“Here sweetie~”

You have been cooing at the grey kitten for the past 20 minutes but to no avail. Your stomach is hurting, your neck sore from the strain and your throat is parch from the constant vocalisation. You can feel the droplets of sweat slowly roll down your spine starting from the top of your neck, and eventually gets absorb into the fabric of your school uniform. Goosebumps rise all over your skin from the gross, sticky feeling of the sweat and humidity combined that is now clinging incessantly to your skin, but yet you won’t budge. You are sure, that with enough patience and adorable flair, the shy feline will eventually warm up to you and approach you. The afternoon sun filtering through the gaps in your leaves shines directly into your eye, the sudden intrusion of light causing you to look away momentarily. Blinking rapidly as you shake your head to regain your vision, your eyes land on something that might help your cause: a bunch of fallen daisies, but still look enticing enough to be used as bait. Sitting up on your knees, you stretch a hand out to pick up the blush pink daisies before pinching the stalk between your fingers. Dangling the flowers in the air, you try once more to grab the attention of the furry feline but she merely blinks at you from her spot behind the bushes, before turning her back towards you. Clearly, she’s not very interested in what you have to offer. Sitting back on the balls of your feet, your shoulders sag as your hands flop against your pleated school skirt, a frown turning the corners of your lips down.

“Flowers aren’t the most enticing thing for a cat, try this instead.”

The sudden, deep-voice that comes from behind startles you, and you whip your head so fast that you almost lose balance. Your eyes are met with an orange and black toy placed right in front of your face. Your eyes slowly trail up to meet the owner of the toy, and you are met with the deep-set eyes of Yoon Dowoon, your classmate that sits at the back of the class with a terrible sleeping habit. Yet somehow, he still catches on perfectly well in class – he’s always been some sort of enigma to you.

“Yoon Dowoon? What are you doing here?”

“Trying to help you catch Mei’s attention.”

“Mei? Who is Mei?”

“That grey feline.”

He points towards the shy kitten hiding within the bushes and his eyes immediately curve into crescents looking at her curled up self. Bending down to kneel beside you, he softly calls her name as he shakes the toy in front of her. Mei finally shows some interest, her ears pricking up as she turns to face the two of you.

“Now you try. Just do what I did just now, she’ll come.”

He places the toy on your open palms and you pick it up, the rough fibres of the toy rubbing against your palm and you keep a firm grip on the toy.

“Mei~ over here~”

The name feels weird on your tongue but after a few more tries, it becomes easier to pronounce the name.

One step. Then another.

Both of you watch with rapt attention as the feline places one tiny paw in front of the other, before she makes a run towards the pair of you. She eventually picks Dowoon, bounding right into his lap as he gently scoops her up into his arms.

“She likes you very much.”

“Only because she’s more familiar with me, and because you cannot hate the hand that feeds you.”

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