Shinjoon stared at Hakyeon, then back at the photographs in his hand. “What’s this about.”

“I found these in the archives,” Hakyeon said quietly. “Old club photos. And guess who’s in there.”

“Who,” Shinjoon shrugged with disinterest.

Hakyeon felt his nerve snap. “Why are you still denying it!” He folded his arms. “If Hongbin wasn’t a member of the club, why would he be part of the old group pictures?”

“Ah, that.” Shinjoon adjusted his glasses. “I see you are private investigator potential.”

Hakyeon picked up a picture and jabbed his finger at Hongbin’s face. “Look, right beside him…was you.” He shifted his finger. “You guys knew each other.”

Shinjoon nodded. “We did.”

“And?? Why aren’t you elaborating on this?” Hakyeon questioned impatiently. Shinjoon’s look of nonchalance was driving him to the edge. He leant in and peered closely into Shinjoon’s empty eyes. “There was some bad blood between you two, wasn’t there?”

“Well. You could ask, but that doesn’t mean I should answer,” Shinjoon forced a smile. “There are some things that are better left unsaid.”

Hakyeon felt his veins rattling. “Was this about politics? Hongbin and you were competing for the position of chairperson."

There was no answer. Shinjoon cocked his head, as though challenging him to continue.

Hakyeon clenched his fists. "And then later something happened...?" he prompted, choosing his words carefully. "And somehow Hongbin got kicked out of the club. Then you won.” He raised his eyebrows. "Am I right?"

Shinjoon remained silent.

“Why aren’t you saying anything to defend yourself?” It perplexed Hakyeon. “I don’t want to start thinking that you’re guilty of anything.”

Shinjoon shrugged. “I never said I was guilty of anything.”

“But your actions say otherwise.” Hakyeon felt like he could snap any moment. “First you denied that he used to a part of the club. Then you stopped me from looking him up. You were clearly afraid of something.”

“If I truly was, you wouldn’t have easily found your way to these photographs.”

“That’s why I’m giving you a chance to explain, goddamnit. Or you’re forcing me to speculate. And jump to ridiculous conclusions.”

"Hakyeon." Shinjoon shifted his gaze and leant back. “There are some things that are better left buried in past.” He looked blankly at him. “It'd be best if you stopped probing."

***********

Hakyeon was baffled. And extremely frustrated.

He dragged his feet across the ground, crushing with his foot sticks and stones that happened to come in the way. His breath was heavy, and his mind was filled with endless questions and mindless speculation. If he was certain about anything, he was certain that Shinjoon was an for refusing to disclose anything more.

He wanted answers. He wanted the assurance that Shinjoon had not done anything unscrupulous. Shinjoon wasn't someone like that. In fact, Hakyeon knew him much better than he knew Hongbin. If he had to choose between the two, he’d rather give Shinjoon the benefit of doubt.

But Shinjoon wasn’t being very open, and he was getting really suspicious. Particularly with how he’d blatantly denied Hongbin’s past association with the club. It was a fact that he’d been deceived, and Hakyeon wasn’t feeling too good about that. Perhaps, he really didn’t know Shinjoon as well as he thought he did. And perhaps all his guesses were right. Shinjoon-

“Ow, ,” he grimaced at the sudden flash of pain in his little toe. He glanced down and cast an irritated look at the huge rock had come into his path. He yelled and pulled back his leg, then gave the rock a swift kick.

“I’ll send you off to hell,” he muttered under his breath.

On command, the stone lifted off, but into a trajectory that was aimed straight for a black heap of fur two feet away.

Hakyeon gasped with sudden realisation, but it was too late. Unless he had divine reflexes, he couldn’t intercept the projectile. He watched with horror and regret as the rock landed precisely where he’d hoped it wouldn’t.

“WHAT THE !!!” Taekwoon screamed as soon as he’d jolted awake from his nap.

“Ah, ,” Hakyeon winced with empathy. “I’m- I’m sorry Ash,” he whispered, slowly approaching the animal. He hoped it wasn’t injured.

“What the it’s you again,” Taekwoon spat. The soreness on his back was overwhelming him. “I may have become a ing cat but it doesn’t mean you guys could make my life even more miserable like that!”

“Sorry,” Hakyeon apologised repeatedly but Taekwoon continued to hiss and growl at him.

“Sorry no cure, idiot,” Taekwoon snarled. “If I was in my human form I could pelt you with a hundred stones like those in a minute.”

The cat had jumped into a defense posture, but Hakyeon observed that it had difficulty arching its back because it was, well, injured.

“You’re bleeding,” Hakyeon’s voice was shaky.

“Wow. Who’d have guessed. I must be experiencing extreme pain too,” Taekwoon rolled his eyes. “How about tell me something I don’t already know, like how the do I go back to being Jung Taekwoon or someth-”

He yelped with discomfort as Hakyeon suddenly scooped him up in one swift motion. Taekwoon hissed and kicked in protest but Hakyeon did not let go. With the cat in his arms he headed back for Shinjoon, and while he knew it was unfair for him to be looking up Shinjoon again like that, Ash needed help and that was more important than his stupid pride.

“Let me go, , oh my ing god,” Taekwoon yelled. “How would you feel if you knew you were cuddling with some grown man right now!” He struggled with all his might, but unfortunately he was now a cat with limited strength against humans. He’d never expected that his life could become any more tragic than it already was.

