When the Cat’s Away, the Mice Will Play

             Kyuhyun felt the kneading of cat nails on his chest and heard loud meows.  Sometime in the middle of the night, Heebum must have managed to sneak into his room.  The energetic feline even pounced on him once or twice.  But when he finally opened his eyes, there was no cat.  The sun was steadily shining, peeking in through the gaps in the blinds, and the door was still firmly closed.  Perhaps it had been a dream.

            A glance at his alarm clock showed that it was only a quarter to nine in the morning.  He could shower and still have plenty of time to make it downstairs to eat.  Although he could easily close his eyes and fall back asleep for several more hours, his stomach growled in protest and he got up. 

            Kyuhyun took his time taking a warm shower, letting his stiff muscles relax under the steady stream of water, then he dried off and headed back to his room to change.  When he returned, Heebum was lying on his bed, bathing himself. 

            “Ah, there you are!” Kyuhyun said, sitting down on the bed beside him.  “Didn’t you come to visit me earlier or am I imagining things?”

            Heebum suddenly looked over to the corner and stared. 

             “What do you see?” Kyuhyun asked.  “Is there a spider?”

            Kyuhyun leaned forward and tried to spy what the feline was so focused on, but he could spot nothing in the corner at all.  It was completely bare. 

            “You are a silly kitty,” he said, petting the cat’s head briefly and then getting up to change into his clothes for the day.  “I wonder how presentable I need to look for owner number two if there are no other guests to impress?” he wondered out loud, setting his luggage on the other side of the bed and opening it.

            Kyuhyun rummaged through his clothes until he found a rumbled t-shirt.  Heebum eyed it and looked away with disinterest.  Then he pulled out a trendy looking sweater and held it up.  The cat softly meowed, as if in agreement.  He noted that it didn’t sound like the same meowing he’d heard as he was waking up earlier.  Perhaps he really had dreamed of a cat after all.  Kyuhyun changed into blue jeans and the sweater before drying his hair.  After checking himself in the mirror, he decided it was good enough for an early morning breakfast and he headed downstairs.  Heebum followed close behind.

            Ryeowook was busy making sure that the house was spotless.  He swept the entryways, washed the windows, vacuumed all the cat fur off the furniture, and lit a couple candles to make the rooms smell fresh, but in truth, they were already clean.  Kyuhyun was the first customer they’d had in two months.  The Sleeping Cat Guest House had a bad reputation that was hard to live down and few people stumbled upon it by accident or in desperation anymore.  No one was that desperate. 

            So when Leeteuk called to tell him that one of his screenwriters wanted to rent a room for a whole month, Ryeowook had nearly fainted.  It wouldn’t necessarily bring them out of debt, but it would certainly pay the bills for the month.  As long as he didn’t leave early.  It all hinged on their one and only guest actually staying the whole month and not scaring off right away.

             Ryeowook hadn’t slept a wink all night out of nervousness.  He’d almost gone upstairs and patrolled the hallways himself just to make sure their guest wasn’t disturbed, but he knew from past experience that this sometimes provoked the ghosts instead of scaring them off.

            Why did his aunt have to leave him and his brother a haunted guest house to begin with?  How were they supposed to run it when all their guests were frightened away by the ghosts? 

            When Ryeowook heard the telltale footsteps of their guest walking down the stairs and talking to Heebum—in a rather y morning voice, he had to confess—he nearly threw up out of nervousness.  Had the screenwriter already run into the ghosts?  Would he leave or stay?

            As Ryeowook turned to get his first look at their guest, he was immediately confused.  Cho Kyuhyun was not what Ryeowook had expected him to be.  What had Leeteuk told him of the man?  He’d said that he was a bit quiet, took time to warm up to people, generally distrusted everyone, liked to play games and pranks on those he knew well, loved to eat, loved wine even more, and tended to get sick easily.  What Ryeowook pictured was a fat, sickly, withdrawn man who would ignore him and act disagreeable.  When his eyes locked on the man in front of him, Ryeowook was speechless.  He actually stood there and gawked at the man, in shock.

             The screenwriter was tall, looked healthy and attractive, and appeared at least somewhat outgoing.  His coffee colored eyes were bright and warm as they looked at Ryeowook.  Kyuhyun dashed every preconceived thought Ryeowook had held of the man.  But then his lips slowly spread, the corners of his mouth lifting.  And when Kyuhyun smiled at him, Ryeowook forgot to breathe.

