"Morning Jisoo, morning Jihae!" Heejung merrily chimed as she left her bedroom the next day, a smile on her lips. She held in a laugh as Jihae leapt out of his skin at the sound of her voice, looking around in a blind panic. Jisoo was not so kind at his reaction, he loudly laughed with a cattish smirk.
"I saw you asleep when coming back home, decided to take your little patient out of your hands so you didn't end up squishing her" Jisoo spoke, his smirk still on his face. Jihae, although offended, nodded in gratitude in a polite manner. Heejung watched the exchanged between them, thankful that they didn't start arguing again.
"How is she?" Heejung quickly asked, hoping to break any tension that might appear between them. At this the cat sighed, his smirk leaving his face as he worriedly frowned.
"She was asleep when I took her off the rabbit but she woke soon after. She is extremely restless, even as we speak" Jisoo honestly said, looking down at her for a moment with a mixed expression. Heejung couldn't quite read his expression; it was as if he wanted to hate the newcomer but found it hard to.
"Her wounds look good though, I couldn't find any infections when changing her bandages" Jisoo continued, recovering his thoughts as he looked up at the Foodgiver. Jihae sleepily shook his head as he stood, biting his tongue to prevent him from talking. He doubted Jisoo could bandage well, it was probably as bad as his cooking, but Jihae had no strength to argue with him this morning. He wandered over to the sink, washing his hands as he made way to start preparing breakfast.
"Jihae I can do that, you should go and rest" Heejung spoke after watching his actions. The tall, elegant rabbit paused in his movements for a moment.
"It is fine My Lady" Jihae politely said and Heejung decided not to push him on the matter.
"Has she spoken at all?" Heejung asked in curiosity, glancing at the two males as she prepared the meat for cooking. Jihae glanced to his left, noticing what she was preparing to make. It was clear to everyone that Heejung's favourite animal was clearly Jisoo; they had been spending so much time together that the others hadn't had chance to try and win her over. By this point Jihae had given up on her, it was clear she wasn't the slightest bit interested in him… he was not surprised.
"She hasn't opened her eyes let alone spoken" Jisoo voice spoke dragging Jihae out of his thoughts.
"She opened her eyes for a moment in the early hours of the morning" Jihae slowly said when Heejung fixed her attention on him. Heejung hummed to herself, as if wanting to ask another question, but she decided to keep quite as she continued doing what she was doing.
Heejung always found it strange how the animals knew when it was time for food; they always mysteriously appeared as she put it onto the plate. For once they were quiet at the table, none moaning about the lack of something or the other. She sighed to herself, looking over at the couch where the black rabbit was left alone while everyone ate.
"Winter" she said aloud making everyone pause in their eating.
"What?" Jisoo blankly replied, a piece of bacon still on his fork.
"We should call her Winter. It's the time of year after all" Heejung explained, turning her focus back onto her food. Jiwoo stifled a laugh, shaking his head.
"What is such a stupid name Owner, no surprise judging by your lack of intelligence" Jiwoo told her, his nose turned up in arrogance. Jisoo's eyes snapped in his direction his ears pinning back at his rudeness. Heejung on the other hand shrugged the comment off, finishing the last bite of her food.
"Well she's got to be named something until she tells us what her name is" Heejung retorted with furrowed eyebrows.
"I should make her something to eat" she added onto it, standing up from her chair as she changed the subject. They watched her move back to the counter and start chopping up some carrots.
"You should make it fluid, stupid Owner knows nothing about sick rabbits" Jiwoo said in annoyance when watching her pick up the chunks of carrots. Heejung paused for a moment, her eyes catching onto her watch.
"Oh god I'm late for school!" she suddenly cried out, her hands flying to her head as if trying to calm herself down. At those words Jihae stood, taking he chunks on the counter.
"Allow me" he kindly said and all besides Heejung heard the low growl escape Jisoo's lips. Heejung smiled at him, thankful that he would be generous enough to do it. She turned and ran to her bedroom, reappearing a moment later with a large bag before leaving the house.
