AN: IM BACK!! And hopefully I'm here to stay. >3<

Jaehee's eyes opened slowly and heavily; she was still tired even though she took a long nap. She stretched out, her blanket dropping to the floor. Wait, I don't remember covering myself in a blanket.... Jaehee thought to herself. She shook her head, deciding that she probably had but was too tired to remember it. "Meow~" Jaehee looked down at the small cat sat in front of her, strands of cat hair tangled all over her black rug. She shuddered. "When did you get here?" She asked Elizabeth The 3rd, although she obviously didn't get an answer. She got to her feet and stretched out once more before taking the cat and sitting her down in her kitchen. "Here. Stay on the tiles or the floor, just stay off the carpet." She instructed the cat. "Meow~" Elizabeth the 3rd began to purr and rub against Jaehee's legs. "Ah, ah! Stay off me as well!" She said, shooing the cat away from her. She shook her head. "How does Mr. Han keep up with you?" She said with a sad sigh. Her phone buzzed, signaling a new chatroom, but she wasn't in the mood so she ignored it. Instead she went into her bedroom and began to work, trying to push to the back of her mind the thought of how much cat fur would be littered around her apartment in just a matter of minutes.

***

Jumin sat in his office, revising a report. Assistant Kang... I honestly can't believe that I kissed her. What was I thinking? Jumin sighed and shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. This is stressing me out. Maybe it was a... reflex? Perhaps it was. When I meet female clients I often try to flirt with them to get them to sign contracts; flirting includes kissing their hands. But... ugh, then again Assistant Kang isn't just another female client, she's my assistant, and she has already signed a contract.

Jumin groaned, smacking his head against the table. "I'm totally overthinking this."

***

Jumin knocked on Jaehee's door for what felt like the millionth time. He was fed up and was about to call her when the door finally opened.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Han, I didn't hear you knock!" Jaehee said worriedly, looking up at Jumin. She was afraid he would get angry, but he seemed pretty relaxed, all things considered. "It's fine." Jumin said. He paused. "I kissed you." He confessed, fixing the cuff of his sleeve and not making eye contact. Jaehee let out a nervous giggle. "Mr. Han, it's not like you to joke around." she said, truly believing that he was kidding. Jumin looked at her, his eyes dead serious. "I am not joking around, Assistant Kang. Who do you think covered you in that blanket?" Jaehee's face fell. "YOU KISSED ME-" Jumin slapped his hand over Jaehee's mouth.

"SHHH! Do you want all of Korea to know?!" He asked angrily. Jaehee shook her head and Jumin removed his hand from her mouth, adjusting his jacket. "I don't know why I did it... and you read a lot of romance novels and watch romantic plays, so I was wondering if you knew?" Jumin asked. Jaehee bit her lip, a light blush grazing her cheeks. "I-I don't think you would have done it out of romance, Mr. Han. Perhaps you had done it out of instinct. When you were younger, had you ever taken care of a sick relative, for example your mother?" Jaehee asked. She then paused, swearing under her breath and looking to the floor shamefully. Jumin noticed and titled her head up a bit so their eyes would meet.

"That's fine, Assistant Kang. As you know, I never had a solid mother figure in my life, but I do have Elizabeth The 3rd who I do kiss a lot-" "-Too much information." Jaehee cut him off. Jumin shook his head in amusement.  "Speaking of Elizabeth The 3rd, where is she?" He asked, looking over his assistants shoulder into her apartment. Just as he was looking, the feline quickly squeezed past both Jaehee and Jumin into the hall of the apartment. Jaehee reacted fast, gently pushing past Jumin to grab the cat. She picked her up quickly which frightened her, causing her to hiss and scratch Jaehee's arm in an attempt to escape. Jaehee quickly let go, hissing at the pain and grasping her wrist where she had been scratched. Jumin grabbed the cat in his arms and walked over to his assistant.