“Shush,” Hakyeon whispered. “I’m trying to help you.”

“By bringing me away from your hostel grounds? God please, I spent so many months accustomising myself to this cursed place and now you’re taking me elsewhere?” Taekwoon wanted to clench his fists but he’s now a cat and he only had paws.

But he also had claws.

“I’m a man of class and I don’t wanna fight but you forced me to,” he muttered. “It’s self-defense.”

Hakyeon winced in pain as Ash dug his feline fingernails right into his flesh. He bit his lip, but he refused to let go. He knew he would make it to his club homeroom and get Ash treated. He would, because it was all his fault to begin with, and even if it wasn’t, then it was Shinjoon’s fault, and so anyway both men would fix the problem they started.

Taekwoon gave up shortly, panting heavily from all the clawing. “Didn’t know this was some ing tiring ,” he scoffed, although he knew that he stopped clawing not because of his tired muscles, but because blood had begun to seep out of Hakyeon’s skin.

“Dude,” he started. “If you were truly remorseful about hurting me, you’d better treat me pizza.”

Hakyeon was silent. Taekwoon saw that his teeth were clenched in pain.

“Well. I bled. You bled. Guess we’re even,” Taekwoon shrugged, in spirit, because he couldn’t do so physically. “But what’s with that acting tough. Won’t get you anywhere in society.”

Hakyeon did not seem to have heard, and Taekwoon figured it was useless continuing a one-sided conversation anyway. He slowly drifted off into a light sleep, slipping in and out of consciousness. The light lavender scent from Hakyeon’s clothes and the persistent ache in his back were the last things he remembered before he fully out.

***********

“Hakyeon.”

“What.”

“Where’d you get this cat.”

“He lives around my hostel.”

“But he isn’t tagged like the rest. I’ve never seen him before.”

“Of course you haven’t. When was the last time you actually fed them personally? Maybe, say, back when you still weren’t involved in messy leadership matters,” Hakyeon shrugged. “Back before your hands got dirty with those politics.”

Shinjoon pushed up his glasses. “I see you’ve formulated your own explanation to things.”

“Didn’t have a choice, did I,” Hakyeon scoffed. “You didn’t even try to convince me otherwise.”

Shinjoon kept silent. At the very least, a flawed explanation was better than none.

“Well, the point is,” he began. “This cat’s not tagged and we need to fix that.”

“What, now?” Hakyeon frowned. “What about his injuries?”

“I wasn’t gonna ignore that. We’ll tag him after everything’s settled.”

“Okay,” Hakyeon muttered. He wasn’t sure if he could control his fists if Shinjoon had said that they needed to tag him first.

“But Hakyeon.” Shinjoon’s voice was quiet. “You need to be careful of him.”

Hakyeon raised his eyebrows. “Who, Hongbin? In case he spills the beans and destroys whatever you’ve been trying to keep under wraps?”

“No. Be careful of this cat.”

Hakyeon scoffed in disbelief. “Why? Is he plotting to murder me?”

“Enough of spite, Hakyeon, seriously.” Shinjoon bit his lip and took a long pause, as though hesitant to say something. “This cat could potentially be dangerous but we can’t be sure until after enough observation.”

“And what makes you think so?” Hakyeon cocked his head. Shinjoon wasn’t making sense. “It’s hurt, Shinjoon. If there’s anything dangerous here it’s us humans.”

“You don’t get it,” Shinjoon shook his head. He was perplexed. It’d been so long since he’d last come across a cat like Ash. And the last time he did, things didn’t end too well.

“Okay, I’ll tell you, Hakyeon. The truth. Take it or leave it.”

“I don’t even know if I can believe your words anymore.”

“Do you want to hear it or not, seriously.”

“Just say it. I’ll decide if I wanna believe you.”

“Well.” Shinjoon took a deep breath. “Ash is a cat demon.”

There was a long silence. Hakyeon stared on expressionlessly at Shinjoon.

“I guess my decision is a no.”

Shinjoon sighed. “Okay. I knew it.”

“You’re a really bad liar, Shinjoon.” Hakyeon’s eyes were distant. “But then again you had me convinced that Hongbin was unrelated to you, so I guess your abilities fluctuate here and there.”

“No. Exactly. I mean, about Ash being a cat demon…it’s so ridiculously unconvincing that there was no I way I would’ve chosen to say this if I really wanted to lie,” Shinjoon replied firmly. “I could’ve picked a thousand other reasons but I didn’t. There’s no way I would’ve said that unless it really is the truth.”

“Then tell me more,” Hakyeon prompted. “Why, of all people, only you know he’s some demonic creature? Are you some sorceror? Do you have magical eyes? What else do you see? Am I a demon too? Is Hongbin a demon?” He rolled his eyes. If there was anything close to evil in this room, it was probably Shinjoon himself.

“…” Shinjoon bit his lip. He had answers to all of Hakyeon’s questions. But that didn’t mean he could reveal them right now. Because more answers meant more questions. Hakyeon was probing too much, and if he relented, it wouldn’t be long before the events of the past were brought up.

“That’s all you need to know, Hakyeon,” he replied. “Ash is a cat demon. Take it or leave it.”