My Pet Cat Turned Into A Boy!

I had the day off today and I was committed to sleeping in. But a very shrill noise, and a rather unpleasant smell, intruded into my dreams, slowly dragging me out of my stupor. I tried to fight it but the smell seemed to be getting progressively worse, and the noise was hammering away in my skull.
I opened my eyes and immediately bolted up in bed – I seem to be doing that a lot lately.
‘What the hell!’ I exclaimed jumping out of bed.
The room was full of smoke and the fire alarm was wailing like a banshee from hell. I ran into the lounge where a sizzling noise, and the distinctive smell of something burning, seemed to be coming from.
I skidded to a halt at the scene that I encountered in my kitchenette.
Jongin was standing on top of the counter, an empty glass in his hand, as he stared panic stricken at the stove. There was a frying pan on top of it and it was on fire. Yeah, ON FRIGGIN’ FIRE!
I grabbed my heaviest tea towel and beat the fire down until nothing, but a chunk of something that now resembled black tar, remained.
After I had thrown all my windows open, and turned off the fire alarm, I turned on him but the expression on his face made me pause.
I took a deep calming breath, rubbed my temples rather violently with my fingertips, and asked in the calmest tone of voice I could manage, ‘Do I even want to know why I was so violently ripped from my much needed sleep, to the sound of my best frying pan burning down to a crisp?’
Jongin set the glass he was holding down on the counter very carefully. He then jumped down from the counter gracefully and after a quiet minute he mumbled something unintelligible.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that over the sound of my burning kitchen,’ I said irritably.
He kept his eyes on the floor and thrust his hands into his pockets before saying in a low tone of voice, ‘I wanted to cook breakfast for you – as a thank you. I’m sorry.’
My mouth rounded into an ‘O’ of surprise as all my annoyance was instantly wiped away. I felt myself blushing, and I leaned against the bar next to him, clearing my throat.
‘So, what were you trying to cook?’ I asked him conversationally.
‘Bacon,’ he said, still not looking at me.
‘What did you use to cook it? Petrol?’ I said with a light laugh as I nudged him with my shoulder to let him know I was joking.
I saw a reluctant smile curving his lips upwards as he answered, ‘Cooking oil.’
‘You heated the oil first, right?’
‘Of course.’
‘And I’m guessing you didn’t defrost the bacon before throwing it into the pan?’
Silence.
‘And once that caught fire, I assume your next step was to try to put it out, right?’
‘Yeah, I threw a glass of water in but…it just made it worse,’ he said sounding perplexed.
I tried not to dwell on the fact that he could have seriously injured himself. He had probably only gotten away because of his quick cat like reflexes – yes, I had noticed that he was a lot faster than a normal person. It was amazing.
‘Let me give you some words to live by,’ I said dryly surveying the damage, ‘water is to boiling hot oil, what the atom is to the bomb – a big ass bang!’
He peeked up at me from beneath his incredibly long lashes and asked hopefully, ‘So, you’re not angry at me?’
I ruffled his hair affectionately – I’m not going to lie, I’d been wanting to do that for ages – and smiled up at him.
‘Of course not, silly. I’m just relieved you didn’t hurt yourself. Don’t scare me like that again.’
He gave me a blinding smile and my heart skipped, at the very least, four beats. He had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.
After I had washed my face and brushed my teeth, I cooked breakfast for us and Jongin watched what I did with single-minded attentiveness – I thought it best he learn with me lest he try to do something crazy while I was away at work. We set the table together then quickly dug in.
‘This is delicious,’ he said stuffing his mouth with food.
‘It’s nothing special,’ I said trying not to show how stupidly happy his comment made me.
Suddenly I remembered something I had been meaning to ask him.
‘Jongin, why did you bite my friend?’
He choked on his food, and started coughing. It was a while before he stopped long enough to down some water.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked worriedly.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ he said a tad breathlessly.
‘So?’
‘So what?
‘Why did you bite him?’
He looked down guiltily, his face looking suspiciously red.
‘Sometimes when I’ve been in cat form for too long my animal instincts start taking over – like when I ripped your drapes. Really sorry about that,’ he said looking embarrassed.
‘I get the drapes. But your instinct was telling you to bite Baekhyun?’ I asked somewhat dubiously. ‘What did he ever do to you?’
‘I guess my instinct saw him as a threat,’ he said avoiding my eyes.
‘Baekhyun!? A threat!?’ I asked in disbelief. ‘He’s like…the nicest guy ever.’
At that Jongin gave me a resentful look, his jaw tightening considerably.
‘How the hell should I know why I bit him? I just felt like it, so I did, okay?’ he said testily, and completely unreasonably.
