Moment 3: It Takes Time to Grow

Tiny Moments, Precious Memories

Hey, guys! It's me again! 

I just decided to randomly explain the meaning of this story's title. If you guys haven't figured it out yet, I'm basically saying how even the small moments that happen in your life, even if they're as significant as visiting a sick friend or going to the movies, could someday become one of your most precious, lifelong memories. 

Just live in the moment. As Bang Yongguk once said, "Do what you like, love what you do."

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Bang Yongguk, age 24, stood underneath the rain, the relentless downpour slowly soaking through his jacket and shirt. His jeans were getting splattered with water, and his shoes felt clogged and made funny squelching noises whenever he moved. 

His hair was plastered to his forehead, and he grimaced in annoyance when a raindrop got into his eye.

He was absolutely certain that he was about to die of some sort of wet-related disease, like pneumonia or something.

But did his boyfriend care? No, Himchan quite obviously didn't.

Just WHAT was with him and his obsession with anything cute?

"Awww, just look at its widdle bwaby paws! Aren't you a cutie, aren't you? Aren't you?"

Yongguk made an impatient noise at the back of his throat, but Himchan ignored it in favour of staring at a tiny little kitten that was sitting near an alleyway. 

They were walking home from buying some groceries when Himchan suddenly noticed the tiny little cat, and immediately squealed in delight and ran towards it, carrying the umbrella with him and leaving his forgotten boyfriend to soak.

Yongguk was NOT pleased. He kept thinking about his nice, warm, dry apartment, where there were hot showers, a fresh change of clothes, beer, and television. He had absolutely NO interest in watching Himchan coo and cluck at the little cat.

"Isn't it soooo kee-yoot? Yongguk, do you think he has an owner?"

Yongguk walked a little bit closer and peered at the cat. "It doesnt have a collar. It might be a stray."

The cat looked right up at Yongguk with strangely intelligent eyes and meowed.

Himchan shrieked like he just saw Jesus or something. "Oh my god, can we keep him? Please please PLEASE?"

"We're not allowed pets in the apartment, Himchannie," Yongguk said with an edge in his voice. An EDGE, not JEALOUSY. Because Yongguk wasn't jealous of anybody, and especially no flippin' alley cat. It's completely absurd that he should be jealous of a CAT.

All the same, he sulked. How come Himchan doesn't act like this around me?

Himchan ran his fingers over the kitty's soft fur, ignoring Yongguk's frequent warnings of "Stop that, it could have rabies". 

"You're such a sweet kitty, shall we take you home?" 

The cat looked up at Himchan and meowed.

"See? It said yes!" Himchan squealed in delight. "She likes me! She wants me to be her owner!"

"No, the cat just wants food!" Yongguk said irritably. "Wait.....SHE?"

"Yup, I've decided it's a girl!" Himchan declared this so proudly, it was as if he was declaring the gender of his own child. "And her name is Goyangee, and I'm going to keep her!"

He looked just about ready to drop all the groceries and pick up the damn street cat, but Yongguk quickly intervened. "Dammit, Himchan! We can't keep any pets in the apartment! We'll get in trouble. And once they find out the cat isn't ours, they might send it to a shelter or put it down or something!"

Himchan pushed out his bottom lip, looking crushed, but his expression suddenly brightened as he rummaged around for something in the grocery bags. He pulled out what looked like little fish-shaped biscuits.

Yongguk scowled. "Hey, those are mine!"

Himchan ignored him and placed down a handful. The cat immediately ate them up and looked at him, her tongue poking out and meowing happily.

"Oh, you're so cute, Goyangee!" Himchan crooned. "Here, you can have them all!"

"Himchan!" Before Yongguk could stop the crazy kitten-lover, his boyfriend had dumped the entire carton of biscuits down for the cat, who meowed happily back.

"We have to go now," Himchan said to the kitten, talking as though she was a real person. "But we'll be back tomorrow, okay? Wait here, and I'll get you more food."

The cat tilted her head to one side and meowed.

"See? She understands me! She's so smart!" Himchan gushed.

Yongguk's teeth were starting to chatter, and he was soaked through down to the bone. "Yeah, y-yeah, what-e-ever. Can we g-go n-now?"

**********************************************

The next day, Himchan dragged Yongguk back to the alleyway, ignoring Yongguk's protests that the stray was probably gone by now.

To his surprise, he found the cat sitting there, calmly, and serenly, as though she had been waiting for them.

"Hello, Goyangee!" Himchan cooed, pulling out some cat food he specially bought for her (against Yongguk's wishes). "Here, some nice and nutrious cat food! Take it all!"

The cat dutifully ate up every bite, and when she was done, she meowed happily and rubbed her furry body against Himchan's leg, purring.

"Awww! She's so cuuute!" Himchan petted her with a dreamy expression on his face. "I should just bring you home right now!"

"Himchan," Yongguk warned his silly boyfriend in a stern voice. "You know we can't."

And there's no way I'm letting YOU into the house, he added silently to the cat. But no, he was not jealous. Not at all. The cat just annoyed him, that's all.

"I'll give you more food after I come home from work tomorrow, okay?" Himchan said, Goyangee wistfully on the crown of her soft head before letting Yongguk drag him away.

Yongguk turned back to glare at the cat, as if to say I'm on to you.

Goyangee tilted her head to the side and meowed.

***************************************

The next day, Yongguk was back with Himchan. Himchan held up a pretty, snow-white ribbon and smiled at the stray. "Here, Goyangee! Let me tie this around your neck, it'll look so pretty with your dark brown fur!"

Goyangee meowed and obediently sat there, letting Himchan gently tie it into a nice little bow.

