--

Hyunjin slowly stirred awake, letting her eyes adjust to the bright light shining onto her face. When her eyes adjusted, she looked around, Hyunjin finds Heejin's house comfy, simple yet there was a hint of loneliness in the atmosphere. It was clean, even after knocking over her things on the kitchen counter, Heejin still managed to clean it up without Hyunjin knowing. Everything was neatly in place, from the decorations to the furniture. Hyunjin was never really much of a neat person, she does clean up after herself but was never that tidy about it, as long as her things wouldn't get in the way, she'll leave it as it is.

Hyunjin looked down at her hands, still intrigued about them, Hyunjin knew deep down she was once a human, until one day she woke up in a test tube suddenly thinking and behaving like a cat, it became natural. Hyunjin spread out her fingers, analyzing them carefully, she put her finger down, and soon the next, all the way until her hand was closed. Hyunjin's head started to hurt again, it suddenly pounded her head. She didn't know what happened then but her hands instinctively shot up and cupped her scalp, grabbing onto her hair and tugging on it to relieve the pain. 

Hyunjin didn't what she was doing or how she was doing it, it all just happened. She laid there for a while until she remembered she was still lying on Heejin who was still sound asleep. Hyunjin turned her body and her attention to Heejin, scanning her pretty features. Hyunjin thought Heejin was very pretty, which was probably made her trust Heejin that quickly. Hyunjin moved closer to Heejin, staring at her peaceful face while asleep. Hyunjin spotted a mole under her pretty eyes, her round cheeks despite her sharp face shape and her nicely sculpted nose bridge.

An idea came to Hyunjins head, she raised her hand and motioned it to Heejin's face, before Hyunjin brought her hand down, she noticed her hand was rather big against Heejin's face, so Hyunjin came up with a solution, she placed all her fingers down except for her index, leaving it out. Hyunjin then brought it down to Heejin's nose, successfully tapping it. A sudden happiness surged through Hyunjin as she smiled brightly.

"Aeong!" She let out happily as she tapped Heejin's nose again.  Hyunjin found it very entertaining, she got so excited she started bouncing, forgetting she was still on Heejin. This stirred Heejin awake at the sudden strong movement. Heejin slowly opened her heavy eyes, only to be meet with Hyunjin so close to her face. Heejin suddenly stopped functioning, a pink tint forming on her cheeks as Hyunjin cutely tilted her head to the side. 

Heejin was completely shocked, Hyunjin was so close, too close. Any other sudden movement could result in their lips touching. Heejin blushed harder at that thought but she also mentally slapped herself, it's too early to be thinking these things.

Heejin snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a giggle from Hyunjin, Heejin looked up to see Hyunjin smiling brightly, soon after, she felt her nose being tapped, erupting more giggles from Hyunjin before jumping off Heejin and onto the floor. If Heejin wasn't shocked before she was frozen now. It took a while for the gears to turn in Heejin head but when it finally did, Heejin let out a silent squeal.

'Did she just booped my nose?!' Heejin thought to herself, trying her best to calm herself and her rapid heart down.

"Aaaaaaeong......" Heejin turned her head towards the floor, seeing Hyunjin on the floor, pouting while motioning towards the kitchen.

"Aw, is Hyunjinnie hungry?" Heejin cooed.

"Aeong!"

"Alright, stay here, I'm going to get breakfast," Heejin smiled fondly, getting up, she pet and lightly scratched behind Hyunjin's ears, receiving a purr before letting go, making Hyunjin chase after her hand. 

Heejin could get used to this.

--

Heejin doesn't know a lot about cats, she has never had one. She doesn't know the behaviour of a cat. And right now, Heejin really wished she was researched about them, feeling Hyunjin's head rubbing against her leg while she ate breakfast. After Heejin had given Hyunjin bread for breakfast, Hyunjin was eating off of a plate on the ground and Heejin sat at her table when she heard shuffling, and soon, she feels a head against her leg, Hyunjin's hair tickling her leg. Heejin's heart doing flips when she felt Hyunjin's cheek rubbing against her bare leg and sometimes feeling a slight headbutt. Heejin quickly got up and went on the floor, surprising Hyunjin. Heejin used one hand to cup Hyunjin's cheek, almost squealing when Hyunjin leaned into it and another hand to lightly pat Hyunjin's head.

"What were you doing just now?" Heejin asked softly.

"Aeong," Heejin expected that reply, she never knows what it means, however, Hyunjin understands her just fine. Heejin soon made it her mission to research on cat behaviours, from the small things to the bigger things. She is determined to understand Hyunjin in this state, making sure she would be able to strengthen their bond in the right way without mishaps.

In the corner of Heejin's vision, Heejin noticed that Hyunjin's hands are opened, rather than the usually clenched fits against the ground. An idea came to Heejin's head, Heejin quickly stood up, grabbing her now empty plate off the table and Hyunjin's plate of the floor and headed towards the kitchen, leaving a confused Hyunjin slowly following behind. Soon, Heejin came back with a plastic cup in hand and sat on the floor in from of her couch and signalling Hyunjin to come to her lap, being Hyunin, she immediately compiled and crawled to Heejin's lap, and snuggled into her chest again.

Heejin will never get tired of Hyunjin snuggling into her chest, but that's not why she called her over.

"Hyunjin, look," Heejin called out softly, Hyunjin lifted her head off Heejin's chest and focused her attention towards her, Heejin held up the plastic cup towards Hyunjin, trying to test her luck first, Heejin could obviously tell that Hyunjin was very confused, she knew she didn't know what to do next. Hyunjin started to sniff the cup, sniffing around it along with Heejin's hand that held the cup. Hyunjin surprised Heejin when she suddenly bit on the tip of the cup, using strength and pulling it towards her. Heejin almost lost her grip with the sudden action but thankfully still managed to hold on to the cup, trying to not let Hyunjin take it away.

