“Oh.”

Joonmyeon wasn’t expecting his to see his pets asleep on the couch, but it was a double whammy when he saw them cuddling. He admitted to himself that this was a sight he always wanted to see in person, but he was also severely confused.

    He tried to close the door softly, but he heard some rustling; the dog lifted herself off of the cat’s chest before looking up at her human with blinking eyes and a wagging tail. She yawned but stumbled over to give him a hug.

    “Welcome home... you smell good.”

    “Thanks,” the human chuckled as he petted his dog, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Did you have a good day?”

    “Sort of... I met Baekhyun.”

    “Oh... so Chanyeol’s back in town. Did you have a nice time with Baekhyun?”

    “No,” Wendy pouted, her tired eyes combined with her hidden ears and lazy tail looked too adorable.

    “That’s okay... he’s hard to like. Why don’t you go to bed?”

    “Okay. Sleep well,” the dog yawned as she crawled up the stairs, thinking about falling asleep on the steps.

    Joonmyeon hummed as he threw his keys near the door and locked up. He jumped when he heard Chen’s voice. “Where were you?”

    The human sighed out of relief as he turned around to see the gray cat was rubbing his eye, his tail thumping on the couch, “You smell weird.”

    “I was at a friend’s.”

    The cat’s eyes squinted, not trusting his human’s words. “You’re a doctor. You don’t have friends.”

    Rolling his eyes, Joonmyeon scoffed, “Of course I have friends. Don’t worry about it so much.”

    “You reek of female pheromones.”

    “We went to a club.”

    “You’re lying to me.”

    “Chen-”

    “Were you with a woman?”

    “Look I-”

    “What about Jieun?”

    “Chen.”

    “It hasn’t even been a year yet!”

    “Chen, listen. Humans grieve differently than pets. Some take a long time and others don’t. It’s natural.”

    “So it’s natural to forget your life with Jieun?”

    “I’m not forgetting her!” Joonmyeon gasped, placing his hand on the cat’s shoulder as he sat down. The cat shrugged his touch off, scooting away.

    “You reek of tulips.”

    “Jongdae,” the human took a deep breath, keeping his grip on the cat’s shoulder, “What makes you think I’m going to forget the first woman I seriously fell in love with? The same woman who rejected me twice before she accepted my hand? The same woman who quickly nursed you back to health? What makes you think I’m going to forget about her?”

    “Humans are super forgetful.”

    “Not about major life events.”

    Joonmyeon watched as the cat thought about what to say next; waiting for about a minute before he realized the cat was unable to come up with anything. “Look... I’m not going to forget about Jieun if I’m moving on. She was the best thing to happen to me, but life decided I couldn’t keep her. Is it wrong that I accepted the fact she’s not coming back?”

    Pouting, the gray cat’s ears hid in his ear, “Don’t say that...”

    “No,” Joonmyeon shook his head, running his fingers through his hair, “It’s okay that I want to move on and try to find someone  like Jieun. Am i not allowed to move on?”

    The cat didn’t answer, knowing the answer but obviously still upset about it. “No one is ever going to be like Jieun.”   

“Of course. She was one of a kind.” He wasn’t even thinking about a replacement or an upgrade; Jieun was the best woman she was. Irene... though Joonmyeon knows he hasn’t seen all her shades of colors, he knew it was going to be difficult to not want to see them all.

    The cat closed his eyes and sighed, “And you can’t convince me that this woman is any better.”

    “I never planned to.”

    The cat released a breath of hot air, looking at his human, still glaring. He shrugged his shoulder away and got up, his tail still fluffed up. “You reek of tulips.” He quickly made his getaway to the second floor.

    When has he ever escaped to the second floor?

🐱 🐶

    Irene was rather surprised to see Joonmyeon in her office, sitting in her chair. She blinked at the sight of the man, but gave a confused grin. She looked at the clock and noted she was early as usual, but as she learned, Joonmyeon was not an early riser by any means; not that she minded.

    “Um, excuse me sir, just because you’re handsome doesn’t mean I can give you free dental exams.”

    Joonmyeon pouted at the words, “Not even if I take you out for dinner?”

    “I don’t think your insurance will cover that expense,” she joked as she took her jacket off and set her bag on her desk. Today Irene decided to wear her normal casual attire; her go to style. She rarely attempts to dress up for work; he can’t ever recall a time when she wore heels.

    Irene inched closer, not wanting him to move. Before he could even get up, she promptly