The right side of the rainbow

“Well, let me take a look. But if” he takes it and observes it from behind “she doesn’t have an owner, there isn’t much we can do, unless you want to keep her. She is a pretty little princess” he smiles, showing dimples that Mino wants to pinch so bad, taking her away, disappearing with the only other living creature.

He can hear some grumbles; hisses and growls from others animals interned there, and the night and the solitude are just amplifying them, like a bell echoing on his brain; it’s hurting him and he is scared. But, in between these sounds, his voice is quiet and calming, a lighthouse in the vast ocean guiding his beats to a steady rhythm, reassuring, talking softly to the moon, smoothing those creatures in pain with words that are more a song, a good night lullaby.

When he comes back, dressed now more casually, he grins at him and handles the little kitty, now much prettier, who runs to him as if missed, as if it belonged to Mino’s heart.

“She is fine” he reassures him with a captivating, alluring, smile “it was only a few scratches, nothing big. Probably an alley cat has bitten her. Have you think about what you want to do with her?” he asks then, caressing the little kitten, and he brushes his hand too, like an accident that makes Mino all flustered, because they are rough but precious, warm over his own skin and, for an instant, he wants to hold them, to kiss him for no particular reason – may be because he is a little intoxicated and his thought aren’t straight and he is feeling rather lucky to have found such an angel in the worst night he has ever lived. 

“Look, I’m sorry. I came from a party and I’m quite drunk, so I don’t think it’s a good moment for decisions” he confesses, covering his face, embarrassed but honest; he will think about that in the morning, sober enough to take responsibilities for his own actions. Right now he only wants to stare at him until learning all his form, the touch of his skin and the taste of his dreams. 

“I understand” he agrees “should we put her on adoption, then?” he wonders, and his eyes look at him with so many expectations, waiting for something, or maybe it’s just his head, again, playing with him, creating impossible images because such eyes, bright and made with grinned stars, are from outer space. “She must really like you” he says when the kitty his hands with a raspy tongue, a little shade of pink contrasting on his dark fingers “she is also staring at you, that means that, for her, you are her mother!” he exclaims, adoringly, as if he has never seen something more lovingly than this pretty tiny cat staring at him in surprise.   

“What? Have I been adopted by this purring thing?” he is shocked. He is really a familiar man but, this… they have only been together for an hour or so, isn’t it too soon?

“Yes” he nods, smiling calmly “but that doesn’t mean that you have to be responsible for her. So don’t worry. I didn’t want to put you into that situation” he rushes to tell him. “You should go now” he then adds, after a minute of pregnant silence. But Mino doesn’t want to leave – but neither knows how to stay – and so he does the only reasonable thing he can figure it out.

“Can you keep her for a day? Once I sober up, I’ll be able to think clearly” and he has never seen someone agreeing that fast.

“Of course! Here!” and he takes a Polaroid of the little animal, walking shabbily on the desk, and then he writes, with cramped, quick letters, a name, a direction and their telephone number “so you will certainly remember her” he giggles and he looks captivating under the pale light and the stars that come from the window.

When he leaves, with the promise to come back tomorrow with an answer, all Mino can think about is those pretty lips wrapped around his ones and his precious voice chanting his name under sheets of pure white.

Later, back to his sense, hangover thumbing on his head and the taste of coffee diluting the taste of a night spilled out, he will only remember a face of an angel smiling at him, but a picture of a cat, crumbled on his hand and now, found in between the kicked blanked, tells him that, maybe, he will see him again and so he hurries to the shower and does a bit of research about how to take care of kittens, the basics to survives and to have something to talk about if the chance is given. 

It couldn’t be that complicated, he thinks, walking down unknown streets, following the steps on Naver Maps and he smirks to himself, proud of his charming outfit and how much better he looks now - clean and washed and grinning at the sun with happiness. But behind the desk stands another person, someone who doesn’t resemble his memory – and he wasn’t that drunk, seriously, there must be someone else working at the clinic. 

“Are you here to collect a little kitty?” the man asks and, even before Mino’s answer, he brings a cage with the mewling kitten swathed inside, covered and hidden and she is just so much cuter than he remembers; he wants to take her with him and curl together on his bed, sharing secrets and touches.

“Sure, that’s mine!” he accepts her with a blinding grin and the person smiles back at him.

