After that, I carried around the watch I’d gotten by playing up to the owner, cherishing it dearly. I couldn’t risk anyone else discovering the storehouse where I kept my things, so I’d been waiting for a chance to put it away, but it wasn’t easy.
I turned my head and glared at Changgyu, who was still watching me.
If he’d been ordered by the owner to take good care of me, he should just take good care of me — there’s no need to go spying on me like this. You’d think he’d look away once he noticed I was annoyed, but he never lets his guard down. Irritated by that gaze, I thumped my tail against the floor.
I had no choice but to leave the watch on top of the display cabinet.
The gold ornament I’d gotten before was one thing, but the watch I needed to sneak into my storehouse the moment I got the chance. Even the wolf mister seemed to covet it. A high-end watch like that — they’d want it too. They might even use the excuse that I, unable to speak, had lost it, and take it for themselves. So I had to stash it away in secret.
Maybe it was because I’d answered the owner’s every word and laid on the charm so much that day, but that night I slept like a log without waking once. By the time I belatedly remembered I needed to put the watch in my hiding place and jolted awake, the sun was already high in the sky.
The owner had already left for work. I went blank as I listened to the servant telling me to eat breakfast.
Let’s just eat first…
Can’t help it. The owner gave me a watch as a gift, so shouldn’t I make him happy too? Today… no, I’ll move at dawn tomorrow.
But the next day, I wore myself out playing with a new toy the owner had bought, and ended up sleeping like a log again. The same thing happened the day after that, and the day after that. I was lamenting how poor my stamina had gotten, when I realized the real problem.
The real problem was the owner, who never stopped playing until I was the one exhausted.
How does he not get tired swinging that fishing rod around for hours? Though I suppose getting swept up in it is on me too.
“Baby, want to play?”
Not today! No, no, I can’t…
But right in front of my eyes, a sparkly butterfly fluttered, tempting me. I wanted to plant my haunches firmly on the floor, but my two front paws had already lunged for the butterfly. My tail curled at the tip from sheer delight.
“Having fun?”
“Aung, ukk, ewoong!”
Hehe, I won again, didn’t I? I caught it!
“Well done.”
The owner, never sparing his praise, stroked my head. My ears naturally folded back. I looked up at him.
When I’d first been dragged here, tricked by my father, things had felt so hopeless, but life here was growing on me more and more. Had my life ever been this peaceful before? Above all, because the owner liked me so much.
So I liked the owner too. People who liked me this much were rare. I bit down hard on the sparkly butterfly with my teeth and offered it to the owner. This was all I could give him right now.
“Baby, are you giving this to me?”
“Uung.”
It’s fine as long as it makes him happy.
But the once-sparkly butterfly had already lost one of its wings at some point. No matter how much he treated me like a cat, I was a beast. My claws and teeth weren’t soft like a cat’s.
“…I should buy a new toy.”
My eyes went to the fallen wing, then to my own claws and teeth. These were a threat to humans. They were Suin, so they might not think it dangerous, but there was no harm in being careful.
If they decided I wasn’t as docile or cute as a house cat but a threat instead, their attitude could change. It wasn’t as if it had only happened once or twice before.
That dawn, strangely, I woke up early. I should have been tired from playing with the owner so much as usual, yet it was odd.
I lifted my head and gazed out past the veranda. Knowing I liked watching the outside, one side of the curtain had been left open. The cat tower where I stayed had been cleaned thoroughly.
While I was busy playing with the owner, I’d seen Changgyu clean the cat tower several times. The same went for everything else.
Small toys were neatly placed here and there for me to play with on my own, and the water bowl always had fresh water filled to the top. There was a food bowl beside it too, with a bit of something like chicken set out, as if to say I could eat whenever I got hungry.
The longer I stayed, the more comfortable my body became, but oddly, the more uneasy my heart felt.
Because the owner liked me too much. Because he looked so happy whenever he saw me. Whenever our eyes met, he smiled without a second thought. When I came up to him without hesitation, he’d blink at me as if greeting me warmly and pet me.
