“So today, I fought a cat to establish dominance.” Yuri said as she put down the stethoscope on the front counter with a loud clunk. She doesn’t seem to mind if her action had scratched the item as she releases her hold on it to stretch her arms back and yawn widely.

Taeyeon decided not to pose the concern for the item’s fragility. If she doesn’t care then why would Taeyeon? She reaches for the funnily shaped item and slides it under the counter for safekeeping anyway. Knowing Yuri, there was a high chance the werewolf would forget taking it with her on the way back to the apartment. Days of sleepless nights tend to cloud Yuri’s thoughts and for someone who was interning at the hospital, and after hearing all about what it’s like from the horse’s mouth, she wondered how Yuri hadn’t accidentally made things worse and got the boot.

“A cat?” Taeyeon asked, suddenly giggling as a memory popped into her head. She shook the memory off and raised a brow, silently asking Yuri to elaborate on the new information that sounded totally ridiculous by itself.

“A werecat, really. That girl was so y, running like she owned the place. Getting all up my face.” Yuri slapped the surface of the counter “Who does she think she is?”

Taeyeon nodded her head, leaning over the counter to make a quick survey of the damage that had been done. She spots a few thin, angry scratch marks along Yuri’s arms, but nothing that warranted too much worry. She leaned back, propping both her elbows on the counter so she could comfortably rest her head on her hands. “Uhuh.. And did she own the place?”

“No.” Yuri scoffed, her eyes lowering guiltily down to her feet. “Well, I breached her territory of the hospital, but it was only because I had to pass something on. It wasn’t my fault her boy crush tried to flirt with me.”

“Ah, your natural charm alluring unsuspecting people I see.”

Yuri scowled, her jaw tightening. “It’s not funny.” She gritted out.

Taeyeon chuckled as she watched the werewolf round the counter and took to a crouch next to her, hiding her from the eyes that were trained at her the moment she entered the café. Taeyeon looked around the café floor, humorously noting that every eye was still trained on the spot they last saw Yuri, and she chuckled a little more.

The groan that comes from Yuri further fuelled her chuckles and she nearly tears up. She reaches down to pat Yuri’s back, giving her shoulder a small squeeze of encouragement before straightening back up.

She sees a customer shuffle close and Taeyeon holds the toothless grin, and her chuckles, when the man stops a few feet from the counter. His eyes become a little shifty, and when Taeyeon caught his eyes she noted how dilated his pupils were. Her grin widened as she waited for the customer patiently, tapping her fingers in a tuneless rhythm on the counter to try and take her mind off the hilarity of the situation.

The man finally gave a small nod of greeting and stepped up to close the distance. Instantly Taeyeon sees the man taking a deep inhale, eyes fluttering shut for a brief second longer than necessary. Her smile falls and her fingers stop drumming the table.

“Can I get you anything?” she interrupts the man’s moment.

He startles and quickly snaps his head up to the menu board above Taeyeon. Back was the awkward shuffling from one foot to the other and the man actually stutters out his order, even childishly pointing to the item he was requesting. Taeyeon keeps the blank look on her face as she punches the order and rings the customer up. She doesn’t leave her spot instantly, staring down the man when he lingers a little too long at his spot. When his eyes fall back to Taeyeon’s expressionless face he backs up and quickly shuffles back to his seat. Only then does Taeyeon step back behind the machine.

“So,” she chirps, fluidly going through the motion of creating the requested drink. She gives the grumbling Yuri a brief glance, her lips hiking back up to an amused smirk. “anything else happened at work?”

Yuri sighs, running a hand through her jet black locks before tilting her head towards Taeyeon’s. Looking down at Yuri, and Taeyeon humorously notes the irony of it, she could still point out the eye bags hidden underneath a thin layer of foundation. She didn’t need to share the mental link Yuri had with Jessica to know the girl was tired and wanted nothing more than to curl up somewhere and sleep.

