Watching Vincent’s back as he ran into the store like an overly excited kid on Christmas, Renni huffed and glared at me with her hands on her hips.
’I swear if he hurts the puppy… I’m gonna…I’m gonna…’ she started to say but couldn’t find a suitable response.
’You’re gonna what? Please tell me what you could possibly do to me, woman.’ With a snort, I looked at her with taunting eyes, causing the girl to puff out her cheeks.
’I’m gonna give you the cold shoulder for a week, HMPH.’
"Hah, one could only dream," I said out loud while shooting her a mocking smile.
"It’s going to be fine….or maybe we will be cleaning up puppy guts by the end of the night, who knows?" Shrugging my shoulders, I continued to poke at Renni’s psyche; after all, what did I care if he killed the animal? To me, the pet Vincent obtained was exactly that, a pet, an animal, but then again, I suppose on more than one occasion, I’ve proven the only lives that matter to me are those of my family.
For several long seconds, I stared at Renni, but as time ticked by, I noticed a trace of tears forming in her eyes and knew that if I didn’t say something, I would be subjected to the annoying wails of a young girl, so I stopped the charade.
"Oh, for fuck sake Xilia, he’s not going to hurt the puppy; it will be fine," exhaling a stressed-out breath, I looked through the window of the petstore only to find Vincent carefully walking up and down the isles…talking to the puppies, with a tender expression and no doubt soft voice.
"Just look at him; he’s being all gentle and shit just talking to them. Does that look like a man who would kill a puppy for no reason? Get it together."
"You promise…" with a sniffle, Renni wiped the tears that threatened to spill over and watched Vincent’s actions.
"No, I don’t make promises I can’t keep…besides… to me, it looks like he’s searching for his next meal or something, but what do I know, I’m just as bat shit crazy as he is."
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"HE’S GOING TO WHAT??? HE’S GOING TO EAT THE PUPPY, XIPHER; WE HAVE TO STOP HIM!" In a flurry of anxiety, Renni began batting at her seatbelt, trying to unbuckle it, but before she could, she slumped over…unconscious.
"I’ve had enough of your screeching, fuck," I had chopped her in the back of the neck, knocking her out so that I didn’t have to hear her bitching any longer.
Massaging my temples to curb the headache brought about by Renni’s high-pitched and panicked shouts, I patiently waited in silence until there was only one minute left in the 20-minute deadline when Vincent returned.
In his arms was a small brown Dachshund… wiener dog.
Reaching across the driver’s seat, I opened the door for Vincent and couldn’t NOT notice how the man was all smiles.
"Interesting choice there, Vincent; I didn’t take you to be the wiener dog kinda guy. I figured you’d go after something more manly like, I don’t know, a pitbull or German Shepherd," reaching out, I took the dog from the man so that he’d be able to drive. Since I had his total, undying loyalty, although he didn’t want to, he still handed over the puppy without trouble.
"Milord, I thought it best to purchase a native dog, and since the Dachshund is a German breed, and I find them adorable, it was an obvious choice to me." Watching me like a mother hen who had her eggs taken, Vincent gave a fairly logical and thought-out response.
"Fair point. Have you come up with a name yet?" Cradling the puppy in my arms, I gently pet its head while Vincent drove us back to his condo.
"Schnitzel, I’ve named her Schnitzel." Without taking his eyes off the road, he stated the name without hesitation and in a serious tone.
’Oh fuck….he might actually plan to eat the dog, HAHA,’ I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off internally upon hearing the name.
"It’s probably better not to say her name around Xilia; I expect she would have quite the reaction to it." Continuing to pet the now sleeping puppy, I glanced in the rearview mirror at the unconscious Renni and shook my head.
"Why is that Milord?" With raised eyebrows, Vincent looked back at Renni, too.
"ah, well, she has it in her head that you plan on eating the dog…and if she finds out you named it after a type of food, well….you can see the problem here, right?"
"Milord, that’s preposterous; I would never harm an animal, no matter what activities I do in my free time; the thought of laying a hand on a defenseless puppy such as my little Schnitzel churns my stomach."
"I am aware it doesn’t fit your profile; regardless, just call the puppy Nel or something like that around Xilia; once we leave, I don’t particularly care what you do."
After the small conversation about the puppy, the rest of the drive was calm and quiet. We stopped off to get some burgers for dinner and then headed back to the condo. It was only once we pulled into Vincent’s designated parking space that Renni finally woke up, shouting in fear for the puppy’s life, but upon seeing me with the dog in my arms, she practically melted at the puppy’s cuteness.
For a second there, I thought she would lunge at me and swipe the puppy; however, facts proved otherwise, as she was content with just petting the small creature’s head a few times and making small baby talk at it.
Eventually, once inside the condo, I put the dog down, and once Vincent finished setting the table, we had dinner and settled down for the night.
Oh, and the crisis that could have occurred upon Renni learning the dog’s real name was navigated gracefully, as Vincent explained the name he chose was Nelly, apparently after his grandmother, or so he says.
I knew it was a lie, but if it pacified Renni, I didn’t give a rat’s ass what he told her so long as it didn’t involve feasting on the tender flesh of a nine-week-old weinerdog.