Jongin returns home looking as drained as ever. Though it’s already been almost a week since he got his knees injured, it still aches every now and then. However, the pain is more tolerable than before and he is thankful for that.

The only maid to greet him that night is Seohyun, since the others are busy preparing for dinner as Grandma Hyejin will be having guests over.

Jongin is already at the bottom of the staircase when a form emerges out of a door leading to Hyejin’s study room. Jongin almost trips right then and there the moment he sees Chanyeol’s tall figure.

“Chan-hyung!” Jongin softly calls in surprise, wondering why Chanyeol is there. Chanyeol immediately spins around, eyes wide in surprise. They stare at each other for a couple of moments, with Chanyeol being deathly silent instead of greeting him with a tease like he usually does.

Jongin notices that Chanyeol seems a bit…off. He looks nervous, like he just witnessed a ghost float in front of him. It's very unlike him. “Hyung…? Are you alright…?”

Chanyeol is just staring at him. His eyes are telling a million words, though his mouth doesn’t spew any of it. Jongin is beginning to get worried about the older’s silence. He waits patiently for Chanyeol to speak, but the other does nothing.

Instead, Chanyeol walks forward and hesitantly taps his shoulder. His mouth parts open and close, like he is hesitating to say something, but decides against it in the end. He just squeezes the younger boy’s shoulder and emits a heavy sigh, heading to the door which a butler opens for him.

Before long, Jongin hears the rumbling engines of Chanyeol’s motorcycle revving away into the distance. He is confused about why Chanyeol acted a little peculiar. He didn’t even ‘midget’ like he would frequently do whenever they see each other.

Seeing as he still has too much homework to take care of, Jongin shoves his thoughts aside for the time being and makes his way to his room.

***

“It’s a videoke bar. It fits perfectly since our class has lots of Glee Club members,” Baekhyun shares through the other line as Jongin packs his books and notebooks into a pile, leaving them on his study table. He just finished doing his assignments when Baekhyun decided to call him out of boredom.

“That’s great! Your concept will be a hit,” Jongin smiles, dropping down his bed to stare at his aunt’s picture frame by the bedside table. He’s missing her again. “Ours will surely flop…”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. What’s your concept anyway?”

“A love café. Or something like that.”

“Well, if you serve good drinks and desserts then I’m sure you’d gain a lot of customers too.”

“The girls mostly suggested this. Miss Hwang likes it a lot but she said she’ll add a twist of her own and we’re only going to find out tomorrow at practice.”

Unfortunately, Jongin got transferred to Class 1-A three months ago because of his ‘exemplary’ grades. Jongin didn’t buy it at first, thinking he was just dreaming. But when his adviser asked class 1-B to say their goodbyes to him, that’s where it all kicked in. Baekhyun was pretty much an incredulous dark loom of cloud that day. Jongin couldn’t believe it either because as far as he's concerned, Baekhyun was far smarter than him.

Baekhyun said their class’ concept will be a videoke booth and truthfully, Jongin thinks that is pretty cool. Lots of students, with decent voices or not, like to sing and that surely will give their booth an advantage to win. There’s this competition between classes in each level that whoever earns the most profit, gets additional marks on their grades.

If 1-A’s going to do all that cutesy love café stuff, Jongin can already predict the downfall of their class. Not to be a pessimist, but no one digs ‘love cafés’ anymore these days, especially teenagers…

“If she adds her own twist then how bad could it be—oh wait, hold up. Someone emailed me…” Baekhyun murmurs. Jongin can hear the clicking sounds of Baekhyun’s mouse over the other line. While he waits, his stomach suddenly rumbles low, suggesting that he’s really famished.

“...OH MY GOD.” Jongin quickly takes his phone away from his ear at the sudden loud shriek of his best friend. “What? What happened?!”

“KIM JONGIN HOLY GOD,” Baekhyun shouts in a frenzy. His best friend’s hysterical excitement has his curiosity piqued. “I’LL BE IN 1-A!”

Jongin’s brows knit in confusion. “What?”

“I’ll be transferred to your class!” Baekhyun sounds like he is jumping all over his room. “I’ll be in 1-A!!!”

“Wait—what?! How did that happen?!” Jongin’s eyes bulge in shock. He sits up, kneeling on the mattress with his jaw hanging.

“Just like what happened to you! Mr. Lee said, and I quote, ‘You have done excellent work for this semester and your perfect marks exceed that of a student assigned in Class 1-B, so we’ll have you transferred to your grade’s pilot section, Class 1-A, as a reward for your hard work. Keep up the good job, Mr. Byun' Jongiiiiieeeeeee!!!”

Jongin is practically vibrating in happiness as he stands up and jumps on his bed again and again, much like the kid he is. “Baekkiiiieeeeee!”

Before he and his best friend can continue their celebration, the phone on his bedside table rings. “Hold up, Baekkie. One second,” Jongin speaks through the phone while picking the other one up. “Hello?”

“Hello, Jongin?” Jongin recognizes the caller as Seohyun. “Madam Hyejin wants you and master Sehun to dine with her and her visitors. The dinner’s going to be served already, I’m just informing you.”

