The cat spa was a whole lot tiring to manage than how it looked. Changmin had always been weak around cats and wanted to avoid them as much as he could. But he couldn't find any work else to do and this was the only job available for him.

He came to work after he woke up on Junsu's bed. He had been permitted by Junsu to share the bed together.

Until I find the time to buy you a new bed.

So basically after this they would sleep together. Changmin was taken to the seventh heaven just by thinking he would be that close with Junsu.

He walked into the bathing room and saw five kittens waiting to be bathed. He cringed when the kittens watched him with wary eyes when he entered. He grinned at the kittens but of course they could never interpret the meaning behind the grin. Changmin scratched the back of his head when a worker entered the room.

"Hey," Changmin turned around. It was KyuHyun.

Oh, a coincidence!

"You're new right?" Changmin nodded. "I'm Cho KyuHyun," Changmin smiled. Of course, his heart was filled with joy. At least, he met one more familiar face. What luck!

"Shim Changmin." he grinned. KyuHyun gave him a look and shrugged.

"Here, I'll show you how to bathe this kids," KyuHyun walked to the cage where the five kittens were waiting. "But you have to learn the names,"

"Okay," Changmin was excited just because KyuHyun was there. In the real world, he wasn't as close to KyuHyun like he was close to his hyungs, but they were of the same age. KyuHyun was snarky and his behaviour was a lot alike with him. Changmin couldn't find an excuse to be close to KyuHyun, just like how Jaejoong was close to Siwon when he's still in the company. He just wasn't as good as Jaejoong in making new friends.

Kyuhyun greeted the kittens by shoving his index finger into the cage and tickled a kitten's ear. The kitten responded by biting lightly on his finger. KyuHyun giggled.

"Here is Munchy," the kitten was black and white in colour with green eyes. "Munchy likes to bite but he's nice." KyuHyun tickled Munchy's ear more. KyuHyun patted the kitten next to Munchy with his finger. "Here is Rose," Rose was a kitten which had brown fur with black tiny stripes near to its tail. "Ned," a Siamese kitten, "Gramp," a kitten with a very weary looking, "And Andy," this kitten was the smallest and the most active.

"Munchy, Rose, Ned, Gramp and Andy," Changmin repeated the names earning such a wide smile from KyuHyun. He started to mix the shampoo into a small basin. The shampoo was orange scented.

"Do you like cats?" KyuHyun asked as he prepared himself with an apron.

"I don't particularly hate them." KyuHyun glared at him but then he worked on the kittens. The kittens started to meow loudly and scratching the cage.

"But why are you here then?"

"I...I need a job." Changmin couldn't be anything else but honest. KyuHyun didn't look interested at all by now as he lathered the shampoo on Rose and Ned. They were practically screaming in their own language. The other three kittens were trying to find a way out. "I just came here to Seoul and I needed money to get by,"

"Where do you live then?"

"At a friend's house." they were silent, only the kitten's sounds became the background's music.

KyuHyun had finished bathing them and he switched on the hair dryer. He asked Changmin to dry them first with a dry towel. Changmin awkwardly did it with extreme caution. The kittens were still fighting but not as aggressive like before. Changmin was scratched but nothing he couldn't handle. Like he said to KyuHyun, he didn't particularly hate cats. They weren't just his preferences. Even back at home, he had a Maltese that was the smallest amongst DBSK's pets.

"The drier had to be in this distant with the kittens, or else we would burn them," KyuHyun instructed and showed Changmin how to use the hair dryer. "The mother is not here, so they might get cold very fast,"

"Okay," Changmin watched and after a while they were done. Changmin was asked by Kyuhyun to bring the cage out of the back room and to release the kittens. Changmin obliged. He brought out the kittens and watched them ran around the spa. Kyuhyun told him that the kittens would have to be trained to pass their waste in the provided place and for a while it would take hard work to train them, plus if they weren't good enough, the waste would be around the spa and the workers needed to clean it up. Kyuhyun took a comb and handed it to Changmin.

"Here." Kyuhyun said and led Changmin to a long-haired cat that had a very grumpy face and bratty attitude. Changmin scratched his head and watched Kyuhyun brushed its fur. "Do it with love and care," Kyuhyun said, one hand brushed the cat's fur and the other patted the cat's head. Changmin could hear the purr. "They might want to be pissed at you at first, but it'll get better if you're patient." Kyuhyun then handed Changmin the comb. "Here." Changmin took it with wary. He might get scratched and bitten by now but he couldn't turn back now.

They were only cats, nothing more.

But the look in the cats' eyes seemed like they despised him as a newbie. Maybe his scent was overwhelming and unnatural for them? He patted the cat and her lightly at first to see the reaction. When nothing negative happened, he proceeded with combing the fur. It was quite amusing to think he had never combed his sisters' hair before and now he's tending to a cat's fur? It was funny how the world turned everything upside down for him.