‘Okay, okay. No need to be so touchy,’ I muttered deciding it was best not to pursue the subject.
We ate the rest of the meal in silence until something occurred to me. Hopefully it would lighten the mood.
‘Jongin, I was thinking, since it’s my day off we could go to the movies or something. What do you think?’ I asked him.
‘Sounds great! I’ve never been to the movies before,’ he said smiling.
My mouth fell open.
‘You’ve never been to the movies?’ I repeated stupidly.
‘Nope,’ he said shaking his head.
‘What planet have you been living in!? It’s decided then. We’re going to the movies. And it’s going to be amazing!’ I promised him with a smile.
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All through the movie I couldn’t help but steal glances at Jongin. His dark locks falling over his brow and almost obscuring his eyes, his mouth half parted in an expression of amazement – for some reason I just found him fascinating.
When I caught myself just staring at him for a full five minutes, I quickly snapped my head back to the screen and vowed that I wouldn’t look at him again until the film finished. A second later I felt Jongin’s hand creep over mine, my heart started beating faster – stupid heart!
I let him thread his fingers through mine. I didn’t look at him but I couldn’t stop the smile that curved my lips upwards.
I spent the rest of the movie trying to focus on the movie - and failing miserably.
The distance between us was almost tangible, and I felt like there was a current of electricity inexorably pulling me to him. Not to mention he smelled delicious - so beautifully delicious I felt like a creeper every time I inhaled.
He started drawing circles on my hand with his thumb, and the urge to turn towards him and do something incredibly stupid – and entirely inappropriate – was so strong that I actually felt light-headed. I closed my eyes and took deep calming breaths – yeah, it didn’t really help.
Suddenly I felt his breath fan my neck. My eyes snapped open and I turned my head to find his face only a few inches away from mine. He was staring into my eyes with hooded lids, and then his gaze dropped down to my lips. His thumb grazed my bottom lip and he leaned in.
And I - to my everlasting and eternal shame - panicked. I sank all the way down on my chair, stuttered, ‘I’ll be back in a minute’ and bolted. But I didn’t just bolt like a normal person. I sank all the way down until I reached the floor, then proceeded to crawl away before remembering I could actually walk. Then I tripped on the stairs and face planted – because that’s just how I roll.
By the time I actually made it out the cinema doors, I had made such a racket that everyone was staring at me. I just prayed that Jongin hadn’t seen me fall over like a complete moron.
I hid in the toilet until the movie finished, which was only another ten minutes. I had a big red spot on my forehead where I had hit my forehead. Just perfect!
Why the hell did I have to spazz out!?
It was obvious the cinema was to blame for this whole weird episode. I mean why else would I have gotten all those feelings. And poor Jongin was probably just overwhelmed by his first cinematic experience as well as gratitude for me. That was probably why he’d tried to kiss me.
After procrastinating for another five minutes I left the toilet. He was waiting for me outside.
He was leaning against the wall with his hands thrust into his hoodie, very casually pulling off the whole Calvin Klein model thing. How did he do that?
I saw two girls twittering nervously by a vending machine. They were giggling and whispering between themselves, their eyes trained on Jongin, who stood their oblivious to the attention.
Clamping down on the urge to tell them to knock it off, I walked up to Jongin. He smiled when he saw me then immediately looked concerned as he said, ‘Are you okay? It looked like you hit your head pretty hard.’
I sighed – so much for hoping he had missed that.
‘Yeah, I get that a lot,’ I muttered as I remembered Baek asking me the same thing not too long ago then I added as gracefully as I could, ‘I’m fine, thank you.’
‘I’m sorry about…just now. I probably shouldn’t have done that,’ he said in a low tone of voice.
‘Don’t worry about that. It’s fine.’ I said with a nervous laugh, my voice sounding shrill to my own ears, as I waved my hand in a dismissive gesture.
Jongin stared at me with a half-cocked eyebrow, and after a second he only said, ‘Okay. If you say so.’
‘Should we go get you some more clothes then? I saw a jacket in TopMan that would look great on you,’ I said eager to change the topic.
He frowned.
‘You’ve already bought me clothes. I don’t need anymore.’
I had brought him a parcel on the very same day I had discovered he was actually human. Inside were two pairs of jeans, a couple of t shirts, a jacket, some boxers (I had actually blushed when I picked those) and a pair of shoes I had bought on the way home.
‘That’s not enough,’ I scoffed then I added with a smile, ‘Besides I think you should pick something you like.’
His frowned deepened.
‘I don’t think that would be right. I already live at yours for nothing in return.’
