“What now?”, Hyun Hae saw that Minsoo also crossed the street and is now walking side by side with her. “I thought that’s your way?”, she said pointing on their left.

“Yeah, but I wanna buy milk tea first before going home, what’s wrong with that?” he smirks, silently praising his self.

She hastens her steps and arrived first at the stand. “Two regulars, please”, she ordered.

Minsoo has already caught up with her before she could finish her order, he then ordered one regular for his self. They paid for their orders.

“I can’t believe you can drink two”, he said pertaining to her order.

“Those aren’t for me”, she simply said.

“Then for who?”
She gave him a don’t-as-in-don’t-talk-to-me look.

“Do you know that you can be really scary sometimes?” he said, she ignored him.

Their orders came. Before he could take her orders, he heard a little noise, then nothing. She heard it, too. She started to look around to try to see where that noise came from. Then came the noise again, they gave each other a questioning look when suddenly the noise got louder. Picking up his milk tea, Minsoo then turned to look at the corner where he suspects the thing that’s making the sound is coming from. He smiled upon seeing a little kitten.

“Hi there, little kitten”, he said crouching down to put his hand on top of its head.

Hyun Hae then looked at the cat. It’s all messy, and she have to admit that it kind of stinks a bit, but what surprises her is the way this man in front of her pats and touches the cat as though it’s the prettiest. Her view towards this man is changing as the scene in front of her unfolds; he’s still petting the cat while saying how pretty that cat is.

“Aww, this cat is so pretty, don’t you think so?”, he’s talking to Hyun Hae now. He lifts his head up to look at her. He is smiling a happy smile at her, which left her speechless for a few seconds. He has a beautiful smile. It’s different, way different from the smile he used to muster when he’s out praising his self. This one is genuine, warm, honest, happy, and just beautiful.

“Hello?”, his smile vanished, he’s now waving his hand in front of Hyun Hae who seems to be blacking out. “What’s wrong?”, he asks concerned.

“Well, I… I’m scared of cats”, she said softly.

“You’re what? How can you be afraid of cats when they’re this cute?”, he said, now holding the cat with this two hands. He stood up, totally forgetting about the milk tea he placed on the ground. With his right hand, he continues to pet the cat while his left hand carries it by the tummy. It’s a tiny gray kitten with black ears, and a little black at the tip of its tail and by the paws. It’s eyes are grayish blue. The cat is beautiful, really, Hyun Hae felt bad being scared to such a beautiful creature, but she can’t help it, she’s afraid of them. She can look at cats and adore their beauty from a distance but she never did once touch one of them.

Minsoo can see that she is having arguments inside her head but he can also see the genuine fear she exudes towards the cat he’s cradling on his arms.

“May I know why?”, he asked softly which made Hyun Hae lift her gaze to him from the cat.

“Uhm, I honestly don’t know. I haven’t been scratched by a cat before if that’s what you’re thinking to be the cause of my fear, I don’t know, I’m just… scared”, she said a little wary.

“But you don’t like it that you are scared of them?”, he asked cautiously.

She ponders upon his question before nodding her head. s“Yeah, they’re pretty, and they look so sweet and loving, but I don’t know”, she said sadly.

“Well, maybe you’re scared they’ll scrape or scratch you?”

Again, she looked up at him, what’s this? Why is he being all gentle now?

“I… guess?”, she answered hesitantly.

He gave her a smile, an assuring smile, before clasping the two front feet of the cat with his right hand, while still holding onto its tummy with his left.

“Now, you can touch it, I’ll hold its front feet so that it wouldn’t be able to hurt you, which I believe it’ll never do now, but still, to ease your mind, I’ll hold on to it like this”, he said slightly shaking his right fist which has the cat’s two front feet inside.

She looked at him, eyes widening in disbelief. One, he’s being kind to me? Two, can I really touch a cat finally? I have been wanting to touch their beautiful fur since I am little but I guess I’m too scared to be hurt, her thought trail off.

She looked at the man in front of her, he’s giving her an assuring smile, an honest one, she tried to smile a little but she’s too nervous from what she’s about to do. She then shifted her gaze onto the cat that he’s holding on to.

Slowly, she lifted her right hand to touch the cat’s head.  An inch less before actually touching it, she withdrew her hand which made Minsoo look at her.

“Don’t be scared, I’ll make sure it’ll never hurt you, so, go on and touch it”, he said, his warm smile is back, lighting up his whole face.

Hyun Hae gulped, either because of the beauty that’s smiling in front of her or because of the nervousness she’s feeling towards what she’s about to do.

Again, she lifted her hand, moving it so she can touch the cat finally. When she does, she smiled to herself. I am touching a cat! I am petting it! She’s smiling with the thought that she is actually feeling its fur and its thin body under her warm palm. She its back some more before finally withdrawing her hands, looked up to Minsoo, and give him a warm smile. “Thank you”, she said honestly.

Minsoo was slightly taken aback by her sudden gesture but managed to smile back before congratulating her of overcoming her fear. They remained smiling at each other for a full minute when Hyun Hae broke the silence that enveloped them both.

“Will you care for that cat? I mean, take it home with you?”

“Well, it doesn’t have a collar that indicates its care taker’s address, so, yeah, I guess I’m taking it home”, he answered looking down at the cat.

“What will you name it then? Is it a boy, or a girl?

“Hmm, let’s see…”, he inspects it’s body then said, “oh, so it’s a girl”, he smiled at her again.

“Will you give it a name?”, she wanna touch it again but he’s not holding onto its two front feet so she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

“About that, I haven’t thought of any yet, but surely I’ll think of something after I give her a bath”, he explains.

“Oh, okay. So, I guess I’m going. Bye and, thank you again”, she bowed, smiled, and then left to go home.

“Okay, bye and, you’re welcome.”

Hyun Hae waved but didn’t bother turning to look at Minsoo.

When she’s nowhere in his sight, he sighed. “Well, I lied. I already have a name for you”, talking to the cat in his grasp, he continued; “how does the name Hyun Hae sound to you, huh?”, he asked with a smile.

The cat then made a little sound of ‘meow’ which Minsoo took as a yes.

“Haha, so you like your new name, huh? I like her, too”, he smiled. Picking up his forgotten milk tea on the ground, he marched to his way home, carrying Hyun Hae the cat by his chest.