Chapter Eighteen.
Heejung had a large smile on her face as she left her bedroom the next morning, glancing at her calendar on the wall in the living room. She pulled it off the wall, flipping the page to May. Most of her days were filled with school and art work. She grimaced, knowing she'd have to work extra hard this month.
"Hey, Foodgiver…what are you staring at?" the rugged voice of Jisoo spoke from behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, grinning at the handsome black cat.
"Oh I was just changing the calendar to May" Heejung said, furrowing her brows as Jisoo's expression changed.
"What's the matter?" she innocently asked, placing the calendar back onto the wall to turn to face him.
"N-nothing, hey… what's for breakfast?" Jisoo instantly responded, changing the topic before Heejung had a chance to dig deeper. It seemed that it work for Heejung shifted her weight onto one side of her body, humming in thought.
"Don't know, let's go and look" she told him, glancing at the sofa as she walked into the kitchen.
Jisoo followed closely behind, his stomach rumbling at the thought of being fed. He was starving, heck he was always hungry. He was not used to being so well fed, he wasn't this fortunate back at home.
"What's up with those two?" Heejung couldn't help but ask, tilting her head to the sofa. Jisoo looked in that direction, noticing Jihae and Winter snuggled up together in their rabbit forms. The black cat bit back his glare towards the silver rabbit, deciding to set his attention back onto the food Heejung was pulling out of the fridge.
"They got in pretty late last night" he honestly said, overhearing them at 1am when they returned home. He would have interrupted their low talking if it wasn't for the fact that they spoke of the wizard's game and how they were going to deal with it. Jisoo had remained quiet as he listened to them, realising that his time with Heejung was slowly coming to an end.
"Heejung" Jisoo said, moving himself over to stand next to Heejung, his brows bunching together for a moment. The young woman hummed, signalling him that she was indeed listening to him.
"If I disappear you'd wait for me to come back, right?" Jisoo asked.
"Yes of course" Heejung responded naturally without much thought. She had heard similar questions from Jisoo before; they were getting more frequent as the days went by.
"You promise?" Jisoo pushed on, gaining her full attention as she paused chopping up the meat.
"I promise" she told him and the cat weakly smiled at her. Softly he kissed the top of her head, letting her get back to making breakfast.
"Good" he murmured, stepping away from her to glance over to the rabbits who were slowly waking up.
Winter slowly stretched, the smell of food bringing her out of her slumber. She gently nudged Jihae awake; her eyes softening as the silver rabbit gently nudged her back in greeting. Carefully Winter stood herself up on all three feet, shaking away her sleepiness as she hopped herself onto the floor. A squeak escaped her mouth, misjudging the landing with a thump. A bit dazed Winter sat up, shaking her head; she really needed to spend more time in her rabbit form.
"Are you alright?" Jihae asked, worry in his voice. Winter looked up at the man, his ears upright as his hair pooled over his shoulders. She smiled, nodding her head in his direction.
"Oh you're awake" Winter heard Heejung call from the kitchen,
"Do you want breakfast?" she continued on making Jihae look down at Winter with a questioning expression. The black rabbit nodded, knowing it would save them going into town to buy food to eat.
"Yes, would you like help with it my lady?" Jihae asked Heejung, earning a glare from Jisoo. Heejung laughed, shaking her head and dismissing his offer. Instead of being offended by her decline Jihae shrugged, watching as Winter transformed into her human form to walk across the room to the dining table. Jihae followed suit, a smile on his face as he sat next to her.
The four of them sat together at the table, Jihae and Winter having vegetables while Heejung and Jisoo had some kind of meat. There was a comfortable silence among them, something Heejung was thankful for. Since Winter had arrived it had released the tension between Jisoo and Jihae.
"So how was the house?" Heejung casually asked as she ate, wanting to know the details. At the mention of the house Winter's eyes lit up, excitement showing in them.
"It's fantastic, I got really lucky with it. When returning to the office to discuss the prices and stuff the house owners were there meaning my offer got accepted straight away. We'll be able to move in next week and the best part about it is that there's furniture already" Winter happily said, finishing her food.
"We?" Heejung questioned, hearing her clearly. At this a small blush swept onto Winter's cheeks.
"Jihae's moving with me and perhaps Jieun will too, I'm planning to meet up with him later to discuss things" Winter told her and Heejung's face fell slightly.
"That's… that's pretty soon. Are you moving in straight away?" she asked and Winter nodded.
"That's the plan; we've troubled you long enough. The house isn't that far away so we'll be able to visit often" Winter told her, noticing her sadness straight away. Heejung brightened up at the reminder of visiting, knowing that this day was going to arrive eventually.
"This place is getting emptier by the day… Jiyeon has been gone for weeks without a word and Jiwoo comes back now and again but never talks, his attention always glued to books. I rarely see Jieun either, the only way I know if he comes home or not is if the apples are taken" Heejung quietly said.
"Jieun is living with a kind woman out of the city" Jihae informed her, his tone blank as he hid away his pain. Winter looked in his direction, understanding he was still struggling to accept that Jieun was no longer glued to his side.
"Well Jisoo is still here" Winter piped in, looking across to the cat as she steered the conversation away from Jieun.
"Unless he's that bad to hang around with" she added, winking playfully to him to show she meant no harm in her words. Heejung laughed as the cat growled at her comment but she saw the weariness in his eyes, the animals knew that he wouldn't be here for long. Heejung was oblivious to the emotion in Jisoo's eyes, her attention back on her food. The four of them finished their breakfast, wanting to get to the day ahead of them.