“It’s a precious cat the one you found, a munchkin” he clarifies, a stack of papers on his hands, ready for him to complete them, “Jinwoo hyung told me about it. Did you ever have a kitten before?” he inquires, professionally, just looking for the best to her.

“No, but I took care of my little sister” he jokes “so I suppose that will be easier” and the man just laughs softly, petting her while waiting for him to finish filling the papers. 

“Well, she won’t need much attention. Food, water, a place to sleep and a tray for her needs” he specifies “and a little bit of love and care. But that breed is pretty independent” he says, graze thorn between Mino and the .

Once it is all done, he handles the hutch and opens the door for him and the sunshine casts shadows on his skin. 

It doesn’t take much for Mino to be back; it has just been a pair of days and the same man – and this time Mino makes sure to read the tag on his white coat – is, again, behind the desk, and not a single trace of the beautiful creature that has changed his life and his dreams last weekend.

“Is everything ok, Song Mino-ssi?” Seunghoon asks, worried, an expression that mirrors in his dark orbs.

“Yes, yes, Johnny is great, but I wanted to make sure I get all she needs and maybe you – could help me?” he wonders, not sure if this is the best idea. He knows what he needs – he has a list on his computer, just next to the grocery he has to do too – but he needed an excuse to come back there and see, with clear, focused eyes, the pretty person he remembers, whose voice is still lingering on his ears like a song he will never forget.

“Johnny?” and he seems a little puzzled, but Mino doesn’t mind; Jhonny is pretty, his precious princess who he loves unconditionally. “That’s a nice name!” he says, smiling politely, but Mino knows that he is lying. But it doesn’t matter, he likes it and that’s all he cares about. “What can I help you with?” and, with that, Mino and he entangled themselves in a discussion about cat’s food and the best way to keep them safe. He has all the time in the world today, so he will keep the conversation alive until Jinwoo – Seunghoon has mentioned that name a few times and he is pretty sure that he is the one he has met before – appears again, gracing him with a smile from heaven.

But another client comes to collect a massive grey hunt dog and he has to go, promising to pass by again and tell him what he has gotten for her.

Seunghoon is a liar, he mutters, grinding his teeth while tiding the messiest chaos possible that a small, tiny and fluffy creature can conjure. It’s not only that she pees everywhere, but she also bites his couch and scratches all the furniture, ignoring all the toys he has bought for his hands, red and dented to the extent that his co-workers think that he is injuring himself, as if self-harming, which he is not, well, maybe a little, because he has agreed to keep her and that is like inflicting damage to himself. But she is also the only chance he has to see him again and, for some reason, he has developed some sort of love toward her and her vicious acts against his house and himself.

It’s been a month and he remembers that Johnny has to get her first injection – and the prospect it is only nice because he is going back to the same vet again, on a Saturday afternoon, so he has to be there, for sure. It’s not like he has memorized their schedule or that he is a creepy stalker; he is not developing an obsession with Kim Jinwoo, neither has he looked up his name on Nave, with rather no luck because this is a very common name and he has found a rapper instead of a vet.

The sun crashes on his skin and he melts under it, feeling content, his precious cat jailed on an electric blue cage and the sound of the birds crisping in the air. Which each step he takes his heart beats louder, nearly screaming a sacred name, and he runs toward it, longing to see him again; this time for real, there isn't any alcohol blurring his mind, clouding his sense this time. But instead of precious eyes and a smile worth all the gold in the world, he is greeted by the same, annoying, Lee Seunghoon.

He is just a little disappointed; another opportunity wasted away, another chance to see him lost, another excuse he can’t use again disappearing in Seunghoon’s eyes, who smirks at them both happily, not noticing the frustration that holds on his lips and on the tip of his voice; but he tells him and Seunghoon takes Johnny with him to another room and Mino follows, curious; he has never been that far and he peeks around just to see if he is there, somewhere, but Kim Jinwoo is like water, so hard to catch and he is starting to forget the way his eyes shined, how he was so nice, with a smile made with stars and the moon was jealous of his precious features. 

But he is not in today as well, not the following day when he comes back and he thinks that maybe it was all a dream, after all, he was drunk and he is creative enough to make it up all in his mind; but he still have that picture, hanging on the fridge, with a cramped words and his name on his head just sounds wonderful, the proof that he is real, somewhat. 

