The Cat Who Explained Stuffs

After Tokki woke up, (and calmed down a little bit) she went with Leo to go eat breakfast. Even though the toast was cold and the ham was starting to become soggy. She was still a little sleepy, and had no memory of anything she said or did after she fell asleep, so she had no idea why Leo kept shooting little glances (that were unbelievably sharp) at her.

But, they were now eating breakfast, and Tokki had poured herself some milk as Leo made himself some coffee.

"So, how do you like life as a human so far?" She asked happily as she chewed on her toast.

Leo finished his sip of coffee and put his pink polka-dotted mug (the only color of mug Tokki had was pink) before responding.

"I... was actually human before." He said softly and carefully. "My name was... Jung Taekwoon."

"Really?" Tokki took another bite, looking at him with wide eyes.

He stared out the window at some unseen bird. "...Yeah."

She blinked and processed that for a minute. "Ah... then who were you? If that makes any sense."

Leo leaned back in his chair. "Just an ordinary person..." His eyes darkened. "...who had enough of life's cruel jokes."

Tokki opened to speak, but the dark-haired male kept talking, in an eerily quiet voice.

"...I ran away and became a street cat for quite some time." He shifted his strong gaze to the ceiling. "... Of course, I got injured, starved, and whatnot but I didn't want to go back... until I got hit by a car."

There was a moment of silence where he paused.

"...It wasn't extremely serious... but it was to the point where I couldn't move my leg. And then..."

His heavy eyes rested on her. Tokki found herself paralyzed, unable to move.

"... you found me."

Leo's/Taekwoon's eyes were tracking her down as if she were prey, narrowing slightly.

"...You brought me here, you healed me, you treated me so kindly..."

He leaned forwards and gently her hair, lips slightly parted.

"....Even though I didn't want to stay at first... you somehow made me want to..."

His face was merely inches away from hers.

"... I don't understand how or why..."

Tokki squirmed a little in her seat as Leo's eyes bored into hers, and she was feeling strangely hot, her face was burning, and she was getting a bit light-headed. At that very moment, Leo snapped out of whatever (y) trance he was in and backed away immediately, with a flushed face, mumbling apologies as he went.

She decided to use this time to grab some clothes from the closet and get changed, since it was already almost twelve. Of course, she went into the bathroom to change, as Leo was flustered enough already. She stepped back out in an white and pink polka-dotted and lacy shirt, a short pale pink poof-sleeved jacket, and a bubble-gum pink pleated A-line skirt.

"Um... Taekwoon--"

His head turned around immediately. "...Please don't call me that."

"Ah! Sorry. Leo, do you want to do anything?"

Leo mused over it for a little. "Maybe go around the supermarket for a bit...? We need some things, right?"

She was about to say something in reply but the sound of loud running footsteps and the jingle of keys interrupted her and she shoved Leo into the closet just before a certain blonde N-jumma burst in through the door.

"TOOOKKKKIIII-AHHHH~~~~!!!" He nearly shrieked as he crushed her in a loving hug.

"Y...Yes... Hakyeon...?" She managed in a strangled voice.

He let go immediately. "Whoops, sorry! ...Anyways, do you wanna maybe go shopping at the mall and then grab some lunch?"

Tokki was about to say she just ate, (which wasn't a lie) but Hakyeon started giving her puppy eyes and pulling at her sleeve as he pouted.

She sighed. "...Well, I dunno... I--"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I EVEN INVITED WONSHIK AND JAEHWAN AND HONGBIN AND SANGHYUKKIE AND WE HAD EVERYTHING PLANNED OUT PERFECTLYYYYYYYY!! TOKKI WHY?! WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!"

N-jumma grabbed Tokki and continued to sob.

"YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT WONSHIK! HE'S BEEN BUSY WITH HIS LIFEGUARD COURSE LATELY SO WE CAN'T GET TIME TOGETHER AND NOW YOU RUIN ITTTTTTT WHYYYYYYYY--"

"Okay, okay! Okay. I'm going. Just wait outside for a second." She agreed unwillingly and ushered Hakyeon out the door, but then at least four other hands grabbed her and started to drag her outside.

Tokki tried to pull back from the grinning faces of Wonshik, Hongbin, Hyuk, and Jaehwan whilst whining.

"Noooo, I don't even have my purse yet! Have some patience, would you??"