"Are you alright?" He asked her. Elizabeth the 3rd has never scratched anyone before, so it couldn't have hurt that much... right? Jumin's thoughts were wrong as he watched his assistant quickly push past him back into her apartment, turning on her kitchen tap. She placed her wrist under the cool water, and as Jumin shut the door to make sure his kitten wouldn't escape again, he saw blood drip down Jaehee's arm into the sink. The scratch was long and obviously deep, going diagonal across her wrist from one side to the other.

He walked over to her, placing his cat on the counter. "Get her away from me!" Jaehee demanded. There was something... different about her tone. Something Jumin hadn't heard in it before. Although he normally wouldn't take that sort of attitude from his assistant, he nodded in agreement and placed the cat on the floor, where she began to walk over to the door and sit there, waiting for another chance to escape. Jaehee began to wash the cut with soap, tears welling up in her eyes.

Jumin had never seen Jaehee cry before. Okay, maybe once, but that was the first week she had been working for him and he barely remembered it. Seeing Jaehee cry was so rare that Jumin had almost forgotten that Jaehee experience emotions.

"Can I do anything to help?" Jumin asked her worriedly. He felt completely at fault for her current distress. "No! Yes! Can you get the first aid kit out of the bathroom?! P-Please?!" Jaehee asked frantically. "On it." Jumin said, rushing towards her bathroom. He took a small white box with a red plus sign on it off of a shelf, assuming it was the first aid kit. "Ow, son of a bitch!" Jaehee called out from the kitchen. Jumin quickly ran back out. "What?! Are you alright?!" He asked. Jaehee was quickly turning a knob on her tap. "Y-Yeah, I had the hot water on a-and it only just heated up..." Jaehee said, wincing. Jumin turned off the tap for her entirely. "That won't work, come here." He said, leading his assistant over to the couch.

Once Jaehee had sat down, Jumin opened up the first aid kit and found some gauze. "Pass me your wrist." He ordered. Jaehee did as she was told, letting go of her wrist and holding it out towards her boss. Jumin held her wrist gently, then took the gauze and placed it over the scratch, pressing down. "Ow! Stop-" "This is how you treat it! Trust me, I know!" Jumin said demandingly. Although Jumin had never dealt with an actual scratch before, he knew how to treat one from the various cat sites he browsed daily.

Jumin continued to press it down, checking from time to time to see if the bleeding had stopped. Eventually it had and Jumin put some disinfectant on the wound. "Ah! It stings..." Jaehee whimpered. "Shh, I know." Jumin said, although he really didn't know how much pain she was going through. After wrapping up her wrist, Jumin placed Elizabeth The 3rd in her carrier to keep her from attacking Jaehee again.

"Mr. Han, why don't you just declaw her?" Jaehee suggested. Jumin shook his head. "That would hurt her. I'll just clip her nails manually..." "By manually you mean you'll pay someone to do it for you, correct?" Jaehee asked. Jumin nodded with a smirk. "You do realize Mr. Han that her nails would have to be cut frequently and that all cats highly dislike it? If you do that it'll be torture for her almost every week." "Assistant Kang I can reassure you that this won't happen again. I am only going to trim her nails before she goes to your place since I don't mind it myself. Declawing a cat is the same as if we cut off our own fingers at the first knuckle. She would have to relearn how to walk, she would become more aggressive, and she might stop going in her designated litter box and go on the floor. I'm certain that it would be easier for the two of you if she just kept her nails but had them manicured from time to time." Jumin explained. Jaehee seemed shocked.

"I... I didn't know it was like that..." she said sheepishly. "Although I dislike Elizabeth The 3rd, I'd rather her not have to deal with any pain. No animal deserves that." Jaehee said, looking to the floor. "I'm... I'm sorry that I even thought of it Mr. Han." Jaehee apologized. Jumin smiled. "It's fine. You're not a cat lover, so I can understand that. Although you look into cats for work, I have never told you anything about declawing them so I didn't expect you to know." Jumin picked up Elizabeth The 3rd's cat carrier and began to leave. "I'm sorry she attacked you. She has been quite moody lately." Jumin said. Jaehee shook her head. "It's fine. I'm surprised your not mad at me for picking her up too fast." She said. "You were only trying to protect her," Jumin said with a smile. "Thank you for that." Jaehee nodded, and Jumin left with Elizabeth The 3rd.