The cat was a nice one. Kyuhyun said it was a female. After Changmin brushed her fur, he went on grooming the other cats' fur that Kyuhyun told him to. Kyuhyun taught him how to throw the waste that was in the sandbox and how to get rid of the strong smell with a substance. Cats those were well-groomed only those were allowed to roam around the spa and play with the customers. Customers who came would pay for cuddling and playing with the cats. Most of them were cat lovers but couldn't adopt one because of many private reasons. The customers were served with drinks too. It was like having a good time in a good club with great hosts, only the hosts weren't people but cats. Changmin couldn't fathom how people could pay for this kind of service but hey, ion also used the same kind of system only a bit more complicated.

Changmin carried two more cats into the showroom and let two child customers played with them. Both the cats were perfectly groomed and ready to entertain, even if actually humans are the ones who served the cats. Changmin tickled a cat's ear and the cat growled and grabbed Changmin's hand playfully. He let out a small laugh and felt that having this job wasn't so bad at all.

***

"Do you know Lawyer Jung?" Changmin and Kyuhyun were hanging out at the backyard, sipping cold drinks and watching the cats fed themselves.

"You don't know him?" Kyuhyun looked like he was going to choke on the drink. "He's the owner of this cat spa!" this time Changmin choked with his own drink. He coughed and put his drink down.

"The owner?"

"Yes. This cat spa. Lawyer Jung Yunho, right?" Changmin nodded vigorously. "It's him."

"But previously when I was first hired...?"

"That's Sung Eun Kyung, the manager of the cat spa. He was given the power to administrate this cat spa by Mr Jung." Kyuhyun explained. Changmin blinked, it was unbelievable to think Yunho was an owner of a cat spa. His Yunho wasn't a cat person and his pet dog was big. "Sometimes he would drop by and see how the business going," Kyuhyun took a cat on the floor and brought it onto his lap before he the cat lovingly. The cat rested his head on Kyuhyun's knee and closed its eyes. "You see, this cat spa is very successful especially amongst the rich families with restrictions of pet adoptions," Kyuhyun kissed the top of the cat's head. "Especially the children, they loved the cats very much,"

"How long had this business going on?"

"I don't know...maybe four to five years? The kittens were sometimes brought from the shelters to be kept here. They had potentials, and the customers are willing to pay for the cats."

"I can see that." Changmin saw the donation board in the showroom. The customers were competing against each other to reach the top of the highest donations.

"Why do you ask about him?"

"Nothing. I just met him last night. I didn't know the world could be such a small place." small world, indeed, his heart added. Kyuhyun smiled at him.

"He's nice, right?" Changmin nodded. "I wish I can have his courage." Changmin looked at Kyuhyun, waiting for elaboration of his statement. Kyuhyun flicked his hair to the side. "If I were to fight alone with the underground I would tremble in my house,"

"Is the underground thing very powerful?"

"They are like yakuza in Japan. They are everywhere and they do their work silently. People were scared. That's why they kept giving in."

"Why does Lawyer Jung wanted to fight them when no one else wanted to?"

"I don't know. The rumours of Mr Jung with the underground leader roamed around sometimes ago but I bet people didn't talk about it anymore,"

"Lawyer Jung is really alone?" Changmin was scared.

"There's police, but they can't help much. They can only make actions if Mr Jung has the right evidence,"

"What about this current news on TV? What about it? What is the corruption?" Kyuhyun watched Changmin, his eyes widened.

"I-I don't know." Kyuhyun swallowed. "Geez, you're eager to know."

"Oh. I'm just curious,"

"Don't tell me you don't know anything about it?"

"I was not in Seoul before this..." Changmin drank from the drink. "So I don't know much,"

"It is a very humungous issue. It's better if you read about it. I don't want to tell you anything because I hate details."

***

Changmin missed Junsu but his hyung didn't answer the phone and didn't reply to his text messages. He felt so lonely like he had been abandoned for a thousand years even though he had not seen his hyung for less than twenty four hours.

He met with other workers in the cat spa to spend his time and to forget about his longing for Junsu. Junsu was unavailable right now and he needed to focus on his career. What he didn't need now was someone clingy like him.

Luckily for him, he was treated well by his colleague. They even admired his good look and his lanky body.

"Oh, Mr Jung!" suddenly the door opened and Yunho stepped in. The workers stood up immediately and bowed down to him. Yunho grinned and stopped when his eyes caught sight of Changmin.

"Ah, you!" Yunho still remembered him, making Changmin's lips curled into a smile. "You work here?" Yunho extended a hand and grabbed Changmin's shoulder. The gesture was too friendly even though Changmin didn't mind about it. "Woah, we are closer than we expected, didn't we?" Changmin smiled awkwardly as the other workers watched him and the owner of the spa they were working at. There might be a lot of assumptions and talk after this but Changmin knew it would come.

