war of love, jeno

chapter thirty-nine

The hair on Eunjin's arms stood up as she saw Bongsik's eyes squint at someone walking towards them, hissing slightly.

She turned back around quickly, reaching down to get Seol off of her lap. She wasn't fast enough, Bongsik's hisses becoming loud as a hand grabbed her shoulder.

She nearly yelled, pushing the hand off of her in an attempt to make them lose their balance.

"Sorry, it's just me," Yena apologized, backing up a step. Eunjin felt her heart begin to slow down back to its normal pace, a deep breath leaving her lips.

"You should have announced that when Bongsik started hissing," she joked.

Yena nodded, "sorry, I'm not used to coming over here since... you know, we aren't supposed to be out this late at night... And sorry about freaking out your cat."

Eunjin shook her head, "it's alright, she just gets frightened really easily." She suddenly paused, taking a second to register Yena's first sentence. "What do you mean we aren't supposed to be out this late?"

Yena's eyes widened slightly as she leaned against the building wall, "you don't know? How long have you lived here? It's never safe to be out this late. This is the time that all the gangs and gross creeps come out looking for trouble."

"Then what are you doing over here?" Eunjin asked, beginning to pet the cats once again. She made sure to keep a hand on Bongsik, the frightened cat still sitting up and staring.

"My house is around the corner for here. I needed some medication for a headache so I was gonna head over to the nearby convenience store but it looks like there was a shooting over there."

Eunjin tried not to show any emotions at the mention of the shooting, her face straight as she nodded to show she was still listening.

"Was on my way back home when I thought I saw you. That's why I was walking slowly and didn't announce myself. Didn't want to take the chance of it not being you and then getting myself into some trouble."

"Oh, that's understandable," she nodded, watching Bongsik finally return back beside her.

"So what exactly are you doing out here so late and playing with cats?" Yena asked, looking around at the three different patterned cats.

Eunjin hummed, "just came to clear my head. The last few days have been kind of hard because of a few personal reasons so I was hoping to finally get out of the house, get some fresh air, and finally get some peace. I've known these guys for a few months and they're pretty sweet to me so I'd like to think they appreciate my company as well," she smiled.

Yena nodded, "it does look like they really like you, doesn't it? They're quite cute. What are their names?"

"Bongsik, Seol, and Nal. Bongsik is the oldest and Nal is the youngest."

"I see, I see," she confirmed, gently reaching into the box to pet Nal. He didn't mind, letting the girl rub his belly as he purred happily. "So if you've known them for a while, why don't you take them home with you? It looks like you could take care of them," Yena suggested, looking around at the soft blankets, bowls of water, and bowls of food.

Eunjin shook her head with a small smile, "I don't know how my roommate would react. We're usually not at the house a lot and I don't know how they'd react to being left alone. Besides, I wasn't the only one who prepared all of this stuff for them."

"What do you mean?" Yena asked, looking back up at Eunjin while continuing to rub Nal on his belly.

"I usually come around here about two or three times a week to make sure they have a refill of water and food but I'm pretty sure someone else comes around too because every time I come back, their bowls always still have a bit of food and I know they all really like to eat."

Yena laughed at the joke, awing at the sight of all three cats finally making themselves comfortable enough to lay down and close their eyes.

"I'm sorry again for frightening Bongsik. It wasn't my intention," she suddenly said.

Eunjin shook her head, looking down at the cat with a small smile. "It's okay, really. I told you, she just gets really frightened easily. She's okay now, you don't have to worry about it."

Yena nodded, releasing a pleased sigh. "You know, it's not really safe out here right now? We should probably get going before someone sees us and something bad ends up happening. I've had it happen to me once and if my older brother hadn't been there, I would've definitively ended up in the ER."

Eunjin shook her head, "I don't think I'm ready to return home yet. You don't have to wait on me, though. Go ahead and return home. I'll message you when I get to my own house later."

"Are you-" Yena paused, her ears perking up at the sound of a familiar noise. "Someone's here, I heard their motorcycle stop. We need to get going before they see us, Eunjin. I don't want anything to happen to you."

Yena only glanced down at Eunjin for a second but when she looked back up, she saw a figure standing close by looking at them.

Eunjin's eyes squinted as she took notice of the figure. A smile spread to her lips as she recognized the person beginning to walk towards them.

"It's okay, I know him. You can go if you'd like. I won't try to make you stay longer than you'd wish."

Yena nodded, quickly walking away and past the figure to get back to her house.

"What are you doing here?" Eunjin asked, watching Bongsik sit up as Jeno sat down beside her. The small cat meowed happily as she approached the boy, letting herself fall into his lap.

Jeno smiled seeing the familiar animal, petting her gently. "I usually come here on Tuesdays. What are you doing here?"

"I'd think it's obvious don't you?" She laughed softly, looking down at Seol as her eyes closed once again.

Jeno also laughed alongside her, admiring her silently while she looked away.

sorry for the late update everyone, i've been super busy with a new project so i've been MIA on here and kinda MIA on instagram as well lmao but i promise i'm trying to get this project done quickly so i can return to a normal schedule!!

anyways i hope you all like this chapter. if you don't remember, yena is the girl from the cafe in chapter 16, i believe. she's also jisung's dance partner!

do you think she's going to be an important person in the book or is she just going to be a new side character friend for eunjin to have? 👀

looking forward to any theories you guys would like to share as well 😌