The next day after filming Donghae found himself standing in a pet store. It was small and cramped but quaint and homely at the same time.

He slowly looked around taking everything.

There were cages along the walls issuing barks, mews and calls of all natures. Through the centre of the shop there were a few rows of shelves adorned with pet food, animal toys, aquarium decorations and an assortment of other pet related objects.

A sapphire blue rod with feathers dangling from string at one end caught his eye.

I could get that for my cat. He thought. Wait, what are you saying, you don’t have a cat yet. Don’t get ahead of yourself.

Donghae shook his head, and approached the cages to take a peek inside.

One cage held three small Labrador puppies, all huddled together sleeping. Donghae stuck his finger through the cage and made quiet cooing noises as one of them opened its sleepy eyes. The puppy yawned wide and blinked at Donghae a few times before huddling back into his brother’s side and fell asleep again.

“Aww,” Donghae said as he watched them sleep for a moment. “How cute”

A few cages along he spotted some kittens playing with the shredded newspaper in the bottom of their cage.

As he approached, two of the kittens spotted him and went to hide up the back of the cage, fearing the big human before them.

“Naw, don’t be afraid little ones!”  Donghae whispered extending his hand to the cage for the animals to investigate. “See…”

“Talking to cats already… Well you’re setting yourself up for a great future as a cat lady, or in your case, a cat man.”A sarcastic voice came from behind him.

Startled, Donghae whirled around nearly losing his balance in the process.

“You scared me!” Donghae exclaimed, his hand over his rapidly beating heart.

Before him stood a young man who looked about the same age as him but was taller. He had short brown hair that was styled nicely around his face that accentuated his sharp features. The man also had a lazy smirk plastered across his face, clearly amused by the fact that he had made Donghae jump.

“Sorry, but it’s not my fault that you were too engrossed in your conversation with the cats to hear me come up behind you” the man said flatly. “In any case,” he continued in a brighter tone. “My name is Hyukjae. Can I be of any service to you today?”

“Ahh, yes. I think so.” Donghae replied, turning his attention back to the cage.

“I’m looking to buy a cat.”  

“A cat huh. Well you’re in the right place. The cats in this cage were all abandoned, so they’re in desperate need of a home.”

“Aww that’s terrible” Donghae said, a sad look in his eyes. “What breed are they?”

“Aegean, so it’s such a shame to see them just left out on the street.” Hyukjae sighed. “They are such intelligent animals, and very adaptable too!”

Without a moment of thought Donghae piped up.

“I’ll take one!”

Hyukjae looked a bit surprised.

 “O.k.” he said, slowly. “Which one do you want?”

"Umm" Donghae hummed Peering further into the cage.

There were a few cats huddled together up at the back staring back at Donghae with their bright eyes.

But then he spotted one by itself rubbing its face with its paw.

When it saw Donghae looking at him it stopped and tilted it head to the side inquisitively, eyes staring into Donghae's as if daring him to look away.

"That one." Donghae said, turning to Hyukjae, pointing at the one he wanted.

"The one with the grey patch on its face?"

"Yeah, that's the one. I'll call it patches!"

"Oh, the ingenuity." Hyukjae drawled. "However did you come up with that one?"

Donghae chose to ignore the man's sarcastic remark and instead go about picking some toys and bedding out for his new companion.

___

By the time he had left the pet shop, it was an hour later, and he was $400 poorer, but Donghae was content.

He had bought a little travel box for Patches, a soft new bed, a scratching post, a litter box, about 2 weeks’ worth of cat litter and of course, that sapphire blue cat toy that he saw earlier.

After making three trips to his car he was finally home and everything unpacked. He set up the bed and put it over in the corner with the scratching post. He then put the cat litter box in the laundry and filled it with litter. Lastly, he put the travel box on his bed and picked up the toy. 

From inside the box Patches was staring at him intently, his sharp eyes darting between Donghae and the toy in his hand. 

Slowly, Donghae reached forward and waved the toy in front of the door on the box. Suddenly the cat darted forward and tried to paw at the feathers.

Ok. Thought Donghae. He wants to play; he’s interested, let’s see how this goes.