Taeyeon was still fascinated at how the werewolf was able to stick to a routine like her work in the hospital yet still keep a relatively wide social circle. She was sure everyone in the café knew Yuri in one way or another. The friendly girl stood by her beliefs of befriending anyone and everyone. But looking at the worn out body leaning against the counter, she felt a sense of protective instinct gearing her up despite laughing at Yuri’s plight a few moments ago.

She silently placed a cup of coffee on the shelf by Yuri’s head and stepped out to deliver the order she had made. Taeyeon made sure to glare at every single one of the regulars staring at the counter, snickering inwardly when they look away in embarrassment. She makes it a point to make extra noise when she puts the order down. Catching the man’s eyes she held his gaze, her lips curling into a frown. The man seems to get the idea and he quickly bows in apology and keeps his eyes down as Taeyeon walks away satisfied that she got her message across.

“Took you a while.” Yuri says as soon as Taeyeon rounds the corner.

Taeyeon laughs, shrugging her shoulders.

“They were staring, weren’t they?”

“Well.. yeah. But not anymore.”

Yuri looked up from staring at the ground, the side of her lips slowly lifting into a small smile. “Thanks, little buddy.”

Taeyeon ignored the jab at her height and returned the smile. “You’re welcome, pal.”

“Is she here?” Taeyeon looks back from her wiping, a smile lifting the corners of her lips at the familiar voice.

“Hey there. Had a good day?” The witch waves a dismissive hand, one that Taeyeon has seen far too often to feel the least bit offended.

“Yeah, yeah, evening. Is she here?” She repeats with a little more annoyance in her voice.

Taeyeon pays no mind to it as she jerks her head to the small, dark room that was meant to be the owner’s private office. “I got her to take a nap while waiting for you. She doesn’t look very good.”

Jessica’s stiff posture relaxes and she huffs loudly through her open mouth. The following mutters under her breathe was far too soft for even Taeyeon’s slightly enhanced hearing to pick up, but she doesn’t doubt that it was all for the slumbering werewolf and would mainly consist of cursing and death threats, as per normal.

“Don’t you have like a potion for her.. ahem… condition?”

Jessica rolls her eyes, as if Taeyeon had just asked her a really stupid question. “It’s a normal thing. You’re making it sound way worse than it really is.”

“Well, I bet for her it’s a pain in the .” Taeyeon voices out for her friend. She has a feeling that the werewolf would be too proud to admit her annoyance of the indecent looks and uncomfortable attention, especially if it makes her look weak to her mate. From what she’s overheard from other female shifters, going into their heat was never a fun experience. She didn’t completely understand the aching and wanting part, but the werewolf’s business isn’t exactly anywhere near human like. She had enough on her plate playing the part of a human to make heads or tails of what they meant, but if she could help a friend in need.

“She has it like twice a year. It’s not gonna kill her to just bear with it for a few days.”

“You know, today is her seventh day.”

“Well then, she’s halfway through.”

Taeyeon sighs. Maybe she could try a different approach. “She’s garnering a lot of unwanted attention.”

“She’s mated to me. No one’s going to act on it if she does her part in driving them away. As she should.” The last part was mumbled. Taeyeon’s sure Jessica doesn’t mean her to hear it, but she did.

A mischievous smile pulls at her lips. She pretends to scratch her nose to hide it. “I don’t think I should tell you…” she puts on a concerned look, mentally giving her a pat on the back for listening to Tiffany’s teachings on expressions. She taps at the counter, looking towards the closed door, surreptitiously checking on the silent witch’s facial expression. She holds in her delight at picking up the tense aura radiating from the witch and tries to look as concerned as possible. “I just.. I think she was trying to hide it.”

“Hide.. what?” Jessica was breathing heavily, her face starting to turn red.

“The marks on her skin. I mean.. she said it was nothing, but it damned well look like scratches you’d get from nails..”

“It could be nothing.” She says as Jessica stalks past the counter and to the room. The slamming of the door and the subsequent thuds and screams of surprise has Taeyeon, and the rest of the patrons, to jump in their spot. Taeyeon is quick to recompose herself and she chuckles as she takes out her phone, quickly typing in a request to crash at the fairy’s couch as the room’s silence slowly turns into muffled groans.