Sojung thought, after their breakfast, that a lot of things would change since Eunbi had finally shifted to her human form.

And, boy, was she wrong.

Yes, in the beginning, Eunbi was extremely shy and she didn't open at all. But as the day went on and Sojung let out snicker when Eunbi couldn't reach the top shelf, it was just as if she was seeing that cat's death glare again--and technically, she was.

It felt like she was home--which made her feel very weird, after all, it wasn't like she wasn't already at her place.

Sojung felt a bunch of other weird stuff too. For an example, every time Eunbi shyly looked through her eyelashes or pouted at a provocation, Sojung's heart decided to dance samba inside her chest and somehow it was like she couldn't even breathe properly.

But, she thought the right thing to do was ignore it. Everything should be fine if she just pretended those... things weren't happening, right?

"Sojung-eonni...?"

Today was Wednesday and there was little to no clients, so Sojung was organizing the new records that arrived earlier when a familiar voice echoed through the store. The shop owner turned her head around in time to see Eunbi do the same.

Standing at the door was Kim Yewon, a cute human who often stopped by to chat and take a look on the new stuff since her girlfriend was a professional singer and composer who liked to collect vinyl records, and Yewon enjoyed surprising her with some new or rare disk. Thus, Sojung was always ready and happy to help, which led them to a very nice friendship.

“Ah, Yewonnie!” Sojung smiled and caught with the corner of her eye Eunbi lightly scoffing. “You arrived just in time! I have at least ten new records that I think Yuna-ssi would be very interested in!”

Yewon giggled. “Is that so? Then, I’m really lucky!” she stepped into the store and her eyes flew right to Eunbi, who was deliberately ignoring her presence by staring at a dirty spot on the ground. Yewon eyed the girl curiously and that was understandable. After all, no client would be sitting on top of the counter like that.

“Oh, this is Jung Eunbi-ssi,” Sojung explained, her tongue awkwardly pronouncing the honorific. “She is a friend that is staying with me,” she continued and Yewon nodded her head, looking at Eunbi, clearly wanting to introduce herself. “Eunbi-ya, won’t you say hi?”

At that, the younger girl hopped off the counter and wordlessly walked in Sojung’s direction, putting herself behind the tall girl’s body. Sojung frowned, but she understood the situation soon enough. She had found Eunbi playing around a trash can, taken her in because she had nowhere else to go, had to wait for days until the other felt comfortable to show herself even though she was also a shapeshifter--it was obvious she would be wary of new people talking to her.

Kim Yewon frowned at the action, but Sojung just gave her a smile, feeling Eunbi hesitantly grab her shirt.

“Eunbi’s a little shy, Yewonnie, I hope you don’t mind.”

Yewon blinked a couple of times, feeling a little confused, but nodded anyway. “Sure!” she said in her normal, cheerful tone. Eunbi tilted her head to the side enough to take a look at the other and Yewon’s smile opened further. “I’m Kim Yewon, Eunbi-ssi! Nice to meet you!”

Eunbi frowned and murmured something before pressing her head against Sojung’s back.

That really made Sojung internally scream.

“She’ll warm up to you eventually,” the shop owner said, hoping that her voice wasn’t too high-pitched.

Yewon giggled. “No problem! This actually reminds me of what I’m really doing here!”

Sojung raised both eyebrows in a silent question.

“Eonni was actually very curious to meet you,” Yewon’s cheeks pinkened. “She said she wanted to meet the one who I always bought the records with.”

At that, Sojung let out a light chuckle, still very conscious of how Eunbi’s fingers gripped the white cloth of her shirt. “Jealous much?”

“I… I don’t think she’s jealous… or... maybe, heh.”

“So, she wants to meet up?” Sojung quirked an eyebrow.

“Yes, that’s the idea. I thought it would be pretty fun, too! I mean, I always see you here, working, and maybe it’d be nice to go out to eat something! And… Eunbi-ssi could come too if she wants,” Yewon said, the eagerness in her voice making it impossible to Sojung even formulate a refusal.

“It’s a certain yes for me, but… I think we’ll talk later about it, okay?” Yewon nodded and brightly smiled. “You have my phone number, right?”

