After the door closed, Zoya slowly turned toward Bamson.
By then, he was already standing.
Zoya froze.
A tiny wave of fear passed through her, and she instinctively took a step backward.
Unfortunately, her back was already against the door.
She glanced at Bamson.
He hadn't moved.
Still, that didn't make her feel any safer.
Very slowly, she reached behind herself, found the door handle, and turned it.
She opened the door just enough to peek outside.
Then she remembered the snow.
Her eyes widened.
But... how am I supposed to go outside? It's snowing.
She looked back at the warm room.
Outside is snow... inside is fire.
Her face fell.
Ya Allah... Ya Allah... where have I gotten myself stuck?
She quickly shut the door again and hurried back toward her bed.
Meanwhile, Bamson hadn't moved a single step.
Not even one.
He simply watched her.
If he could have spoken, his expression would have said everything.
Are you serious? I haven't even done anything.
Since yesterday, I haven't made a single sound. I haven't even moved toward you.
His eyes followed her as she moved around the room.
You're the one running from one corner to another.
And then, if his eyes could pray, they probably would have been raised toward the ceiling.
Oh God... being separated from Jeon J is already a punishment.
His gaze shifted back to Zoya.
But meeting this girl feels like an even bigger one.
Since yesterday, she's been acting like she's tolerating me.
He blinked slowly.
When, in reality, I'm the one tolerating her.
A long-suffering look settled over his face.
Grant me patience.
Zoya shivered just thinking about it.
She immediately shook her head.
What am I even thinking?
She narrowed her eyes at Bamson.
He had already sat back down in exactly the same spot.
Zoya stared at him suspiciously.
Bamson stared back.
Neither moved.
For a moment, it almost felt like they were silently challenging each other.
Finally, Zoya looked away.
Minji went straight to the counter.
At the university mess, food was served buffet-style. You simply picked up a plate and helped yourself to whatever you wanted from the different counters.
There was only one problem.
Food wasn't allowed to be taken outside.
Which meant today's mission was no longer breakfast.
It was a food heist.
Everyone was ready.
They had to steal enough food for Zoya and Bamson without getting caught—and, more importantly, without ruining their clothes.
They finished their own breakfast first.
Then came the real mission.
Operation: Steal Breakfast.
Back in the room, Bamson was lying lazily on his mattress when Zoya looked at him.
She folded her arms.
"Look, I'm not afraid of you..."
She paused.
Her eyes travelled toward his paws.
Then back to his face.
"...but stay in your place."
She pointed a warning finger at him.
"What a fate I have. Sharing a room with a dog."
Bamson remained completely still.
Zoya sighed.
"You know, today we're stealing food for you."
She immediately corrected herself.
"No, no... not we."
She pointed toward the door.
"Those four are stealing food for you."
Then she placed a hand against her chest dramatically.
"I only feel sympathy for them."
Bamson didn't move.
He didn't even wag his tail.
Zoya frowned.
"What will they even bring for you?"
She started counting on her fingers.
"Bread... maybe some boiled rice... and a piece of chicken."
She tilted her head.
"Strange, isn't it?"
Her expression became thoughtful.
"In my country, dogs mostly eat meat. But here, dogs eat rice, boiled vegetables, boiled chicken..."
She glanced at his mattress.
"...and even sleep on mattresses."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Meanwhile, I'm struggling to find somewhere to sleep comfortably."
Bamson blinked.
Zoya sighed again.
"Although..."
She suddenly remembered something.
"Last night I even saw dog eat snacks and biscuits too."
She looked at him.
"You really live better than me."
Bamson's ears twitched.
Zoya pointed at him.
"Don't get excited. I'm not giving you anything."
She walked toward the teapot sitting on her study table.
One side of the table was occupied by Bamson's royal mattress.
She stopped, turned around, and pointed a finger at him again.
"And don't you move."
Bamson looked at her.
Zoya quickly lowered her finger.
She suddenly remembered that maybe threatening a dog wasn't the smartest thing to do.
"Hurry up. I'm already late."
She picked up the teapot.
"Let me make tea until they come back with breakfast. Then we'll eat together, okay?"
She paused.
"Together..."
Her eyes moved toward Bamson.
"You your food..."
Then she lifted her cup.
"...me my tea."
She nodded, satisfied with the arrangement.
"Perfect."
She turned away.
Then quietly glanced back at Bamson.
He was still lying there.