***

— Jaehee Kang entered the chatroom —

MC: Good morning Jaehee! 💛

ZEN: morning ladies >3• ~

Jaehee Kang: Good morning  ^^

Jaehee Kang: MC, I was wondering if you were interested in inviting a group called Humans Against Declawing to our next party.

ZEN: what's it about, Jaehee?

Jaehee Kang: Oh.

Jaehee Kang: it's an organization against declawing cats and various other animals. I learned from Mr. Han last night that when a car is declawed, it suffers immense pain for the rest of its life.

ZEN: I say let the little bastards suffer!!

Jaehee Kang: ;;;

Jaehee Kang: I don't like cats myself, but no person or animal deserves to suffer.

ZEN: ...

ZEN: now I just look like an asshole...

MC: aww, that's so sweet of you Jaehee! Of course we should invite them!! 💛

Jaehee Kang: ^^

Jaehee Kang: I'm glad I was able to help.

ZEN: wait, shouldn't you be at work Jaehee?

Jaehee Kang: oh.

Jaehee Kang: I have the day off.

ZEN: WHAT?!?!

MC: WHAT!?!?

Jaehee Kang: ^^;;

Jaehee Kang: Elizabeth attacked me last night, and Mr. Han blames himself for it.

Jaehee Kang: he gave me the day off to take care of my wound and just relax.

MC: that was nice of him!  💜

Jaehee Kang: yes, it was. ^^

Jaehee Kang: I should go for a walk since it's nice outside.

ZEN: I'm going to go practice my lines.

MC: can't wait to hear your lines on stage, Zen!! ♡

ZEN: Haha, Try to keep it together <3

Jaehee Kang: then, goodbye

— ZEN left the chatroom —

— Jaehee Kang left the chatroom —

***

As soon as Jaehee stepped foot outside of her apartment, heavy rain began to beat down. "Ugh, great." She muttered. "Meow!" A small sound came from nearby. Jaehee looked left and right. There was nothing and nobody on her street. "Funny," she said to herself. "I thought I heard a cat just now-" "Meow!" Jaehee looked down at her feet where a small kitten sat in front of her. He was a small black kitten with big grey eyes and a piece of his ear missing. He looked injured. Jaehee was hesitant, but upon realizing that the cat was much less fluffier then Elizabeth The 3rd she picked him up in her arms and took him inside to her apartment. She filled the food bowls she had in her cupboard for backup in case anything happened to the ones used by Elizabeth The 3rd. She knew her boss wouldn't appreciate his cats bowls being used for some stray. She watched as the cat walked around her apartment. He still left around a lot of fluff, which caused Jaehee to wince. She noticed as he checked things out that he limped. His paw was definitely injured.

Jaehee decided to take him to an animal shelter first thing in the morning. It would be a valuable excuse to get even more time off from work. Until then, she worked with the cat in full view at all times. She also went to social, media and checked to see if any cats in her area were missing, and if they looked like the same cat. None were at the time, at the least none that looked like him. Jaehee picked up the cat, looking him over cautiously. He was neutered, and didn't seem to have fleas or anything of the sort.

"I guess I might as well name you for now." She said to the cat, placing him down on the table. He looked at her expectantly. Jaehee bit her lip, thinking to herself names for a cat. She thought of Zen, then came up with the perfect name. "How about Ryu?" She asked the cat. Stupid. She scolded herself. It's not like the cat cat reply when you ask it questions. Ryu began to purr and pushed his head against Jaehee as a sign of affection. "Okay, uh, don't!" Jaehee groaned as black fur stuck to her white sweater. She sighed. "At the least you like it." She muttered, gently petting the cat.

AN: IM GETTING MY GLASSES TOMORROW!! ILL SEE THE WORLD LIKE EVERYONE ELSE DOES!! WWWOOOOOOOO

also I'm back!! I'm here to hopefully stay!! ^^

Love you guyssss!!! 💛💛💛💛 ~TheWeeWeeaboo