The Dog I Left Behind

#Childhood sweethearts + long separation reunion / people-pleasing personality × guiding personality#

Tips: The dog was raised together by the male and female leads. The female lead was forced to leave but did not abandon the dog—she 'abandoned' the male lead.

At fourteen, Ji Shuhe picked up a dog.

The puppy, not yet a month old, was frail. Without care, it would die, but she couldn't bring it home.

That year, her parents' conflict escalated, and they sent her to her grandparents' house thousands of miles away. The house was in an old alley in Xinhai, dark and damp all day long. The room they gave her barely had space to turn around, no private bathroom, and even the kitchen was shared.

With no way out, the neighbor she hated most reached out and took the puppy.

"Let's call you Chestnut." He casually named it and brought the dog home.

Wen Shaoyu, one year older than her, was the notorious troublemaker in the alley. She had seen him pin someone down and punch them, fierce and brutal. And they lived under the same roof.

At fourteen, Ji Shuhe was afraid of him.

On her first night in the attic, she had to go to the public restroom but dared not walk in the dark. She happened to run into him coming out with a flashlight. Ji Shuhe cautiously followed him, and he deliberately mocked that she had less courage than a cat.

At twenty-four, Ji Shuhe was still afraid of him.

Because she had thrown the puppy at him, left him and Xinhai, and disappeared without a trace for many years.

On the day they reunited, the now lighter-colored big dog enthusiastically pounced on Ji Shuhe, reminding her of the puppy she had abandoned. When she looked up, the owner, who had let go of the leash, looked at her coldly, like a stranger.

"Last year, on Chestnut's tenth birthday, I promised him that if he couldn't wait for you... then I wouldn't wait either."

"Ji Shuhe. You didn't let Chestnut wait in vain."

"But he forgave you. I didn't."

——

Copyedited 2025.8.16

Female lead's perspective: There are two dogs in front of me, one is my dog, and the other is still my dog. (×)

Relatively slow-burn, a purely sweet short story (should be purely sweet).

One-line summary: Too many people, after separation, never return.

Theme: Believe in dreams.