Ch 5            

           The apartment that Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Jongin live in used to be known as the Mancave.  Once upon a time, it had been the site of legendary parties, epic game and sports nights, and had even hosted the most expensive stripper in all of Seoul – which was still one of Chanyeol’s favorite stories to tell. 

            All of that had changed when Jongin met Soojung.  Now Jongdae privately refers to the apartment as Soojung’s Pretty Princess Palace.

            It’s not that he hates Soojung.  On the contrary, Jongin’s girlfriend is pretty chill and fun to hang out with – until she starts feeling jealous.  Which unfortunately happens very easily and very quickly.  Jongdae is convinced she’s got some sort of Jekyl and Hyde complex going on, because she does a complete one-eighty when other girls are around Jongin, and it’s not a pretty sight.

            Which is why he’s a little petrified about having Soojin and Soojung within the same city block.

            He reaches the front door of the apartment, and carefully presses his ear to the wood.  Silence greets him.  There’s no shrill yelling, no sounds of violence or bodily harm coming through, which hopefully means that Soojung isn’t there yet.  Jongdae knocks cautiously on the door.

            Chanyeol throws open the door a second later, his face filled with stifled frustration.  “What took you so long?”  He hisses angrily, grabbing Jongdae by his shirt and yanking him inside.  Jongdae stumbles in, nearly tripping over his feet with a yelp.  Thankfully, he regains his balance quickly, tossing a dirty glare at Chanyeol over his shoulder as he straightens his collar.

            “It only took me ten minutes, ,” he retorts as he walks further into the apartment.   The television is blaring music from a girl group in short schoolgirl outfits, and Jongdae sneaks an approving peek at the lead girl’s toned legs before looking around for the catgirl. 

            Soojin is perched on the kitchen counter, watching avidly as Kyungsoo whips up what smells like kimchi stew.  She’s wearing an oversized SNU sweater and a pair of basketball shorts that end around her slim calves.  Her tail – he’s still not used to seeing it – peeks out of the shorts, curling and uncurling periodically as she listens to Kyungsoo babble about kimchi.  

            “Hi Kyungsoo,” Jongdae calls out.  The two of them whirl around.  Kyungsoo greets him with a happy smile, while Soojin simply peers curiously at him.  He nods curtly at Soojin.  “Hi to you too, catgirl.”  She her head and purses her lips a little, her amber gaze steady on him. 

            Chanyeol charges into the kitchen.  “Yeah, yeah hi all around, perfect.  Now let’s talk about the real issue here.  Soojung is literally five minutes away from here,” he sputters, his voice pitching higher than normal from panic.

            Kyungsoo laughs breezily, turning back to the stove.  “You know, I don’t think it’ll be that bad, actually.  I was thinking about this, and I figure we can just tell her Soojin is one of our cousins or something, and that she needs a place to stay temporarily.”

            The bright optimism in his tone has Jongdae and Chanyeol sharing an incredulous glance.  Chanyeol scoffs.  “Brilliant plan, Einstein.  What are you going to do about the whole cat thing?” 

            Jongdae has to hand it to Soojin – her arrival seems to have made Chanyeol smarter.  The taller man has been on a roll lately with logical, normal human thought, which is a nice change from his usual one-brain-cell operating mode.

            Kyungsoo frowns, and glances at Soojin, who slowly slides down from the counter.  “She could wear a beanie or something whenever Soojung is over.”

            “In the summer?”  Now it’s Jongdae’s turn to snort at Kyungsoo’s attempt at being blasé.  “And what are you going to do about the fact that she’s clearly female?  And pretty.  AKA, she’s going to trigger psycho-Soojung the second she even looks at Kai.”

            “Well, do you idiots have any better ideas?  If I recall correctly, you kicked us out of your place, Jongdae,” Kyungsoo snaps, brandishing his scoop.  

            “Yeah, because she’s not my problem!  She’s not any of our problem!”  Jongdae shouts, and Chanyeol nods enthusiastically from the side.  Kyungsoo heaves in an angry breath, looking mutinous.  Jongdae can tell there are a thousand words perching on the tip of his friend’s tongue, vying with each other to break free.

           The seriousness of the moment is broken as Soojin reaches out, batting playfully at the wooden spoon in Kyungsoo’s hand.   When they all turn to look at her, she shrinks back with a bashful smile. 

           “Kimchi,” she mumbles happily.

           Kyungsoo’s smile is as bright as the ing baby-faced sun from Teletubbies.  He wiggles the ladle in front of Soojin, who follows it eagerly with her eyes before she tries to catch it again. 

