Chapter Text
Junseo looked out the window to see how dark it had gotten outside. Junseo sighed as his students left the classroom. Junseo was finally done with work and could head home. Junseo packed up his materials and exited the building. As Junseo made his way back to his bus stop, the sky began to pour. Junseo cursed as he had left his umbrella at home. Junseo was not looking forward to being dripping wet by the time he got back to his apartment.
Junseo could see the bus pulling up to his stop in the distance and started to make a run for it. The rain ricocheted off Junseo as he pierced through the storm to try to make it for the bus. Once Junseo could see the stop, the bus began to pull away. “No,” Junseo cried while he ran to the stop at full speed. "No!" It was too late. The bus was already well on its way by the time Junseo arrived at the bus stop. Junseo panted as he stopped. “Drat, now I'll have to wait 30 minutes for the next bus,” Junseo cursed under his breath.
What was worse for Junseo was that the bus stop had no awning, so he would have to withstand the pelting rain. Junseo searched for at least a tree or a convenience store where he could maybe get a brief reprieve from the torrential rain. Junseo saw a convenience store close to the bus stop, so he walked over to be under its awning. The rain was making Junseo cold, so a hot beverage sounded nice too.
Junseo entered the store and examined what warm drinks they had. Junseo strolled through the store for as long as possible to stall time. Junseo saw an option for a warm herbal tea, so he grabbed it. It was too late in the night to grab coffee. Junseo paid for his drink and found an empty stool to sit on. Junseo sat down and began to drink his tea. The warm liquid soothed his soul as he warmed up after standing and running in the rain.
As Junseo sipped his tea, he noticed a curious box outside that he missed. The box was situated under a tree across from the convenience store entrance. Junseo could see something alive was residing in the box, but he could not see what it was. Junseo saw some cat ears peering through the top of the box. Junseo had a hard time making out the color from a distance. Once Junseo finished his drink, he walked back out into the rain.
Junseo carefully approached the box. Junseo heard a meow emit from the box. Junseo's curiosity pulled him to look inside. Junseo was surprised to see a cat. “Oh, how cute,” Junseo cooed. Junseo was perplexed by the cat's fur color. Could cats have such reddish fur? He certainly had never seen one before. Beyond the fur color, the cat looked like a normal cat. The fur was short, and the cat's build was lean. Junseo saw a pet tag hanging from a collar. Junseo slowly moved his hand to the cat.
Junseo was surprised to see how friendly the cat was. He expected the cat to fight back, but it did not. Junseo grabbed the tag to read it. “Xinlong,” Junseo read aloud. “Is that your name? Xinlong?” Junseo asked the cat. The cat blinked with its big yellow eyes as if it might have understood him. “Where is your family? You shouldn't be out here in the pouring rain. Aigoo,” The cat did not answer. Why was Junseo expecting an answer, though? That was silly of him.
Junseo didn't know what to do. He would feel really bad if he left the cat here by itself. On the other hand, Junseo did not know if he could keep a pet at his new apartment. Junseo's bus would be arriving soon, so he needed to make a decision. Junseo felt like acting first and saving questions for later. Junseo grabbed the box the cat was in and headed back to the bus stop. The cat let Junseo take him where he was going.
The bus arrived on time, and Junseo was able to get on it. Junseo walked towards the back row of the bus to sit down. The bus was fairly empty, so he set the box next to him on the nearby seats. Junseo examined the cat more closely. The color of his coat was indeed abnormal. Fortunately, Junseo saw no injuries or scars on the cat. Junseo slowly moved his hand towards the cat again. When the cat did not move, Junseo moved to scratch his chin. “Oh, who's a good boy?” Junseo crooned. The cat relaxed and closed his eyes as Junseo scratched him.
Junseo kept petting the cat, ignoring the rest of the world on his bus ride home. When he heard his bus stop being called, Junseo grabbed the box and headed towards the front. Junseo got off the bus and started the walk back to his apartment. The cat shrank into the box as Junseo walked. When Junseo finally made it back to his apartment door, he punched the key code. Junseo opened the door and walked inside with the cat.
Junseo set the box down on the floor in the general living space. Junseo let Xinlong explore the place while he looked for food to eat in his fridge. Junseo opened his fridge to see some leftovers from a takeout meal he had the other day. He also had a small dish of cooked chicken in the fridge. Junseo did not have any cat food, but he thought the chicken could work. Junseo emptied the cooked chicken onto a plate and placed the plate on the floor.
Xinlong turned to look at the plate. Xinlong leaped to eat the chicken. “Oh yes, there you go. Eat up,” Junseo petted the cat. Junseo returned to the fridge to warm up his leftovers. Once Junseo warmed up his leftovers, he sat at his table to eat. Junseo was too distracted to eat because his new pet was too amusing.
Once Xinlong had eaten his meal, he started walking through the entire apartment, sniffing every item. Once Xinlong had scouted the apartment, he walked over to Junseo and meowed. “Hmm, yes?” Junseo asked the cat. Xinlong rubbed his body against Junseo's leg and started purring. “You happy to be here?” Junseo asked in a cute tone while he petted the cat's head. Xinlong purred more as he was petted.
Xinlong moved to hop onto Junseo's bed. Xinlong started making biscuits on Junseo's bed and testing out the textures of Junseo's bedding. When Xinlong found a good spot, Xinlong sat down on the bed and curled into a ball. Junseo smiled as he saw the cat relax. “Cute cat,” Junseo commented with a soft smile. Junseo had pets growing up. He had a dog growing up, but he never had a cat. The cat was surprisingly cute and calmer than Junseo had expected.
