ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ʙᴜɴɴʏ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴠᴇ| Jikook

5

Chim's pov

“You look pretty amazing,little fellow. I bet you’re anxious to get back to your life in the wild. Heck, maybe you have a mate and a passel of babies waiting for you. I heard rabbits have a thing for procreating.” I laughed at my own bad humor. “They don't say going at it like bunnies for nothing. Am I right?”

I swore the little guy shook his head at me, and frankly, I deserved it. Standing there and talking to a bunny as if he were my buddy was insanity at its best. Yet there I was, almost dreading the day he left. Because I knew that day was coming soon.

“You can stay, though. I mean, if you don’t get all healed up and back to normal, you can stay here.” I rubbed the top of the little guy’s head and sat down to put my shoes on. I’d gotten so used to wearing muck boots around the farm that tying my shoes felt like a pain in the ass.

I needed to get out more.

“I’m going to check on the kid and then run some errands. I’ll tell him you said hello. He’ll know it’s bullshit, cause bunnies don’t talk, but maybe it will make him smile.” I stood up and brushed off my jeans. “I have a feeling he doesn’t smile a lot. I found a picture in the barn I think he made for my grams of her and Lux sitting on the porch. That cat…” I shook my head, thinking of how much time I’d wasted trying to get him back inside where I knew he once enjoyed at least part of his day.

I didn’t blame him. Had I lost the most important person in my life, I probably wouldn’t be too keen on being reminded of the hurt daily. And being in the kitchen on the stool I remembered him often sitting at might do just that. But what the fuck did I know about cats. I was projecting again. I’d been doing that a lot lately.

Spending so much time alone had me really thinking about what I wanted in my life. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was this farm. I just hadn’t figured out yet if it was my longing for the days of old or my longing to put down roots that was pulling at me so strongly.

I needed to figure it out...quickly.

“See ya in a bit.” I rubbed the bunny’s head again just as the sound of a car on the gravel driveway caught my attention. “Oh, looks like we have visitors,” I told the little furball as I pulled back the curtains and saw a police car in the driveway.

That was never good.

I walked out to greet the officers as they emerged from their car.

“You must be Angeline’s grandson. The one she was always bragging on,” a slightly older man said with a sad smile.

I gave him a nod. “Yes, sir. I’m Park Jimin.”

“She is very missed. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thanks, Officer.” I held out my hand. “So, is this about the shooting next door?”

“No, but maybe we should start with that.” He took my hand in his and gave it a shake. “Deputy Kim jaebum, and that’s Officer Namjoon. Shall we take a seat on the porch?” He was already heading that way. He’d only been sitting down for a second when Lux jumped on his lap, and he beamed.

“I see you and Lux have already met.” I smiled as I joined him on the porch, taking a seat in the rocker.

“Lux and I are good friends, aren’t we?” He rubbed under the cat’s chin. “I’m the one who brought him to your grams. Figured he’d fit in here.”

“He does.” All the misfits that inhabited the place fit in just right—including myself. “So, what brings you here?”

“A strange finding in the field not too far from here. We found an abandoned car and clothing, but no man. Thought you might have seen him.”

My brain began imagining the worst. “Shit, I thought my neighbor shot one of the dogs. Fuck. What if he shot a person?” Talk about leaping to a conclusion. Maybe I was spending too much time alone and talking to furry critters—and feathery ones.

“Whoa there, buddy. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, although I think we need to check on your neighbor. Which direction?”

“Over there—has a kid named Jisung .” I pointed in the direction of the gunshots. “Really, the man probably only shot a dog. Not that it isn’t awful to shoot a dog, but it’s not the same level of awful as shooting a human. Okay, fine, it is the same awful in my opinion, just not under the law. I’ll shut up now.”

It was official. I needed to talk to humans before I turned into that weird person everyone in town walks away from if they get too close in the grocery store.

“I’ll check on the kid. That’s what you’re worried about, right?”

“Yeah. He brought me a bunny that had been hurt and he seemed—like he might need help.” At the time, Jisung  didn’t seem to need immediate help, but since help sat there in front of me, I might as well ask. “You need to go over there about the missing guy anyway, right?” I fed him an excuse, something he probably didn’t need, but it eased my fear about possibly making things worse for the kid.

“Not my first time to the rodeo.” The deputy winked. “And if you see a naked guy running around, please give dispatch a holler—Sheriff Mark thinks he might be trouble.” It didn’t sound like the deputy did, so at least there was that. “If he is running around naked, chances are he needs medical assistance of some kind, so best to be careful. We didn’t find any drugs at the scene, but they usually aren’t far behind when it comes to things like this.”

Great. There was probably a drugged-out naked man running around near my farm. Just what I needed.

And funny how my brain went to it being my farm, which was probably exactly what Grams had intended.

Another  update  one more to go😎