CHAPTER EIGHT

It had shocked me when Elizabeth ran away. I didn't think she'd ever leave him, but after being pent up for some long, I really couldn't blame her. I, too, wanted to leave, but I was too much of a coward. I knew I wouldn't be able to survive out there on my own, so I waited.

I waited until he returned and allowed him to do anything he liked as long as he didn't tell me to leave, but all he did was apologise and held me close.

There was a feeling of guilt as I was happy that I was no longer in the cage at the cost of Elizabeth running away. I missed her already, but I missed my freedom more.

He tucked me into bed with him and I savoured the time we had together, but he was still obsessed with the fact hat someone would take me away. He also took time from work to continue looking for Elizabeth.

She remained missing.

"What am I going to do? It's my fault. I shouldn't have put you in a cage. Would… Would it be better if I let you go? I don't deserve you…"

I didn't like his train of thoughts, so I gently hit him across the cheek with my tail.

He was sinking deeper and deeper into depression and thus far, nothing I did help.

"Mew…" I put my paw against his face, watching him turn to face me. "Mew!" I playfully pounced on him to try to lighten the mood.

It didn't work.

He gave me a small pat on the head and told me to go to sleep.

With a huff, I complied and as soon as my eyes were closed, I heard him murmur, "If you were human, perhaps there wouldn't be this eternal loneliness within me. Perhaps you could fix me because at this point, I am convinced that I am broken. I can barely find anything to keep me going. Elizabeth the 3rd has rightfully left me. Work no longer holds the same meaning. You're the only one left. You must never leave me."

I didn't want to.

I wanted to stay with Jumin forever.

I wanted to be loved by him, not as a cat, but as a woman.

…

He was plagued by nightmares every night. Elizabeth the 3rd kept disappearing in front of him and when it wasn't Elizabeth the 3rd, it was his kitten. Not only that, he recalled the time she was injured. What if he woke up and she was gone? What if he wasn't there to save her this time?

What then?

He couldn't even imagine being without his kitten, now.

How could he cope with being alone?

The thought made his eyes snap open.

He turned to the side and was relieved to see Catherine the Great's white fur, but that feeling quickly disappeared when the colour didn't seem quite right. It wasn't snowy white anymore. There was a tinge of yellow. This was more blonde than white.

Blinking away the remaining grogginess, he quickly pulled the covers down to reveal an unfamiliar face.

"Who are you?" he demanded, grabbing her wrists and raising them above her head. He manoeuvred himself over her and his knee between her legs. He was well aware that she was completely naked, but he knew where his priorities lied.

His kitten was missing.

Sleepily, she opened her eyes to give him a confused look. "… Mew…?"

He froze.

What was this woman trying to do? Did she take Catherine the Great in an attempt to replace her? What delusion as this?

She hummed, closing her eyes again.

He was annoyed by how blatantly she was ignoring him! What kind of situation did she think she was in?

"Ngh…" She shook her head.

"Stop pretending and answer me!" he shouted, giving her a shake.

"Ha…" She opened her mouth again, but couldn't seem to string together anything coherent.

"Speak, woman!"

She let out a cough before trying again. "J-Jumin?" As soon as she said that, her eyes widened in shock. "I… I'm not… I'm not…" She blinked rapidly, trying again to clear her head. "Jumin?"

"Yes. That's my name. Now, tell me where my kitten is and how you got past security! Who are you?" he growled, tightening his grip on her.

"C-Catherine," she uttered.

"Where did you take her? Where did my take my kitten?!" He was about to lose his mind.

Her face flushed and he couldn't understand why. This was completely unorthodox and he found himself at a loss.

"I'm Catherine," she said with wide, green eyes – the exact same shade that his kitten had.

But that was impossible.

He had clearly established it before.

"You can't be," he refuted with gritted teeth. "That's impossible! My Catherine is a kitten! You're… You're human."

"I am," she mumbled. "I was turned into a cat, but I'm human. Haven't you always said that – that you thought I could understand you? I could!"

Numbly, he let go of her wrists and as he was no longer in fight or flight mode, he could not ignore the sensation of her naked body beneath him.

"Prove to me that you're my kitten," he whispered.

I bit my lips and thought hard. What would convince him that I was his Catherine the Great? What was something that only we would know?

Slowly, I reached up to gently tap his lips. "When you take me to work, I'd wrap myself around you like a scarf and when it's time to eat, I'd put my paw on your lips to remind you because despite what you tell everyone, you don't eat properly. You don't listen to your nutritionist. Paying him is a complete waste of money."

He remained silently still for a moment longer before collapsing on top of me. His sudden weight took all the breath out of my lungs and as I gasped for air, I could smell his scent fill me back up. "Kitten… My kitten," he mumbled, stroking my hair.

I instinctively mewed, nuzzling against his hand, which glided down to my cheek where he forced me to face him.

"Why do you look so familiar? Have I met you before?" His long fingers danced around, touching everything.