Exactly where she'd left him.
Zoya let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.
Maybe she was brave after all.
At least...
She could pretend to be.
Because the truth was simple.
Zoya was scared of dogs.
Very scared.
Meanwhile, Minji suddenly stepped outside empty-handed.
She stopped.
Her eyes widened.
"Oh no."
The others looked at her.
"What?" Sophia asked.
Minji stared at her empty hands.
"We came out without anything!"
Everyone froze.
Minji's face turned serious.
"Zoya is going to kill us."
She looked at the others.
"We left her alone with Bamson. Who knows what has happened by now?"
Sophia immediately raised both hands.
"We did steal something."
"Then where is it?" Minji asked.
They all looked at each other.
Silence.
Sophia cleared her throat.
"Come on. Let's check."
Minji narrowed her eyes.
Sophia immediately smiled innocently.
"Let's pretend we're innocent."
"Too late," Ruhi muttered.
The inspection began.
Hana had somehow stuffed an omelette inside her coat.
Unfortunately, half of it was still hanging out.
It looked less like stolen food and more like a yellow flag announcing her crime.
Ruhi had grabbed a piece of bread and tucked it inside her shirt, securing it against her belt like some kind of bread holster.
With every step she took, the bread swung from side to side like a pendulum.
Minji had managed to hide one piece of bread and a boiled egg inside her coat pocket.
There was just one problem.
The egg was still hot.
"Ahh... hot, hot, hot..."
She kept whispering under her breath, shifting the egg from one hand to another.
Sophia had somehow managed to hide boiled chicken and hot rice inside her short coat.
The rice was still steaming.
A thin cloud of steam escaped from her coat as she walked.
She looked less like a student carrying breakfast and more like a walking steam engine.
The four girls tried their best to keep straight faces.
They failed miserably.
They looked like a group of badly trained magicians trying to sneak their props out of a restricted area.
"Walk normally," Minji whispered.
"I'm trying," Ruhi whispered back.
"The bread is hitting my leg!"
"Then hold it!"
"I can't!"
"Stop talking!"
"You're the one talking!"
Sophia covered her mouth to hide her laughter.
"Just walk."
And somehow, they made it back.
Zoya was pouring tea into her cup with hopeful eyes.
She looked toward the door.
Finally.
They'll come.
At least one hand-packed breakfast will appear.
She took another sip of tea.
Then looked at the door again.
Nothing.
She sighed.
Just then—
The door opened.
All four girls entered.
Together.
And immediately stood there like four guilty thieves who had just been caught in the middle of a robbery.
Zoya looked at them.
Then at their hands.
Empty.
Her eyebrow slowly lifted.
"Where is the food?"
Nobody answered.
Minji stepped forward, trying to look heroic.
"We have—"
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out the boiled egg.
And dropped it.
The egg rolled across the floor.
Everyone watched it.
Silence.
Minji stared after it.
Hana opened her coat.
Half an omelette immediately fell out.
The other half remained stubbornly stuck inside.
Ruhi tried to adjust her shirt.
The bread swung forward like a pendulum.
Sophia slowly unbuttoned her coat.
A cloud of steam escaped.
Zoya stared.
Inside was boiled rice stuck against her clothes, along with a lonely piece of chicken.
For a few seconds, Zoya simply stood there holding her teacup.
Then the corners of her lips slowly lifted.
"You didn't bring breakfast..."
She looked at all four of them.
"...you brought the whole mess inside your coats!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
And at that exact moment—
Bamson suddenly jumped up from his mattress.
Before anyone could react, he lunged forward and caught Ruhi's swinging bread straight out of the air.
Everyone froze.
Ruhi looked at the empty space where her bread had been.
Then at Bamson.
Bamson calmly chewed.
Sophia doubled over laughing.
Minji covered her mouth.
Zoya stared at Bamson in disbelief.
"See?"
She pointed at him.
"He's stealing too!"
Bamson continued eating as if none of them existed.
Breakfast was eventually sorted out.
Zoya had her tea and a boiled egg.
The rest of the food was kept for Bamson.
He ate half of it immediately...
and somehow managed to save the other half for later.
Zoya watched him.
"At least you have self-control."
Bamson looked at her.
She nodded seriously.
"I respect that."
They all eventually left for university.
Ruhi and Hana's classes started a little later, so they stayed back in the room for a while.
Minji, Sophia, and Zoya left first.
After two lectures, Minji disappeared.
