So that was that. Jade was letting a complete stranger by the name of Chanyeol stay with her; possible , possible serial killer. She felt that this was some cliché incident, mainly because of the fact he was Asian – most likely Korean by the sound of his name – and that she was a Korean, by chance, who is letting him crash at her place. She just wanted the week to pass by. Quickly. And hopefully in the process.. she’d remain alive and unharmed in the end.

          Jade stepped foot into her apartment, books and papers scattered on her small table, blankets on the floor with her cat lying on top of them, and wrappers littering her floor and couch. Not to mention the pencils and ripped notebooks laying in the entry of her bedroom door. Jisook most likely clawed at them for revenge.

She didn’t really care who saw her apartment, after all she worked full time and went to college; it was almost mandatory that her apartment stay this way. Seeing it clean was rare and made the place look foreign to her.

          “What a nice place,” he told her as he looked around. She made a face as she placed her jacket on a hanger by the door. She paused as she did so. Was that sarcasm? The tone of his voice didn’t hint any. No one would say that anyways if they saw the place. He must be lying, but she didn’t mind. At least he was trying to be nice; that was the least he could do since she was offering a free place for him to stay. He should bow to her and praise her, but asking that or pushing the envelope that far was.. too weird. She wasn’t like that.

          “You can sleep on the couch. I will get clean blankets and a pillow. Don’t mind Jisook,” she said to him, taking her shoes off and walking to her bedroom.

          “Ji.. Sook?”

          She yelled from her bedroom, “My cat. In the living room. She hates everything.”

          “A cat?” He smiled wide and ran into the living room, searching for the white haired cat. He loved cats – animals in general, really. And having one here would be even more exciting for him. Could he befriend it?

 Jisook’s ears were alert and her eyes closed – she sensed an unusual presence. “Hi Kitty!” Chanyeol whispered loudly, crouched down beside the cat and staring at her with wide eyes. It was rather creepy, but that was Chanyeol for you. “Aren’t you pretty?” He petted the cat, which opened its eyes to see who exactly the deep-voiced person was. She was like her owner; she had a bubble that she didn’t want invaded. “I’m Chanyeol!” The cat stared at the boy before her. He looked too happy for one. “It’s nice to meet you, too. Your master let me stay here.” The cat blinked and started to purr. This boy seemed nice. She decided to accept his friendliness. “She hasn’t fed you yet?”

          Jade was standing behind Chanyeol, watching with her head tilted. It was like he understood the cat. Which was unnatural. Unbelievable even. She quietly placed the giant blanket and pillow on the couch and sat on the arm of it, still watching Chanyeol and Jisook. If he’s crazy.. aigo. 

          “I’m sure she will feed you soon. She must be very busy!” The cat meowed at Chanyeol. She liked him. She liked how he was paying attention to her and understanding her a billion times better than her own owner. She was contented with it, no matter how funny his expressions were. “Oh really?” Jade’s eyes widened and she let out a laugh, trying to convince herself that she was going crazy. Chanyeol and Jisook both looked at her. “Is something wrong?”

          “You’re talking to my cat as if you understand her,” Jade told him, motioning towards her cat. The cat closed her eyes and rubber her head against Chanyeol’s hand.

          He stared at her blankly as he stopped petting Jisook. He stood up and shrugged. “I can. She says she is hungry and that you are always busy writing on those papers and staring at those books.” He looked over to her messy desk, piled with the objects he mentioned. Jade let out another laugh and turned, walking towards the kitchen. She needed food for herself.

          “I’m sure she did.”

          “She did!” Chanyeol called after her. “Should I ask her a personal question so you will believe me?” Jade didn’t believe him at all. Why should she? A human talking to a cat was purely crazy. She chuckled as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Chanyeol, on the other hand, was curious as to why she didn’t believe him. If she was nice, like he had assumed, she’d believe him... or at least try.

          “Go ahead,” Jade called back, taking a drink from the water. She examined the bottle’s cover and waited.

