A/N: Happy 4th of July (if you're in the States)!
There's a little bit of biting and some suggestive material in this chapter, but no smut.
Short chapter this time, for two reasons:
1) I'm working on my first draft of an original book, and I'm probably 2/3 of the way through it right now. This is the furthest I've ever gotten on a project like that without drowning in self-doubt, so I'm going to just keep writing full speed ahead on it until I finish. Which means I likely won't be writing on this story for another month or so.
2) I'm trying to figure out what parts of Season Two I would like to incorporate into the ending of my story, which will affect the final arc I had already plotted out. Largely, the story I had planned will remain unchanged, but I'll add in some details to enhance it.
I did enjoy Season Two for the most part, but I'm probably not going to say much about it here because I can't be objective at all, given that I was writing this story for so long and thus have super strong opinions about Rang's character based on my own interpretation of him. Of course, if you want to ask me anything in the comments, feel free.
In conclusion, I'm probably not going to update here again until sometime towards the end of August, and I wanted to let you know. So enjoy this sidebar with Jan Di Part Two while I finish up this other project and also reorient myself after the new season.
Your friendly neighborhood cat is waiting for you. Open your window.
That was all the text from Rang read.
Ga Eul glanced out her bedroom window just in time to see a familiar black and white cat leap up onto the tree branch next to it.
"Rang?" she mumbled, shocked. Rang had never visited her at her parents' house before.
At least, not that she was aware of.
It wasn't really the best timing either. She'd just gotten off the phone with Jan Di a while ago, and though she was happy beyond belief that he'd been approved by Jan Di, she was trying to figure out how to tell him he couldn't bite her friends.
Ga Eul had suspected things would get complicated once she started introducing Rang to more people in her life—she loved the fox side of him, but she knew his personality would be off-putting to most people. Even she had been put off by it when she'd first met him.
However, she had not expected things to get complicated so fast.
If Rang had bitten Jan Di's finger, how would he possibly react to meeting Ga Eul's parents?
Having visited her parents all day Saturday, she'd had a little time to imagine Rang sitting in their house and inserting himself into their conversations. None of those imagined scenarios had gone very well. He wasn't exactly known for his adherence to social decorum, and his contempt for human customs was ever-present. Even when he tried, at some point, the mask would slip, and her cavalier fox would appear.
So despite her feelings for Rang himself—despite that she'd known what she was getting herself into—she was a bit nervous.
Of course, even when he made her nervous, she missed Rang. Her childhood bed had felt so empty that she'd had no idea how she was supposed to sleep there without his warm body beside hers. Without being able to snuggle up to him and wrap herself in his arms at will.
With excitement, Ga Eul locked her bedroom door and opened her window, and Cat Rang stared at her for a moment, swishing his tail. He glanced from her arms to her face and then back to her arms.
"Rang?" Ga Eul held out her hand. She almost scooped him up, but Cat Rang leapt off the windowsill and ran for her bed. He scampered up her bed post and curled himself on her pillow but, oddly, faced away from her.
Ga Eul shut her window, careful not to make too much noise with her parents watching TV in the next room.
"Rang?" she whispered, sitting down on the bed. "Did you miss me? I missed you too."
In answer, Rang rubbed his face on her pillow.
Well, she guessed that answered that.
Him stalking her as a cat again was too cute. Truly, she couldn't stay nervous or upset with him when she'd missed him so much, even if they'd only been apart for a day. Her heart filled with warmth and happiness as she stroked his head and his back.
"Will you stop being a cat so I can hug you?" she asked.
He answered by rising and climbing into her lap. Apparently, he wanted to be hugged as a cat.
Ga Eul thought it a little out of the ordinary—he only played a cat when he wanted to stalk her or if she asked for it—but she happily obliged him. Picking him up, she squeezed him and kissed him on the head. Then she set him down on her lap and indulged him in some head rubs, which he contentedly purred through.
After twenty minutes or so, it became evident that Rang did not intend to change into his usual form, however. Ga Eul stopped petting him and forced him to look at her face.
"Rang, are you okay?"
Rang stared at her just like he'd done when she'd opened her window earlier. Only this time he kept his eyes intently on her face.
In the blink of an eye, he morphed into his human form, yanking Ga Eul down her bed so that she was lying beneath him. The weight of his body pinning her there took her breath away momentarily, and she fleetingly hoped her parents hadn't heard the thud of her body hitting the mattress. She barely had time to catch her breath again before Rang began ravaging the sides of her neck. He sunk his teeth into her skin, biting her like he truly wanted to eat her, over and over. Like he was starving, and she was the only food he'd seen in days.
Ga Eul's automatic response was to arch her body upwards and pull him closer. She tugged on his hair and offered him more of her neck, letting herself get carried away by the tingles of pleasure coursing through her. Lifting himself off of her, Rang cupped her chin and kissed her. He dug his fingers into her waist and kissed her hard and brutal, like he'd done all the time when they'd first started dating. He bit her neck some more, then kissed her again, all the while pawing at her clothed upper body. Eventually, he sat up and began unbuttoning her pink pajama shirt, and that was when she realized she should have stopped him earlier, and not only because her parents were within earshot.
Now that she could see his face clearly—his eyes, in particular—she noticed that he wasn't focused on her, even though he was touching her. He was lost in a manic haze of his own making. Running away from something by running towards something else. Pawing at her and biting her to alleviate whatever had sent him flying into a panic.
Abruptly, it dawned on her that he didn't know what Jan Di had said to her. Perhaps he thought Jan Di had given him a resounding thumbs down.
