I sat in front of the window pane, gazing out at the somber rain that tapped on the walls of the little flat in London that I've owned since I came from my university. My breath left a puddle of warm fog on the glass, tempting me to raise my index finger and write on it, like I used to do as a child in my uncle's van. He'd always take me out and buy food for me, regardless of the near-flooding outside or the drought in his wallet. I realized that I'd give anything to spend time with him again, and before I even realized it, the words "I miss you" were slowly seeping into the glass with my condensed breath, like ink on paper. I held onto the black sleeves of my sweater and began to write more when I thought heard a faint whine outside my door.

That wasn't my imagination, right?

Holding myself as still as possible without actually becoming a statue, I listened in the direction of the door to hear another whine outside. Approaching the sound, I realized that it wasn't any random moan that I heard -- the sound was a mewl. I went across the room towards the door and gasped as a tiny black kitten sat patiently on my doorstep.

My heart instantly boiled over. As a child, I had a cat that I loved with all my heart. I had named her Sheila -- why I named her that is beyond me now -- and wherever she was, I was. I played with, petted and cuddled with that cat until her disappearance one day. Sadness never truly struck me, as I had a lot of other things (and other pets) to distract me with. Now, in this lonely apartment, I could use whatever friendship I could get.

It seemed to have come from God himself.

"Poor baby," I cooed, petting the kitten's wet, matted fur. "I'll take care of you."

I took it inside, closing the door behind me and vowing to keep to my word as long as it lived.

♧

I turned the heater on low, petting my new friend as it happily drank the last bit of milk I had from a small blue bowl. I stuck my tongue in and out of my mouth, imitating the feline drinking from the bowl, then laughed at myself when it grew tedious.

"What should I call you?" I whispered, not wanting to break the silence around us. Scratching behind the kitten's ear, I smiled down at it and pursed my lips together.

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

When I received a "meow" for an answer, I giggled, sitting on the floor next to my new friend.

"Since I don't know...I'll call you...Lunar. How does that sound?"

The kitten rubbed its head against my hand, telling me to keep scratching. I chuckled once more, doing as it bid me.

"Yes. Lunar is your new name. Fitting, don't you think?"

Lunar only licked its paws began to clean its wet fur. I picked up the cat and laid in my couch with it, petting it happily while gazing upon its adorable little face. It curled up into a cute little ball and purred as I rubbed its head. Soon, it was fast asleep.

"Sleep well, Lunar," I sighed, joining the feline in dreamland.

♧

When I opened my eyes again after two good hours of rest, I immediately felt a weight sinking onto my legs, disabling my movement and actually hurting me. I looked down at my thighs, where Lunar had gone to sleep.

Last time I checked, cats don't weigh this much.

My eyes widened as they registered a grown adult male curled up into a ball and sleeping on my lower body. His tanned skin resembled coffee with cream, and his raven black hair fell to his brow in almost perfect layers. His baby pink, plump lips were almost too beautiful, and his soft little nose made me want to touch it. I almost did, until I remembered that I could barely move.

I wouldn't have minded so much if I actually knew who this person was.

Looking more closely, I realized that this man had a furry, black tail right over his backside, and two lowered ears that rose and fell with his head as he slept. They looked exactly like Lunar's, and I couldn't help but reach into the far depths of my stupid imagination and wonder if this man was Lunar. Deciding to confirm my suspicion, I reached out with trembling hands to wake up the sleeping male.

Gently shaking him, I almost jumped when his eyes opened, revealing dark chocolate orbs that almost twinkled at me.

"W-Who are you?" I asked, trying to externally steady my heartbeat by holding my chest in my hands.

"Where am I..." he began, in a childish voice. "I thought they put me on the street..."

Someone abandoned him? I thought, lowering my eyes in guilt. I had no idea where he came from or why he was here, yet here I was, getting ready to do the same thing.

"Who put you on the street?" I asked, suddenly friendly. "Who abandoned you?"

"My old master," he began, unable to finish as tears welled up in his dark little eyes. "Are you gonna"--

"No," I said, a little too fast. "No, I'm not. You can stay here," I said, fully realizing what that meant and slapping myself internally for it.

"Yay!" he smiled, drying his eyes. "I'm Seokjin! I'm a neko!" he giggled, making me smile.

"I'm Minji," I said, cooing again at the man. "What's a...neko?"

"A neko is a hybrid of a person and a cat! I'm a really special neko, though!"

"Really? And why is that?"

"My old master said that I could mutate into whichever form is best at the moment! Neat, huh?" he said, seemingly proud of himself.

"So you could be a full human, a full cat, or"--

"Even in between! Right now, I think I'm more cat though!" he said, chuckling. "I still have my kitty ears and my tail."

Smiling in amazement at him, I petted Seokjin's hair as he giggled and tilted his head cutely to the left.

"I like you, Seokjin. Let's be friends."

"Yay!"

♧

Over the next few months, I trained Seokjin to regress to his neko form only when he was at home with me. I couldn't have a cat-man speaking like a three-year-old following me around in public, and I could feel the embarrassment just thinking about it. Shaking the thought from my head, I petted Seokjin, once again in his neko form. He smiled and blushed at my touches, rubbing his cold little nose against my hand -- a habit he practiced whenever he liked what I was doing. I sighed happily, looking out at the night sky from the same place I sat months ago when I first met Seokjin.

"Minji?" he purred, sitting on his knees in front of me.

"Yes, Seokjin?" I responded, petting his head more.

"There's something I'd like to tell you," he said, his voice getting deeper and deeper as his sentence drew on. I looked down at him, widening my eyes as his tail pulled itself back into Seokjin's body, and his cat ears slowly shut themselves down, like closing an open book.

He was becoming human again.

"Minji...you've been nothing but an angel to me. You've taken care of me and done so much for me despite me showing up so randomly in your life. I want you to know that...that I'd do anything for you. You're the greatest person I know. Thank you."

"S-Seokjin..." I said, stumbling over my words and feelings. I was unsure of what to say, and the world began to spin a mile a minute. I looked down in my lap, fumbling with my hands and laughing nervously, unable to put my feelings into words.

Looking back up at Seokjin, I saw the same warm, brown eyes that greeted me for the first time at my doorstep, begged for love and attention, gave me more affection than I deserved and sincerely confessed love for me, even after all these thoughts of never having a boyfriend crossed my mind hundreds of times over the span of my lifetime.

"I love you."

With those words, I knelt down in front of him and laid my lips on his. He initially tensed at the sudden move, but began to relax and kiss back gently with a soft passion guiding his motions. He pulled away, smiling as he whispered, "I meow you too."

"...meow?" I asked, giggling as he pulled me into an embrace.

Laughing, he looked out at the night sky with me, our hearts dancing together in that star-embroidered blanket above us.

"It's a neko thing."