A Purring Friend

~3~

I just arrived at my apartment after getting my daily coffee. But as soon as I got in I started to sneeze again.
"What the-..."
I walked in and closed the door behind me, looking around the room to see if a cat walked in.
Shit. The window!
I ran to my room to see if I left it open. It was.

"Hey."

I shrieked and looked to my left. A boy with cream-colored hair made himself comfortable on my bed. My heart stopped beating for a moment. Then it hit me.

"SAN?!"

-"I, err, s'up...?" He said unsure.

"What...why...how?" I stammered. How the heck did he manage to get into my room? My front door was certainly locked. He's too big to crawl through the window and, by the way, why would he even do that?"

"I need to tell you something."
-"yeah, me too." I cut him off.
He looked at me, confused.
"Get out." I said, my voice sounding threatening. His eyes widened at my sudden anger.
-"Wait, no! You want to know how I got in here, right?" His eyes looked at me, pleading.
I waited in annoyance for his little story to begin. When he told me he could shapeshift, I held up my hand.
"Wait, wait, wait. So you tell me you can shapeshift into whatever you like? Are you the white cat?" My voice now sounding shaky. If he really is the cat, I basically told him he is handsome.

-"Yes."

No, no no no!

"Why would you even shapeshift into a cat?" I asked carefully.
-"Because your sneezes sound cute."

!!

"You said I looked handsome~" he smirked.
-"Okay, get out!" I yelled through my sneeze, managing to point towards the window. San looked at me with pleading eyes. He did not want to go just yet.
"Do you want to be friends?"
-"no," I steadily said, "not with someone who creeps into random people's houses."

San bowed his head. He turned into the exact same white cat I talked to the last couple of days and jumped through the window. I closed it right after. A sigh escaped from my lips, feeling a spark of regret deep down in my stomach.

The next day, I was walking to school and saw him again. The white cat. San. I tried not to look at him and walked further. I heard him meowing slightly. It sounded like he was begging me to stop. But I kept ignoring him.

He's not expecting me to become his friend. I won't befriend a 'cat-boy' and certainly not a privacy intruder. Nope.

I ignored him the following week.

School was getting harder by the day as the exams were getting close. I had a hard time focusing on studying since my stress level was too high to handle.
Since I met San, I realized my stress decreased and that I felt better.

I missed him.

I rested my head on my desk and began to cry silently.
"San...I'm sorry, please come back.." I sobbed.

I decided to get some fresh air and so, I went outside. I bought some cat food for San, in case I ran into him.
As I got back I saw a white tail slipping away just around the corner. "San?". I decided to follow it and walked around the corner, too.

There I stood, right in a dark alley. "San...?" I tried again.

"No."

I gasped. That voice was definitely not San's!

"Who are you?" I tried to sound strong, but my shaking voice and loud sneezes failed me. I could slap myself right now!

"Mingi." The mysterious man answered. He walked out of the dark shadows, revealing a tall man with fancy clothes. His hair was black with blue strikes at the ends.

His piercing eyes burned through mine, causing me to stumble back but quickly steadying myself right after.

"Meow."

A cat appeared. It wasn't white, it was a ginger-colored cat.

Mingi's glare turned towards it. "Hongjoong, this is the girl who disappointed him."

Hongjoong who? I disappointed who?

The ginger cat, who's name was apparently Hongjoong, eyed me up and down and cocked its head to one side a little. "Meow"

"What? You're telling me to let her go?"

I looked at the whole scene in front of me. Mingi, who pinned me to the wall, communicating with a cat called Hongjoong.

Then, a familiar voice appeared, "Mingi, it's okay."

San?! What is happening?

And so, San indeed came out of the shadows. He gave me a slight smile.
"San! I-... I'm so sorry for ignoring you. It wasn't a good solution.."

San waved away my apology, "As I said, it's okay. And don't worry about Mingi. He won't hurt you, as intimidating as he may seem."

-"Hey! I'm right here!" Mingi huffed.

But... wait. Are they all cats? Because you have San and I'm guessing he's friends with Mingi and Mingi just talked to another cat called Hongjoong. Does that mean...

"You're all cats?"
I could mentally punch myself for being so blunt.

Mingi snapped his gaze to me. A surprised yet shocked expression could be read from his face.
-"How do you know?"

"I- uhh... It was a just wild guess!"
It was quiet for a moment.

I heard some rumbling noises. I guess the boys were hungry.

"So... You got food?" An embarrassed San spoke up.

"Yeah! I just got back from the grocery store. I bought some cat food just in case I would meet you again."
I opened the can of food and gave it to the boys, also not forgetting Hongjoong.

They all attacked the can, leaving it empty in a matter of seconds.

I might come back here more often to give them food.