"Today is actually..." Changmin swallowed and looked away, avoiding everyone's eyes that were on them right now. "My first day here." Yunho raised both his brows.

"Oh really? So last night?"

"I hadn't come to work yet."

"O-kay..." Yunho opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. He let go of Changmin's shoulder and flashed a smile to the rest of the workers. The workers then spoke to him about the issues that surrounded the spa and some problems involving the cats that were kept there. Yunho listened to them tentatively and sometimes he took notes with his smart phone. He would dote on some of the cats that passed by. Changmin watched from afar. Yunho really liked the cats, judging by the way he cooed and petted the cats and by how the animals responded to him. Changmin didn't participate in the big circle because he felt out of place. He was a newbie, he should feel that way. He remembered when he first came to SM Ent and no one knew him. He was alone and on top of that he was a shy boy. He couldn't make friends at first and he was terrified when he met the trainers but he survived that. He could endure more.

He told himself again and again he would endure this. He would stand this and then maybe, just maybe, he could return to his world.

Would he return if he was given the chance? Wasn't he happy here without the lawsuit nightmare? Junsu didn't leave him, Junsu took care of him, gave him shelter and made love to him.

"Changmin-ssi!" Changmin turned to the voice. Again, all pair of eyes was on him when he broke off his trance. He glanced at the smiling Yunho who was waving at him. "You're daydreaming!" teased Yunho and the rest of them laughed. Changmin felt the blood rushed into his face and he quickly looked down upon his own shoes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Yunho laughed and walked towards him. He patted the back of his shoulder.

"Hey, don't be too harsh on yourself on the first day. You still have much to learn," Yunho said with sparkling eyes. Changmin watched the eyes, have Yunho's eyes been this glowing before? He couldn't recall.

"Umm...okay," Changmin nodded forcefully and Yunho ruffled his hair. Changmin bowed down, still embarrassed with Yunho's doing.

"Please take care of him, everyone!"

***

After work, Yunho invited Changmin for a drink at a nearby cafe. During work, Changmin was quite uncomfortable after Yunho left because they kept talking about him. The male workers talked to him, especially Kyuhyun asking about Yunho's relationship with Changmin. Changmin said he just met Yunho last night so it was possible for Yunho's memory to be that fresh of him. The boys were curious because Yunho was acting too nice to Changmin.

And one fun fact about this Yunho was he wasn't comfortable with women around. There were rumours saying Yunho was gay but no one was sure because no one had seen him with a boyfriend neither a girlfriend. He was always alone and every time he had free time he would come to the cat spa and pampered the kitties that were there.

When there was a woman around, or when a woman approached him Yunho always wore a very boring face. His handsome face was a magnet to girls but he turned off most women down with his uninviting behaviour. When he was with men, he had a more bubbly character and he could talk about anything but not private stuff. Yunho was very secretive about his private life, even his workers didn't know where he lived by now. He would come to the spa and then leave without announcement and then the next morning he would go to his office to resume his lawyer work.

Changmin had no idea that Yunho could be this reserved. His Yunho was secretive as well, and he kept all the burden all by himself but there's Jaejoong that would help him to lift the weight a bit. But in this world? Who did Yunho have? Who was with him every time he was down?

That was what was invading his mind the whole time he was with Yunho that evening. Yunho was obviously tired and weary when they met at the cafeteria but he still insisted to meet together. Changmin who was missing his hyung badly took less time to decide to agree to the invitation. Yunho was not wearing his coat even though the weather was a bit cold. It was the beginning of winter.

"How's Mr Kim?" asked Yunho. He was obviously very interested in Junsu, like a really devoted fan boy. Changmin smiled to himself. He met a lot of fan boys before and the one before him behaved just like one.

"He didn't come home last night." Changmin replied and drank his hot chocolate. It was good. "He said he might not come home for a few days, until the concert,"

"He's really dedicated to his music."

"Yes." Changmin smiled. He recalled when Junsu sat alone at the terrace to practise the song piece and arriving home late.

"You should tell him to take care of his health,"

"I did." Changmin nodded. "But he's stubborn. He wouldn't listen to me."

"I thought you are his boyfriend and he should listen to you!"

"No!" Changmin laughed anxiously. "He's my hyung." then silence engulfed them. Changmin really, really wanted to take a good look on Yunho's face, just like a goldsmith inspecting a diamond but he was too shy to do it. What would Yunho say? He already hugged Yunho out of the blue last night and to add he cried happily because of it didn't really help his cause. He was lucky enough to be here with Yunho, having a meal together on one table. "About last night..." Changmin could feel himself reddening as he talked. He didn't particularly like Yunho like he like Junsu, but his gaze was something else. He was sure he was only attracted to Junsu by now. He couldn't face another heart ache by thinking about loving someone else other than Junsu. "I'm sorry for asking..."