She had gone back to the room.
Hana and Ruhi had already left for their own class, so Minji had decided to stay with Bamson for a while.
Minji was the kind of girl who could be surprisingly carefree when she wanted to be.
And being Korean, she knew how to manage her university schedule well enough to decide when missing a class wouldn't cause any real trouble.
That didn't mean she was unserious about her studies.
She simply gave herself a little freedom this time because Bamson couldn't be left completely alone.
Someone had to keep an eye on him.
And with Ruhi and Hana attending their classes, Minji had volunteered herself.
Meanwhile, Zoya, Hana, and Ruhi had something important to do that day.
Zoya needed to find a job.
For the past ten days, Ruhi and Hana had been working at a restaurant as waitresses.
Zoya, however, didn't want to work as a waitress.
The problem wasn't the job itself.
It was the uniform.
The outfit the waitresses usually had to wear made Zoya uncomfortable, and she didn't want to take a job where she would have to dress that way every day.
Ruhi and Hana usually went to work around two in the afternoon and returned around six.
When Zoya had first arrived, she hadn't even known they were working.
Everything had happened so quickly.
The moment she arrived, Bamson's situation had taken over their lives, and Ruhi and Hana had needed time away from work.
They had told the restaurant owner it was university-related work.
Taking leave from a job wasn't easy.
There was always the risk that an employer might simply replace you.
But Ruhi and Hana had worked hard during those ten days and had built a good impression.
That was why their manager hadn't objected too strongly when they needed a little time off.
Sophia and Minji weren't really looking for jobs yet.
But Zoya wanted one.
So Hana had decided to introduce her to the restaurant owner.
Today was the day.
Whether it would work out or not...
They would soon find out.
Life in Korea had already proved challenging enough.
University.
Jobs.
Money.
And now—
Bamson.
If Bamson had been an ordinary dog, perhaps none of this would have been such a huge problem.
But he wasn't an ordinary dog.
He belonged to an idol.
And he was missing.
Maybe some were searching for him everywhere.
They had no idea what would happen if someone recognised him.
It had already been a week since Bamson had come into their lives.
During that week, the four girls had taken turns looking after him while trying to balance their studies, jobs, and everything else happening around them.
Minji and Sophia had even stayed in the dorm twice during that week.
Once, Minji had actually fallen asleep on Bamson's mattress beside him.
When Zoya had seen them together, she couldn't stop laughing.
"Who's luckier?"
She had pointed between them.
"Minji or Bamson?"
The memory still made her smile.
Sophia, somehow, could adjust herself to almost anything.
She was smart like that.
Actually, all four of them were.
Except Zoya.
At least, that's how Zoya saw herself.
Standing beside the other girls, she always felt a little bigger than them.
Not much.
Just enough for her to notice.
Being slightly chubby suited her, she thought.
But she definitely didn't want to gain too much.
The funny part was that, in reality, she was still slim.
The problem was simply that the other four girls were so ridiculously slim and put-together that standing beside them made Zoya feel like the odd one out.
She sighed.
These girls are just unfair.
Eventually, through Hana and Ruhi, Zoya got a job too.
At their restaurant.
But instead of becoming a waitress, she chose to work as a kitchen helper.
That suited her much better.
She had already completed a diploma related to the field back home, so she was familiar with the work.
And she was particularly good at cutting vegetables.
She actually enjoyed it.
The kitchen.
The cooking.
The constant movement.
For the first time in a while, the thought of working somewhere didn't feel exhausting.
It felt right.
Life seemed to be moving forward again.
Slowly.
Messily.
But forward.
Unfortunately...
There was something they had forgotten.
Or perhaps they had simply become too confident.
This time, even Zoya had become part of that confidence.
When they had rescued Bamson, they had chosen the window route.
It had seemed like the smartest option.
The back alley had been empty that night.
No people.
No cars.
No one around.
They had been so focused on getting Bamson inside safely that they hadn't stopped to look around properly.
They hadn't noticed the houses lining the alley.
They hadn't noticed that many of those houses had CCTV cameras pointed toward their gates.
They hadn't thought about what the cameras might have captured.
Because the street had been empty.
It was late.
Everyone had been asleep.
There had been no one outside.
But there was one thing they had forgotten.
CCTV never sleeps.
And somewhere, on a screen they knew nothing about...
The night they pulled Bamson through that window had already been recorded.
To be continued...
Regards,
ZK💌