4 years ago…

Today was the day she was going to tell him. She was tired of hiding it for so long, and it had come to the point where she could no longer take it.

She knew that telling him might ruin their relationship forever, but Arin was willing to risk it all.

One day, she took his hand and dragged him away from everyone else. She brought him outside, where no one could hear them, and she told him.

“I know this might change everything, but I need you to know that I’m in love with you,” she told him straight out, not beating around the bush.

“L...love?” Minghao stuttered, pointing at himself.

“Yes, love.”

And then Minghao smiled a smile that Arin will never forget, because apparently, as she soon learned, he loved her too.

-

Arin woke up later that day feeling empty and all round uncomfortable. Meemo was not there to keep her company, and she didn’t even have her phone, which meant so could not talk to her online friends, get Chilli updates, or talk to ~. She felt like she was isolated from everything that was important to her.

That discomfort bugged her so much, she decided to go get her phone back immediately, even if it made her come off as desperate. She went down to the 13th floor and knocked on Jeonghan’s door. He opened it many seconds later.

“What do you want, Missy?” he whispered. In the corner of her eye, Arin could see that there was a guest in Jeonghan’s apartment. Judging by Jeonghan’s formal attire, Arin reasoned that it was the new rich tenant who was there to sign the leasing contract.

“My phone, please,” she requested politely.

“Later, not now,” he sputtered, seeming irritated with her interruption. “When the guy leaves, I’ll bring it up to you. Bye!” he then slammed the door in her face.

Arin groaned. She really hated her landlord, treating her like some middle school kid who needed to be grounded from her phone.

And so she waited and waited. She passed the time looking through old album photobooks and putting things back into place after all the furniture moving from the previous night.

An hour later, Jeonghan appeared as promised.

“Your dumb phone was driving me crazy with all the dumb notifcations from your dumb boy group,” he told her as she took it from him. “So I turned it off.”

Arin bowed and then quickly closed the door on him, eager to see all the notifications he was talking about.

Jeonghan was right. Chilli had posted a lot of content that morning. Mingyu posted a selca. Wonwoo posted a singinging cover. Vernon wrote a message on the fancafe. Her favorite fanfic was also updated. She had a lot to catch up on.

It was only after consuming all of that content that she decided to check her messages.

Hey Arrie, sorry it took so long to text but I left your building with Meemo, ~ had sent last night. Arin had seen that message, but Jeonghan took her phone before she had the chance to see the rest. But as soon as I left, I was called for an emergency. I’m so sorry but I couldn’t take Meemo so I went back and returned him to the bedroom you already closed up and finished cleaning. Sorry again. I’ll fill you in later. Gotta go now, bye!

Arin felt her heart drop to her knees as she realized what this meant.

The unauthorized cat was now in the new tenant’s bedroom. If the new tenant found her, he would definitely complain to Jeonghan, which meant that Jeonghan would fire her, or what’s worse, he’ll throw Meemo out.

She needed to do something.

In frenzy, she charged out of her room and down many flights of stairs until she got to the eighth floor. She wasn’t really thinking when she firmly knocked on the door in audible desperation.

She completely forgot her whole commitment to “avoid human interaction.” All that mattered right now was retrieving Meemo.

The door opened, and she came face to face with the new tenant. She froze, realizing the mistake she made.

“May I help you?” the young man from behind the door asked.