They let go and Tokki ran back inside the room, grabbed her light pink plain bag and Samsung, whispered a quick 'I'll call you' to the closet before she was pulled back outside. N then promptly locked the door and everyone started walking/running and pulling Tokki towards the mall.

When they got there, a small surprise was waiting there for them.

A smartly-dressed, streetwise girl with long, slightly curled dark brown hair and even darker gray eyes was waiting for them. She had peachy skin, with hints of eyeliner and 'natural' eyeshadow with a pinkish red lipstick, and was dressed in greys with purple accessories, like violet flats, a hairband, a necklace, and a delicate bracelet.

The sharp girl walked towards them, hips swaying and stood in front of them with her hands on her hips.

"Why didn't you guys wait for me, huh? I called so many times." She asked in an obviously angry voice.

Hakyeon stopped immediately, shielding his sons and daughter. "Ah... Eunmi-noona..."

Eunmi glared at him. "Hakyeon."

The tension in the air was extremely thick until the 24-year-old woman spotted Tokki.

"Ahh~! Tokki~! I've been looking everywhere for you~~"

She shoved N-jumma out of the way rather harshly, and Wonshik caught him before his face smashed into the concrete. The noona hugged her happily, while shooting death glares at the others.

"Tokki-ah, how many times did I tell you not to play with these suspicious men? It's not safe for my little darling..." She cooed while ruffling her hair.

Eunmi was Tokki's beloved unnie and other mom who was actually female. She did not approve of her spending time with those delinquents, and even though Hakyeon was her umma/ahjumma before her, she didn't like him. At all. Eunmi also was super duper strong, could tackle any man with ease, and had a horrible temper to match.

The noona and the guys had an argument about who got to whisk Tokki away before they had a compromise that Eunmi come with the boys to shop and to eat and she got to drive Tokki home.

So off they went.

The first stop was Etude House, and Hakyeon and Jaehwan cheerfully skipped around the aisles testing products left and right while Tokki looked for her favourite cotton candy and sugar scented perfume. Eunmi stayed with Tokki, while testing all the lip products she could. (she had an addiction to them) Everyone else just hung around inside and out.

After Ken (as Hakyeon lovingly dubbed him), and said ahjumma bought like half the store, with Tokki buying her perfume, amd Eunmi buying a whole bag of lipsticks, lip glosses, and lip balms, and the group went to the clothing store. Tokki sort of watched as Hakyeon and Ravi picked things out together while Hongbin and Hyuk grabbed a few cool clothes and suspiciously went into the same changing room, and Jaehwan and Eunmi literally reserved whole racks.

Even though everyone else was having fun, (Ken and Eunmi were now arguing over clothes) all Tokki could think about was Leo. He had been behaving weirdly, and she still hadn't called him yet, and she was just overall concerned. Maybe he was hungry again, or he was bored. She bit her lip as she thought of all the things that could be happening at her house right now.

Tokki had been worrying about almost an hour straight while absentmindedly flipping through clothes before someone tapped her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.

"Tokki? Tokki...? Hellooooooo..."

She jolted and whirled to face the slightly annoyed voice which was trying to get her attention.

"Y-Yes?"

Hyuk sighed and put his hands on his hips. "You're really airheaded today, and a lot more than usual, too. Is something bothering you? Or are you just tired?"

Tokki shook her head furiously. "No, no! I'm fine."

He studied her for a minute before nodding skeptically. "Okay then... oh, and noona says it's time to eat. You coming?"

"Yep!"

Although Tokki was really trying her hardest, her mind still made its way back to Leo. She had even subconciously ordered fish and chips and was now staring at them absentmindedly, not even eating. Everyone else was having such a good time that they barely noticed that she was being so unnaturally quiet and not long after they had finished up and they dragged Tokki away to the nearest thrift store on the other side of the mall, not even glancing at the untouched fish and chips.

In the back of her mind, Tokki prayed that the thrift shop would take her mind off the dark-haired male that was alone and lonely (not really) in her apartment.

...And in the featured finds section, they were selling sculptures of cats, paintings of cats, t-shirts with cats printed on them, snowglobes with cats in them, just everything cat related, as it was 'Caturday'. She groaned internally as she picked up a necklace with a tiny figure of a black cat dangling on it, its amber eyes shining, unaware of the potential murder happening in the background as Hakyeon, Jaehwan, and Eunmi noona warred over an extremely stylish suit jacket.