‘Oh, c’mon,’ I whined pulling at his arm. ‘I trust you to pay me back when you’ve finished taking down the bad guys. Please?’
I stuck out my bottom lip and widened my eyes while making little puppy noises. He rolled his eyes and said, ‘Fine. But never do that again.’
‘Why not? I’m adorable.’
He gave me a side long glance, ‘If you say so.’
I punched his arm and he started laughing.
‘Come out! Let me see!’ I said fishing my mobile out of my bag.
‘This is stupid,’ I heard him mutter from inside the dressing room. ‘Why would I even need a suit?’
‘You don’t. I just want to see how it looks on you,’ I said with a smirk – I loved seeing a man in a suit.
I heard him mutter to himself again before he pulled the curtain back and stepped outside. I sucked in a breath and let out a low whistle. I was generally against objectifying people but, damn, he looked hot.
‘Now, just pose or something,’ I said turning on the camera on my phone.
‘Pose? I hope you’re joking,’ said Jongin sounding outraged.
‘C’mon, don’t be such a wet wipe,’ I giggled. ‘Pretend to adjust your cufflinks or look into the distance with a secretive smile. You know? Like those boys in those music videos we watched yesterday.’
He glared at me.
That worked too. I snapped a picture of him.
‘I can’t believe you just took a picture. Erase that,’ he said taking a step towards me.
‘Not a chance,’ I said taking another photo of him just to annoy him - because I’m immature that way.
‘Casey, give me that. Stop that! Stop. Stop – okay, that’s it.’
I squealed and jumped into one of the dressing rooms as he charged towards me. He slid past it but, not even two seconds later, he was stepping into the small space with a grim smile.
‘Jongin,’ I whined sticking out my bottom lip and making puppy noises.
He covered his face with his hand, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
‘What did I tell you about doing that? You look ridiculous.’
I just whined louder and made my best googly eyes at him. He leaned forward putting his hands on either side of my head against the mirror at my back, and I forgot to breathe. He leaned closer, and closer to me, until his lips were mere inches away from mine, and then I felt him take the phone from my lifeless fingers.
‘That’s mean!’ I complained – and, if I were being honest with myself, mostly because I was disappointed he hadn’t kissed me.
He snorted.
‘Keep the photos, if that’s what you want. I want to take one together,’ he said putting his arm around my shoulders.
He tried adjusting the camera to catch us both but he just kept messing it up, until I finally took it from him.
‘Gimme that! I’ll do it,’ I said superiorly.
I adjusted the angle to fit us both expertly.
‘Okay, ready? Smile!’
Two things happened at the same time. First, I took a picture. Second, Jongin kissed me. Instinctively, my eyes closed and I leaned back against the mirror. His lips were incredibly soft as they moved against mine. He grabbed the wrist of the hand that still held my mobile and pinned it against the mirror over my head. I sighed, and gave in completely, my head a complete blank – I never wanted this moment to end. His other hand cupped my cheek and he deepened the kiss.
Suddenly a voice, broke into my fuzzy brain, and said, ‘Making out in the dressing room is against the regulations of this store.’
Jongin broke the kiss immediately and moved away from me in one swift move. I tried to pull myself together as I stared guiltily at the store employee that stood in the doorway. She looked bored as she surveyed us - chewing her gum mechanically. She had at least four tattoos that I could see and a bunch of piercings.
‘Personally, I don’t care if you guys get it on in there, but if someone else catches you I’m the one who gets shit for it. So pack it in,’ she said without changing expression, and then she turned on her heel and left.
Oh dear, we had just been scolded like a couple of high schoolers. I chanced a glance at Jongin, and for some reason I had the urge to start laughing.
‘What the hell were you thinking?’ I asked him, my voice trembling from the laughter I was trying very hard to hold in.
Our eyes met and we both started laughing. We were trying to laugh quietly which just made us laugh even harder. Now we were acting like high schoolers – very mature.
When we finally calmed down, he looked at me for a long second and said, ‘I wanted you to always remember our first kiss.’
Then he left to go change back to his own clothes.
I stared after him in shock.
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We had decided we were done with shopping after the incident in the dressing room.
We were strolling through the car park looking for my car.
Instead of acting awkward I had decided to act like nothing had happened. I spotted my car next to a white van. I squeezed between my car and the van to get into my car.
I looked at Jongin from across the roof, as I tried to open my car door, and my heart stopped.
I started to scream but it was too late.
A man wearing a ski mask, standing behind Jongin, had already sank a needle into his neck. I saw Jongin collapse like a lifeless doll, and then a hand had clamped down over my mouth, and I was being dragged backwards into the white van.

Notes