She placed her hand on his wrist and pulled it away from her shirt. He stilled, but trembled, his jaw remaining hard-set, and he didn't meet her eyes, choosing instead to stare at her partially-exposed chest.
"Rang," she whispered gently, stroking his hair. "I'd like to get up. Will you redo my buttons?"
He didn't move right away, his chest rising and falling heavily beneath his black dress shirt, so Ga Eul guided his fingers to a button.
This jolted him from his trance, and he glanced up at her face, then back down. Rubbing the button with his thumb, he brought his free hand to the other side of her shirt. Ga Eul let go of his wrist, and he began the systematic process of refastening her buttons, one by one.
When Rang finished, he let her sit up and rise from the bed. He sat on the edge of the bed, his legs spread in front of him and his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. Though he kept his gaze downward, his brooding presence filled up the room.
Uncertain of how to deal with the situation, while simultaneously not alerting her parents to Rang's presence, she took out a tiny, old writing pad and pen from the drawer of her childhood bureau.
What's wrong? she wrote, then shoved the notepad into his line of sight.
When Rang didn't take it, she tapped his shoulder and shook the notepad imploringly. It took him a moment, but he finally relented and snatched it from her.
You can never break up with me. Ever, he wrote, then thrust the notepad at her face. His eyes made demands that his lips could not. 'Ever' had been underlined three times.
And Ga Eul wanted to say, 'Just because you're a fox, it doesn't mean you can order me around.' Or, 'Didn't we already go over this? Don't you know now how much I love you?'
But she saw in his face that it was less of a demand and more of a plea, and she knew all too well that relearning to trust was not that simple. Fear came and went in phases.
No matter. She would be patient.
Ga Eul smiled gently and took the notepad back.
Why would I break up with you? Who said that?
You can't do it. No matter who tells you.
Is someone going to tell me?
Rang didn't take the notepad.
Is someone Jan Di? she wrote.
His silence told Ga Eul everything.
No one can make me break up with you except you. If Jan Di told me to do that, I wouldn't listen. Even if you did bite her finger. With that last sentence, she arched her eyebrow at him.
Rang grabbed the notepad and scribbled hastily, She's annoying. She woke me up, barged into my apartment, touched my things, accused me of cheating on you, and threatened to break us up. He tapped the notepad insistently.
'Oh,' Ga Eul mouthed, not having realized there was more to the situation that Jan Di had let on. Knowing Rang, he could have written only 'She woke me up,' and Ga Eul would have understood why he'd bitten her. But accusing him of cheating on her without even giving him a chance—that was too much, even for Jan Di, in Ga Eul's opinion. She knew her friend was looking out for her after what happened with Yi Jeong, but...she'd have to scold her later.
Oh...I'm sorry. I didn't know she was so rude. Why didn't you kick her out if she was bothering you so much?
Rang frowned in confusion.
Because she's your friend! His eyes widened like this was something she should have known, and Ga Eul softened even more.
He really was loyal to her, wasn't he?
Biting Jan Di's finger was him trying to play nice with her friend, though it wouldn't appear that way to anyone else.
Ga Eul smiled and combed her fingers through his hair.
"Really?" she whispered. "You would do that for me?"
Rang batted her hand away, irritation creasing his face.
I don't like her, he wrote. I should have bitten all of her fingers. I should have bitten them off.
But you didn't. You were a good fox.
I'm not a good fox. I'm your fox.
Yes...you are my fox. And given the situation, I can't say I blame you for biting her.
Really? But she's your friend? Rang raised an eyebrow.
Just because she's my friend, it doesn't mean she can do anything she wants to my boyfriend. I care about you too. Besides, like you said, you're my pet fox. If someone's bothering you, I should protect you. Want me to bite her finger too? She cocked her head suggestively.
Rang seemed amused that she would offer.
Just don't start inviting her for dinner every week, he offered grudgingly. I'll see her once per year.
"Okay, I promise," Ga Eul whispered. "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
Rang squinted at her.
I'll hold you to that, little human.
A period of silence followed this agreement. Afterward, Rang added, Anyway...don't you ever tell her I said this, but...I approve of her being your friend.
Ga Eul blinked in surprise, then smiled.
Really? That's good. She approves you too. Ga Eul winked. She further wrote, I can't imagine what you said to her if she still approved you after you bit her. She grinned knowingly, and he rolled his eyes.
Don't push it, little human.
Ga Eul gave a little pout.
Spend the night with me? she wrote.
Do what we were doing? He waggled his eyebrows.
We have to be quiet. Ga Eul gave him a firm look. Quiet. She underlined 'quiet' four times.
Why? I can make your parents forget.
You wouldn't dare.
Wouldn't I?
I'm serious.
So am I.
I said my parents are off-limits.
But you're okay with me biting your friends?
Rang gave her a devilish smirk, and Ga Eul felt her resolve slipping; he sent the pen and notepad sailing to the other side of the room, then stood.
"That was a totally different situation," Ga Eul hissed as he stalked towards her, cocking his head. She walked backwards to match him.
"My parents are off-limits," Ga Eul repeated feebly as her back hit the wall. "I mean it."
Rang smirked. He fingered the hem of her pajama pants with his left hand as he lifted his right hand and shoved it sideways into her mouth.
Pressing his mouth to her ear, he murmured, "Then you better bite down on this so you don't scream."
A/N: I already have Yi Jeong on the schedule (plus some more scenes with Yu Ri, Shin-joo, Soo-oh, Yeon, Ji Ah, and Ha Eun); Su Gyeong will play a major role in the last arc of the story; and I'm doing a cosplay chapter b/c of a request; if there's anything else you really want to see, you can tell me, and no promises, but I'll try to work it in.