Kill for Me

Chapter Ten: Find the Cat

The next morning, Ella woke up to the smell of pancakes. She sat up in bed and looked over towards the kitchen where Jumin was placing some pancakes on a plate at the table.

"You cooked breakfast for me?" Ella asked in surprise. Jumin turned towards her with a smile on his face.

"Good morning. I hope you slept well."

"Yes, I did." Ella stretched and made her way to the table to look at the masterpiece Jumin had created. "Wow." Not only were there pancakes, but he had prepared fresh whipping cream and a kind of strawberry syrup made from the natural juice of fresh strawberries. "This looks amazing."

"I'm glad you like it." He pulled out the chair for her and she felt her cheeks turning red. She sat down and he tucked her in towards the table. He moved over towards his seat and sat down.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted coffee or fresh orange juice, so I prepared both."

"Definitely coffee," she smiled. Jumin reached his hand over towards the carafe and poured coffee into the coffee cup that was resting on a saucer.

"Thank you for this." Ella looked around at everything on the table that he had prepared for her.

"It was no trouble. I just wanted to make you happy." 

Ella's ears were now burning and she was smiling from ear to ear.

"I think that means you are," he smirked. Ella busied herself with putting some cream and sugar in her coffee.

They began eating and Jumin told her all about the advertisements that he had put out for Elizabeth, including an ad on the Korean search engine, Never.

"I know we'll find her," she assured him.

"Yes. Dead or alive," he said as he sliced a piece of pancake. "I've been doing a lot of thinking since Elizabeth ran off," Jumin suddenly said. "When we find her, I'd like to return her to V. I don't think I've been a very good owner."

"What?" Ella asked with surprise. She couldn't believe that she was hearing him correctly.

"She's just a...cat," he said with some sadness in his voice.

"She's not just a cat, she's your special friend," she reminded him. "You've given her everything. You're her whole world. I know that Elizabeth the 3rd loves you."

"Then why'd she run away?"

"Something probably distracted her."

"You don't think it was because she didn't understand me since she's just a cat?" 

Ella didn't know what else to say. She didn't like that he kept repeating that she was just a cat.

"Animals are very intuitive, but cats have their own way of showing affection," Ella tried a different angle. "Some cats come to you when you call them and some only come to you when they want affection."

"Oh, perhaps that's why Rika thought a cat would best suit me. She compared me to a cat once." He remembered the memory fondly and Ella did her best to hide her frustration at hearing Rika's name again. She screamedin her head. She didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry right now. Sheunderstood how important Rika was to everyone, but V was hiding so muchinformation about her, including the fact that it looked like she had committedsuicide by shooting herself.

"I know how much you love Elizabeth the 3rd. Are you sure that you want to return her to V? She's been with you for a long time. To suddenly change her owner and her surroundings wouldn't be good for her, right?"