Raising a Saint Bernard

Qiao Yier had never been in love. She was always immersed in dating games, romance novels, and sweet romantic dramas, and didn't really believe in love in the real world.

That is, until she went to the United States to discuss a long-term project and met Bernard.

Bernard had dazzling blond hair and lake-green eyes. He was handsome, full-figured, and gentle-tempered, but poor. He and his family struggled to make ends meet.

Qiao Yier bought two big bags of food and visited his home. Her kindness warmed the family as they struggled to get by. His sick sister held her hand and thanked her over and over. His mother made her a dish that the family could only afford to eat at Christmas.

It was only natural that Qiao Yier and Bernard got together.

Bernard moved into her house, a little awkwardly. He did the housework and cleaned her rooms, played the guitar and sang for her. Beneath the hazy nightscape beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, he put on a vinyl record, held her close, and waltzed with her under her guidance.

He bought a wok and seasonings, went to a Chinese supermarket to look for ingredients, learned to cook Chinese food, and gradually began learning Chinese too.

Beautiful Bernard, radiant Bernard, gentle Bernard.

Qiao Yier rested her chin on his knee and gazed up at his face.

She watched him and thought that he didn't need to work or have any particular talents. She would shelter him from the storms and dangers of the outside world. He could stay in her home forever, her sleek-coated, well-behaved little dog.

-

When the project ended, Qiao Yier left the United States.

Of course she didn't take Bernard with her.

He was still as beautiful and radiant as ever, with a generous figure. The difference was that now he spoke Chinese, cooked Chinese and French food, and baked bread and desserts.

He had grown into someone made for her. Throughout the years he spent with her, he had kept his innocence.

Why make him leave his homeland as she had? She had treated him so well. She couldn't bear to make him leave everything he knew.

Qiao Yier looked at Bernard, who had no idea what was coming, packed her bags, broke up with him, and left, ending the life she had kept him in.

-

Two years later, Bernard appeared before Qiao Yier again as a rising singer.

During their time apart, he had grown thin, becoming hauntingly beautiful. He wrote more than three hundred breakup songs, worked relentlessly to make money, and stumbled headlong into a world where the strong preyed on the weak.

He was no longer as young as before, but his eyes were just as bright. At last, at last, he had caught up with her.

"My turn."

That is, it's my turn now.

If you've kept a dog and thought of it as your property, here's the funny thing: the dog thinks of you the same way.

Little shrike x Saint Bernard

Theme: Humans, don't abandon other humans