Puppy Date

Juhee couldn’t stand still under the cold yet bright sky, she was just too nervous and excited for this. Her beating heart translated through her occasional hops as she took short steps back and forth on the same radius of space. He would be here any moment. The thought of being on an actual date made her palms sweat profusely since it was her first. It would be wrong to say that the person she was waiting for at Gulshan park these past few minutes was someone who she suffered an infatuation for, but it would also be wrong to assume that she had no interest in him either. Why else would she say yes?

“Hey Juhee!” came a familiar voice that made her spin on her heels. Her eyes fell on his perfect smile that made his cheeks scrunch up to put a wrinkle next to gorgeous brown eyes. He waved as he jogged towards her, two fluffy small beings already racing in front of him on their short legs. Adnan Parvez had brought his promise along with him: his two cute poodles, Mimi and Jojo. That was the purpose of their date, Juhee wanted to meet his dogs since she always wanted to have one but was never allowed to due to religious reasons.

“Hi Adnan!” she greeted him with a small wave before knitting her hands together again. She crouched down to greet the cute little fluffy creatures.

One of them was a brown toy poodle and the other was the same, but had pure white curly fur. Juhee saw their dark eyes twinkling under the noon sun; she was already in love. Adnan crouched down as well, scratching their heads as their tails shook vigorously in excitement to meet her. She couldn’t stop smiling at their complete set of adorableness! But to her, they looked a bit unreal, like the toys she saw at a store earlier –they were petite little creatures!

“Have you been waiting too long?” he asked.

“Oh, no no, not at all. So tell me who’s who?” she asked, finally looking into his eyes.

“Mimi” he said, rubbing his hand over the small white poodles head, “and Jojo.” he scratched the brown ones back, finally lifting his eyes at her with that smile that made her heart skip a beat.

“They are so cute.” she said, hesitating to make any form of contact with them. Though they were delightful, she’s never been this close to an animal before and it felt weird to her, especially since it was not battery-operated and had its wet tongue hanging out.

“You can pet them on the head.” Adnan said, after he saw her hands still folded neatly between her knees.

“Oh?” she got tapped out of her thoughts.

He smiled again, “Like this.” he said, rubbing his hands over one of their small heads.

“Won’t they feel weird if a stranger rubs their head?” it was a stupid question, but she didn’t feel quite ready to touch them yet.

It made him laugh; he probably understood. But he was laughing at her adorable indirect way of saying no. “Alright then, let’s take them for a walk.” he said, standing up.

At his prompt, she followed, standing up, brushing out her black knee-length coat whilst tucking her black shoulder-length hair behind her ears -she never liked tying up her hair. Juhee suddenly felt awkward at the fact that she might have disappointed him. It felt a little rude not to pet their heads immediately, especially since he brought them here only for her. Gulping down her guilt, she returned his smile and they both began walking.

Gulshan park was quiet today as it was a work day, making it ideal for a date. They walked a few moments without uttering a single word. It wasn’t a calming silence where they both enjoyed each other’s presence, oh no, rather, it was a deafening silence that was expanding into a huge ball risking being burst and leaving them both distanced, may be forever. But Juhee couldn’t find anything clever to ask.

“Umm,” at her soft suggestion his head immediately turned to look at her. His eyes held wanting, like he wanted to break this silence too. She was taken aback by his sudden attention. “Yes?” came his response before melting away into an embarrassed smile, lowering his eyes.

“Yes,” she let out a small awkward laugh. “Umm, how long have you had them?” pointing at the two little poodles.

“Oh. I had Mimi for about a year and a half, she was the new addition to our family. I had Jojo and Bear for more than two years already.” he explained.

“Where is Bear? Is he okay?” she inquired, half expecting to hear that Bear was dead.

“Aah, Bear has an appointment at the vet today so, I couldn’t bring him.” he said, putting her heart at ease.

“You seemed a little reluctant to touch them earlier.” he addressed without any hesitation, “Do they scare you?

His straight-forward question made her heart drum hard against her chest. She could feel the blood rushing to her ears and she dared not meet his eyes. So she really did disappoint him -this thought gave her a huge sting of guilt.

“Oh no!” she replied quicker than she should have, “No no, that’s not it. How could I be scared of such adorable little creatures?”

“Aah, I see. You said you liked dogs earlier so.”

It became a little quiet between them. The need to explain herself became apparent when she figured she came off as a person who’s confused between herself. This wasn’t the exact impression she wanted to give, especially not on her first date since highschool.

“It’s not that I’m afraid of dogs. It’s just that I’ve never been so close to one before.” he looked at her as she spoke, slowing his pace. “I feel a little weird touching them. I’m afraid they’ll not like me, and probably um, bite me?”

At this he laughed in amusement, “You think they’ll bite you?”

Walking towards a bench he gestured her to follow quickly, “Come I’ll show you.”

Once he sat himself down on the wooden seat, he reached down and began scratching one of their heads, “Dogs love being scratched. It’s their most favorite thing in the world! They’ll love you for it.” he looked at her as she was still standing.

Taking in a deep breath she crouched down into a seating position. No sooner had she reached their level like earlier, one of them came very close, sniffing in her scent, wagging its tail in delight, panting with what she thought was a smile. It made her smile.

“She likes you a lot.” he encouraged, “Go on.”

Lowering her hand on its small head, she softly dragged her fingers in a back-and-forth motion. It felt a little out-of-this-world for her but she soon got used to the soft curly fur and Mimi’s head shifting frequently under her hand. She already felt a connection towards the little dog and soon began caressing it with both hands, even letting it lick her palms.

“You’re a natural with them. They already want to play with you!” Adnan complimented. “They didn’t warm up to me that easily when I first got them though.”

“Do they know any tricks?” she asked, raising her hand above Jojo’s head, whilst he hopped towards it, as though they held treats. “They’re so cute!!”

They both spent about half an hour playing with the dogs and Adnan showed Juhee how well he trained them. Juhee was having the time of her life. She had finally warmed up to Adnan, and she began enjoying her date this time and it felt good on so many levels. They decided to have lunch by the side-street carts that sold hot cakes and other sorts of dry meals, just outside the gates of the park.

“No no, I got this.” Adnan offered, pulling out his wallet.

“Ah, thanks but it’s okay, I’ll pay for mine.” she said, holding her small yellow money purse, unzipping it as fast as she could.

“No, I insist.” he says, already handing the man the price for both their meals, “It’s my treat.” he looked at her with a kind smile, receiving the plastic bag with both hands.

This gave Juhee a burdensome feeling, but she covered it up by returning a tight smile, lowering her eyes to the ground to hide it.

“Let’s go.” he gestured with his head.

By now, Juhee had decided to hold both Mimi and Jojo’s leashes and she followed Adnan back into the gates of Gulshan park, crossing the road. A sharp breeze hit the calm weather and her hair began racing over her face, blurring out her vision. To her misfortune neither of her hands were free and she just squinted, trying to blow away as much hair away from her face as possible and keep up with the little dogs and their astonishing strength and speed. The wind began blowing so furiously it almost knocked the air out of her, like she got hit by something sharp on her back. Her head felt dizzy as she kept being pulled forward. It startled her that the dogs were fast and strong enough to knock her off her feet.

Juhee fell face-first on the road. Even though she hit her head hard, she didn’t feel the pain but rather felt light-headed. Everything began sounding off and in echoes.

“Juhee!” was the last thing she heard, followed by a shrilling horn and screeching of tires.