Once the morning cleaning and feeding and watering is done, and the volunteers are all lazing about with a chosen pet-hopeful in their arms, Juyeon called for attention. "We should get those photos for the fundraiser calender taken care of. Chanmi said she'd get them all formatted and whatever; we just need to get the images ASAP."

Junghwa yawned behind her hand. She hated morning classes. After her chemistry lab let out, she shlepped to the shelter and napped on the floor in the back room with the puppies until her noon shift in the shelter. "How are we doing it this year? Themed?"

Decked out more appropriately for a runway than shelter and way too peppy for midmorning, Chuntao's hand shot up. "Oh! We could so a fashion line thing! Dress them up and make a little stage and have a behind the scenes video that'd give more exposure ... What?" Chuntao looked at her friends, a crease forming between her sculpted eyebrows. "What is it?"

"Do you want to be the one designing, sizing, and then dressing a dozen wriggling animals?"

Her face fell. "It'd be really cute, though ... ."

Juyeon touched her shoulder with a smile. "It would be, but the hassle of it all might put too much stress on the animals. Let's keep things a bit simpler, okay?"

Chuntao leaned her head on Juyeon's shoulder with a defeated sigh, pouting even as the older woman pet her hair and neck.

"As long as we don't go all ASPCA and show the most miserable looking ones behind bars, I think we'd be fine," Junghwa commented. She crouched and held her phone up in front of a sleeping pair of kittens. The same beigey cream and brown, it was hard to see where one cat ended and the other began, but they made a sweet heart shape on the red bed. "Sehun's taking photography this semester; we can use her camera."

"Will you ask her, first, please?" Juyeon sighed.

"Yeah, but it's fine." Junghwa sat back on her heels and tapped out a quick text. Sehun was probably just getting out of class.

Sure enough, the phone sang out a current pop tune for a few brief seconds before Junghwa accepted the call and set it on speaker. "What's up?"

Chuntao perked up at her voice. "Hi, Hunnie!"

"Chuntao? You guys at the shelter?"

Juyeon leaned forward. "We're discussing plans for this year's fundraiser calendar. Junghwa said you're taking photography, now. Would you be willing and able to take the photos and get them to Chanmi?"

There was some static, wind in the speaker. "Yeah, I guess."

"Fantastic. Sometime this week would be ideal, preferably during the day, so you're not out too late."

"Always a mother," Junghwa muttered to the sleeping kitten she picked up from its freshly laundered bed. It squirmed a little to dangle its limbs between her fingers, content.

"Sure." Sehun said something distant, probably tilting the phone away from . "I gotta get to class; Baekhee just said they're starting early or some bull."

"Language, Sehun." Juyeon could tolerate the girl's jeans with the thighs almost entirely cut out and flipping tricks on her skateboard, but she would not tolerate foul language—unless called for. "We'll talk to you later."

They all sang their goodbyes, and Junghwa tucked her phone in her pocket again. She parked herself at the round table they kept fliers and plastic bins of treats with the kitten tucked to her shoulder. It chewed on her braid in its sleep. "I think we should take pictures of some older cats with the babies. Everyone wants kittens, but the adults need love, too."

Chuntao nodded fast, a bouncy sort of act tossing her curls against her back and shoulders. "I like that. We could color coordinate, too!"

"The cats don't have to match, Chuntao."

"But it'll be cute! Like," she lowered her voice in pitch, "this is what your kitten will look like in six months. Obviously, they don't stay tiny forever." She cooed at a grumpy-looking orange tabby cat. It glowered and closed its eyes.

"I like that," Juyeon commented. She smiled at the girls. "I think it's a great idea. We can make a list of the cat pairs and have it ready for Sehun. We don't know when she'll be coming, obviously."

"I'll make sure to be with her. No worries." Chuntao tucked her hair behind her ears as she bent over a wire crate on the floor with an older, but very attentive and active, black cat. Its paw stuck out of the crate and tried to grab her dangling curls. "We've got a date set up this weekend, anyway. I'll make her come back here with me."

They played with the cats up front, eventually compiling a satisfactory list that paired friendly adult cats and kittens, and then they migrated to the back where the few dogs were housed as they waited for foster families to pick them up.

Chuntao texted Sehun after stepping out into the sunshine and made plans to incorporate the shelter visit with their date. Neither minded. Hanging out with cats was relaxing and something they both enjoyed. If Chuntao wore form-fitting leopard print pants and one of Sehun's black T-shirts she'd borrowed and never given back, it wasn't a plan of seduction at all.

So Sehun couldn't say she was entirely surprised to be woken the following Monday with a text from Chanmi about the SD card she'd handed over after spending Saturday with Chuntao and cats.

what camera did u use?

Sehun frowned. mine. y?

should've switched cards. taozi looks rly cute, tho

shelter pinup calendar. just for me. make it happen, and i'll put in a good word with Junghwa.

The reply dinged fast. you want full page or planner size?