Once Junseo finished his dinner, he cleaned the dirty plates. Junseo headed to his bathroom to clean up after getting soaked in the rain. Junseo should probably be upset that the soaked cat was on his bed, but the cat was so cute that he ignored his worries. Junseo took off his clothes and started a warm shower. Junseo could feel the stress from today melt down the drain. Junseo finished up quickly and dried himself off.
Junseo walked around with just a towel on his waist, back into his studio room. The cat woke up as Junseo walked back into the room. The cat got back up at its feet and started meowing. “What is it?” Junseo whined. The cat kept meowing as Junseo put on night clothes. “Ok, ok, I'm coming,” Junseo told Xinlong. Junseo came over to his bed and sat on the edge.
The cat approached Junseo and began to rub its body against Junseo's side. Junseo petted the cat in return. “You need all the pets tonight, huh?” Junseo teased. Xinlong purred as Junseo petted him. Usually, when Junseo came home, it was pretty boring, and he usually just headed straight to bed. Between his two jobs, Junseo normally had little time at home. He would have to leave early for his high school job and then come home late from his cram school job. Fortunately, the cram school was only a few nights a week, with tonight being one of those nights. Junseo enjoyed teaching science to high schoolers, but doing it for over 50 hours a week left Junseo drained on days off. That also did not include any time he needed to grade assignments and tests. Junseo would focus on grading tomorrow when he did not have cram school.
The night had already waned to the late hours, so Junseo struggled to get into bed while Xinlong rested on it. Xinlong eventually moved as Junseo got under the covers. Once Junseo was ready for bed, Xinlong hopped back onto the bed and curled up next to him. Junseo petted the cat next to him. “All right, good night, Xinlong-ie,” Junseo told the cat. Junseo turned out the lights.
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Junseo's alarm rang, and he was groggy as he turned the alarm off. Junseo's eyes adjusted, and he felt a lump on his chest. Junseo rubbed his eyes and looked up to see Xinlong sleeping on his chest. “Xinlong-ie?” Junseo asked curiously. “When did you get on me?” Xinlong's ears perked up. Xinlong opened his eyes to look at Junseo. Xinlong got up and stretched into an arched spine. Once he finished stretching, he hopped off the bed.
Junseo got up and got ready for his next morning shift. As he ate breakfast, he realized he was not sure he had anything to get for Xinlong for breakfast. He did not know what cats could eat entirely. He would have to do some research. “Sorry, Xinlong-ie. I don't know if I have anything for you for breakfast, but I'll be sure to give you a big dinner when I come back, okay?” Junseo told the cat. Junseo was not sure why he was talking to the cat. Could the cat even understand him? Regardless, the cat did not hiss at the statement. He just observed while Junseo ate breakfast.
Junseo could feel the cat's eyes on him at all times. It was a reassuring and an unnerving feeling. It was comforting now that at least a pet was watching his every move, but he was confused why the cat would even follow him when he used the bathroom. Junseo shook his head as he was ready to head out the door to work. Junseo could feel the cat running away as he was leaving.
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When Junseo got to the teacher's room before his schedule started, he planned his day at his desk. While he was planning, a teacher approached him. “Is that cat hair on your shirt?” Junseo turned to see Kang Daniel, the music teacher, asking the question. Daniel was pointing at Junseo's shirt around his shoulder. A suspicious strand of red hair was there where he was pointing. Junseo sighed.
“Ah, yes, I found a poor cat while commuting home last night. He looked so lonely, and it was raining furiously. I couldn't just leave him alone,” Junseo replied cutely. “I never had a cat before, but yesterday he was so cute,”
“I have 4 cats, and I love all of them,” Daniel smiled at Junseo with excitement, “They're all around the same age. Do you have a picture of your new cat?” Junseo snapped a finger with a frustrated look on his face.
“Oh, I should have done that,” Junseo sighed. “I should ask you. Have you ever seen a red-haired cat?” Junseo was curious to hear what a cat expert would reply with.
“A red cat?” Daniel pondered out loud. “I have not. I don't think there is a breed of cat with red hair.”
“Really? My cat has red hair like the color of burgundy,” Junseo told him. “I wasn't sure if that was unusual. I did not recall seeing red-haired cats before.”
“That is unusual,” Daniel confirmed. Daniel's face looked puzzled. “Was anything else unusual about the cat?”
“He had a name tag named Xinlong on it. But there was no name of someone to contact on the tag. There wasn't a phone number or anything on the back,” Junseo commented.
“A truly interesting cat you've run into,” Daniel dropped his confused expression. “The Cat Distribution System has worked out for you.”
“The what?” Junseo asked in confusion.
“The Cat Distribution System. It's an internet joke that when you most need a cat in your life, a cat will come to you. Almost like fate,” Daniel explained.
“It's only been half a day, but I am enjoying the cat. He hasn't been a terror to my furniture yet,” Junseo said happily. Junseo also thought this was the longest time he had talked to Daniel on any subject, incredibly. The bell rang, so class was about to start. “Can I ask you any other questions I have about raising a cat?” Junseo asked Daniel.
“Of course, I love talking about cats,” Daniel replied. Daniel smiled at him as he headed to his classroom. Junseo also headed to his classroom to begin his workday. Junseo had enjoyed his first night with his cat. Perhaps this distribution system was up to something after all.