Maknae Princess || Stray Kids

3. TWO OUT OF THREE

Two Out Of Three

One Week Later

Every day for the past week now, Nabi's been preoccupied with dance practice and vocal training. She was mainly glued to Chan's side from the minute she stepped inside the building until the second she stepped out of it. And she was right about Han not liking her but instead of outright showing it he just avoided her as much as physically possible and so Nabi did the same with him. And as for Minho and Changbin, she'd gotten on pretty well with the two, thankfully no bad blood.

They were taking a break between practices when Nabi found Minho crouched on the ground just outside of the building. He was feeding a stray cat. It was small and skittish but somehow Minho had gained its trust in only a few minutes. Nabi guessed she was right about the older boy just looking cold and reserved but actually being nothing but a big softie.

"Lee Know," she called quietly.

Minho turned his head at the sound of his name and found Nabi holding out a small milk bottle to him. He was caught off guard for a second and just stared between her and the milk in her hand.

"I've been trying to give this little guy something to drink all morning," Nabi explained. "He seems to trust you, you give it to him."

"You've been trying to feed him?" Minho asked a hint of surprise in his voice.

Nabi nodded as he took the milk from her hand and poured it into a small and empty food container. She went to sit on the low wall behind Minho as she watched him and the cat. The cat let him softly pet its head as it drank the milk timidly.

"My older brother has a dog but I kind of prefer cats," Nabi spoke up after a minute. "What about you?"

"I like all animals," Minho said simply. "But I have two cats at home."

"Really?" Nabi asked brightly. "What are their names?"

Minho hesitated for a second before getting up and going to sit down next to Nabi. He and the girl got on just fine. At least when it came down to dancing and singing, but other than that, they haven't really had a conversation between them. But Minho couldn't resist giving into this one, after all, it was about a topic he loved.

"Soonie and Doongie," he replied.

"How long have you had them?" Nabi asked keeping the conversation going.

"I've had Soonie since I was twelve or thirteen," Minho said as a soft smile crept its way onto his face. "One day during winter I went to volunteer at a vet hospital with some of my friends and for some reason, I kept noticing a lot of cats. I really wanted a cat so I thought it was fate and I called my mom to tell her I was bringing a cat home."

Nabi was smiling as Minho kept on talking, she found him really vulnerable and pure in this moment. He kind of reminded her of her brother, but she doubted this attitude would last once they stopped talking about cats. So for now, Nabi nodded and smiled enjoying this version of Lee Know for as long as she could.

"That's how I got Soonie. But my mom had to come and help me adopt him, of course, because I couldn't do it on my own," Minho explained.

"And Doongie?" Nabi asked.

"Doongie... " he paused as he tried to recall just how he had gotten his second cat. "Uh, right. I got Doongie from one of my friends whose cat had a litter of kittens. Doongie can be a real brat most of the time. Whenever I'm away from home for a while and get back, Soonie's the first to greet me but Doongie will just stare at me before walking away."