All Work and No Play (Makes Kyungsoo a Liar)

“There's fear, of course, with everybody. But now it had grown, it had grown gigantic; it filled me and it filled the whole world.” 
-Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark

Kyungsoo: Adoption (I want to take you home)

For such a small shelter, they had done an impressively thorough background check on Kyungsoo. It had taken a few months, and countless personal documents Kyungsoo didn’t even know he had – who kept their vaccination records, anyway – before he had finally been allowed to come in and visit the cats.

But that was Singapore – thoroughly efficient in many ways, and faintly cold because of that. Kyungsoo had moved here on a job, becoming one of the numerous expats to dot the city.

--

Inside, there are rows of rooms, with hand-written signs detailing the cat’s names and a short message from the cat. (“hello, I am sin fu, come and talk to me”). Kyungsoo’s relieved, because he was expecting cages, like those radical cat groups liked to claim.

“You want a young male cat, right?” The volunteer’s a pleasant enough young woman. “One that has a sweet temperament and is old enough to take care of himself, but still likes attention?”

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo nods. “Actually, in the adoption brochure, I saw this cat named Chen...”

Kyungsoo’s someone who has his life and priorities laid out before him. Chanyeol was the last one to disrupt them; after that, Kyungsoo had dived into work.

Chen had seemed safe enough. Not pretty, like some of the other cats. But still pretty in a way that seemed easy and fuss-free. He’d be the cat that would leave Kyungsoo alone when Kyungsoo wanted to, and come when Kyungsoo wanted him there.

He’d seemed sunny, like Chanyeol, although Kyungsoo tried hard not to think about that.

“Oh.” The woman hesitates. “That’s a bit hard.”

“Oh, is he adopted already? Or does he have people looking at him?”

“No, well.” The woman pushes up her glasses, seemingly coming to a decision.

“I’ll let you have a look.”