Chen squinted at the dog as she prepared lunch. It was starting to get chilly out thanks to fall being around the corner so he appreciated seeing the dog starting to wear leggings. Her blonde tail wagged a bit as she hummed; Chen’s own tail mocked the beat.

    His eyes roamed up to the shirt she wore and concentrated on her ears. That was the one thing he was jealous about when she was a puppy; her then-floppy ears. Now, as an adult pet, her blonde, ears were pointed just like his. He wanted to know if dogs reacted the same way cats do when it comes to petting their ears, but for the past week and a half, Wendy’s been pretty insistent on keeping him away from her.

    Chen laid his head in his arms as sighed through his nose, still confused on the female’s sudden change: it was overnight that she forced him to stop touching her. He knew that he would stop if she said so, but he didn’t like it a bit. He wanted to feel her warmth and drown in her smell; to make her safe and happy; which he couldn’t do if she was pushing him away!

    It first started when she actually kicked him out of her bed and forced him out of her room. It was the first time he thought nothing of it as he crashed in Joonmyeon’s room, too lazy to go to his couch in the living room. Then the next night, she locked her door. He tried to get in, but she wouldn’t let him. Then, like every morning, he would somehow always have a hand on her body, possibly nuzzling her neck while she cooked. Instead, she would dodge his hand and at point, threatened the spoon if he didn’t sit down.

    Just like that; the cuddles stopped. She kept her distance and the gray cat believed she was going to keep doing it. It annoyed him so much, he felt the fur on his ears and tail stand up. His ear twitched at the mere thought that maybe, just maybe, she didn’t like him anymore.

    Just as he was planning on how he could trap her into revealing her issue, she turned around from the stove and started to prep the onions. Chen froze, unsure if the dog could read his mind. If he didn’t move, she won’t know what he was thinking. Despite that unsound logic, Wendy looked up at the cat with a neutral expression and asked why he had two names.

    After clearing his throat, Chen shrugged, “Um... it was a Joonmyeon thing...”

    He watched her brows raise. “Care to elaborate?”

    “Well... it’s not interesting...”

    Wendy looked up from her prep work to stare at the cat with a slightly annoyed expression. His ears fell on his head before continuing, “So um... when I was a kitten, I used to wake up at dawn and annoy Joonmyeon and Jiuen. She already named me Jongdae, but Joonmyeon thought it was funny to call me Chen... and yeah.”

    “So it’s sort of a nickname.”

    Chen nodded, pursing his lips, “Yeah... yeah! Exactly!”

    “Which do you like better?”

    “Whichever you prefer to call me.”

    The dog’s tail wagged; Chen swore he saw her lips twitch into a smile. “No, tell me. Which do you like better?”

    “Do you want me to tell you which name I like in general, or the one I like hearing you say?” Though there was no double intentions behind the question, Chen started to think about that. He was trying to keep his cool by not thinking about it, but his ear twitched at the fact that he just couldn’t go over to her and place his paws on her without getting pushed away again.

    Blushing, Wendy took a deep breath in before letting it out, “Um... both?”

    Chen had a small smile grace his lips as he put his chin in his hand, giving the dog a cheeky smile, “I really like it when you call me ‘Jongdae’.”

    “O-oh?” the dog stuttered, cursing at herself as she turned around to stir the sauce in the pan, trying to keep her walls built.

    Using his tail as a hook on the chair to prevent him from getting up, Chen figured he probably could watch Wendy react to his words. “My world sounds beautiful when she calls my name.” Chen watched her shoulders rise up and drop for a second, a small smirk on his face. His tail twitched in joyous amusement as he watched the dog fight herself. “So what about you? Do you like your other name better?”

“You just want to know my other name.”

“Well, duh. It’s not fair that you know that I have two names!”

“You know Joonmyeon named me after Jieun's favorite character in Peter Pan as tribute,” she shrugged, her ears twitching a bit before she moved back to continue prepping the meat, “And my mom and dad combined their names to give my shelter name.”

“Which is...?”

“Honestly, I don’t want to say,” Wendy declared setting her knife down to look at the cat who looked a bit disappointed, “I want to keep that part of my life to myself, name and all. Okay?”

The gray cat pouted; he never considered the dog to have secrets. He started to wonder if maybe she was a gangster puppy or a royal puppy. Joonmyeon only adopted her about six months after she was born so she couldn’t have done much. “Sorry...”

The blonde dog sighed before going back to her prep.

“Wendy,” his voice rang, sounding like bells to the dog, “Can you tell me a story?”

Wendy agreed, unable to stop a small smile, “Once upon a time, there was a tortoise and an hare. They were best friends and quite popular among their burrow. One day, the Tortoise looked at his best friend and wondered if the Fox had a special someone. Realizing he was heartbroken at the possibility, the Tortoise walked away and sat at a pond.

“There, at the pond, was a gold fish being attacked by a bird. Swimming out, the Tortoise bit the bird’s leg and rescued the