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Winter was jolted out of her sleep by a sharp, stinging slap on the backside.
Groaning, she rolled over, rubbing her sore bottom only to find Giselle sprawled out on her bed, grinning mischievously. Beside her was Ningning, who smothered Banana in a storm of relentless kisses.
The poor cat wriggled in her fingers, throwing jerky nervous glances her way every now and then over to Winter, but he did not scratch or spit-something that sent an annoying twinge of jealousy through Winter.
She couldn't even get a head rub in without getting swiped, yet here he sat, putting up with Ningning's endless affection.
She shot Giselle a half-hearted glare. "Butt slap necessary?
She shrugged back, meeting her glare with a smirk.
"Consider it payback for your snoring," she teased. They both laughed, the tension breaking into easy amusement.
Giselle sobered, looking at her with a question lingering in her eyes.
"How's Mrs. Kim?"
Winter's smile wavered slightly.
"She's okay," she replied softly, a faint sadness slipping through her words.
Banana backed away toward the edge of the bed, jumping down hurriedly, before finally letting out a breath.
Ningning sprang onto the bed, bouncing softly, and the three friends lay together, staring silently at the ceiling. And only after such a long time, she had her say, with a voice very soft.
"Winter, when are you going to start getting out?"
Winter stared up at the ceiling as she quickly shot back, a little on the defensive. "I just came back from mom's."
Giselle let out a deep sigh and pointedly looked at her.
"You know that's not what she means."
Winter sat up and pushed sleep from her face with a shrug.
"I don't need to," she almost definitively replied.
Almost at the same time, Ningning thrust herself up too, a serious expression over her regular carefree face.
"You can't live with just Banana forever, you know."
With that remark, sitting nearby, Banana let out an indignant meow, as if he had heard and taken this as personal.