           It’s cute.  Disgustingly cute.  Jongdae feels a cringe tingling in his fingers, even though he can’t take his eyes off the scene.  Happy Soojin is such an arresting change of pace, effortlessly pulling his attention and focus to orbit around her because she’s so unguarded and open.  When she’s like this, it’s easier to see why Kyungsoo wants to keep her so badly. 

          “Why does she like you so much?”  Chanyeol growls.  He snatches the spoon from Kyungsoo and mimics the motion, his hulking frame looming over her tinier one.  Soojin’s face scrunches, her lower lip curling as Chanyeol comes closer.  But her eyes keep darting to the movement of the spoon, and Jongdae catches the tiny flex of her fist.  

          “Um, hey guys.”

          Everyone freezes. 

         Soojung is standing on the other side of the kitchen counter, wearing a bemused look as she casts her eyes over Soojin.  Jongin slides into the apartment behind her.  He catches sight of Soojin as well, and his face morphs into almost comic shock.

        “What the ?  Is that a tail?” 

         As one, Kyungsoo, Chanyeol and Jongdae – in his head, he’s starting to think of them as the three stooges – turn to Soojin.  Soojin, whose cat ears and cat tail are still flickering around for anyone to see.

         Oh .

         Soojung narrows her gaze, and the three of them can practically see the steam starting to curl out of her ears.  Jongin edges closer into the kitchen, suspicion darkening his brow.  Jongdae racks his brain furiously for an excuse.

        “She’s a catgirl!” 

         Chanyeol’s wail startles everyone.  Soojung and Jongin pull matching confused frowns, while Kyungsoo throws a terrified look at Jongdae.  Jongdae himself is rigid with shock.  So much for Chanyeol getting smarter.

            “A catgirl?”  Soojung raises a skeptical brow.  “Chanyeol, are you high?” 

            Jongin snorts.  “Way to not share, dude.” Soojin throws an irritated look at him.  She’s been trying to get him to clean up on his habit, not that it’s been working well.

            “No, really, she’s a cat-girl-” Chanyeol blurts, throwing his hands up for emphasis. 

            Soojung scoffs, cutting him off.  “You’re dating a cosplay freak?”  She glances over at Soojin.  “No offense,” she says cattily. 

            Soojin barely reacts - probably because she doesn’t understand anything the other girl is saying.   Jongdae almost wishes he could be her right now, because anything  - even being half cat - would be better than following wherever the hell this conversation is going to go. 

            Chanyeol seems to realize the hole he’s dug himself into, as panic skitters across his face.  But then he throws himself fully into the show he’s just created.  “A real cat!  Feel her ears!”  He whirls around, but clearly forgets that he’s still carrying the wooden ladle. 

            It socks Soojin right on the nose.

            She stumbles back with a squeak, and Kyungsoo’s quick reflexes stop her from colliding with the tureen of stew on the stove.  Jongdae doesn’t realize he’s moving towards them until Soojin’s startled look stops him. 

           She touches her nose, and then blinks rapidly, her pupils dilating.  Jongdae swears he sees something like betrayal flash across her face as she looks at Chanyeol.  And then it’s like she just crumples, dropping her gaze and her hand.  Her ears flatten against her head, and her gray tail wilts behind her.  When Kyungsoo reaches out to her, she jerks away. 

            “Damn it, Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo hisses, and tries again. 

            The tiny little whine that escapes her feels like a er punch.  Chanyeol looks like he wants to melt into a puddle of shame. 

            In the quiet that ensues, the hushed conversation between Jongin and Soojung sounds like it’s coming through a loudspeaker.

            “Soojung,” Jongin whispers disbelievingly.  “Soojung, did you see that?”

            Soojung’s reply ripples with shock.  “Did those ears move?” 

           “Okay, guys, let me explain,” Kyungsoo says hastily.  “Jongdae, can you take her?  Chanyeol, you come with me, before you do more damage.”

           Kyungsoo herds everyone else out of the kitchen.  Chanyeol mumbles a quick apology before darting out to the den. 

           And then it’s just the two of them in the kitchen.  Jongdae swallows uncomfortably, clearing his throat to try to catch her attention.  If anything, the sound puts more distance between them as she shrinks back.  The sight stirs something protective in him, and he braves a few steps closer.