          Chanyeol looked at Jisook. “Jisookie, what is a personal thing about your master?” Jisook blinked and Chanyeol smiled wide, happy with the cooperative cat. He looked at the archway of the kitchen, as if Jade was standing there. “She says you like to sing Super Junior songs in the shower and that you tend to talk to yourself in there a lot, too. You’ll get out of the shower and walk around with a shampoo bottle, singing. She says you’re not a good singer.” Jade choked on her water and wiped , looking at the fridge in disbelief. Maybe that was a coincidence. Maybe he was a stalker and he was only pretending to be nice so he could stay there and kill her. Maybe he was just a figment of her imagination? She set the bottle down and scoffed quietly, trying to calm herself. This was too surreal.

          Jade walked into the living room and eyed Chanyeol. “You…” He just smiled, hoping that the fact Jisook told him was good enough. “GET OUT!” She pointed to the door. His smile disappeared after she yelled at him. He had no idea what he did wrong. He only did what she said to do. Was that bad? Jade motioned to the door again. She didn’t want to push him away - it was more the fear that he’d overpower her and then kill her.

          “But…I told you what Jisook told me! Like you said!” he explained, moving his hands about as he did. Jade was backing him to the door, ready to kick him out. “I won’t do it again!” He waved his hands then, his eyes wide. “I promise!”

          She stopped. She let everything sink in for a minute and came to the conclusion that she was confused. This boy, this stranger.. he wanted to stay with her. He’s here. He acts as if he can talk to her cat. He knew a secret, personal thing about her. Her obvious answers to all of this were three: stalker, , killer. “Are you a stalker?”

          “Stalker?” he questioned, letting the word echo around in his head. “Stalker…” He paused as she watched him closely. “No!” He shook his head, confirming he wasn’t.

          “Alright…” She heaved a sigh and looked at her cat, which was now cleaning herself. Really? She looked back at Chanyeol. How did he understand her? Was that even possible? This wasn’t Dr. Dolittle. This was real life and in real life…you don’t understand cats. But if he was so persistent to prove he could understand her... and he was acting that way when she confronted him about being a stalker.. maybe, just maybe he was normal. Well... as normal as he seemed to get. “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

          “I like galbi,” he told her, a smile appearing on his face. Jade just changed entirely. He quickly settled on the idea that she was nice and accepting and he proved he could speak to Jisook. If only he could read Jade’s mind and hear her thoughts..

But Jade noticed that he sure did smile a lot. “Or tonkatsu. Both are delicious,” he continued, the smile never faltering. She just stared at him, bewildered. She knew galbi. Galbi was a Korean dish that was basically ribs. But she didn’t have that or knew where to get it. This was England. Did he not realize that? Jade didn’t know tonkatsu, though. It was an unknown dish. Her expression softened as she realized something: he is most definitely Korean. He waited. “Can you not make it?” I can… I used to at home. She mentally sighed as she shook her thoughts away and then shook her head at his question.

          “I don’t have ingredients,” she explained to him. The thought of that Korean dish sent her mind to home; the urge to call her mother and father and go dive into the list of unwatched Korean dramas tugged at her. Missing things wasn’t on her routine though, so she ignored the urge. But, she continued on with wondering and the thoughts of anything related to home. “Do you speak Korean?” He blinked a few times before nodding his head. She smiled. He was slightly confused, but that wasn’t something unusual. But especially now.. he was really confused. Maybe Jade was bipolar.

          “Do you?”

          “I’m Korean, pabo,” she told him in Korean. “I have cereal, ramen-“

          “I’ll eat ramen!”

          She nodded and walked to the kitchen, grabbed a packet of instant ramen and began to fix it. Chanyeol sat in the living room, petting and talking to Jisook. Jade was a bit happier about Chanyeol being there, since he was Korean and everything. It reminded her of home. She hummed happily as she waited for the ramen to heat up. She still didn’t understand how he could speak to Jisook. Maybe she could ask or something.

          “Don’t forget Jisook’s food!” Chanyeol yelled at her, still petting the cat. “She says ‘please’!” Jade winced and grabbed the cat food from under the sink.

          Then again, maybe kicking him out was a good idea.

➥ author's notes; ♡
hi. uhm. bye. deuces.