He has run out of excuses to come to the vet and he is sure that Seunghoon has started to suspect, because he laughs at him and disses him at any given opportunity “I’m alone today as well, Song Pabo-ssi” he greets him like that whenever he finds the courage to pass by, as if knowing that he is looking for someone else.

It’s raining but he doesn’t care, he runs under it and lets the tears soak him and Johnny, curled in his arms. He enters like a storm, worried face and eyes that are all wet and he doesn’t scream for help because it’s late at night and he doesn’t want to scare whoever that might be there tonight, but Johnny is trembling, shaking like wind and she doesn’t look alright, and he is afraid of what this will mean.

He comes to him like an angel under the white of the light and it’s real, he breaths the same sterile air and hears his heart beating from afar and Johnny's bites hurt, but he finds it magic, entranced in his beauty, how he gleams in colours he can’t describe, like a rainbow after the rain, the calm that makes him believe in love, how he is falling for him again, for real. Like sunlight, he brings it to his eyes, bathing him with feelings that are deepest than before; captivating like the moon, he wants to be drawn to him, to be the one in his hands instead of his pet.

“Oh, you are getting so big, little thing!” he exclaims, rubbing her fur lovingly, smiling at her and at him “you are doing a wonderful work, Song-ssi” he praises him and his cheeks go all flustered, his heart on a race against itself. “What bring you here that late?” he wonders, checking on Johnny clinically, but waiting for his own explanation to come first.

“I found that she was shaking and she didn’t eat today,” he says in a rush to comply with his desires. That’s true, Johnny wasn’t acting like her all day, sitting alone in a corner and ignoring the food and all his attempts to play with her and Jinwoo wraps her in his arms and, no way, he isn’t jealous about it, but later he will sniff slightly her skin to try to find traces of him lingering still.

“Don’t worry; she is just a little under the weather. Give her plenty of water and keep her warm inside and she will be alright in a few days. Treat her with soft food” and he goes inside the clinic just to come back with a packet that he gives to him, giggling all happy “this” and he pushes into his hands and, for a second, his flesh touches his skin and it’s soft and electric, waves of energy burning like fireflies in his eyes.

He stays there for a while, pretending to wait for the rain to stop and for Johnny to get better, but he stares at him solely, going and coming and chatting casually with him about nothing in particular, but Mino feels blessed, hugging his cat who has given this chance to see him again, to find that he works at the urgency, all night.

The storm doesn’t halt, keeping him bottled inside with Jinwoo and he offers his help, even if little he knows about animals, and he thanks him with a smile that he won’t be able to draw but that will appear in repeat in his dreams. He feeds dogs and cats and even gives a carrot to a horse in the back end of the clinic and Jinwoo explains why they are there, sharing bits of his life and Mino catches them, keeping its meaning inside the pocket of his heart that belongs only to him.

The sun is painting the sky with hues of red when he yawns cutely and Mino can swear that he has never seen something more adorable, not even his Princess Johnny; Kim Jinwoo is from another planet, too perfect, too cute and beautiful to be real, to be living at the same time and space as him, nice and caring and cheerful, it's incredible to have met such a perfect person. 

“Thank you for your help! I’m sorry I kept you until morning” he apologizes but Mino can’t stop smiling; he would give away all his sleep for him anyway. It doesn't matter, he will stay up forever only to glance at him. 

“Not a problem! I’ll see you soon” he says, hugging his cat and taking the remaining that Jinwoo has given to her to be with him as well.

“Johnny will be fine, so don’t panic if she is just a little off during the next days. But if she acts oddly again, don’t hesitate and bring her back for another check-up” he reassures, giving a last, lovingly pet on Johnny’s head, earning a sweet, approving mewl from her and he giggles like a kid, deep dimples on his cheeks and the sun is caught in his eyes like a prey trapped on a cobweb and Mino wishes he could be the one hanging there.

He walks under the pale sunshine feeling his heart throbbing hard, and he breaths in, inhaling his essence, dreaming about his lips kissing his skin and his fingers tangled in his hair, whispering softly his name on his sleep.

