CH.4

            Kyungsoo and Soojin are still fast asleep by the time Jongdae stumbles out of his bedroom on Monday morning.  The only downside of the wonderful sleep that Jongdae got last night is that he got too much of it, so now he’s running late for work. He tries to make as little noise as possible as he tiptoes into the kitchen and flips on the coffeemaker, and then slides two pieces of bread into his toaster.  When he turns around to head back into his bedroom, he nearly bowls over Soojin.

            “!”  Jongdae yells as he stumbles backward, his heart pounding.  She flinches at the noise and skitters back apprehensively.  Jongdae takes a minute to catch his breath, running a hand through his hair.  “Warn a guy before you sneak up like that, seriously,” he mutters.

            He swears he sees her little cat ears droop a little.  He’s not even sure what that’s supposed to mean, but it makes him feel like he’s upset her. 

            “Did you want something?”  He asks slowly. 

            She doesn’t answer, but her stomach chooses that moment to rumble loudly.  He snorts as a shocked look steals over Soojin’s face, and red tints her cheeks.  Apparently, catgirls can blush too.  He adds the fact to his expanding knowledge on Soojin.

            “Hungry?”  He asks, turning to the refrigerator.  There are still a few eggs and some takeout boxes in his fridge, but it’s woefully under-stocked.  He doesn’t have the time to fix her eggs, and he’s pretty sure the takeout boxes are probably growing all sorts of bacteria by now.  He straightens up and shuts the door.  “Alright, toast for you too, then.”

            He pops two more pieces of bread into the toaster, and then turns back to Soojin.  “Do you want some coffee?”  He wonders if she even knows what coffee is.  The blank look on her face confirms his guess.  He gestures to the coffee pot at his side.  “Coffee.  You drink it.  Although it’ll probably just make you even more paranoid and jumpy,” he adds to himself.  Idly, he checks his watch, and then curses when he realizes he’s even more behind schedule. 

            “,” he growls, and then darts past Soojin and into his bedroom.  He gets dressed in record time, throwing on a clean shirt and trousers and piling his work from yesterday into his shoulder bag.  Jongdae’s a little impressed with himself as he skids into the kitchen less than two minutes later, ready to go. 

            Soojin is standing over the coffee machine.  The gentle steam from the brewing coffee wafts over her face, and she looks so content and happy that Jongdae pauses for a startled second.  She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes, and he spies her hand drifting up to her neck, slim fingers curling around the tags dangling there. 

            A bright ‘ding’ fills the air, and the toast pops up with a snap.  The serene moment is shattered, and Soojin jumps back, glaring at the toaster.  Jongdae barely manages to muffle his laugh as he walks into the kitchen, pulling the toast out and tossing it on a plate.  He glances over at Soojin, taking in her protruding collarbones and thin wrists, and then takes a heaping scoop of butter and slathers it over her toast.  Catgirl needs to gain some weight.

            He hands the plate to Soojin with a wry smile.  “This is breakfast.  Eat all of it.”  She takes the plate wordlessly, but doesn’t touch the food on it.  Jongdae raises a brow, but then decides not to press anything.  On his way out, he nudges Kyungsoo awake.  The shorter boy rubs sleep out of his eyes before looking around in confusion.

            “Why am I at your house?”

            Jongdae chuckles.  “You’re the one who wanted to adopt a catgirl, remember?”

            Kyungsoo’s eyes widen immediately.  “Soojin!”  He jumps to his feet, looking around.  Soojin comes skittering out of the kitchen at the sound of her name, and smiles happily at Kyungsoo.  She’s still holding her plate, and it’s still untouched.

            Kyungsoo glances at the toast, and then smirks at Jongdae.  “Aw, you made her breakfast?”

            “Shut up,” Jongdae drawls, and then points a finger at his friend.  “I’m off to work.  She’s your responsibility.  Please don’t let her steal any of my , or break anything, or wander around the complex .  In fact, it’d be nice if you could just park her on the couch all day.” 

