| the neighbor's lost cat
hanni, after a long day at their school decided to call it a day, she bid farewell to her friends with a wide smile, watching them as they exit the gate of their school together to wait for the bus to their respective houses. hanni lives the farthest from all her classmates, so she takes the dorm of their school's building, making things 'easier' for her. it's not really that fun nor easy, yes it's convenient — but sometimes it gets lonely being away from her family, the dorm life wasn't easy, missing out food made by her mom and the comfort of her bed that also smelled like her mom. the good thing is that hanni was independent, she was mature and knew what she had to do, she got used to this life pretty quick.
hanni entered the building, walking past the accountant and to the beautiful glass walls of the elevator, she pressed the 4th floor and stood still, her mind was kind of empty after a day of thinking about the endless school works being brought upon their shoulders. the elevator opens at 2nd floor, she sees a familiar classmate enter with a thick slab of papers on her hands, her head was low as she walked in the elevator. hanni watched and turned away as quick as possible after she sees the girl pressing on the same floor as her.
ban heeseo. she's that smart but lonely girl in their class, she doesn't have that much friends nor interact with the surroundings all the time, she was aloof and stayed at the same seat as always. but heeseo is nice, based on the small interactions they had before, heeseo is helpful, generous and considerate but very far away from the world. the elevator opens and they started walking side by side, the atmosphere was awkward, heeseo wasn't speaking and hanni is too tired to talk. hanni's room was next to heeseo's, they were practically neighbors but aren't always in touch with each other, heeseo's room seems to be locked all the time and the small whiteboard hanging by her wall is always blank.
heeseo entered first, immediately closing the door, hanni stood in front of hers then looked down on the floor before sighing and entering inside.
the next day, hanni did the same routine, after school she went inside the dormitories and entered the elevator but she didn't see any traces of heeseo, usually they catch up on each other, this time she's not here. when the elevator stopped, hanni was a bit puzzled, she didn't understand the lingering feeling inside her chest but she ignored it with a shake of her head. exiting, she walked on the hallway, passing the different rooms and seeing different signs hanging up on their doors. hanni stopped in front of the bulleting board, a bunch of posters— mostly are flyers asking for students to join organizations, hanni was always disinterested, who knew what those organizations have under their sleeves? but one caught her attention, it's a picture of a cat, a tabby one to be exact, laying on a bed, eyes looking at the camera as it was in what they call 'loaf' position. the poster wrote: "if anyone has seen my cat, miya. please contact my phone number ******** he's missing and i need to find him, i will try to think of a reward as thanks but for now please message me if you have seen this cat — ban heeseo, year 4 class f, dorm room 405."
hanni blinked and looked around, feeling her heart sink, she didn't know heeseo had a cat. that sucks, hanni hoped she would encounter this cat and be able to give it back to heeseo.
two days have passed, hanni had not seen any tabby cat that looked like the one in the poster, only a tuxedo one and a calico. but even that, hanni still has hope she'd be able to find the cat, unknowingly, hanni doesn't realize how much she cared for a stranger— a stranger's cat, that when it's weekends, her free time she walks around the campus, every corner, trying to spot a male tabby.
it has been a week, she still haven't seen one and weird enough, whenever it's not school hours, hanni also cannot spot heeseo around the campus, it's been a week they haven't encountered each other in the same elevator nor walked side by side in the hallway. it's driving hanni nuts, she's worried about heeseo. hanni's still trying her best to look for the tabby cat and this time she made sure she'll be able to talk to heeseo about it.