He stars to draw about him, how he pictures his days, how he imagines him, how he believes he is a great person with a heart of sun and stars that shine like gold. He posts his stories and people enjoy it, remarking how good they are; funny and hilarious, this guy – who is not him at all, tall and broad, with fluffy black hair and glasses, there are plenty of boys like this one – falls so quick for Jinwoo’s charms and how adorable the veterinarian is; so cute and soft and all the girls reading his webtoon love him to bits and Mino prays for Jinwoo to never notice it, for him not to read his feelings on a comic.

The night falls and it has been a week; Johnny is alright, sleeping in her little bed, ignoring him completely, him, who is struggling in the room like crazy, him, who is ruining his hair with his hopeless fingers and his messed heart that skips beats whenever that Jinwoo lingers on his mind. So he runs outside, looking for fresh air and he drinks it all, walking with no destiny, walking toward the only place he feels alive, at ease.

Jinwoo smiles and lets him in.

Months pass like this; him sneaking around Jinwoo, coming to the clinic just to hear his precious laugh, just for his eyes to capture his beautiful smile and for his voice to lull him back to sleep the next morning.

He couldn’t say no to Jihoon when he dragged him to the club, the music blasting, hushing his heartbeats, the missing him that it's every instant that they are apart, but he can’t neglect his best friend every day, so he tries to enjoy and lets the alcohol drawn his sense. But on his way back his dizzy feet take the lead and carry his home, to the place where they know he is, to the clinic where Jinwoo stands, raised browns and a confused smile.

“Hyung!” he exclaims, all excited, hugging him as if great friends. Jinwoo holds him, his hands on his back, rubbing it ends calmly.

“You are drunk, aren’t you?” it’s a rhetorical question since it’s clear, from the way he slurs the words or how crooked he walks, that he is pretty intoxicated, and the smell of cheap beer lingers on the air, too, filling Jinwoo’s lungs and he chuckles at it, helping him to sit.

“I like you ~,” he says, pinching his cheeks lovingly “I really, really like you, hyung”

“I like you too” he singsongs in response, lifting voice reassuring him about his own feelings. “But for now I think you should go home”

“I want to be with you” he pouts, clinging into him, his arms wrapping his waist, not letting him go. “Let me stay with you forever” he continues, all adorable, so soft, like a plushy he has to hug “I can’t stop thinking about you hyung~ All I want is to be with you always and more!” he clumsily chants and, at Jinwoo’s eyes, he has never been more lovable.

“Ok, ok, let me close the clinic and we will go home” he promises, and Mino waits with the silliest smile printed on his face, his eyes lurking at him and his lips expecting to replace the taste of alcohol with something much more pleasant.

This bed is softer than his and the stars are looking at him, Jinwoo is breathing right next to him, curled under shared blankets and shared dreams, hands held and his fingers care his palm because he can’t sleep when Jinwoo’s heart is beating so close to his own.

When he wakes up Jinwoo’s hands are pressed on his navel and he smiles at it, at his hair in disarray that looks only better because he can play with it now, his plump lips that look far more appealing than he can remember, the softness that radiates from him and that swathes him like a present. He spends hours staring at him, at Jinwoo sleeping peacefully, giggling like a fool, brushing stealthily his skin and tracing the contours of his precious face, breathing the air that comes directly from between his lips, drinking it like sacred. The rain slowly caresses the windows of this room and, with it pit-patting, sweet and endearingly, he wakes up to it.

He presses his lips against his as a morning greeting and Mino melts into it, dizzy and overwhelmed, his head spinning. He captures his lips and kisses him again and again, biting the hem a bit, tempting tongue poking around, and Jinwoo lets it slip in, pinning him back to his bed, a mattress that cracks due to the weight of a love that opens to it, the music of two hearts that beat like one.

“I really like you, hyung” he murmurs on his ear and he shivers,  gentle, in his embrace, kissing his eyes, the curb of his lips and more, not having enough of him, slowly and lovingly and Mino takes all the time in the world for him, to keep the pouring kisses forever on his skin.

It has been three months when he receives a mail from an unknown contact. It’s an ad for a roommate searching. He feels like knowing the place, slightly familiar but his mind can't recall it exactly, so he dismisses it, rubbing Johnny's belly affectionately. 

“The only condition is that he has to love cats” Jinwoo texts him,  before ringing the door to his place, smiling with a key on his hand and the prettiest smile on his face, shining like the rainbow that paints the sky after another spring shower.

"Do you want to be my roommate?"