|40| Unrequited

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" Please don't be in love with someone else. "

Enchanted, Taylor Swift

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MAYBE I WAS addicted because the shelter I began to work at felt far warmer than my home. I was a little lost without Rekha and Grace. On most days, I wouldn't be but with Mum and Dad on hostile terms, Allison spending more time with Archer than me, I was often left alone at home left to entertain myself.

And my thoughts weren't pleasant, they were of Kaden, what he would be doing and the Christmas dinner I wasn't going for.

I also began packing, it would be another six months before I left with my dad. We'd been talking about it and since dad travelled often, he thought about hiring a private tutor for me till he can settle in either Canada or Australia at one of the many places he's been to, where I can go for college. 

And it was what I was looking for. More time with him, travelling and going far away from here. I wanted to leave so badly now and the only thing that was stopping my dad from taking me was because of school. He wanted me to finish my year before I left with him. It would be a long time before we finally settled as well, so going with him would do nothing but stress him. 

The shelter felt like a makeshift home, something that I'd rather stay in than my own home surrounded by animals and people as warm as them. I'd made friends with Alice, a girl two years older than me who was in the same pen as Joey and I, I ran into Belle from the cheerleading team in the pure-breeds pen. While Joey and I seldom spoke in the place, his car drives home, dropping Belle and I off were something I looked forward to. 

Even though Belle stayed closer to his home than I did, I noticed he always dropped her home first so we could spend time talking. Everytime Belle left, she gave me a none too subtle wink. It wa one of those days, three days till Christmas that Joey's driving me home when I asked, "How long have you been working with them?"

Joey smiled a little, blissfully unaware that I knew who ran the shelter, I'd googled it the first night itself. "I've been working there for as long as I could recall. I've always loved dogs."

"But you don't keep one," I pointed out.

"I used to, but Shadow passed away."

"Doberman?" I guessed.

"He was a mongrel, we adopted him from the shelter. The shelter wanted to put him down, but when I met him, I loved him so much. Mum and dad wanted to get me a purebreed, something manlier but Shadow was the best dog I've ever known and I couldn't stand to see him put down."

"The shelter doesn't put down any pets anymore."

"Yeah, they don't." Joey said.

I'd read this all on the website, a few personal information was thrown in, like his parents so the rest was easy to piece, after Shadow's death, Joey not his parents was upset with grief and somehow, had persuaded his parents to buy him the shelter, where they managed but he spent most of his time. 

I'd also seen why people flocked to the shelter, it was cleaner than most, no doubt thanks to the Knights wealth and love for their son. Which also attracted hoards of people. I knew Joey had a habit for taking dogs that were to be put down from other shelters.

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