She decided to buy it, holding it in her hands as she examined it closer. There was also a minature bell on it that made the most beautiful ringing noise when it moved, the cat had soft fur on it, and its glowing amber eyes really looked like it was alive. The feline figurine was no taller then two and a half centimeters and had a pink bow around its neck.

When she finally turned around, Hongbin and Hyuk were now fooling around with zany hats and accessories and Wonshik was comforting a sobbing Hakyeon. Jaehwan was pouting by himself while Eunmi noona was dancing in victory. Tokki smiled and petted the tiny cat necklace without thinking. She was worrying a bit less about Leo now, and headed towards the group. Eunmi grinned widely at her as soon as she saw her.

"Guess who won the fancy suit fight~? That's right! Me! Eun-mi-noo-na!" She cheered.

Hakyeon reached for Tokki. "Tokki... Noona is mean..."

Wonshik his hair. "Shh... it's okay, I'll let you wear mine."

The blonde looked up, still tearful. "But... they're all too big...."

"Did you just call me fat?" the blue-haired male retorted in a very offended voice.

They had a short argument while Hongbin and Hyuk came over. The brown haired one was wearing a giant rainbow tie-dye top hat with enormous neon pink glasses, and the young brunette was wearing a huge green furry moustache and clown boots.

"Are we leaving?" Hongbin asked while laughing.

Eunmi looked them up and down, unamused, before nodding briskly. "Yes, we are. I need to check out these beauties before someone snags them when I'm not looking!"

She grabbed Tokki and dragged her to the checkout as she chirped about her other fab finds in the store. Eunmi commented a bit about the cat necklace that she found, but didn't talk about it again, as she was absorbed in her beautiful clothes that she was about to pay for. Eunmi continued to babble on and on about other things that happened during her week, such as difficulties at her job, rumours about her friend getting married, a recent birthday, and graduation from university coming up.

When they left, at about five in the evening, Eunmi drove Tokki home after a tear-filled, overdramatic goodbye, and she was home. She carefully opened the door to find Leo sitting behind it, waiting for her. Tokki was slightly surprised that he was patiently just waiting there, but then she remembered that Leo had developed this habit about three days ago.

She gently petted his head, in which he purred softly, and she smiled, feeling the heavy weight of concern lift from her shoulders.

"Sorry I was gone for so long... everyone shopped around too much..."

He looked up at her, his eyes curving in an eye smile, as he was glad that she was back.

"It's okay..." the familiar soft voice floating from his lips. "...I wasn't too lonely..."

Tokki looked up at the clock and balked.

"4:58?? You must be starving!!" She threw her stuff onto the bed and ran for the fridge, fetching some beef and ramen to cook into a noodle soup whilst scolding herself. "I should have watched the time... now I left Leo all alone and he's hungry and lonely and he could have gotten hurt and..."

Leo watched her, amused at her antics as she panicked around in the kitchen. Tokki was always like this. She worry or panic so much that she would trip and fall and then she would worry and panic some more. She was the type of person who would literally throw her body away for someone. Even though she looked energetic, Leo knew that she was tired and that she needed a lot of rest.

He walked slowly into the kitchen, where Tokki was hard at work stirring the ramen around and adding the beef, and he put both his hands on her shoulders, making her jump and drop the chopsticks and spoon.

"Gahh--! Leo, what are you--?" But she didn't get to finish as her picked her up, princess style, and threw her onto her bed. When she tried to get back up, he smushed her face (gently) into the pillow. He then went back to the stove and continued cooking the ramen.

Tokki turned her face to look at him, still processing what happened. "...Leo...?"

"...Yes?" He replied nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

She narrowed her eyes. "I can see you smirking under there, Mr. Cat."

"Under where?" Leo said in a monotone voice with an impeccable poker face.

Rolling off the bed and into the kitchen, she stood beside him and pouted. "I can make the beef ramen by myself... I'm not a baby."

He turned and poked her cheek, his face completely emotionless except for a slight eye smile. "Oh really...? With that face?"

Tokki swatted his hand away, scowling cutely. She couldn't help it if her chubby cheeks made every expression she made look like a toddler's. As she was sulking, Leo scooped up some of the soup with the spoon and offered it to her.

"Say ah~"

She ran away.