Cat Therapy Chapter 3.9

Besides, he didn’t even look like the father he saw on the internet.

He wanted to show him that, but he was disappointed that the photo didn’t seem to capture it properly. He had taken it too quickly, and the dark background had swallowed up all the color, which was a shame.

That day, for the first time, Haedong readjusted the lens of the camera and began to carry the heavy object around in his arms. His goal was singular: to take pictures of the tiger, Seo Yongwoo.

The cat, having found a purpose, had his pupils dilate and his tail lowered, wagging quickly.

Seo Yongwoo seemed to be preparing for a full-fledged break.

He only attended commercial shoots and the remaining film festival appearances, and he turned down all the schedules proposed by his agency. He sometimes fought with the agency’s CEO over the phone, but Haedong, knowing that he wanted a break, silently cheered him on.

More than that, he was bothered by the fact that Seo Yongwoo was subtly maintaining a physical distance from him, but he deliberately pretended not to notice. Still, since sticking to Seo Yongwoo’s side was his daily routine, he always followed him around.

Even before going to sleep, when Haedong, fresh from his shower, went to Seo Yongwoo, he was, unlike usual, doing various skincare routines. Haedong, recalling that he also strictly managed a tasteless, vegetarian-focused diet, asked with a slightly fed-up expression.

“Are you taking care of yourself like that because of the film festival?”

“I have to, even if it’s not for that. It’s the face my cat likes.”

“……”

How could he say such things so nonchalantly? After he had complimented him on being handsome just once, he had been so proud that he would preen about it for a long time. It was a bit embarrassing, but Haedong, being used to the shameless Seo Yongwoo, just sat beside him.

As he loitered by his side, Seo Yongwoo offered his own basic skincare product to Haedong.

“You just got out of the shower too. Try some lotion.”

“I don’t like my skin feeling sticky.”

“Still, it’s winter. It’s dry.”

“I don’t want to, I don’t want to.”

As Seo Yongwoo gently offered the lotion on his fingertip, Haedong dodged his head this way and that. But in the end, a dab of white lotion was smeared on his cheek.

Even that felt repulsive, and Haedong furrowed his brow tightly and turned his head away, but Seo Yongwoo managed to cup Haedong’s chin and carefully applied the lotion evenly over his face.

“This one isn’t very sticky. It’s specifically for feline therianthropes.”

“Ughh…”

Haedong grimaced, disgusted by the sensation of the lotion being spread on his face. But Seo Yongwoo assured him it would be fine after a little while and finished applying it all.

He tried to endure it somehow since it was him doing it, but he couldn’t help what he disliked. In the end, unable to stand it, Haedong rubbed his cheeks vigorously with the back of his hand.

“This is sticky too, I don’t like it. You can have it, Mister.”

Then, feeling an aversion to even wiping it off with the back of his hand, he started to rub his cheek on something else entirely. It was Seo Yongwoo’s chest, which was right in front of him.

As the round head suddenly pressed against his chest, Seo Yongwoo, for a rare moment, tensed up.

“…Dodong-ah.”

“It feels weird, I don’t like it.”

Haedong was simply wiping the lotion from his face onto the firm chest.

In all his life, it was the first time Seo Yongwoo’s body had been used as something to wipe with, but what bothered him more was the constant touch of Haedong’s warm, soft cheek and his warm breath. Haedong, who smelled clean after his shower, was in his arms as if being embraced, and to make matters worse, his shower robe was worn so loosely that one of his bare shoulders kept catching his eye.

“Ah.”

In the end, Seo Yongwoo, who had been hesitantly taking half a step back, found himself leaning against the wall. Haedong, oblivious to this, rubbed his forehead diligently, and then even rubbed his flushed, feverish cheeks all over him.

“……?”

It was only then that he noticed Seo Yongwoo leaning against the wall as if he were a statue, his eyes squeezed shut. Finding him strangely frozen, Haedong asked with natural suspicion.

“Mister, what’s wrong…?”

“……”

Was he upset because he wiped it on his chest? He had thought it would be better to apply it on his body since it was an expensive cosmetic. Feeling sorry, Haedong tried to wipe his firm chest again with a towel. At that, Seo Yongwoo took a deep breath and, looking at a point somewhere in the empty air, said in a rather low voice.

“Haedong-ah.”

“Yes?”

“Go to the bedroom for a moment.”

“Why…?”

He was used to hearing him call for him to come for ages, but this was the first time Seo Yongwoo had told him to go somewhere else. It was not just unfamiliar; Haedong was a little, hurt. It was a very simple statement, but hearing it for the first time, it felt strange.

And a cat’s nature was to not want to do what it was told, and to want to do what it was told not to. Haedong did not leave and asked Seo Yongwoo gently.

“…Do you want me to put on the lotion?”

“No. First, that, your shower robe… Ah.”

Seo Yongwoo tried hard to look elsewhere, but he still tried to properly tie Haedong’s shower robe. Then he saw the full-length mirror and stopped breathing.

He could see the back of Haedong in his shower robe in the mirror, but because the button below the tail hole was not properly fastened, Haedong’s plump bottom was in full view.

The memory of that particularly soft texture of skin came back to him vividly.

Seo Yongwoo, unable to tear his eyes away from it, hastily sat down on the chair next to the full-length mirror. He had no choice, as he could feel the blood rushing.

“Just go to bed first.”

Seo Yongwoo said in a stiff tone. He knew his face, with his brow furrowed in thought, must look menacing, but he couldn’t relax it. He was in a difficult situation because his body was reacting even though he had definitely taken his medicine.

“……?”

