NOVEL EP9 [SPOILERS AHEAD] (Patreon)

Min

“Yeah, I caught a glance of him, finally. He’s got these really green eyes, and I think his hair was kind of brown, like the teddy bear kind of brown, right?”

Shino looked completely lost. She furrowed her brows, hand on her chin, and thought hard about these descriptions. “Was he tall?”

“Yeah, and he wears a blue hoodie a lot.”

“My gosh,” She perks up. Min brightens too. “I’ve got it!”

“You’ve got it?”

“I don’t know this person at all!”

“You—”

“Why are you asking? Do you think he could be going to this school?”

“I was kind of hoping so.” I sighed. “This mystery man is so elusive, yet I feel like I see him around so much.”

“He probably lives in your neighborhood.” Shino suggested. “We need to go stake out the area to track him down.”

I laughed about that then but I was hypervigilant on the way home, hoping to catch a glance of the green-eyed stranger once more. Funny enough, he was sitting on the curb entertaining the cat near my house. We both stopped in our tracks when we saw each other. The cat meowed in protest when he stopped petting it.

“Why… heeeello there.” I greeted. “I’ve been looking for you.”

I gave him awkward finger guns, and he stared at the gesture and then back up at me.

“Hello.” He greeted.

I blinked quickly at him. He can talk. He talks. He’s real. I’m sane.

He made an effort to get up, but the cat protested loudly. I walked over and squatted down next to him, distracting the cat. It was a feisty little one, and needed constant attention.

“He’s so cute.” I whispered to myself.

“He was screaming at me when I was waiting for you.”

“Aww..” I smiled, then stopped. “Say what? You were waiting?”

“Oh.” He backed away. “Sorry. That must be weird. I saw you walk into your house the other day. When you paid for my groceries.”

“Yeah!” I exclaimed. “No kidding! Please don’t do things like that!”

“I… I’m sorry. Yeah, that’s weird. Should… Should I leave?”

I hunkered down. “Well… You seem like a nice guy. I guess I reprimanded you enough. You shouldn’t be staring at who goes into which house, you know! I don’t know where you live.”

He then proceeded to point out exactly where his house was.

“Wait a second! You can’t just do that!” I exclaimed again. “Also, how do I know you’re not bluffing?”

“Do you… want to watch me walk inside?”

“I see what this is… You’re trying to make me stoop to your level, you little—”

“Oh!” He interrupted, pulling out his wallet. “I came to pay you back, I forgot.”

A clumsy ten dollar bill fell into my palm. I glance down at it. “But—I only paid 7 dollars.”

“It’s fine.” He said, looking down at the cat again. “I don’t need the change.”

I thought hard about it. “Wait. When I see you again, can I buy you some donuts?”

“When you see me again?”

“Well—it would be easier if I knew when I would see you again.”