“Maxie contracted the Parvovirus,” the vet said.
Minji covered her mouth and began to cry. She leaned against Doha, who also started crying hysterically.
“She’s going to die?” Minji asked.
“Oh goodness. I can’t imagine a world without Maxie,” Doha added.
“Now, now,” the vet chuckled. “We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves.”
Eli sighed and sat on the bench, leaning his elbows against his knees. Zeno glanced at them and pursed his lips. They had known Maxie longer than he did, so he understood why they would be more affected.
“How is she?” Zeno calmly asked.
The vet pursed his lips. “Well, it’s a good thing you were able to take her here early. However, Parvovirus is extremely tedious to recover from. It requires confinement and quite a lot of hydration and medications.”
Zeno nodded. “So, she’s going to die?”
“If we don’t give her prompt treatment, yes,” the vet bluntly responded.
Minji and Doha began crying louder while Eli shook his head and muttered under his breath.
Hearing those words, Zeno should have felt relieved. That demon dog never liked him in the first place! Besides, she was 14 years old, which was more than the average age of dogs.
However, for some reason, he didn’t feel too good about it.
“Since her case is pretty severe, the treatment would amount to around 5,000,000 KRW.” 1
“Pardon?” Zeno exclaimed.
“I know it’s a lot,” the vet said. “However, Parvovirus is very intricate to deal with.”
Zeno sighed and nodded, running his fingers through his hair.
“Unfortunately,” the vet continued. “You will have to buy the medications before we can use them for Maxie.”
“That means you won’t be able to treat her until we have the money,” Zeno deadpanned.
“Yes,” the vet answered.
They were silent for a while before the vet cleared his throat. “Well, I will leave you here to talk. However, have this,” he said, giving Zeno a flyer.
“Pet cremation services?” Zeno read.
“Yes. We have one next door.”
With that, the vet left them to go to a possum patient.
Zeno looked at the cremation service rates. “550,000 KRW?1” he muttered. “It’s even expensive to die.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t notice,” Minji said, shaking her head.
“Me too,” Doha sighed.
“I feel useless as a med student now,” Eli chuckled with no humor, leaning his head against the wall.
“It’s not your fault,” Zeno said. It was true. Disease was an inevitable part of this planet. You never truly know when it will hit you, but it can in the most unexpected moments.
“You look awfully calm even with your dog dying,” Eli snapped at him with a glare.
Zeno pursed his lips.
Well, loss was already a normal part of his life. Well… lives. In the years he was on Earth for his missions, he had to let a lot of things and people go. He had become used to it.
They were silent for a moment before Minji giggled.
“You remember the day Zeno brought Maxie home? She was this tiny ball of fur, tripping over her own paws. Your stepdad said she was a gift, but… she became our dog, didn’t she? She’s like the unofficial fifth member of our group.”
Doha chuckled, too, remembering those days. “Yeah. She was so scared of the stairs. She’d just sit at the bottom and whine until one of us carried her up. I thought she’d never learn. But then, she started racing up and down like she owned the place.”
Minji chuckled, wiping a tear. “And remember our first day of high school? She followed us to the bus stop and thought she would be coming with us. She sat there, wagging her tail, begging us not to leave her. When the bus pulled away, she chased it for a whole block. I thought my heart was going to break.”
Eli smiled, too, his gaze still focused on the ceiling. “She was such a troublemaker. Like the time she ate Zeno’s homework. He was so mad at her, but then she just looked at him with those big, guilty eyes, and he couldn’t stay angry. We all tried to explain it to the teacher, but she thought we were big, fat liars.”
“And your first girlfriend, Eli!” Doha exclaimed, slapping his knee. “Oh, Maxie hated her. That one time, she came over, all dressed up, and Maxie just peed right on her leg. I’ve never seen Eli look so horrified. But we couldn’t stop laughing. Maxie knew. She always knew who was good for us and who wasn’t.”
Minji nodded. “She’s always been there, hasn’t she?” she started off, her voice cracking.
“Through everything. The good days, the bad days… she was just always there.”
“So, I guess I can’t let her go away so easily. Still, I’m glad she was able to grace our lives. I’ll really miss her when she’s gone.”
Eli began tearing up, too, so he covered his eyes with his arm. “Minji, stop talking, please.”
Doha cast his head down, the buff man showing vulnerability you wouldn’t expect from someone who had his looks. “Do we really have to let her go?”
Minji pursed her lips. “It’s times like this I hate myself for not having more money.”
“I have some money,” Eli said. “My dad finally sent some.”
“That’s for your projectt, isn’t it?” Minji asked. “You can’t, Eli.”
“What if we sell my necklace?” Doha suddenly asked.
Minji sighed. “That’s the last thing your mom left you.”
With that, they were engulfed in silence again.
Zeno observed the three of them, his heart filling with something he couldn’t quite explain.
Lives end. All humans knew that. Pet lives were even shorter. So, it was normal, especially with her age. It should have been expected.
How could a dog make them feel this way? But as he thought of the demon suffering and feeling scared—something very unlike her character, Zeno couldn’t help it.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I’ll earn her the money,” he said, making his friends turn to him with wide eyes.
He pursed his lips and let out a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he was doing this.
“That demon dog better treat me well once she’s all better.”
3.5K USD
400 USD