"Hyunjin, no, let go!" Heejin spoke, trying to nudge the cup off of Hyunjin's mouth, however, Hyunjin was acting stubborn and not letting go, they ended up playing tug of war with each other for a while, neither of them getting what they wanted.

"Aeong!" Hyunjin whined, her meow was muffled but still clear enough to be heard. Heejin was growing frustrated, soon grabbing it with both hands, Heejin almost yelled at Hyunjin when she suddenly remembered Jiwoo's words about patience. Heejin took deep breaths before releasing one hand and bringing it towards Hyunjin's head, giving her scratches at the back of her ears like usual.

Hyunjin was suddenly overwhelmed by the nice feeling of scratches, paying more attention to the scratches than the thing inside , letting it go and started purring. Heejin was finally able to get the cup back, she was thankful she remembered Jiwoo's words at the last second, her and Hyunjin's current bond would have been shattered if it were to go differently. She congratulated herself, feeling proud of her brain for finally remembering something useful for once and not some useless junk from her past. 

Heejin stopped scratching Hyunjin and tapped her chin, asking for her attention, which has been giving after her hand has stopped. Heejin gestured to the cup again, this time showing Hyunjin how to do it properly. Heejin showed the cup to Hyunjin along with an open palm, Hyunjin soon mirrored the open palm with her own, Heejin then brought the cup towards her open palm and making sure that Hyunjin is watching, she wrapped her fingers around it. 

Hyunjin, again, was very confused.

"Aeong?"

Heejin carefully grabbed Hyunjin's open palm and brought the cup to her palm like before, Heejin then manually wrapped Hyunjin's fingers around the cup, since Hyunjin didn't know she needed to use strength when Heejin let go, the cup held right out of her hand. Hyunjin was now shocked yet surprised, she looked at her palm, bending her fingers and looking back at Heejin who nodded.

"Use strength Hyunjin," Heejin instructed softly, carefully redoing the same procedure to Hyunjin's hand again, this time listening to Heejin's words, she uses strength, too much strength. Hyunjin started gripping the cup tightly when Heejin let go, she was squeezing it firmly and using all her strength. Heejin took notice of the unnecessary strength and immediately wrapped both her hands around Hyunjin's, Hyunjin immediately relaxed due to the contact from Heejin, she would feel the warmth radiating from Heejin's hand to her, this caused a nervous and strange sensation at the pit of her stomach and felt her heart beating faster, Hyunjin didn't know why she was suddenly feeling all these things but she eventually pushed them down and out of the way.

"Use strength but not a lot, enough to grip on this cup and relax," Heejin smiled softly, Hyunjin nodded in response, apply a bit of pressure towards the cup in her hand. When Heejin let go, Hyunjin missed the warm feeling from her hands and almost wanted to whine, but she stayed quiet as she was more surprised with her achievement. Hyunjin was successfully holding a cup, sitting nicely in her hand. Heejin clapped happily for Hyunjin, happy she did it. 

Hyunjin examined the cup and her hand, she could feel the rough surface of the cup on her fingers, she wasn't using much strength but it was still there and barely noticeable. Suddenly, Hyunjin's head started to hurt again, this time harder than before, Hyunjin let go of the cup, letting it drop on the floor, she cupped her head as it started pounding hard, it was bearable but still painful. 

Heejin was immediately worried for Hyunjin, seeing her suddenly drop the cup, her pretty face all scrunched up in pain and her hands clasping around her head as her body started to fall back. Heejin quickly grabbed Hyunjin's body and positioned it against her, letting her rest on her chest. Heejin started to and pat her head, embracing her into her chest. 

"Hyunjin? Are you okay?" Heejin asked softly, worried for her cat.

"Aeong...." Her voice was soft, Heejin could sense the pain in them. Instinctively, Heejin gave a small kiss on Hyunjin's forehead before going back to patting her head. Heejin noticed that Hyunjin has been starting to get frequent headaches and this seems to be the worse so far out of all of them. Heejin was starting to get extremely worried about Hyunjin, was she starting to get sick? Is she okay? Did something happen? Is this normal? This can't be normal.

Many thoughts were running through Heejin's mind, mainly questions than answers. Should she call Jiwoo over? Is the older busy? Heejin felt useless, she didn't know what to do and how to help Hyunjin, she was inexperienced. 

Heejin's thoughts were cut off when she felt a small grip on the collar on her shirt, surprising Heejin as Hyunjin knew how to grip. Heejin felt more shuffling from Hyunjin, feeling her snuggling into her neck and resting there.

"Hyunjin?" Heejin asked softly again.

"Aeong," Her voice was louder this time and more reassuring to Heejin, Heejin hugged Hyunjin and leaned back onto the couch and Hyunjin's hair. Heejin may feel useless, but at least she knows that Hyunjin seeks comfort in her, mainly the way Hyunjin would always come to her for snuggles. Heejin would also never forget how happy Hyunjin looked when she tapped her nose, she was just so adorable. As for now, Heejin would say she is doing the best she can with whatever she has, it may not be a lot, but it at least is something. Something to help Hyunjin at this time.

-------------------------------------

Author's note:

Hi, sorry for not updating for so long and this boring chapter once again, teachers be a pain in the neck with their endless amount of school work.

They really are like "I understand that right now we have this stressful unwanted situation, I hope and pray that you and your family are doing well for both your physical and mental health. Now here's an essay you must finish within two days, 3 or more assignments with 50 open-ended questions each and a test in exactly 3 days,"

My response: you are my stress

sorry for my rant.