Humming, I opened my eyes. "At the vineyard. For some reason, I was able to change back like this, but with cat ears and a tail. I was trying to tell someone that I was actually human, but before I could prove it to your friends, I turned back into a cat."

"I always knew there was something special about you." His lips found mine and I happily reciprocated. He tasted just as I remembered, like dark velvet – smooth and expensive.

As he continued to explore, I was noticing a side of him that I had never seen before. This wasn't how he treated Catherine the Great. This was also not the drunk man who had been trying to drown his sorrows.

This was someone dark and demanding.

I was caught between being scared and excited. "Jumin…"

"Shh…" He placed an elegant finger on my lips. "Be my good girl – my good kitten. Your master will treat you well."

I opened my mouth again, but couldn't let out a sound as his hands trailed downward and began to tease my folds. A long whine made its way out instead as he continued to slowly tease me.

"Jumin," I moaned, wrapping my arms around him to pull him closer.

There was something hitting the back of my mind – something important, but he was making it so difficult to remember.

He tossed away his white dress shirt, tempting me to touch his beautifully sculpted body.

I bit my lips. This was too good to be true. Tears began to well up in my eyes. "W-Wait… Wait, Jumin. I have something I have to tell you first."

"Hush. There are more important matters that we are dealing with, right now." He buried his face into my hair. I could feel the bulge between his legs throbbing against my thigh.

"Ah!" My toes curled. "No… No, I need to tell you. W-What if I turn back into a… into a…" I let out another gasp as pleasure shot through my body. It took several moments to clear my head enough to continue. "It's V! V and a blonde… blonde girl named R-Rika! They were the… the ones to turn me into a c-cat!"

Just like that, everything froze and the atmosphere completely changed.

He was as still as a statue and when he next looked at me, his eyes were stone cold. "That's impossible."

"It's true! I saw them!"

"Rika is dead."

Dead? Did she die before or after the ritual?

"She died a year ago," he curtly stated as if reading my mind. "I will not allow you to sully her good name." H e slammed his fist into the pillow by my head.

"Then it… It could be another Rika? She… She had blonde hair, darker than mine and light green eyes," I told him.

"Impossible… Impossible! You saw one of my photos of her," he muttered.

"No, Jumin. She was there. She must've lied to you. She was in some sort of weird place with these people that looked like they were in a… in a cult! They all listened to her as if she was the leader." Why was it so hard for him to believe me? I had been by his side the entire time. I had never betrayed him. "Please, Jumin. Please, believe me. I'm worried what they're plan – "

Jumin leaned away, stepping out of bed. "Get out."

My heart sank. "What…?"

"Did I not speak clearly enough for you?" His eyes were like obsidians – impenetrable, nothing that indicated what we had just been engaged in.

"No… No… Don't… Please…" Tears were falling freely down my cheeks. "Please, Jumin. I love y – "

"GET OUT!"

I jumped and scrambled away, racing out of the room with my heart pounding in my chest.

I was scared.

I was scared of Jumin.

As I was leaving the penthouse, I grabbed one of his long trench coats to cover myself up.

Security looked at me strangely. I felt like a cheap whore and I knew I looked the part.

What was I going to do now? My heart hurt more than anything I ever felt before. I had put all of my trust in him and in a matter of minutes, he had taken it and tossed it away.

Did Rika really mean so much to him? Did he really not know how crazy she was or was there just one more side I didn't know about him?

Who knew this would end up hurting so much?

A part of me even wished that I was still a cat. Jumin loved Catherine the Great. He was even interested in my like this, but… But Rika seemed to be the one he truly loved.

I was such an idiot.

I was an idiot chasing after an impossible dream. Why was I even surprised by the outcome? I really had no one to blame for this but myself. Did I really think this was a fairytale – that I was miraculously going to find my happily ever after?

When I was outside with my feet on the pavement, I was met with another issue.

Where was I to go?

Should I try my apartment? It was likely that I was already evicted after having been gone for so long without paying rent.

I had to find somewhere to looks I was attracting were less than comforting. I had to forget about him and actually deal with what needed to be done.

I needed to let him go and somehow get my life together. I was fine without him and now that I was human again, I could just rebuild what I had. It was a bit monotonous, but at least it never felt as if my heart was going to shatter into a million pieces.

Well… Unless I turned back into a cat, now. If that happened, I might as well just accept fate.

There was even a part of me that wished he hadn't found me in that alley – that he had just let it all happen. I wouldn't have had to experience something so devastating.

I…

I wished I hadn't fallen in love with him.

I really wished that I had never met him.

My thoughts were suddenly snapped away when I was pulled abruptly into a dark alley.

No!

No!

Not again!

"Be quiet," a soft voice hissed. "As long as you come along quietly, I won't have to hurt you."

I shook my head. I didn't want to be taken back to the cult!

"Then please, don't blame me for this." A cloth covered my mouth and nose. I held my breath and tried to struggle as long as I could, but as soon as I breathed in, my vision wavered.

The last thing I saw was a pale man with striking mint eyes.