The last time Cat had felt such a sense of unreality was when her Pooper-Scooper had taken her in.
Her memories were blurry.
She remembered feeling like a little kitten that was about to die.
Then, a tall figure had picked her up and carried her away.
When she finally woke up, she realized she wasn’t dead.
Cat blinked, and the night light overhead continued to flicker before her eyes.
Feeling the warmth spreading from her palm, Cat suddenly realized that everything happening now was real.
She didn’t need to wander anymore.
Cat felt a sour sensation in her nose, a feeling as if she were about to cry.
“Things will only get better from now on,” Su Li’s voice spoke calmly in her ear. She closed the book in her hand and looked at Cat.
At this moment, Cat’s pitiful appearance was exactly the same as it had been when Su Li first picked her up and brought her home.
Su Li wanted to say something else, but she suddenly felt a weight in her arms.
Cat lunged forward, her forehead pressing against Su Li’s collarbone as she trembled.
Warm tears instantly soaked through the shirt, the heat making Su Li’s fingers twitch.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll always be here with you, Cat,” Su Li heard herself say softly as she stroked the girl’s small head.
Those words seemed to puncture something inside Cat, and she buried her face even deeper, whimpering.
Her pink hair tickled Su Li’s chin, and tears pitter-pattered onto the back of Su Li’s hand.
Su Li slowly set her book down. She patted Cat’s thin back rhythmically, feeling the protruding shoulder blades trembling beneath her palm.
“Cat won’t have to stay out in the rain anymore.”
Her fingers slid into Cat’s fluffy hair, her voice as gentle as a lullaby. “There will always be hot milk here, soft cushions, and…”
Before she could finish, her words were interrupted by a sob.
Cat’s hand gripped Su Li’s hem so tightly that her knuckles turned white, and a sound like a small, whimpering animal rolled from her throat.
Su Li felt a large wet patch on her chest, but she let the girl lean against her and cry.
Outside the window, the moonlight slid down Cat’s trembling shoulders, pooling into a small, bright puddle on the floor.
After all, Cat had been by her side every day in the past; she hadn’t even possessed the ability to live on her own.
Su Li truly didn’t know how much Cat had suffered out there before they met.
‘If I had known that a pet cat could turn into a human one day,’ she thought, ‘I would have definitely taught her some life skills.
That way, even if she left me, she could live a better life.’
Fortunately, she had found Cat again. It didn’t matter if Cat didn’t learn anything; as long as she was happy, that was enough.
Su Li stroked Cat’s small head like she was comforting a child. She was actually quite good at coaxing people like this.
Before long, Cat’s soft whimpering stopped, but she remained slumped in Su Li’s arms, unwilling to get up.
After nearly ten minutes, Cat finally shifted in Su Li’s embrace, rubbing her eyes, which were already red from crying.
“Su Li, Su Li, I’m sorry.”
“I… I just… I couldn’t help it.”
Cat’s face and ears turned bright red as she spoke bashfully.
Speaking of which, she had caused Su Li so much trouble.
Yet Su Li didn’t mind at all, nor was she angry.
“It’s okay. It’s better to cry when you want to cry. Otherwise, keeping it bottled up in your heart will only make you feel worse.”
Su Li handed a paper towel to Cat. She watched as Cat took it and wiped her tears. In Su Li’s memory, Cat didn’t use to cry much.
However, whenever Cat was sad, she would lunge into Su Li’s arms and curl her body up to rest for a while.
Su Li gave Cat some space and picked up her book again.
After Cat wiped her tears, she went to the computer and began to summarize today’s work.
There wasn’t actually much work to cover today, but she still completed her summary diligently.
She also took the opportunity to review the idioms and new characters she had learned that day.
When Su Li got up to take a shower, Cat began to doodle and write on a piece of paper.
Eventually, she felt she still didn’t quite understand, so she quietly slipped into the kitchen.
She began to simulate the process of Su Li making Fruit Medley in the air.
‘This way, the next time I want to prepare Fruit Medley for Su Li, I won’t have to disturb her. I can just make it for her directly.’
“Pouring the yogurt should be like rain,” Cat murmured softly.
Once she felt her simulation was complete and the image of the Fruit Medley had formed in her mind, she quietly left the kitchen and returned to her room.
Cat lay on her bed and practiced her writing for a while. It was only after Su Li finished her shower that she went in to wash up.
While washing up, Cat looked at herself in the mirror and blinked.
In the past, she would have finished her work and done a simple wash-up inside the convenience store.
Now, she had a home where she could settle down. Everything was so convenient.
“Su Li, Su Li, goodnight!”
After greeting Su Li, Cat returned to the room prepared for her.
Even as she lay on the large, soft bed staring at the ceiling, it still felt like a dream.
She felt like she had returned to her previous life, back to the soft cat bed her Pooper-Scooper had meticulously prepared for her.
Cat looked out the window. Outside the glass, the stars were steady and bright, looking like someone had knocked over a jar of frosting.
The underground room she used to live in only had a window the size of a palm. She had been forced to stand on a stool just to see the dusty base of the wall outside.
Back then, she would always paste old newspapers over the glass to block the wind.
The corners of the newspapers had long since turned yellow and curled from the rain, and light would leak through the cracks, hurting her eyes.
She didn’t need to use newspapers anymore.
The night wind, carrying the osmanthus fragrance, drifted through the gauze curtain.
She counted the stars and reached out toward them, her fingertips brushing against the string of light on the glass.
The cool touch reminded her of the chilled watermelon Su Li had given her.
Cat slept very peacefully that night.
In the past, just the sounds from the corridor would have made it difficult for her to fall asleep.
Cat dreamed. In her dream, she prepared a large, bountiful bowl of Fruit Medley for Su Li.
And Su Li ate it very happily.
‘I want to make Fruit Medley for Su Li for the rest of my life,’ Cat thought to herself.
……
After Su Li finished drying off, she passed by Cat’s room and peeked inside.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Cat fast asleep, hugging her blanket.
The night wind brushed the gauze curtain against Cat’s feet.
She unconsciously curled her toes, and a strand of pink hair clung to the corner of her mouth, rising and falling gently with her breath.
Su Li lightly held the doorknob. She saw Cat’s eyelashes casting fine shadows beneath her eyes, trembling like butterfly wings with the movements of her dream.
Cat used to always sleep curled up beside her.
But Cat was grown up now.
“Goodnight, Cat.”