“Oh, is that so? Okay, I’ll be down in a moment!” Jongin cheerfully responds, before ending the call and returning to Baekhyun once more. “Baek, I have to go. I still have to eat dinner. I’ll call you later when I’m done, okay?”

“Okay!” Baekhyun sings happily, hanging up. Jongin strips off his uniform and changes into a more decent clothing, before hurrying out of his room. Hyejin’s fairly strict when it comes to punctuality.

The second Jongin closes his door, however, a loud crashing sound startles the living daylights out of him, followed by deep bellows. Jongin looks around in panic, trying to find the source of those sounds. The last time he heard something like this was when he was still in his uncle’s place.

“Yah, yah, yah!” Jongin’s heart lurches when he realizes it is coming inside Sehun’s room. His forehead knits as dull thuds follow Sehun's muffled shouts. “Yah! Get out! Get. Out!”

“!”
Jongin’s lips part in confusion. He isn’t sure whether or not to laugh at Sehun’s frantic screams. This is the first time he has ever heard the calm and collected Oh Sehun crack his voice.

The tumbling sounds are still at it so Jongin bites his bottom lip and twists the door knob open, checking to see if Sehun is alright and isn’t being murdered. When he peers inside, he definitely wasn’t expecting Sehun’s room to look like a typhoon just passed by in it.

And that’s when Jongin sees it—the black, hissing and snarling fluffy thing on top of Sehun’s bed. Its fangs are bared and it is standing with its spine arched up, yellow eyes turned into slits. Jongin blinks at the very angry feline perched on top of Sehun’s black bed sheets.

Jongin almost jumps when a book comes hurtling into the air, meaning to strike the cat but failing to do so. Jongin opens the door wide, only to his absolute remorse when he sees Sehun standing in the corner of his room, half- with only a black towel clinging to his waist. The young boy seems like he got petrified as he stands there on the door with gaping eyes, while Sehun stands across the room, completely frozen.

Close your eyes close your eyes close your eyes—Jongin is mentally screaming at himself to run the away from that room and never return but his whole body is betraying him. Only the sound of hisses and low growls yanks him back to the reality. Jongin seems to finally understand the older guy's situation.

Back when he was still new to this house, Grandma Hyejin had briefed him about Sehun’s likes and dislikes. One of his dislikes are cats. He’s very allergic to them and he just doesn’t appreciate them. His hatred for them runs endlessly so it’s understandable for him to yell profanities and throw everything he can get his hands on to a cat who’s on his bed, inside his room.

Sehun, who is still backed up in his corner, watches silently as Jongin invites himself into his room, stepping cautiously towards the cat. Sehun edges away from the corner to close his open window where that cat might’ve potentially entered from.

The cat growls and swishes its fluffy tail around in hostility when it sees that Jongin is approaching. Jongin catches the cool scent of aftershower the further he ventures into the room. He ambles towards the animal, making soft, cooing sounds to calm it down. Sehun is watching the younger boy with keen eyes.

When his hand nears the cat, it hisses again, as though warning Jongin not to come closer. The latter stops, staring the feline in the eyes.

“Come on little guy,” Jongin murmurs, smiling at the black thing. From behind him, Sehun peers down, a book ready in hand in case the cat suddenly decides to attack. They can never be sure. “I’m not going to hurt you…”

“I’m a friend.” Jongin whispers, trying his luck again and touching the cat. He successfully touches the cat on its ear, but suddenly it bites his thumb. Seeing the younger wince causes Sehun to raise his book, but Jongin stays calm.

“It’s okay,” Jongin scratches the cat’s chin with his other hand. “It’s okay.” His tone is soothing.

The cat gradually releases his thumb which thankfully doesn’t have any teeth puncture on it. “There you go…” Jongin smiles softly when the cat finally leans into his touch, purring consequently. Jongin smoothens its soft fur and it seems to love the gesture. “Good kitty…”

While watching the whole thing, Sehun can’t help but wonder how Jongin has managed to subdue the animal so fast. “How did you do that?” He totally didn’t mean to ask, but the words just tumbled out of his traitorous mouth.

Jongin casts a sidewards glance at him shortly with a smile. “I had a cat before, so I know how to tame one.”

Sehun is still very much vigilant, though he lowers the book down and observes Jongin take the black thing in his arms. The stray one who seemed like a monster earlier now looks like the most domesticated, harmless creature in the universe. It’s purring and cuddling Jongin’s arm, for ’s sake.

“Where did you come from, huh?” Jongin sounds like he’s talking to an actual infant. It kind of astonishes Sehun. “Why are you here? Do you have an owner? You poor thing…”

Sehun wants to complain that he’s the victim here because he was almost attacked by a spawn of evil—why the heck does it have to be black—but he remains reserved. Instead, he scowls and steps back, messing up his damp hair. He still doesn’t like them one bit. “Throw that thing out of the window. I don’t want a cat in this house.”

At that, the cat hisses at Sehun, as if it understood what he just said. Sehun glares at the puny thing, having the desire to cook it and feed it to the dogs. It's annoying the living out of him.

The older’s command seems heartless and Jongin is having second thoughts of doing it, but he can’t exactly talk back to Sehun now, can he? He will just make Sehun mad at him if he tries to ask for the cat to stay. This isn’t hi