It was certain he had no intention of selling me off. Otherwise, there was no way my pile of belongings would keep growing day by day.
So I felt sorry. Because I wasn’t an ordinary cat. If I wanted to, I could leave this place, and I’d already made preparations to leave. I’d been steadily setting aside funds for it too. And every bit of it had come from the owner himself.
I didn’t doubt the affection he showed now, but I couldn’t help feeling tense not knowing how long it would last. He might suddenly say a better place had turned up and send me somewhere else.
Who’s to say that wouldn’t be the road to being sold off.
I glanced around the living room, then climbed up onto the display cabinet. The watch the owner had given me sat there neatly. I’d neglected it for a few days, and dust had already piled up thickly on top of it. I hadn’t even put the watch I’d worked so hard to get somewhere safe — I’d just left it shoved away here for ages.
He’d given an expensive watch to a cat without batting an eye. Showing a little interest and getting something briefly was one thing, but outright giving it away was another matter entirely. Even more so, you’d think he’d come looking for it once an expensive watch went missing from sight, but the owner never asked a single question.
What kind of owner gives a cat an expensive watch like that in the first place.
My previous owners had all been quick to scold me the moment I so much as showed interest in something. If I nibbled at something or left a scratch on it, they’d go into a rage.
If that were the standard, he should have thrown me out long ago for scratching up the door.
The deeper the affection grew, the greater the joy became. But strangely, the deeper it grew, the more unease came tagging along with it too. I’d thought it would ease with time, but this unease wouldn’t fade easily. If anything, it only grew darker and heavier. The dust piled on the watch was like a small stone weighing on my chest.
I could ignore it easily enough, but it kept pressing down on me quietly, stirring up all sorts of thoughts.
I blew the dust off with a puff of breath. After polishing it carefully until it gleamed, I carried the watch in my mouth and put it away in my secret storehouse. Once the watch was in, I thought it over, then took the blanket draped over the cushion in my mouth and stuffed it into the hole.
The plan was to use it as a bundle to carry my things in, for whenever the time really came to leave. It wasn’t easy to fit in, but the blanket fabric was thin enough to squeeze through the narrow opening.
The small space was already half-filled because of the blanket. But in exchange, the blanket kept the watch well wrapped and safe from scratches. After all that moving around, I was completely drained of energy.
For no reason, the owner came to mind, and I found myself loitering near his room. The door was open just enough for me to slip through. I poked my head in a little, but in the end, my paws couldn’t cross the threshold.
It felt like if I crossed this line, something would change for me too.
It’s fine for the owner to like me, but it’s not fine for me to like the owner back, is it? What the owner likes is the cat me, not the real me.
I sat there in front of it for a long while before finally turning away. Then I tucked myself into my sleeping spot atop the cat tower and tried to get some sleep.
***
“Aung, meow.”
Did the owner already leave for work?
I asked Changgyu while licking away the traces of food around my mouth. But he just silently cleared away the food bowl, as he always did.
No fun at all.
He’s the Executive Director and all, so why does he leave for work so early? Being an executive director isn’t easy either, huh. Isn’t that not such a high position? It should be. I always thought people at the top just worked their underlings to the bone, but I guess not.
After finishing my meal, I explored the house as usual. Now that I’d secured the watch for funds, honestly speaking, there was no more need to keep playing along with him.
Rather than deceiving an owner who knew nothing, putting on a fake show of charm, and living as a cat, it was better to live as a human, however shabby that life might be. It would be a problem once the money from selling the watch ran out, but then again, when had I ever had money to spare.
I didn’t have enough money to live on for the rest of my life, so I’d have to keep working steadily. And I was, just a little, curious how my father was doing. He might be waiting for me to escape…
I stood in front of the entrance. If I’d been shameless enough, would I have just stayed here? If the owner hadn’t liked me so much, would I have kept deceiving him and clung to this house where I ate well and slept warm? If it weren’t for the loan shark, even…
My thoughts were a tangled mess.