"You already apologised last night,"

"I know. But I felt the need to, you know..." Changmin glanced at Yunho and the older man was smiling sweetly at him.

"Then, let me ask you this. Do you hug me because you felt lonely when Junsu asked me to drive you home?" Yunho's voice was calm when asking this. Changmin couldn't even look at Yunho in this state. Was he flirting with him because he thought the tone of it was something like that.

No, no, no. Yunho was a cold person. He would never be interested in trivial person like him, plus he was being nice because he was Junsu's fan. He had to be on Junsu's good side.

"Why do you ask?"

Yunho let out a long sigh.

"Did I ask you the wrong thing?" Yunho's question earned no reply from Changmin. Changmin drank his frappe and continued to observe his fingernails that suddenly started to be more interesting than Yunho's words. "I don't think my question was much of a bother because the hug was a remedy for me too," Changmin lifted his face a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"Your hug reminded me of someone," Changmin's eyes widened. Yunho looked away, and again he heaved a sigh. "Your scent reminded me of that person too." Changmin was silent. "Changmin-ssi..."

"What?"

"What is your real relationship with Kim Junsu?" Changmin's breath was taken away by that question.

"He's my hyung."

"Don't lie to me." suddenly Yunho's voice turned stern. His smile died and his eyes were serious. "When you talk to me how your relationship with Kim Junsu is, it would help you a lot." Changmin started to sweat.

"I'm not lying. I'm his dongsaeng. He told you that last night, didn't he?"

"But he could be lying."

"We're not lying." Changmin gripped the end of his shirt. Why was Yunho suddenly like this? "Why do you want to know? Does it matter?"

"Your life is in danger." Changmin's jaw dropped open but no words came out. "If you're associated with Junsu, you're in danger,"

"How did you know," Changmin started to worry. He gaped at Yunho and shook his head. "You're lying."

"Junsu is in danger,"

"You're lying!" Changmin's voice turned up a notch.

"And when you're close to him, you're attracting the people to come endanger him because you had been a vulnerable spot for him," Yunho said in one breath. Changmin glared at Yunho, his heart was beating furiously. His stomach felt sick just to think that he brought trouble to Junsu.

"No," his voice sounded weak, and he hated it. "What do you know about him that you accuse him like that? Why are you telling me this?" Yunho didn't answer instead he watched Changmin broke down in front of him. "You're ing with me, right? I don't believe you."

"Remember what I told you last night?" Changmin bit his lips. The song was composed by Jaejoong and Junsu. Jaejoong was associated with Jin Yihan, the said-underground leader. He felt like his throat was constricted by an unknown force. He put a hand on his mouth.

"No..."

"Changmin-ssi, I am Kim Junsu's fan..."

"But you dare to bring this up to the person who's close to him like me?" Yunho once again went silent. "The song was only a coincidence. Junsu-hyung was never in danger, I had never been in one,"

Yunho's eyes narrowed. It was like he was searching a flaw in a painting, a very small one. Changmin's faint heart was scared but he stayed on his ground.

"Haven't you heard anything about Kim Jaejoong? Or Jin Yihan?" Changmin couldn't answer the question. His lips quivered as his mind boggled to find a way to escape from Yunho's interrogation. "Where did you live before? In a cave?" Yunho's eyes pierced Changmin. Changmin faced the other way, his hands started to tremble.

"I...I don't want to answer that,"

"Why?"

"I'm not going to tell you something I don't want people to know."

"How did you stumble upon Kim Junsu?"

"Why are you so obsessed with Junsu-hyung? What did he ever do to you? And...w-why are you forcing me to answer you?"

Suddenly Yunho touched his hand and grabbed his wrist.

"Look at me."

"I-I'm going to call Junsu-hyung and say you're foul-mouthing him!"

"If you don't want him to perform for this latest orchestra you better don't tell him about this," Changmin snatched his hand away.

"What do you know?"

"I know." Yunho leaned back to his chair. He was confident about something and it made Changmin felt unsure about believing him. But what should he tell Yunho? Changmin inhaled deeply, unable to say anything. "Okay, I'm sorry." Changmin said nothing. Yunho's transient behaviour changes made Changmin unable to process his true personality. He immediately felt lost. He had had imagination of Yunho being as close to him as his Yunho was. "I'm sorry I pushed you too far,"

"I'm leaving,"

"Do you want me to drive you home?" Changmin shook his head and he stood up. He bowed down humbly and hurried to the exit. He was just too confused to talk anymore.

A/N I really, really love cat spa you know! i get this idea when I was watching Ohitorisama, there are cat spas apparently in the world. haish. i wish i own one because i love cats so much. well, i had my share of pet cats already oh well...

thank you for reading!

and here's a picture of cats for those who loves cats!

and happy holidays!

*not my picture of course, my cats are scared of cameras*