The two of them stared at each other.
The man tapped his fingers on the windowsill with one hand, as if to maintain his balance.
His broad frame nearly blocked the entire window.
He was backlit, his dark green eyes glinting with a faint, mysterious light.
Suddenly, his pupils dilated.
Three of Bai Tao’s shirt buttons were undone, and from his angle, he could glimpse the cream-colored undershirt hidden beneath her collar.
Her skin was so pale, with a hint of pink.
‘Wrong.’
Jing Wang nearly lost his footing and fell from the window, and he quickly covered his eyes.
“You damn bean sprouts!
It’s the middle of the day!
Why aren’t you dressed properly!”
Bai Tao froze for half a second before whipping around and buttoning up her shirt.
Her face was a kaleidoscope of colors, like a dye factory had just opened.
“Y-You’re the one to talk!
Who climbs into someone’s window in broad daylight?”
“This is the fourth floor!
It’s like a dozen meters off the ground!”
After fixing her clothes, she yanked the curtain open, grinding her teeth.
“You…”
The words on the tip of her tongue died on her lips.
Jing Wang was covering his face with his hands, his normally cool, pale skin stained a suggestive shade of pink.
But that wasn’t all.
A thick, strong black tail was sweeping back and forth on the windowsill, and a pair of slightly rounded, fluffy ears stood erect amidst his tousled hair.
Inside his mouth, his canines, already more prominent than most people’s, had grown a little longer, becoming sharp, bestial fangs.
‘A…a little kitty?!’
Bai Tao’s eyes widened in a stupefied stare.
Right now, Jing Wang looked exactly like a little black cat she had once met while briefly staying at one of her old bases.
Due to the special nature of her work, she could never stay in one place for too long and had no permanent home.
But that little cat would always be waiting for her on her way home from work.
Even if she had no food, even if she didn’t so much as glance at it, it would still insist on rubbing its little head against her.
Over time, Bai Tao, who had never wanted to form an emotional attachment to anything, eventually gave in.
She started carrying small sausages and cat food in her pockets every day.
She had originally thought that if fate willed it, she would take the little cat with her when she moved.
Come to think of it, she had wanted to name that cat Xiao Hei.
But on the day she moved to a new base, she waited for a long time but never saw the little cat again.
‘I can’t believe it.
Jing Wang looks so fierce, but his Beast Mimicry is a little black cat?’
“What are you staring at!”
Jing Wang tried to retract his beastly features, but his tail and ears…
were completely disobedient.
“Hurry up and open the window, you idiot bean sprouts.”
Bai Tao snapped out of her reverie and peeked her head through the curtains.
“No.
Why should I open the window for a peeping tom?”
“Huh?
A peeping tom?
Who?
Me?”
“Is there a third person here?!”
Jing Wang’s big, glossy black tail slapped against the windowsill again and again, his annoyance practically radiating off him.
“Why would I peep on you?
You’re just some bean sprouts.
Is…
is there anything about you worth looking at?”
Bai Tao recalled how he had covered his flushed face and red ears just now, and hesitated for a moment.
“Then what are you doing here all of a sudden?”
Jing Wang’s lips parted slightly, but he seemed at a loss for words.
A little over an hour ago, he had been sleeping in a tree.
But a few girls started chattering nonstop under the tree, annoying him to no end.
He got up, intending to find another place to sleep.
Just as he was about to leave, he heard the words “medal ceremony,” “special admission student,” “Young Master Sen, Mr.
Mu,” followed immediately by the name “Bai Tao.”
He suddenly felt that since he had found this tree first to rest and sleep in the shade, why should he be the one to leave?
So, with righteous indignation, he lay back down.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already here.
Seeing Jing Wang standing there in a daze, Bai Tao clutched the curtain even tighter.
“Aha, so you really are…”
Jing Wang quickly cut her off.
“I was taking a walk!”
“Is there a problem with taking a walk because I slept too much?”
“And while I’m at it…
I’m here to take you for a feedback check on your glasses.”
Bai Tao blinked twice.
