Kitten (minsung)

35

Minho didn't realize how much he needed comfort until his fingers trailed themselves to reach his phone, contacting the only person who would pick up at this hour.

"Hello." A voice greeted him from the other line.

"Hi, Auntie." His voice was weary, yet still clear enough for the other party to hear. "I miss you."

She let out a small laughter. "Minho, I can simply go home."

"Don't," he interrupted. "I'm the one who encouraged you to live the way you wanted. I'm eighteen anyway, which means I can live by myself," he insisted.

True, Minho was the one who encouraged her to live the way she desired, instead of being overly attached to Minho. He afraid that he may not be able to let go if he's grown too attached on people who doesn't deserve him.

"I have a boyfriend," he changed the topic. "He is very eccentric; dyed his hair blonde, wear mismatched clothes, but somehow rocking it in every pattern. I'm so jelly."

She chuckled. "Oh, really? I'm happy for both of you then." Minho's mood suddenly changed. He knew she would accept him for who he truly is. However, experiencing the actual thing felt way better than expected.

"I'm luckier though. I've never met such a nice person. Well, he uses violent language on daily basis, but he's actually very kind. I guess he's kind of quirky. Maybe he's trying to hide his insecurities with such attitude or maybe it's just his personality. One thing for sure... I'm whipped," he bragged like he's the proudest boyfriend ever.

"I'm so jealous..." she whined teasingly. "What's his name? I need to know his name since I'm planning to be your wedding organizer."

"Jisung." The corner of his mouth moved upwards just by breathing out that one name.

"That's a pretty name," she commented.

"I know you're trying to be nice and dandy, but isn't Jisung a very common name in Korea?"

"So is Minho."

"So that makes us a common couple." He laughed it out. "Auntie, I miss you, but I wish you to stay where you are now. Now I gotta buy cat food, so please excuse me." He glanced at the clock.

"Bye-bye, don't forget to send my love and affection to Soon-ie, Dong-ie, and Dori." The call ended shortly after. Minho stood up to grab his coat and went outside.

┉┉

The wind was breezing. His car was out of fuel, thus he decided to use his legs. It wasn't a long trip to the convenience store. However, it kind of felt like so due to electricity problem which occurred around the neighborhood.

He finished buying enough cat food and proceeded to walked back home. Nonetheless, he had absolutely no idea about what tragedy was ahead of him. He wasn't so lucky that day.

On his way, three unknown faces stepped on Minho's sandals, which resulted in him losing his balance and fell onto the hard concrete. His right cheek made contact with the uneven surface, while the cat food fell forward, near the stranger's shoes.

He felt like shit. It didn't took him long to regain his composure and stood back up, bowing to the three strangers in the most apologetic way as possible. Sometimes it's better to take the blame in order to run away from an unexpected situation. Especially when the strangers are two large men whose eyes looked like they've just smoked weed.