Querencia

21

"You must be hungry, don't you?" Juyeon said as he opened the can of food before he placed it on the ground for the white female cat to eat. "Never mind, I'll feed you."

Caressing its fur softly whilst watching the cat eating on the ground, his eyes were full of hearts shooting out. He loved cats so much - if he needed to declare, and the fate that had led him to Hana was just a blessing since the girl was a cat lover too - more to a maniac.

This white furry female cat was one of the cats they found within the campus area by accident in their first year. He clearly remembered how Hana almost cried upon seeing how beautiful it was that time just to be called a stray cat.

She wanted so badly to take it home but her household never allowed animals inside for some reason. Since then, she had been feeding the cat here in which it was lucky that no one had stopped her from doing so.

Juyeon obviously could take the cat home but it would be hard for Hana to see it whenever she wanted to. On top of that, anyone on the campus could have fed her if none of Juyeon nor Hana had time to do so.

Juha - the name given.

How the name was birthed was a memorable one that Juyeon unknowingly could've pulled the corner of his lips upwards by recalling. It was on one of the days he came here with Hana to feed Juha.

"Shouldn't you have given her a name by now?" he asked his best friend who was squatting down next to the cat, watching it eating.

An undefined sigh escaped her lips as she rose, standing on her feet.

"We both know I suck on that."

It was then Juyeon pondered, drowning in a deep thought. His head was busy working as if he was calculating something, considering how his index finger circled in the air which did not go unnoticed by the girl.

She was about to ask what he was doing when he spoke up first.

"What about Juha? Since we found her together, combining Juyeon and Hana, it could be..... Juha."

Hana's eyes lit up upon hearing it, her lips curled up into a smile - the pretty one Juyeon loved to see.

"Juha it is!" she exclaimed, squatting down back and calling the new name with excitement in her tone. The cat eventually looked up as if she had the instinct that Hana was calling for her. "Juyeon, see! She likes it!"

Though it had been a few years, Juyeon could still feel the sensation in his memory that he was able to keep smiling. Nonetheless, he did not know which one got him smiling so badly - the name or the girl.

It was then, that Juha jumped from her original spot, leaving the half-emptied can for something else - or more so someone else.

With a quick reflex which was still a question from where Juyeon inherited it so abruptly, he trailed Juha's paws smacking the ground, where it ended beside a girl's feet.

"Juyeon?"

The voice calling for his name was so familiar to his ears that he could not resist looking up. That was when, he felt his world halted, seeing only her in his sight.

"Heiji."

"What are you doing here?" Heiji asked, patting the cat next to her feet.

"Feeding Juha", he answered before he dragged his feet towards the nearest bench in the area, swiftly plopping down. He then patted the vacant seat next to him, beckoning Heiji to sit. "Hana is the one who feeds Juha but since she's absent, I guess I should take over."

Giggling as she pushed her baby hair to the back of her ear, Heiji seemed to have been attracted to the name itself.

"Juha is a cute name", she admitted to which Juyeon immediately whipped his head towards the demeanor.

"Right!" the boy was ecstatic more than he usually was, he was seen bouncing on his seat. "It was my idea. I told Hana to put that name."

Back in the day, he was proud of himself when Hana loved the name, however, when Heiji complimented it, the vibe was different - he felt himself suffocated by the praise.

"Speaking of her, is she fine?" Heiji sounded worried, she did hear from her friend who happened to be on the same team as Hana for the event about the female's absence.

However, Juyeon was then getting disturbed. Obviously, it was not a bad one, he genuinely worried for his best friend who still had not returned any of his calls or texts yet.

Was she too sick that she barely got up?

He was dying to know the update from her but to no avail, he has none.

"Whenever Hana was attacked with gastritis, she tends to have fever next and then drowsy for the next few days", he explained sullenly, unknowingly reaching for something in his backpack.

Chocolates - the one he used to supply to her every time she said she was hungry.

"What are you two doing here?"

Little did they know, they were interrupted by another soul who came unnoticed, disappointment and rages were evident in the tone.

"What are you doing here?" Juyeon returned the question to his best friend, Freya scoffed, tugging her hair softly.

"Hana asked me to feed Juha", she then caught a glimpse of the canned food that the cat had consumed during the conversation the humans shared. "Ah, you've given her the food. Then, I'll be on my way."

She turned on her heels, meaning to leave and not to bother whatever nonsense her best friend and her classmate were planning to do afterward. However, she could not proceed as desired when her wrist was softly yanked by the boy.

"Why she didn't ask me to?" Juyeon questioned when their eyes met, Freya's orbs were full of emotions - a bitter one.

"How could I know?" she then glanced over his shoulder, darting right on Heiji. "You two better feed the cat until Hana comes back. Take it as a practice for your future."

Juyeon felt himself flustered but there was something about Freya that he could not retaliate though he wanted to. He just silently watched the girl stomp her feet along the pavement. He did not understand why his girls acted this way around him. He did not like it, even one bit.

Meanwhile, Freya poured every hatred she had after the encounter she was not too fond of into a phone call.

"Maybe we should change the plan", she said through the phone. "We should kill Juyeon instead of Heiji."