Randy is the only person who knocks on Katrina"s door.
Aaron always comes and goes as he likes, like breaking into no man"s land.
In his words, this is his home, and he goes wherever he wants.
Hearing the knock, Katrina a.s.sumes it"s Randy and opens the door without a second thought.
When the door opens, she doesn"t expect to see Aaron"s handsome young face.
More importantly, the big black dog Beta squatting at Aaron"s feet is the last thing she expects to greet her. Holding his toy ball in his mouth, Beta looks up at Katrina.
Katrina is shocked to see the dog suddenly.
"Ah!" She screams and closes the door as quickly as she can in fear that Beta will break-in.
Aaron reaches out in time and stops Katrina, forcing the door open.
With Aaron"s strength, Katrina is unable to shut the door, making her cry out, "Aaron, let me go!"
Aaron looks down at Katrina"s anxious face and says, "Beta is clever and lovely. He won"t bite."
It"s true. After a few days of discrete observation, Katrina finds out that although the dog looks very big and fierce, Beta is gentle and unaggressive towards the people around it.
But even that doesn"t stop Katrina from being frightened of him.
Even if Beta doesn"t bite, she"s still frightened.
s.h.i.+vering behind the door, Katrina whimpers, "Aaron, please don"t let him in."
Beta drops the toy ball in the mouth to the ground. He pushes it through the door with his paw and looks up at Katrina. Sticking out his tongue, he looks like he has a smile on his face. His tail is wagging to show his affection.
Aaron patiently continues to rea.s.sure Katrina, "He values his toy ball so much, that n.o.body can touch it except for me. You can see how much he likes you if he"s willing to give you his toy ball."
Katrina is touched to hear Aaron"s words. Seeing the dog looking at her so hopefully only makes her heart soften more.
Nevertheless, she still can"t contain her fear.
"Okay, thank you."
Katrina quivers and picks up the ball cautiously.
Recalling Aaron playing catch with Beta in the yard, Katrina throws the ball into the distance. The dog immediately runs along the track of the ball to catch it firmly. Then he trots back, wagging his tail all the way, and puts the ball on the ground again. He pushes it through the crack of the door with his paw.
As Aaron watches Katrina interact with his beloved dog, Beta, a smile stretches across his face.
It"s evident that Katrina doesn"t reject Beta because she dislikes him.
She"s a kind and gentle girl, not hostile to small animals. She"s just afraid of dogs by nature.
Katrina plays a few ball games with Beta, and Aaron continues to guide her, "Good, now touch him."
Although Katrina isn"t as scared of dogs as she used to be, she still isn"t brave enough to touch him.
Katrina shakes her head from behind the door. "No, I"m afraid."
Noticing that she"s still reluctant, Aaron suddenly changes his strategy. "Do you want to go outside?"
Katrina is stunned by Aaron"s words.
Of course, she wants to go outside!
She"s been imprisoned for such a long time, and the one time she left Aaron"s villa, she was easily captured.
Who wants to stay in the villa all the time?
No matter how big Aaron"s villa is, Katrina is tired of the place and seeing the same people every day.
Katrina nods honestly. "Yes."
"If you touch him, I"ll take you out tomorrow."
Katrina never thought that Aaron would tempt her with this.
She looks at him suspiciously. "Will you keep your promise? Aren"t you a liar?"
Even if Aaron says he"ll take her out, it"s very likely he"ll bring her back immediately after they leave the villa.
Aaron nods. "I"ll keep my word."
Katrina finally gives in to the temptation of Aaron"s promise.
She takes a while to form a plan in silence. Finally, she bravely reaches out her hand and touches the dog"s head, before quickly withdrawing her hand.
It lasts for less than a second, showing Aaron her deviousness for the first time.
Aaron feels completely speechless. "So, perfunctory! It seems I can only take you out for five minutes."
Katrina looks very aggrieved. "How could I touch him?"
He should know that the first time she saw Beta, she was too scared even to have the courage to look at him.
Now, she gathers a great deal of determination to touch him.
Aaron deftly touches the dog"s head. "Like this."
Seeing Aaron touching the dog, Katrina suddenly realizes what"s wrong.
Why does it seem like Aaron always touches her head like that?
Katrina finally summons the courage to grab the chance to go out. Then she puts her hand on the dog"s head. The hairy texture feels good.
Instead of biting her, Beta puts out his tongue and licks her hands.
Though it frightened Katrina to pull her hand back, a surprised smile lights up her pretty face. "It"s so smooth!"
In any case, she has taken the first successful step.
Though something seems hard and scary most of the time, when you actually try it, you"ll find that it"s not as difficult as you expect it to be.
Like now, under Aaron"s encouragement, she became brave enough to touch the dog, making her realize that Beta isn"t as scary as she thought.
At noon, Katrina leaves her room for the first time in days to eat lunch in the dining room.
Beta"s bowl is by her feet. Although Randy has placed fresh dog food for him, he doesn"t seem to like it.
While eating, Katrina suddenly feels a pair of eyes looking at her. She looks down and makes eye contact with Beta.
"Do you want some too?"
Katrina takes the chicken"s legs from her plate and places them in Beta"s bowl. The dog immediately eats the meal happily.
Katrina is also happy to see the dog eating so much.
She picks up a new hobby when she eats, which is feeding the dog.
As a result, most of the food on her plate ends up in Beta"s stomach.
When Aaron notices that Katrina hasn"t eaten much because she keeps giving it to Beta, his handsome face goes dark. He pulls her plate over and deposits his lunch in it. "Stop feeding Beta. Don"t leave until you finish eating everything!"
He doesn"t want to sleep with a pile of ribs every day.
Katrina shoots Aaron a disapproving look.
He eats abundant fish and meat, with a good collocation of meat and vegetables, but gives Beta only dog food?
How unsympathetic!
Katrina doesn"t realize that she"s somehow already become so concerned about the dog.