The Ninth Life of Min Yoon Gi

26.

Jimin did her best to patch up the nervous cat. He didn't appreciate the sting of the antiseptic and she ended up having to coax him out from under the bed with a piece of tuna. A quick google search told her that catnip tea could provide just the right amount of stimulation to relax the cat so she could tend to its wounds.

And that is how Yoon Gi found himself sitting on the kitchen counter watching Jimin prepare to make catnip tea for him.

She had pulled out her usual teapot—a blue one with white flowers—and that was when the idea came to Yoon Gi.

The only way Jimin will use the celadon teapot is if she has no other choice.

And so Yoon Gi had cutely positioned himself on the counter next to the ceramic teapot, swishing his tail, looking for his opportunity to strike. He had to get her to use the other pot. The tea for Ji Min wouldn't work if it wasn't brewed in the right tea pot. So, when she turned her back to fill the cooking pot to boil water, Yoon Gi used all the force he could muster and swiped the ceramic pot off the counter with his paw. There was a shattering noise and both he and Jimin looked down at the remains.

"Goyang-i!" She cried in frustration. "Why would you do that?"

He meowed, trying to look ashamed, but, smirking to himself, internally willing her to use the one in the cabinet.

"Now I can't make proper tea," she muttered as she swept the remains into a dustpan.

Can't make tea? Yoon Gi narrowed his eyes, the cat equivalent to rolling his eyes. He jumped down and went to the cabinet and pawed at it.

"Stop that!" Jimin called after him, depositing the broken glass into the trash can.

He didn't. He meowed and pawed at it again. She came over, after putting the broom and dustpan away, to see what he was fussing about. When she knelt down to see what he wanted, Yoon Gi sat down and stared into her eyes, his purrs causing his whole body to move with each breath.

Jimin shook her head. "You are one strange cat," she murmured.

"Meow." Yoon Gi stood and bumped his head into the cabinet door, rubbing the length of his body along the cool glass. He winced at the pain from the scratch on his head. He had almost forgotten about his wounds.

"There's nothing in there for you," she sighed, exasperated.

He tried to hook his paw under the cabinet door to pull it open, hoping Jimin would get the message.

She did. She pulled open the door. "See? Nothing for you."

Yoon Gi quickly stuck his head in and started sniffing at the antique teapot. He felt Jimin lean in next to him to see what he was looking at.

"Oh," she reached for the celadon teapot, carefully pulling it from its place. "I forgot I had this. It's kinda old..." She got back to her feet, carrying it to the kitchen. "But I guess I could use it."

Yoon Gi followed her back to the kitchen to watch her as she washed out the teapot before finally setting the pot of water to boil. He followed her to the planter by the windowsill where catnip was growing, from which she clipped several stalks. She offered them to him for his approval and laughed when he tried to bite them.

"Nuh-uh, this is for the tea!"

He ran ahead of her back to the kitchen and jumped on the counter, landing next to the replacement teapot.

"Hey! Get away from there! I can't have you breaking another teapot!" Jimin scolded him as she moved the item in question to the far side of the stove.

"Meow."

"That one has been in my family for generations, so I would rather it stays in one piece."

"Meow."

"You're right; a snack does sound good."

Jimin went about whipping up a quick cat-friendly fish snack to share with Yoon Gi. He thought it was one of the best things he'd ever tasted, so he kept trying to pull her hand to him to eat what she was holding, causing her to scold him between giggles.

By the time they had finished their snack, the pot of water was boiling and Jimin was finally able to make the tea. While it was steeping, Jimin pet Yoon Gi along his back and scritched his cheeks. He was a loud, purring—almost drooling—happy cat by the time Jimin finished preparing a bowl of catnip tea and setting it in front of him.

He lapped hungrily at the cooled tea, feeling himself relax with each drop he swallowed and not minding what was going on around him. He didn't notice as Jimin resumed her cleaning of his wounds. He didn't seem to be bothered when she gently wrapped some gauze around his neck to cover the open wound from where the tom cat had bitten him. He did, however, start to feel drowsy.

Shit. Shit. Shit fuck shit fuck! Yoon Gi found himself lowering his body into a loaf, eyes starting to close for longer and longer.

Noooo! He was internally screaming. Do. Not. Fall. Asleep!

What could he do? The catnip had had the opposite effect of the silvervine, which had worked like feline coffee for him.

Silvervine!

Realizing he might be able to counteract the effects of the tea with the other plant, Yoon Gi tried to pull himself up on his paws to walk over to the pot silvervine. He made it only a few steps before his eyes drooped and he laid down again.

"Poor Goyang-i" Jimin murmured. "You need to rest. You have had quite the adventure today."

She was about to scoop him up, to take him somewhere he probably didn't want to go, so Yoon Gi rolled to his side, extended his claws, and swatted her hands away as he hissed.

"Oh! Okay. Nevermind." She said, "I'll just check on you... later."

He watched as she retreated to her room, the rush of adrenaline quickly fading. He tried again to will himself the last few feet to reach his objective, but his exhaustion made his paws feel heavy. His vision was growing dark as the first wafts of the mint began to tickle at his nose, but he could no longer hold his body up.