"Doesn't it look so pretty?" Himchan gushed.

Yongguk grimaced. "Yeah. Pretty. Whatever."

Goyangee meowed at him and moved closer, as if asking to be petted. Yongguk immediately stepped back. "Don't go near me! Goddamn cat!"

"Yongguk!" Himchan sounded apalled. "How can you say that?"

Yongguk just scowled and glared at the cat. Goyangee's intelligent eyes stared back unblinkingly at him, a strangely friendly look in her eyes. She tilted her head and meowed at him.

Yongguk could have sworn that cat was smiling somehow.

**************************************

Over the next few days, Himchan was religiously devoted to that stupid cat. Yongguk felt like he was shunted to the side. For Himchan, Goyangee was more important than going to dinner with his boyfriend.

Of course, Yongguk was forced to follow after him every day as well, fearing that if he wasn't there to control Himchan, he would find his boyfriend returning home with that furry hellspawn cuddled up in his arms.

"Is this how a husband feels when they finally have a baby?" Yongguk complained to Daehyun as they met up in the office during a break. "Or for a child when they have a new sibling?"

"Jealous of a cat, huh?" Daehyun shook his head. "Never would have thought I'd see this day."

"Shut up."

"Are you saying Himchan doesn't pay attention to you anymore?"

"Not really, but whenever he talks to me, the conversation always goes back to that goddamn cat. It's like that CAT is more important than ME. Honestly, he even buys damn toys for her! Ribbons and balls of yarn and toy mouses and !"

"Mice," Daehyun corrected him.

"Who gives a ?"

"Point taken. Wow, that really ." Daehyun was hiding back laughter for the sake of his sulky friend.

"It does! It's like, all that comes out of his mouth is 'Oh, Yongguk, did you buy any cat food?' and 'Yongguk, are you sure we can't talk to the apartment owner about letting her in? Goyangee is a smart cat, I'm sure he'll let us!'"

Daehyun couldn't hold it back anymore, and he erupted into sniggers. Yongguk shot him a death glare that he just smirked back at.

"Don't worry about it, Yonggukkie. From what you said, she's just a stray. Sooner or later, she's going to disappear. Let's just say that you're the first person I've ever met who's boyfriend cheats on him with a CAT."

"Shut your mouth, !" Yongguk snapped, his ears turning red as Daehyun burst into loud laughter.

****************************************************

The last thing Yongguk expected was for Himchan to burst into the apartment with tears streaming down his face and gasping for breath, as though he had ran the entire way over.

"Himchan? What's wrong?" He stood up in shock, as Himchan ran into his boyfriend's always-ready arms, hiccuping and sobbing pitifully. "What happened? Dammit, Himchan! Talk to me! Did somebody hurt you?"

Himchan just choked a bit in answer. Yongguk couldn't do anything but his dark hair and wait for him to calm down. "Channie?" He whispered.

"G-Goyangee....." Himchan sobbed. "S-she g-got....h-hit by a c-car...."

Okay, Yongguk really, REALLY didn't like that stupid cat. But when he heard this, he suddenly felt a chill, as if a bucket of icy water was dumped over his head. "What?"

"I s-saw it. I was c-coming home from w-work when I saw everyone crowded around on the road, looking all s-shocked. So I looked and I saw it and......i-it was h-her!"

"Wait!" Yongguk pulled away and placed his hands on Himchan's shoulders, looking his boyfriend in the eye. "Are you sure it was her? It could have been any cat."

Himchan shook his head. "It w-was her, all right. T-the w-white ribbon I g-gave to her was t-there. B-but it w-wasn't white a-anymore, it was r-r-r......" He burst into a fresh round of sobbing.

"," Yongguk gritted his teeth and let the delicate man dampen his shirt with tears. He hated that cat, but she didn't deserve to DIE. What did Daehyun say? That she was a stray, so she would disappear sooner or later? Dammit, why was everything that boy said always right?

After all, she was so intelligent....and Himchan liked her so much.....and she had that friendly look in her eyes, even when Yongguk was hostile to her.....as if she just wanted peace and love......

He realized with a gut-wrenching feeling that, with time and patience, Goyangee would have probably grown on him too. If only he wasn't so stupid and jealous for no reason at all. He knew that he would have eventually fallen in love with that cat like Himchan did.

They could have convinced the owner to let her in, and Goyangee could have become part of their life, part of their family.....

And Yongguk had to bury his face into the top of Himchan's hair as his own eyes burned with salty, hot tears.

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WW_Seorin
#1
Chapter 3: Poor Goyangee... poor Himchannie... TT_____TT

Could you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have the cat that got hit be a random other cat with a white ribbon around its neck? PLEASE? I don't like seeing/reading about Himchan being so sad....
jongbuttbutt
#2
Chapter 3: OMG WHAT NOOOOO! PLEASE AUTHOR-SSHI! PLEASE BRING KITTY BACK TO LIFE OMG NO PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU T.T
Kacichan #3
Chapter 3: This was so sad. I have never had a pet but it still hurts me.
misterbanana
#4
Chapter 3: poor kitty ;_________; /sobs sobs/
misterbanana
#5
Chapter 3: poor kitty ;_________; /sobs sobs/
misterbanana
#6
Chapter 3: poor kitty ;_________; /sobs sobs/
hisperfectfault
#7
Chapter 3: awwwww.....
i know how himchan felt..when you have to witnessed your cat being hit by a car....sobs why that cat have to die T______T
seenevermore6 #8
Chapter 3: I felt the same way about my dog when he died. I never really liked him, but seeing him dead, I couldn't hold back tears. Omo... poor Goyangee. Poor Himchan and Yongukkie too.