            Kyuhyun held out his hand, giving him a slight bow.  “Good morning.  I’m your guest, Cho Kyuhyun.  Please take care of me.”

            It took Ryeowook a moment to recover from the sight of his guest.  He stared at Kyuhyun’s hand for a moment before he snapped out of his dazed thoughts and then he quickly shook the screenwriter’s hand.  “G-g-good morning!  I’m Kim Ryeowook.  Welcome to the Sleeping Cat.”

            “I hope I’m not too late for breakfast!  Your brother said that if I came down before ten, I could eat and I’m starved from eating crummy airline food all day yesterday,” he explained.

            “Of course!” Ryeowook quickly said, suddenly realizing his was still holding onto his guest’s hand and finally letting go.  “I was just waiting until you woke up to cook, since you’re the only guest.  Would you like a traditional Korean breakfast or something else?  I hear you’ve been travelling abroad.”

            “I’ve been craving Korean food and your brother claims your cooking is worth dragging my down here bright and early for it,” Kyuhyun said, leaning forward and lowering his voice as if he were telling a secret, although they were alone in the house.  “I will take him at his word.” 

            Ryeowook nodded, feeling his cheeks begin to warm.  He quickly turned away so that his guest would not see him blushing.  “He exaggerates, of course.  Please, follow me.  Have you seen the kitchen yet, Kyuhyun-ssi?”

            “I might have walked through it in the dark last night, if that counts.”  Kyuhyun followed his host into the kitchen. 

            “I’m sorry you didn’t get to look around last night,” Ryeowook apologized.

            “I wasn’t in much of a mood to tour the house at that point,” Kyuhyun admitted, walking into the kitchen with Ryeowook and glancing around.  “I wanted little more than to change and go to bed.”

            “Where did you fly in from?”

            “Paris.”

            Ryeowook spun on his heels and clasped his hands together.  “Paris, France?”

            Kyuhyun nodded.

            “Ah,” Ryeowook sighed, “I’ve always wanted to travel abroad.  Paris is one of the many places I’ve always wanted to go.”

            Kyuhyun walked around the room, glancing at the cat decorations on the shelves.  “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I just returned after spending several months of travelling to different locations in Europe.  I went to London, Rome, Madrid, and a few other locations.”

            Ryeowook pulled ingredients out of the refrigerator, shaking his head at the thought of visiting so many places.  “You must have had such a wonderful time!”

            Kyuhyun was silent for a moment, looking at a planter with a cat on it.  “The thing is…all those places are interesting to see, but it’s lonely to go there by yourself.  And I didn’t anticipate how I would feel, doing these things, without having someone to share the experience with.”

            Ryeowook looked over his shoulder at Kyuhyun.  “Why did you go alone?”

            Kyuhyun shrugged his shoulders.  “Who could I bring?  If I don’t have a significant other and all my family and friends need to stay in Korea to work or tend to their families, who could I bring with?”

            Ryeowook had never thought of it.  Clearly Kyuhyun could afford to leave for a long time and had no responsibilities that required him to remain in the area, but most people did.  “So why didn’t you just come back?”

            “There’s no one here for me either,” Kyuhyun replied.

            “You don’t have family?”

            “I do…but it’s complicated.  I’ll tell you about it some other time.”

            “I see,” Ryeowook said, beginning to heat up the wok. 

            Heebum wandered around the kitchen, mostly following Kyuhyun around as he looked at the décor.  He was currently looking at the little crystals hanging in the windows that cast rainbows around the floors and walls whenever the sunlight came in.  Heebum would sometimes chase after the lights, if he was in the mood, at other times he would just nap in a patch of sunlight. 

            “Feel free to store your own groceries in the fridge and cupboards as well.  You can make whatever you’d like for lunch or dinner, anytime you want.  Breakfast will always be provided if you eat between seven and ten,” Ryeowook informed him, pointing over at the cupboards in question that were for the use of the guests.

            “I’ve been thinking about that ever since Leeteuk asked me if I wanted to stay here.  I was wondering, if I were willing to pay you extra, would you be willing to cook my lunches and dinners as well?” Kyuhyun asked.

            “That could cost substantially more.  I have to charge both the cost of the food and labor,” Ryeowook pointed out.

            “I can afford it.  What I’m asking is if you’d be willing to do it.  I am not a very good cook and I don’t like to take time away from my writing to make anything or to track down food.  So it would b