ARCANUM | pjm.

01

FLIPPING THE sign in which now displays closed, your hand pushes the door and the cold breeze immediately hugs your body, making you clutch firmly onto your light jacket.

The stars danced and glistered aimlessly under the dusky night, accompanied by the wintry gust that occasionally caressed your (h/c) hair.

Making sure the door was securely locked, you slipped your hands inside the pockets of your jeans and began your usual journey back to your apartment.

The small bistro you worked in wasn't too far from your apartment, therefore you'd normally come home within a good 20 minutes.

You walked over the sidewalk with the only source of light coming from the lightposts arrayed across the border, some blinking from time to time that emitted a gloomy atmosphere. A shiver runs down your body at the view of a place that looked so ominous and the cold wind biting your skin didn't help at all.

As you passed by an alleyway, a small shriek almost escapes your throat when you heard the faintest crying sound of a cat from behind. Initially, your feet dragged into a halt as your head immedietly whirled to see what was behind you.

A cat.. it's a cat. It was an orange-furred one and as you squint your eyes, you discern it's marmalade-toned eyes that stared deep into your own. It's head bopped to the side as it continued to watch you, and you soon found yourselves dwelt in a staring contest.

This is.. weird. You thought to yourself. You aimlessly looked around the dark street, intuiting an imprecise inkling of unusual thought suddenly torrent your head.

"What the-" Your body jolts in a slight flinch when you felt something, more like a fur, rub against your leg. For just a short second of looking away from the odd tabby cat, it already found itself finding solace in you.

You look down at him, about to touch his fur when your hand stops midway, noticing how unhygienic and shiveled his fur looked that faltered your warm smile. Your lips arched into a sorrowful pout, but grows more when your eyes flicker over the large scratch on his body. A small gasp escapes your lips and the weirdly feeling inside quickly withdrew.

His sorrounding fur was suffused in deep red as if it had dried on his own blood, the cut almost discernible even a few inches away.

Seeing an animal in a solitary and wounded state was one of your biggest vulnerabilities. Hence, you contemplated whether to bring the injured cat back with you to the apartment or just leave it be since it might have an owner looking for it right now.

Are you seriously gonna leave this innocent harmed cat alone in such a dark street and let it bleed until it dies?

Fine, okay fine! There was another voice in the back of your head. Finally making up your decision, you slipped your jacket off, hugging it around it's body slowly yet carefully. It makes no aggressive movement against your actions, making you sigh in relief. You brought it up against your chest securely before giving it a small pat in the head, eliciting an chummy purr from the orange-furred cat.

With a smile sprawled on your lips, you make your way outside the alleyway with a now slumbering cat cuddled up in your jacket.

•┈┈••✦♥✦••┈┈•

Using your feet, you close the door behind you, the soft click resonating through the quiet walls of your apartment.

You walk towards the living room, placing the tabby cat down on the soft cushions of your couch before slipping your shoes out.

Your eyes land at the snuggled cat's dozing state, still nestled against your jacket comfortably. A small smile creep it's away up your lips as you stride closer, plopping down beside it.

His breathing was slightly ragged. Needless to say that it was because of the huge gash on his body that was left untreated. If I wasn't there to rescue it, it would've had a substantial amount of blood loss and catch an infection that could lead it to an unfortunate outcome.

You didn't want that to happen, so like any sympathetic animal-lover would do, you took him home.

Noticing a blue collar with a nametag around it's neck quickly plucked your attention. Your fingers reached up to touch it, thumb gently rubbing across the surface of the nametag.

So he's had an owner before? But why is he outside at this time of the night? Could it be that he might have escaped and his owner is really looking for him right now?

"Jimin," The name rolled off your tongue smoothly as if you were tasting it in your own mouth. So it's a male. You smiled. What a cute name.

You stand up from the couch to grab the first aid kit inside the drawer on the kitchen you had always kept ever since you moved in for safety intentions. You walk back to the living room with the kit in hand and sat beside Jimin before unlocking the first aid and began to mend his gash.

While in the midst of doing so, you notice how there were a few tiny scratches that outstretched across every part of Jimin's body, wondering how he could survive for so long despite the amount of injuries he has.

Finishing, you nod to yourself as you clap both your hands. You place the first aid on the coffee table as you stand up to take a quick, mellow bath.

•┈┈••✦♥✦••┈┈•

After a good few minutes, you got out of the shower, grabbing a towel from the peg to hug it around your body as you made your way outside the bathroom.

Stripping on some pajamas from your closet, you contemplated on whether bringing Jimin inside of your room so that you could properly keep an eye on him in case anything happens or just leave him undisturbed on the couch.

In the end, you decided to leave him unbothered on the living room. He looked so comfy that you didn't want to wake the poor thing up. What he needs right now is proper uninterrupted rest. For that, you mentally took notes to check up on Jimin first thing in the morning. It wasn't a problem at all, since it was your day-off from the bistro tomorrow, much to your alleviation.

Drying your hair with a blow dryer, you glance at the wall clock, realizing it was already late at night. Setting the blow dryer off, you comb your hair through your fingers as your free hand turns the lamp off before plopping down the bed, face first with your arms resting on your pillow.

Your stiff muscles reposed underneath the soft sheets of the bed as you shifted to a better sleeping position. Sighing, you finally relaxed, the darkness quietly enveloping your bedroom.

Just as you felt yourself drowning into deep slumber, a sudden loud thump from outside your bedroom impeded you from doing so.