         “Are you okay?”  There’s a red mark blooming on the bridge of her nose.  Chanyeol had landed a solid blow, and Jongdae hopes it’s not going to bruise or anything.  Not only because it would give the police the wrong idea, but also because maybe he doesn’t like the way she’s cringing right now.  It’s different from the way she looked yesterday.  Yesterday, she’d been defensive and afraid. 

          But right now, she just looks downright sad. 

         “Hey,” he murmurs, trying to remember how Kyungsoo had gained her trust at his apartment.  A flash of an outreached hand in his memory has him extending his own into the space between them, keeping his palm up and open.  The movement draws her gaze for a fraction of a second before she looks away again.

         Patience, he reminds himself.  It had taken Kyungsoo a bit of time to coax her out from underneath the bed, so Jongdae figures she might take her time.  But seconds quickly build into minutes, and she still refuses to acknowledge him.  

         He takes a bracing breath.  “Soojin.”  He wiggles his fingers a little.  No response.  Jongdae frowns now, and taking a chance, pushes his hand closer to her.  Miraculously, she doesn’t move back, though she doesn’t move in either.  He takes it as a sign of progress and gingerly, ever so slowly, cuts through the distance between them.  His senses stay on full alert the whole time, watching for the slightest reaction from her, but other than a tiny twitch of her cat ears, she stays still. 

         His middle finger is now a hairsbreadth from her nose.  He pauses, feeling almost afraid to break that last tiny barrier, because he knows she might pull away, just as she shied from Kyungsoo’s touch.  Kyungsoo, who she was nearly fawning over just minutes before this all began.  If the champion cat-whisperer couldn’t do it, Jongdae knows he’s going to get rejected too. 

         But she’s let him get this close, and he doesn’t know what to make of that.  The heat from her skin dances around his fingertip, enticing it to erase that vital, infinitesimally small distance.  Do it, his mind whispers. And he wants to.  Just to see what she'd do, how she'd react.  And maybe to see if it makes her a little less sad.  

         “Is she okay?”  Soojung’s concerned voice breaks the tension.  Jongdae looks up to see that everyone has gathered back around the kitchen. 

         “I don’t know,” he answers honestly, dropping his hand and darting his eyes back to Soojin. 

         “I think it scared her,” Jongin says quietly. “My dogs used to act like that sometimes when we were training them, like when I had to use a loud voice around them the first couple of times.” 

             The statement is so weird, but it reinforces yet again the fact that Soojin isn’t just human.  Chanyeol looks even guiltier, tucking the offending ladle behind his back. 

            “So she’s really a catgirl?  Like half cat?”  Soojung eyes the ears, this time with some reluctant curiosity. 

            “Yeah,” Jongdae exhales.  “Felt the tail myself, and Chanyeol can attest to the ears.”

            Jongin shakes his head.  “This is so nuts.  I can’t tell if I’m dreaming or something.”  He pinches himself absently.

            Soojung, in her typical straightforward attitude, cuts straight to the chase.  “So what are we going to do with her?”

            “Well, like I said, we don’t know where she came from, and she can’t really tell us, though I don’t really know why,” Kyungsoo says.  “Which just adds to the shadiness of it all, and is also why I think we should keep her for a bit.”

            “Well she’s not staying here, sorry not sorry,” Soojung says fiercely.

            “Why not involve the police?”  Jongin asks, glancing over at Soojin.  “We could just ask them to check for a missing person report or something.”

            “And where does she stay while they’re doing that?  Do we leave her with them?”  Kyungsoo’s feathers are ruffled again, and Jongin lifts placating hands. 

            “You know, I’m not the nicest person around, but even I think it’s kind of a move to just leave her alone there,” Soojung remarks, much to Kyungsoo’s joy.  Jongdae manages to miss the way both of their gazes slide stealthily over to him. 

            “Well, you said she can’t stay here, and you don’t want to give her to the people who could actually help her, so what should we do?” It’s Chanyeol now, and Jongin is nodding vigorously in agreement. 

            The same argument they’ve had multiple times now flares up.  Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s bickering becomes a dull buzz in the back of his mind as Jongdae stares at the quiet little catgirl at his side.  Soojin has retreated even further back into herself, shoulders hunched and head bowed.  It’s as if she can tell what they’re talking about, even though she doesn’t understand the words.  Something twists painfully in his gut, pushing words past his lips. 

          “She can stay with me.” 

AN: Hi friends, hope you enjoyed this chapter!  It's a little boring, but I needed to get all the characters on the same page about Soojin before I could start having fun with them all!  Next chapter will be more entertaining!  Thanks for reading!  xoxo, phaedra