            “Relax, Jongdae, everything’s going to be fine.”  Kyungsoo wanders over and drapes an arm over Soojin’s shoulders.  The two of them look disgustingly cute, all sleep rumpled and smiley, and it’s enough to make Jongdae grimace. 

            “Also, I want her gone by the time I get back.  So figure out whatever you want to do with her.”

            The smile drops off Kyungsoo’s face.  “What?  Already?”

            Jongdae grins, and waves over his shoulder as he leaves, ignoring Kyungsoo’s protests.  “Better not see you tonight!”  He says cheerfully.

-----

            Work is a much-needed distraction for Jongdae, and he has a wonderfully productive day, churning out melodies and lyrics left and right.  Though he checks his phone periodically, there are thankfully no frantic messages from Kyungsoo about catgirl, which only adds to his happy mood. 

The plate of cold toast on his coffee table that greets him when he comes home kills his happy mood.    

          Jongdae lets his bag slide from his shoulder as he stares at the two pieces of totally intact bread, now soggy from the heart-attack inducing amount of butter he’d put on them.  The sight of them is almost offensive, and Jongdae feels a little angry that Soojin didn’t even bother to touch the food he’d made for her.  Hell, he’d taken her in, given her his own clothes and let her sleep on his couch.  The least she could do was be grateful about his cooking, even if it was just two pieces of bread. 

           He’s so caught up in the toast that it takes him a few minutes to realize his apartment is empty. 

           It looks immaculate, too.  There is nothing out of place, at least nothing he can see from his cursory scan.  The bedding he’d given Kyungsoo and Soojin is folded neatly on his couch, along with the sweatshirt Soojin had been wearing yesterday.  Jongdae crosses over and picks it up curiously.  It smells like his detergent, which means Kyungsoo must have washed it before he left.  

          Jongdae figures he should call Kyungsoo to ask where his friend is.  As nice as it is to have the privacy and serenity of his home back again, he knows he shouldn’t leave Kyungsoo alone to deal with Soojin.  As he pulls out his phone from his pocket, it suddenly rings, with Chanyeol’s name flashing across the screen. 

          Chanyeol doesn’t even give Jongdae a second to say hello when he answers.  “Dude.  What the hell is catgirl doing at my house?”

         Jongdae blinks, glancing down at the sweater in his hand.  “She’s at your house?”

         There’s a buzz of sound before Chanyeol answers.  “Yes!  She’s watching TV with Soo on my couch right now!  And Soo said she’s staying!  What the hell, man?” Chanyeol sounds slightly hysterical.

        Jongdae wants to laugh, but at the same time, he feels Chanyeol’s frustration.  He doesn’t know why Kyungsoo’s so hell-bent on not turning Soojin in to the police.  It’s not like the three of them can do anything to help her.  And then a sudden thought hits him.

        “Wait.  Is Soojung there?”  He asks, feeling dread descend.

        Chanyeol groans.  “No, but I texted Kai, and they’re on their way here.  Soojung’s going to ing flip out.”

        Jongdae mirrors his friend’s groan.  “This is going to be a show,” he says, hearing the whine in his own voice.  Soojung is notoriously possessive of Kai, to the point where she glares at girls who pass within a foot of him.  Jongdae can’t even imagine how she’s going to react to Kyungsoo moving Soojin into their apartment.

        “Come over, please,” Chanyeol begs piteously.  “I don’t want to die alone.”

        Jongdae wants to say no.  He wants to crawl into his bed and turn on his music and read a good book, but he knows that he’s going to get called over to his friends’ house regardless, whether by Chanyeol or Soojung herself, to help explain the Soojin situation. 

        So instead he drags his hand over his face, and then mutters, “On my way.”

A/N: I know it's been a while, for all of my stories.  School is the pits right now, so it's really hard to find the time and motivation to write.  This chapter is super short, but I figured I needed to write something to get myself back in the groove.  Sorry again for the wait, I'll do my best to update more often!