Haedong, while tying the belt of his shower robe, looked at Seo Yongwoo with a strange expression. He was leaning forward with his head in his hands, like a statue lost in thought. Even his tiger tail had appeared and was lashing about, making him look menacing.

‘Did I do something wrong…?’

Haedong, while feeling hurt, walked past Seo Yongwoo with pattering steps. Yet, unable to hide his lingering feelings, his long black tail brushed against Seo Yongwoo’s chin.

As he walked away dejectedly, he heard Seo Yongwoo’s suppressed voice from behind him, as if he were holding back a lot.

“…Fasten your tail hole properly.”

Usually, when Haedong came out of the shower, Seo Yongwoo would praise him endlessly, so why was he being like this today? Haedong, curled up alone in bed, had his eyes wide with a sense of strangeness.

‘…Why does he always come to bed late at bedtime?’

He didn’t like how he kept deviating from the routine, and he was strangely maintaining a physical distance from him. On top of that, his request for him to go somewhere else kept coming to mind. Perhaps it was because he was someone who used to follow him around to the point of annoyance…

‘It could be like that, so why.’

Mister has a schedule soon, so he must have a lot on his mind. Haedong tried hard to think of it as nothing and curled up in the middle of the bed, trying to sleep.

It was a little hurtful that Seo Yongwoo, who came later, deliberately curled up and slept in the corner of the bed, but still, he tried hard to ignore this hurt and did not open his eyes. He was a cat, so it was dangerous to get used to anything.

It was the next day that Haedong realized he had already become completely accustomed to Seo Yongwoo.

“……”

When Haedong woke up, Seo Yongwoo was not at home, having gone out to handle an important schedule. Perhaps because it was a film festival, he had a lot to prepare, so Seo Yongwoo had cut back on sleep and left early.

Although Haedong had seen him off in a daze, when he woke up again in bed, he was alone on the large mattress. For some reason, it felt lonely, and the cat let out a soft cry without realizing it.

Meow… meow.

‘Mister?’

Haedong wandered around the house for a long time, crying. He did so even though he knew Seo Yongwoo wasn’t there.

He should have been there at this time, as usual, so his absence felt not just empty but sad. Haedong, who had been wandering weakly through the particularly spacious two-story house while crying, belatedly transformed into a human and roughly pulled on one of Seo Yongwoo’s t-shirts. Then, when he went to the dining table, there was a note left in a mature, sharp handwriting.

[Seo Yongwoo: I’ll be a little late today, so I’ve told the employees not to come to the house]

[Seo Yongwoo: I’ve put food in the fridge, so make sure to eat]

It seemed he had even been considerate enough to do that, perhaps because he was worried Haedong would be startled if the employees came while he was alone. But even that consideration seemed to emphasize the fact that he would be late today, and Haedong just stared blankly at the note.

‘This must be Mister’s original life…’

Since he went to the film festival, he would be dressed up nicely today and would meet various celebrities. And he was in the position of waiting quietly at home like a cat.

The thought of it made him lose his appetite completely, and Haedong curled up weakly on the single-person sofa. Seo Yongwoo’s nightgown, which he had worn all night, was spread out, and his scent lingered on it.

Smelling Seo Yongwoo’s scent naturally reminded him of the man. Now that the variety show filming was over, and thinking of the somehow changed Seo Yongwoo recently, his heart felt complicated.

‘Why doesn’t he pet me anymore…’

Petting Haedong had become a habit for Seo Yongwoo, something he did almost unconsciously. He had even tried to quit smoking just to pet the cat, so that said it all.

But recently, Seo Yongwoo seemed to be avoiding physical contact with Haedong.

The biggest change was that whenever Haedong was in his human form, he would always sit at least a small distance away. That small distance came as quite a wound to Haedong.

‘Does this mean my role as a cat is over…’

Still, he had opened his heart because Mister had taken him on dates and treated him like a lover even after knowing he was a therianthrope. Remembering that, Haedong’s eyes grew moist without him realizing it. Startled, he hastily wiped away the tears and familiarly recalled his own situation.

‘I deceived my identity and committed theft. What was I expecting?’

Indeed, in such a relationship, could they really be lovers? Thinking that way, he felt nothing. Living with black fur, he had become accustomed to giving up on expectations.

But he couldn’t help feeling dazed, so he did nothing all day and stayed curled up depressingly on the sofa, eventually dozing off.

How much time had passed like that?

When he opened his eyes and looked at the clock, it was around 3 AM, the time he usually watched movies with Seo Yongwoo. From the moment he heard the familiar sound of a car engine and parking outside, and two people getting out, Haedong’s cat ears stood up sensitively.

Before long, he heard the sound of the door opening downstairs and Seo Yongwoo’s voice.

“Where’s my baby?”

Usually, he would have gone out to greet him and rubbed his whole body against Seo Yongwoo’s leg, but Haedong didn’t. He just sat blankly on the sofa.

‘He’s just going to avoid me anyway…’

As he sat there thinking that, it seemed Seo Yongwoo and the bear therianthrope manager were coming up to the second floor. As soon as he arrived, Seo Yongwoo saw Haedong’s head peeking out over the sofa and asked with a smile.

“Were you sleeping?”

“……”

Haedong just sat there silently with a sleepy face. If it were usual, Seo Yongwoo would have fiddled with his cat ears without a second thought, but today, he said he would go wash up and took off his coat first. The suit, with its lines falling perfectly along his tall frame, and his black hair slicked back from his forehead, looked particularly stylish.

“I’ll go wash up. You can go back to sleep.”

After saying that, Seo Yongwoo walked past Haedong with a swish. And with that, all sorts of scents from his body, along with the smell of the outside air, washed over him.

‘The scent of other therianthropes…’