Neighbourhood Cat || Kyuhyun

Chapter One - The Delivery

March 13th 2017

Her hands worked furiously on the page. She'd glance up every so often to capture anything new she didn't see before. For instance, just now with her grandfather's head having moved slightly to the left, and therefore directly in sunlight, caused the old man to frown in his sleep.

Danbee bit her lip and worked hard to manipulate her drawing to the sudden change. This was her last piece of paper you see, and therefore she couldn't afford to mess it up. After adding more lines to his forehead and between his eyes, she was working on more shadow when her grandfather's phone went off. This made her jump - and draw a line across her latest work.

Letting out a whine, she tried to fix it. However, because she was using charcoal, she couldn't do much but smudge it. This, as a result, made her grandfather look as if he bleeding from the chest - a look she really did not want to portray.

Letting out a huff, she threw the piece of art away and rubbed her face. A chuckled reached her ears and she looked up to see her grandmother had moved to the sofa, knitting. She probably moved when Danbee was concentrating on her art. Knowing her grandmother would probably be thirsty after her afternoon nap, she ventured into the kitchen to get water as well as the old lady's meds. As she was doing so, she couldn't help but overhear part of her grandfather's phone call.

"Are ye sure one of the young lads couldn't do the delivery? hmm...yes I know that it is ye son's birthday but its just that I -" He paused as he made eye contact with his granddaughter. Masking her concern with a smile, Danbee went back to her grandmother.

"Gran, why don't you stop knitting for a moment and have your meds? Hmm?" She suggested and gently put her hand on the latest work of her grandmother's knitting - a baby's sock. The old woman looked up at her and smiled.

"Oh my baby," she said fondly and patted Danbee's cheek. "I'm just making a socks for when you and my son have the baby. Don't you think it looks nice, Eunjae-ah?" She asked the girl and Danbee instantly agreed. Coaxing her grandmother into swap the knitting with the glass of water, she left the woman alone to her thoughts.

Alone in the kitchen again, she let her frustration out on scrubbing her hands. Once her hands were bright pink and charcoal-free, she splashed her face. Turning off the tap, she blindly reached for the kitchen towel. When her face was dried, she leaned against the bench and sighed.

"Ignore it Danbee. Don't let it get to you," she whispered to herself. When convinced, she stood up to see her Grandfather standing in the kitchen doorway, watching her softly. He was fiddling with his cellphone. A sign that he needed something from her. When she asked, the old man told her that he needed her to do a delivery.

"Fine," she said with a sigh. "Just give me the address and some money for transport."

"Really?"

His expression brightened and he raced to write down the address. Giving it to her, he rummaged in his back pocket and brought out his wallet. "Here, this will be enough for the bus to and back from Seoul," he told her and handed her a couple of crumpled notes.

Then telling her what station to get off at, he hurried to get her a rain jacket. While doing so, he yelled, " there's expected to be a light drizzle, so make sure the parcel does not get wet. Mr Kim explicitly instructed me not to get it wet 'under any circumstance'. So make sure you don't," he reminded her and she hummed in agreement.

.......................

"'A light drizzle' huh? More like a full on thunderstorm," Danbee grumbled as she eyed the raging storm occurring outside.