By the time Jihae figured out how to use the blender and found a small enough spoon suitable for the task the house was empty, even Jieun had left the house much to his worry. Jihae wasn't all that surprised though; since Heejung started to take a liking to Jisoo everyone decided to simply leave the house as much as possible and stand on their own feet. Even Jihae had done so by signing up with a modelling contract to start getting some income. With a sigh he took a seat on the couch, putting the small pot of blended carrots on the coffee table. Carefully Jihae picked up the small bundle of blankets, finding the black rabbit sinking into it as if trying to hide.
"It is only me little one, I've made you some food" Jihae softly told her and at the sound of his voice she became still, opening her eyes to gaze up at him. Her gaze made Jihae's heart leap, there was so much vulnerability but softness in them he couldn't help but wonder who she was and what had happened to her. Her ears had also risen, intently listening to him as he spoke while feeding her.
"Heejung plans to call you Winter" Jihae politely said, trying to start a conversation with her. Winter frowned at this, her face scrunched up but it softened again. Jihae waited for her to speak in reply but she did not, instead she awkwardly looked up with him with an apologetic expression. She wriggled in his arms, the blanket loosening around her. Jihae relaxed his grasp, hoping he hadn't caused her distress from his question. He thought she would try leaping from his arms, falling to the floor but she did not, instead she pushed the blanket down with her two front paws, displaying the bandage around her stomach. With a meaningful look she glanced down at it then back at him several times.
"Ah…" Jihae mumbled, realising what she was trying to point out. She didn't speak because she didn't want to, it was more for the fact that she was in a lot of pain and it would only worsen if she irritated the areas where her wounds were. Winters expression softened once more, her eyes widening slightly as a strand of his hair fell close to the blanket around her. Before Jihae could express his dislike towards his hair colour or even pull it away Winter had grasped onto it with her front paws, moving it in such a way that the sunlight beaming through the balcony doors made his silver hair glisten. Winter inspected the colour and Jihae was surprised to see no look of disgust on her face, instead it looked as if she was curious. It was no lie that his hair was unique, it was the very reason why he hated it, and every rabbit should know its reasoning behind it. However it seemed that she did not, did she not come from the land of Grass? Jihae paused his thoughts as he realised Winter was now staring at him intently, as if trying to read his expressions with those eyes of hers. As if unsettled by this Jihae carefully grabbed another spoonful of blended carrots, Winter now releasing his hair from her grasp. Jihae helped her eat in silence, Winter glancing up at him every now and again.
Once that was done Jihae carried her to the bathroom; he wanted to sort out her bandages since he knew that damn cat Jisoo had done them. He didn't look surprised when he realised the bandages were poorly put on but he was secretly thankful the cat had put the attempt in to sort her out. He doubted it had been long, maybe a few hours since he had done them but the leg wound had bled through already. He was thankful she was easier to tend to today than she was yesterday, he wondered if she had behaved for Jisoo too but judging at her constant flinching he doubted it. Quick movements set her off, at times she flinched away from them and other times she matched the movements with her paws, stopping his hands from reaching their destination. Every time this happened they both gave apologetic expressions; Jihae for setting her off and Winter for reacting in such a way.
Jihae sighed in relief once he was done and back on the couch again, Winter was set next to him in a new blanket. With it being November it was rather chilly, even inside a cosy home such as this one. Jihae was tired, he had worked for long hours yesterday modelling and had maybe one or two hours sleep a few hours ago. Worst part about it he had work tomorrow as well in the morning. He was tempted to cancel it, tell them he was unable to do it, but he knew he had to get out the house and do it to keep his minds off things. He sighed again, looking down at the black rabbit by his side who looked up at the television with a tilted head. While she was distracted Jihae decided to transform into his rabbit form, knowing it was the polite thing to do when sleeping here. At the movement Winters attention was directly on him, her ears pointed at him and her eyes analysing him. She watched his ears drop and his head turn away; it was as if he was embarrassed at being watched. Jihae shivered as he curled himself up, it was colder than he imagined and he was way too tired to transform, get up and crank up the heating. He closed his eyes, his back partially turned towards Winter as he tried to catch up on his sleep.