Jo Sung-hyun immediately got up from his seat.
He had been looking at Chae-yoon just a moment ago.
And then he turned his gaze away for a while to talk to Yu Jae-kyun.
It was brief, very brief.
But when he heard a scream, he felt a sinking feeling in his heart and regret.
He thought he should have kept looking at Chae-yoon.
When he turned his head to the direction of the scream, he saw Chae-yoon sitting on the floor.
In front of him was Young-joon standing, and in front of Young-joon was a small puppy.
It was so small that Chae-yoon could hold it in his arms.
It was not a situation where anyone could see that Chae-yoon or Young-joon would get hurt, so Jo Sung-hyun first let out a sigh of relief and put on his shoes and walked.
The owner of the puppy was a young woman, and she was at a loss for what to do when Chae-yoon fell.
Meanwhile, the puppy was so excited that it kept wagging its tail.
Jo Sung-hyun chuckled and approached Chae-yoon.
"Daddy..."
Chae-yoon looked up at Jo Sung-hyun with a trembling voice.
He shouldn't laugh, but Chae-yoon was so cute that Jo Sung-hyun had to swallow his laughter.
"I'm sorry! Kkomul didn't mean to do that. Kkomul suddenly went up to the baby and the baby must have been surprised."
The young woman quickly picked up the puppy named Kkomul and said.
Jo Sung-hyun shook his head.
It was true that Chae-yoon was surprised, but he didn't feel any malice from the puppy or its owner.
He didn't think it was necessary to get angry.
He also felt more calm seeing her too flustered.
"It's okay. Don't worry."
He answered simply and picked up Chae-yoon and checked her body.
Fortunately, there was no sign of injury.
She just got scared and bruised his butt, that was all.
She wouldn't have been seriously hurt anyway.
"Chae-yoon, are you okay?"
"Chae-yoon is okay. Uh... Chae-yoon doesn't hate you."
Chae-yoon looked at the puppy named Kkomul and said.
Chae-yoon knew that it wasn't the puppy's fault.
Jo Sung-hyun felt relieved.
He wondered what he would do if Chae-yoon had a bad feeling about the puppy.
The child clearly expressed her willingness to be okay by mentioning that she didn't hate the puppy.
From behind, Young-joon's parents came and checked the situation, and seeing that Young-joon and Chae-yoon were fine, they let out a chuckle.
Jo Sung-hyun felt a strange ease in their actions.
Maybe it was a common thing for a child to scream.
He just did what he had to do, but maybe that could be an excessive action.
He might have reacted more sensitively because he was a novice dad.
Jo Sung-hyun gently stroked Chae-yoon's head, and seeing her giggle, he snickered and kissed her forehead.
"Did you get scared?"
"The puppy jumped at me. I was still... Uh, the puppy could get hurt if it bumped into me."
In the end, the reason why Chae-yoon was scared was because she thought the puppy would get hurt.
Of course, there was a kind of... pretense-like feeling that she was hiding her scared feelings.
Jo Sung-hyun lightly patted Chae-yoon's back and opened his mouth.
"The puppy's name is Kkomul, right?"
"Oh, yes! That's right. When he came to our house a few months ago, he was really tiny."
"Kkomul must have been surprised too."
"He just seems happy and excited. He doesn't even know that the baby was scared because of him... I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay. It happens."
It was a small puppy, but it had a leash on.
He didn't see any fault in the owner.
Jo Sung-hyun smiled and talked with the owner, and ended the situation by giving Kkomul a snack from Chae-yoon.
As he walked back to the mat holding Chae-yoon's hand.
Jo Sung-hyun glanced at Young-joon.
He looked at Young-joon walking bravely and opened his mouth.
"Young-joon."
"...?"
"Thanks for earlier. You protected Chae-yoon. You were cool."
He didn't know what Young-joon's intention was, but he saw Young-joon blocking the puppy and Chae-yoon as soon as he saw Chae-yoon fall.
Of course, Kkomul wouldn't have been much of a threat to Chae-yoon, but Jo Sung-hyun was grateful to Young-joon.
It was really nothing, but it felt reassuring.
He hoped that Chae-yoon and Young-joon would become closer.
'But not too close.'
Jo Sung-hyun thought to himself.
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