The apartment gets awfully cold at night, and not to mention rather lonely. It’s the kind of feeling that sinks in after a long day at work, and it sits on your shoulders so tightly that after a while the loneliness seems like an inseparable fragment of you.

Jaebum sighed, dejectedly throwing his knapsack to the floor as he shuffled to the kitchen counter to pour himself a glass of water. He took a small sip, swirling it in his mouth absentmindedly, before taking a bigger gulp and slumping into the kitchen chair.

He was exhausted.

As a waiter working part-time at the restaurant across the street from his apartment, he often got the most inflexible timings around the twilight zone or the early mornings, all because (according to his boss) he “lived the closest and should have no problem turning up”. What his ignorant boss never took into consideration was the fact that he was a university student too, and having to balance his courses and the breakfast or dinner shifts were two distinct but equally taxing tasks.

A soft purr followed by the warm body of his favourite feline friend cozied up to his leg brought the corners of his lips up, even though a simple act such as smiling seemed so foreign to him. It was as though he had not smiled in ages.

“Sorry you had to stay home alone for so long again, Nora.” Jaebum picked her up from the ground and placed her on his lap, running his fingers through her soft fur. “I brought home some leftovers. I know I’m supposed to feed you cat food, but if you’re up for some salmon, I could heat it up for you.”

Nora stared back at Jaebum, her eye fully focused on him as she tilted her head to the side. Jaebum frowned, a sharp look under his furrowed brows. If Nora had meant to signal anything, Jaebum had surely not caught a thing. She impertinently hopped off his lap and back on the ground, stalking out of the kitchen with her head held high.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can never understand what you’re trying to say…”

Deciding to ignore her, Jaebum rummaged through the pockets of his washed sweatshirt to pull out his cellphone. His clothes reeked of spices and oil and his hair felt greasy but he simply had not a single ounce of energy left to care. Slowly, he shuffled over to the couch in the living room, collapsing into a ball of self-pity and solitude, all the while still scrolling through the messages on his phone.

“i miss you, Jinyoung”

The first time he had caught Jinyoung returning home with his cheeks flushed and his lips pink, refusing to talk to him and shutting himself