“I do! Ah, I’m excited now! We could go to that restaurant near the amusement park! Eonni really likes their food and I’m sure you’ll like too!”

Sojung couldn’t help but grin at that. “Of course, sweetie,” she said and ignored the light scoff that came from behind her.

“Okay! I need to go now, but I’ll sure come here again to look at the new material! Bye, Sojung-eonni, by Eunbi-ssi!”

Sojung waved the younger girl goodbye and waited till the door was closed to turn around.

Eunbi’s grip was loose and she let her hands fall while Sojung stood literally centimeters away from her. The shop owner stared at her curiously, observing as Eunbi just fixated her gaze at a random spot on Sojung’s shirt.

“Are you shy around people, Eunbi-yah?”

Ever since they started talking, she had just simply dropped the honorifics after Eunbi’s name and it never felt weird before. But now, after hearing Yewon so politely add it to the other’s name, Sojung felt a little hesitant to pronounce her name like that.

Eunbi didn’t look like she minded though. “Maybe,” she answered, voice flat, and Sojung hummed.

“So I take that you won’t be going out with Yewonnie and me?”

Eunbi scoffed again and Sojung quirked an eyebrow.

“There you go again. What’s up with all these scoffs, Jung Eunbi?”

The shorter girl flinched and Sojung’s heart immediately clenched inside her chest; she didn’t mean it to sound harsh. Sojung was ready to apologize when Eunbi spoke.

“You… I mean… It’s… ‘sweetheart’ and… ‘Yewonnie’ and… I’m just ‘Eunbi’--ugh, just--just forget it. It’s nothing. I’m going to clean the back--”

“Nope,” Sojung had her hand around Eunbi’s wrist before the girl could move and, , how hard it was to control her eating grin at that moment. “Are you telling me you are jealous of nicknames?”

“I’m not jealous,” Eunbi rolled her eyes, but still did not make eye contact. “I just think it’s weird, since I’m apparently your friend and I’m staying over just like you said, but…”

“Uh-huh,” Sojung nodded, trying really hard to not giggle. God, Eunbi looked so cute. “You totally have a point though. Should I be calling you ‘Eunnie’, then? Or… should I just stick to ‘kitten’?”

Eunbi snapped her head up so fast, Sojung sincerely thought the girl had distended something. Eunbi’s eyes were so adorably blown, though, and she looked too flustered for Sojung’s sake. “I don’t--I mean! What?!”

“What? Should we go back to Miss Fluffy Paws, then?” Sojung quirked an eyebrow, enjoying the teasing a little too much.

“God! Just--just do whatever you want!” Eunbi groaned and tried to walk away, but Sojung pulled her closer, the tip of their shoes touching, and their bodies way beyond personal space already. The older had her eyes locked with Eunbi’s and a smirk playing on the corner of her lips. “W-what,” Eunbi stuttered.

Sojung shrugged. “Nothing. I just wanted to know if you want to go out or not.”

“We don’t have to be this close for you to ask me that,” Eunbi pouted and Sojung got this close to squealing. The shorter girl sighed. “I… I do want to go out, but... I don’t know if I can… especially meeting up with them,” her voice trailed off and Sojung blinked a few times.

She doesn’t know if she can… the taller girl thought, wondering if Eunbi was really that shy. ‘That isn’t really the point though. Eunbi wants to go out, but she feels like she can’t.’

“What if it was just me?”

“Huh?”

Sojung smiled at Eunbi’s surprised eyes. “Would it be fine if we went by ourselves?”

There was one, two, three seconds of pure silence; three seconds of Eunbi’s pretty eyes staring at Sojung like they really couldn’t believe in what she had said; three seconds of awkward staring until Eunbi’s cheeks flushed.

The kitty was silent for a couple of seconds and Sojung’s throat had begun to dry up, thinking she had stepped some boundary, when there was a very teeny, slight nod.

So, it’s a date, Sojung thought of saying, but, yeah, she thought she had achieved too much for one single day.

Kim Sojung couldn’t be happier... and it took all of her strength to not wrap her arms around Jung Eunbi and embrace her--the kitty at that exact moment.