When the Escalade entered the Gukine alley.
The restaurant, closed for the holiday, was shrouded in darkness, so unlike its usual self.
The familiar warmth that seeped from the rattling glass doors, the cozy glow of lights, the soft hum of conversation and laughter— those things were gone, and it no longer felt like the Gukine they knew.
As always, Yoon Jooho parked the car in the empty lot beside the restaurant. The lot was nearly deserted.
Unlike what they’d been told when they left Myeonghaeri, it was actually about 5:30 when they arrived. It was because of the snow.
“Oh? Aunt!”
Song Hyunsoo, just stepping out of the car, pulled his coat tightly around himself and spotted Aunt Kurin, arms firmly crossed against the cold. She, too, seemed to have just arrived.
“Why did you come out in this cold? We could’ve brought it over ourselves.”
Even as he spoke, Song Hyunsoo’s face was full of delight. He hurried over to Aunt Kurin, gently brushing her cold-looking shoulder.
She patted his back in return, then pointed somewhere with a jerk of her chin.
“They say they’ll take that troublemaker, so of course I had to come out.”
She pointed to the far end of the lot, a dark corner.
The last kitten, the one with the spot beside its nose. As expected, it was sitting atop the wall, enduring the falling snow.
Yoon Jooho, who had followed them out of the car, bowed politely to Aunt Kurin as he approached. She nodded in return, accepting his greeting.
“So, the Crown Prince is taking it?”
“Yes.”
Aunt Kurin’s gaze as she looked Yoon Jooho up and down was sharp and steady. It surprised Song Hyunsoo.
Since she was such a big fan of Yoon Jooho, he’d expected her to welcome the idea without a second thought.
“Have you ever raised a cat?”
“I haven’t, but I’ll study hard and take good care of it.”
“If you take it, make sure you spoil it plenty. You’ve got the money for it, after all.”
“Yes, I promise I will.”
Only after getting a firm answer did Aunt Kurin’s expression soften. She looked up at the kitten on the wall, her gaze complicated.
“Even in this weather, it sits out there in the snow… I can’t stay glued to it and watch all day, either.”
The three of them turned to look at the wall.
“There’s nothing good for it here. It’ll just stay stuck in that spot forever. It needs to find a new family, and learn what happiness is.”
Go on, bring it here yourself. Aunt Kurin gave them both a gentle push.
Crunch, crunch.
Leaving footprints in the piled snow, the two of them slowly approached the kitten.
Nyaaang.
Noticing them coming closer, the kitten let out a thin, wary cry and backed away.
As if asking for help, it kept glancing at Aunt Kurin, standing behind them.
“It’s okay, Ddakji. It’s me.”
Song Hyunsoo tried coaxing it first with a gentle voice. Then he pointed to Yoon Jooho beside him and introduced him.
“And last time, this hyung held you, remember?”
Yoon Jooho approached and carefully stretched out his hand. Even as it watched warily and let out the faintest mewl, there was a glimmer of curiosity in the kitten’s eyes.
A new person standing before it, a new future with that person— it was scary, but at the same time, unbearably exciting and hopeful.
Song Hyunsoo felt he understood what the kitten was feeling.
As the kitten sniffed at Yoon Jooho’s hand, it was caught off guard and captured with a bewildered expression.
After all that caution, once in Yoon Jooho’s arms, it curled up small, as if burrowing in.
Nyaa.
“Alright, let’s go. Let’s go home.”
Yoon Jooho whispered softly as he carefully brushed the melting snow from the kitten’s back and head.
His voice was so quiet that only Song Hyunsoo, standing beside him, could barely hear.
Finally, with the kitten in his arms, Yoon Jooho looked up and met Song Hyunsoo’s gaze. There was fear in his eyes, but also gratitude…
The delicate gaze Song Hyunsoo had always admired was, in this moment, fixed solely on him.
He didn’t like how quickly the thick snow was piling up on Yoon Jooho’s shoulders and head.
Before he realized it, he stepped closer and brushed the snow off. Yoon Jooho’s eyes crinkled prettily as he laughed.
“You know, it’s piling up just the same on your head too?”
Something about that unguarded laugh made Song Hyunsoo feel like he might cry.
Let’s go. Let’s go home.
It was the most needed phrase for every being in the world that needed shelter, and it felt like Yoon Jooho was saying it to Song Hyunsoo, and also to his younger self from the past.
To all the wingless birds in the world.
∎
Yoon Jooho opened the front door, and Song Hyunsoo’s movements were extremely cautious as he entered. It was as if he were holding a ticking time bomb, not a cage with a cat inside.
“Where should I put the cage?”
Yoon Jooho, his hands full of shopping bags, followed him in and replied.
“Let’s put it in the bedroom.”
“Not the living room?”
“It’s too much trouble to keep going back and forth to check.”
So you feel safer with it closer, huh? Yes, understood.
After changing into slippers, Yoon Jooho strode ahead of Song Hyunsoo.
He set the shopping bags down at the entrance to the Master Zone, unlocked the door, and led the way into the bedroom.
“Put it over there.”
Song Hyunsoo carefully set the cage down where Yoon Jooho indicated.
Between the bed and the TV, at the edge of the carpet where the sofa sat.
The moment he set it down, he lay flat on the carpet and peered into the cage.
“It’s watching us with big round eyes.”
Yoon Jooho crouched down beside him.
“It’s not crying.”
“It was quiet in the car too. It’s doing better than I expected, actually.”
At last, Yoon Jooho managed a faint smile.
Even at the Animal Hospital, and in the car on the way home, he’d looked tense the whole time. Maybe even more nervous than the cat.
Song Hyunsoo couldn’t take his eyes off Yoon Jooho, fascinated by this side of him.
For someone who acts so gruff with people…
“He’s healthy, but since he’s still young, you need to make sure he stays warm. And he’s a little underweight. But I think that’ll improve now that he’s found a good owner.”
Because it was such a sudden adoption, they decided to just buy the essentials sold at the hospital.
Even though it was just a corner of the hospital, the selection was as good as any mid-sized pet shop.
Yoon Jooho looked ready to buy everything in sight, but thanks to Song Hyunsoo’s intervention, they managed to stop at five or six shopping bags.
After washing his hands, Yoon Jooho set the indoor temperature higher. He filled the hot water bottle from the hospital with warm water.
Meanwhile, Song Hyunsoo prepared water and food in the dishes.
To put the blanket and hot water bottle into the cage, the two men knelt down on the carpet.
“Be careful not to scare it.”
“I am being careful.”
“Hey, don’t touch its belly!”
“Sunbae, gentle voice please.”
“……”
Yoon Jooho shot Song Hyunsoo a disgruntled look, lips twisting.
The doctor had advised them to use gentle voices and expressions, so the cat wouldn’t get stressed by its sudden change in environment.
“So this is how you’re going to be?”
“It’s not for me, it’s for Ddakji.”
“Let’s talk after the kitten’s asleep, you.”
“……”