisbane back to korea, and how much they could tease jay's accent together.

even though it had only been a short interaction, jake felt warm knowing that the alienation he felt being a foreigner in korea was the antithesis of how welcome he felt back home.

he looked at layla, who was busy walking on the girl's shoes, and with a quick "oi, layla!" she stopped and turned back to face him with an apologetic expression.

"layla, that's a lovely name, how old is she?"

"she's six this year."

"oh how wonderful, my max is eight."

they looked down to see the dogs playing together, so they all decided to walk together, with the dogs separating them.

the dogs ran in circles around the humans, with spit hanging from their mouths in contentment.

the unadulterated joy spread to jake and the girl, who jake had now found out was called y/n.

"do you know what, my first crush was called y/n." he smiled.

"how old were you?"

"it was years ago, it was in primary school."

"but you still remember?"

"i had the biggest crush on her, she always had her hair in braids, and she'd always be the loudest to sing in assemblies."

"y/n y/ln?"

"yeah!" he turned and looked at her, studying her face. "oh my god! y/n y/ln! this is embarrassing."

"why? do you think i'm ugly now?" she joked, leaning over and poking his side with her finger.

"you're still beautiful, you'd never turn out ugly."

feeling awkward, jake looked down. "the dogs are getting on well.."

"yeah, they're like us."

jake rolled his eyes, before having the courage to ask, "do you want to go out later, on a date perhaps?"

y/n stopped walking, "i'd want nothing more."

y/n turned to him, offering her hand, but he was oblivious. coughing, uncomfortable by her proximity, he stared straight ahead, in hopes that she would stop.

at this, the two dogs suddenly ran off, behind a gate—who knows what could've caught their attention.

jake and y/n looked over, frantically searching for the nearest exit gate, and taking her hand in his, he ran with her after the dogs.

in the corner of his eyes, he saw the two dogs rushing down the hill, towards a main road. jake didn't want to look, but he knew he had to save layla; and max too, for that matter.

he told y/n to stay at the corner of the road as he ran into the oncoming traffic, before y/n grabbed him, and pulled him back.

"jake are you serious? you'll die."

he looked back at the road he had just attempted to cross, and saw all the cars racing down it, she was right.

she took his wrist and pulled him down the street, safely this time, and stopped where the dogs were happily sat playing with a large stick.

"i wonder how many trees have been demolished by dogs?" jake pondered.

"too many, now let's go." she replied, re-attaching the harness straps to their leads.

they walked back towards the park, carefully watching their dogs, and holding tightly onto their leads, now too occupied to take notice of much else.

y/n sighed, as she opened the gates to the park, holding them wide open for jake and layla to follow. traversing the much eroded path, they parted ways, but not before jake gave her his number, with a wink, and a smirk.

y/n followed max to the other edge of the park, darting through the trees and reaching the start of her estate. it was always handy having such an open space to walk her dog, and she always felt comfortable there.

taking max up the drive, she opened her coat and took out her keys, which still had a keyring with her old friends on it. she looked at the younger jake, and asking herself if there were ever signs of him liking her back then, before shrugging and opening the door.

she took of her shoes, taking max's lead off, and changing into her slippers. looking behind her, she shouted "hey max, come in!" but there was no reply. she looked further down the drive to see max jumping on top of a familiar boy.

"you ready for our date?"