“A feedback check on my glasses?”
His tone returned to normal.
“Yes.
It’s been several days since you got those glasses.
The R&D department needs feedback, and the hospital requires a regular check-up.”
“Anyway, just open the window now.”
Bai Tao lowered her guard and finally opened the window.
“Oh, I see.”
With the glass no longer between them, Jing Wang leaned in, looming over her.
He hooked the pesky curtain with his tail and flicked it aside, his displeasure practically overflowing.
‘He’s so much like that stray cat,’ she thought.
‘Even this arrogant attitude is exactly the same.’
Jing Wang stared at Bai Tao, who was spaced out and lost in thought, his gaze sweeping over her from head to toe.
“You…
why did you come to these brothers’ house?”
“Did you really have nowhere else to go?”
Bai Tao wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, her focus entirely on his ears, which twitched from time to time.
Jing Wang leaned in even closer. This story is hosted at g.com.
“I’m asking you a question…”
Suddenly, the girl before him stood on her tiptoes and reached out, her hands going straight for his ears.
Unable to resist the urge to pet a cat, she gently rubbed and kneaded them with her fingertips.
A jolt, like an electric current, shot through his entire body.
His tail curled up uncontrollably.
He wanted to slap Bai Tao’s hands away, but he couldn’t summon any strength.
The capillaries under his skin dilated, and a blush rapidly spread across his entire face.
The patch of skin on his neck, right down to his collarbone, turned a deep shade of red.
‘So…
comfortable.’
‘Wrong.’
‘Why would this feel comfortable?’
Jing Wang took a small step back and slapped Bai Tao’s hands away with his tail, leaving a faint red mark on the back of her hand.
Bai Tao belatedly came to her senses and flinched.
“S-Sorry.
I just couldn’t help myself when I saw a cat…”
“You looked a lot like a little stray I used to feed on the street.”
“You’re the cat.” Jing Wang turned sideways and sat on the windowsill, one leg dangling casually.
“Looks like the new material for those contact lenses isn’t very good.
It’s made you go blind.”
Jing Wang retracted his beast ears and tail, but the crimson flush on his body didn’t fade for a long time.
Bai Tao observed him closely.
“Wang, if you’re not a cat, then what are you?”
“That was my special cat-petting technique.
I got the feeling you quite liked it.”
Jing Wang’s brow furrowed.
“Are you really asking for a beating, you damn bean sprouts?”
Bai Tao mocked him in her thoughts.
‘A~re you~ rea~lly~ ask~ing~ for~ a~ beat~ing~?’
‘Hmph.’
‘He obviously liked it a lot.’
‘If I’d kept petting him a little longer, Jing Wang might have even started purring.’
Not wanting to continue this uncomfortable topic, Jing Wang spoke again:
“Forget all that.
You still haven’t answered my question.”
Bai Tao looked at Jing Wang’s head with a hint of regret.
“Doesn’t Wang know anything at all?”
‘Oh, right.’
‘Jing Wang didn’t even attend the opening ceremony.’
‘He always acts like he couldn’t care less about the world, focused only on getting his beauty sleep.’
Jing Wang pulled a mint-lemon flavored lollipop from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know.
He had been sitting in the tree and heard everything.
‘But there must have been some exaggeration, right?’
Bai Tao didn’t know where to begin.
“It’s a long story…”
“Then make it short.” Jing Wang bit down on the lollipop’s hard candy shell, making a crunching sound against his teeth.
Bai Tao thought for a moment.
“Alright, to sum it up in one sentence:”
“I’m currently under the protection of Sen and Mu.
For this month, I’m Mu’s girlfriend.”
“And…
well, next month, I’ll be Sen’s girlfriend.”
CRUNCH.
Jing Wang involuntarily bit down, shattering the lollipop and cutting his tongue.
The taste of blood immediately filled his mouth, mingling with the mint and lemon.
‘Tastes disgusting.’
‘Whose girlfriend?’
‘And what’s this about this month and next month?’
“Have you finally lost your mind?”