Short story 7: A short story about the two cats and their owners.
Themes: Romance, Humor.
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Ekkarach slammed his notebook on his face when he heard Vy's cat meow for the nth time. Putting the math writing pad which had been worn out from constant revising on the glass coffee table, he cast a sidelong glance at the living room's window, where the two cats were getting it on, and wished that they could disappear straightaway.
The school term was about to end, the weather was both hot and muggy, the incoming mathematics exam was difficult as hell and his head was as blank as white canvas. He had worn a comfortable undershirt and gone to the well-ventilated living room with the expectation that he would be able to focus on his studying there, but instead, he had become the unwilling third wheel of the love story between Ruffle, his cat, and Stripy, Vy's cat.
"How the hell can anyone study when cats are on heat?" He mumbled in irritation. Vy would look askance at him if she heard what he said, but since she was not here, he couldn't care less.
Now that he could no longer focus on his revision, perhaps watching them mate would be a fun way to kill time. He didn't know how long his cat and Vy's cat had been with each other. A day in December, when he sat dumbfounded on the sofa with a bowl of spicy noodle next to him and thought about his hopeless unrequited love with his Vietnamese classmate and neighbor, he already saw his cat bring a female striped cat home. Introducing a queen instead of a tom would have been acceptable had his cat not clung to the other cat as if there were only two of them in the world. It was like rubbing salt into the wound of a forever-alone person. Only after Vy had dropped by his house to find her cat did he realize that the female cat was Vy's.
All things considered, the two cats made a nice complementary pair. His cat had white, ruffled fur and was rather friendly with humans while Vy's cat was somewhat distant. While Stripy indolently lied supine, Ruffle constantly licked her head, legs and tail. If his hand had not been scratched by Stripy when he made an attempt to touch her, he would have thought that Stripy was not interested in Ruffle at all. When Stripy got to her legs and left, Ruffle tagged along with his tail waggling like that of a puppy. Even when Stripy growled and waved her claws around in a threatening fashion, Ruffle would simply back away for a few seconds before sticking with her as usual.
Like master, like pet indeed. He and Vy had many things in common with the cats. His Valentine chocolate for her was received with indifference. The lunch box he made for her was pointedly ignored. His flowers during women's day were rejected with the reason that she didn't like flowers in her house. Every single effort he made to start a conversation with her was turned down. Vy almost never talked to guys, let alone him. Her reaction was almost identical to the way Stripy responded to Ruffle's display of affection.
Peering at Ruffle which was rubbing its head against Stripy's neck, he briefly wondered what would happen if he suddenly kissed Vy.
A knee to his groin, perhaps. She often practiced Vovinam with her father.
His lips curved into a bitter smile at that thought. In the end, even his cat's love life surpassed his.
The ring from the doorbell snapped him back to reality. It was three in the afternoon; his sister often came home around this time. Thus, he made a dash toward the door without paying heed to his crude shirt. Only after Vy had appeared from the other side of the door in her athletic clothing did panic collapse on his mind, and his cheeks heated up when his crush looked at his current clothes, frowned and remained silent. He was done for. During all the months he attempted to woo Vy, he had tried to present himself as a decent and polite guy. Everything was ruined now thanks to the terrible undershirt.
"Ah-uh, hi Vy-"
"Is Stripy here?" The question was curt, straight to the point, killing every one of his last hopes that Vy actually came to his house today for any other reason.
"Uhm, she's in the living room, ana."
At that sentence, Vy did not bother to reply and went straight into the house. He hurriedly slammed the door shut and followed suit. Why did she have to choose this time to drop by his house? When he came into the living room, he just wanted to promptly disappear when he saw that Stripy was lying on the floor with her eyes half-closed in contentment while Ruffle was pinning her down and biting her neck. If even a lonely guy who often befriended his right hand like him could visibly feel love in the air, Vy must have felt terribly annoyed. With that thought, he put his hand on her shoulder, intending to guide her away, but she flinched and scurried back.
"W-what are you doing?" She looked at him, but turned away for some reason. There was a red glow on her cheeks. He must be imagining things.
"Err… I have some avocados in the fridge; I can make you smoothie if you like."
"No, thanks."
Hence, they stood awkwardly in the living room… and continued watching the cats. When Stripy finally shrilled and pushed Ruffle away, Vy calmly stepped closer and lifted her cat off the ground. Stripy didn't seem to be happy with her master's action; she wriggled in her grasp and looked at Ruffle for help, but Vy didn't show any hint of guilt. Ruffled looked confounded as if he had been deprived of a delicious meal, but he had had enough experience with the merciless girl to refrain from scratching her feet. As a consequence, he had to console the ppor cat that had just lost his lover while Vy made a beeline for the door. As she was about to pass the threshold, he quickly came out with the sullen cat on his arms and uttered:
"Vy!"
Vy turned around to look at him.
"Uhm," He suddenly became tongue-tied. "Feel free to drop by my house any time."
Her eyes widened as her hold on her cat tightened.
"Why the invitation?"
"Well… we are neighbors..."
"What does being neighbors have to do with that?"
"Well," He scratched his head. Why was she questioning him that much? "You can still come for fun."
Something was amiss. Sunshine blazed his eyes, making him cover part of his face, but he could still see a red color rushing to her neck and face.
"So that you could do something weird to me like what Ruffle did to Stripy?"
Her question was like a painful slap to his face. It took a while for the implication of her question to sink into his head, and when it did, he stared at her and suddenly realized everything. It turned out that he was not the only one who could see the similarity between the cats and their masters. She had likened Ruffle's actions with his and apparently thought that if she became close with him, she would have the same fate with Stripy. Oh Buddha. No wonder why she always frowned at his advances. He wanted to open his mouth and prove himself innocent, but she already sprinted toward her house the moment the word "Hey!" fell from his mouth.
Leaving him speechless and flabbergasted in the torrid sunlight, with an undershirt and shorts and a lovelorn cat.
"Ruffle," He muttered. "You harmed me."
The cat apparently did not understand what he meant. Paying no attention to its bafflement, he sauntered into the house and completely forgot about the exam tomorrow. It was not that he did not respect Ruffle's happiness, but it had completely ruined his love life. He had to bid adieu to the prospect that Vy would agree to be his girlfriend one day now. That thought made him want to crash his head against the wall and bury himself under his pillows.
In that sulky state of mind, he probably would never know that just hundreds of footsteps from him, the girl of his dream was sighing and rubbing her cat's head.
"He's so silly. Stripy, come to his house tomorrow again so that I can have an excuse to go there."
Surely, the complicated relationships among the cats and their owners would prolong for good…
