CH 38.2

The restaurant is closed on Saturdays, and today is Saturday.

As usual, Mu Mu’er begins looking for his big fluffy cat as soon as he wakes up, even looking under the bed. He looks disappointed when he cannot find it, so he starts staring at the closet and asking, “Yaoyao, do you see the big cat?”

So Bai Yao can only turn on the air conditioning, and slip into the closet while Mu Mu’er isn’t looking, and undress before transforming. He exits as the snow leopard.

“Big fluff!” Mu Mu’er immediately goes for the ear as soon as he sees Bai Yao, “why do you hide in the closet every day? You can come play with Mu’er!”

Great. The little sea otter forgot about him almost immediately. Tch. Little traitor.

Bai Yao whips his tail about while leaping onto the sofa for a nap. Mu Mu’er follows right behind him, “big cat, are we going to play?”

Then, when Bai Yao leaps onto the sofa, he goes, “… boo, is this actually a game?”

Bai Yao wiggles the tip of his tail a little to indicate he’s going to sleep, but Mu Mu’er misunderstands this as the game, and jumps for it, successfully ‘capturing’ the long, thick tail behind Bai Yao proudly.

“Mu’er grabbed it!”

A few seconds later, he releases the tail, and sits back down on the carpet, staring fixedly at the tail for the game to continue.

“Big cat! Mu’er won!”

Bai Yao “…”

Whenever his tail wiggles, Mu Mu’er immediately lunges, like the strangest game of whack-a-mole ever. He’s practically a sea otter wand toy, that’s exceptionally good at its job.

At least, that’s what Mu Mu’er’s happy expression suggests it is.

Who’s the kitty now, huh?

This goes on for about half an hour, when Mu Mu’er finally becomes tired. Bai Yao’s tail wiggles draw only a customary clap, as Mu Mu’er declares, “Mu’er is tired.”

And he is, already gasping a little, “sorry, big cat, Mu’er cannot play now.”

And a great time to nap it is. Bai Yao happily circles his thick, furry, and most importantly,, long tail back around, and covers his eyes with it, beginning his nap.

Mu Mu’er thinks that the big fluffy cat must be even more tired than he is, so he sits quietly next to the sofa, and starts playing with the shells he collected and hid under the coffee table.

He has so many shells now, all secretly stowed away after Bai Yao gave them to him to eat the meat within, and he did not feel like throwing them away. He has several under the sink in the bathroom, a big one under the bed, and the prettiest one hidden behind the TV.

His most treasured shell is the big scallop shell that Bai Yao pried open for him that very first night. Mu Mu’er hid it in a very, very hidden location. He thinks no on else will ever find it, and he also does not play with it, so that he will never lose it.

It is his most important, beloved secret.

Bai Yao wakes up from his nap when it’s already two in the afternoon. He yawns, and stretches himself on the sofa.

Mu Mu’er is still admiring his shells on the carpet, and Bai Yao suddenly realises something. Mu Mu’er still doesn’t know that Bai Yao is his big fluff, so to him, there is only the big cat in the house right now, and not Yaoyao

Does he not miss him? Ask where Yaoyao is? He’s happy with just the big cat?

Bai Yao finds himself unable to stop thinking about it. In the end, he decides not to transform today and keep playing with Mu Mu’er. He’s curious when the boy will realise someone is missing in the house, and when he might start to look for his ‘Yaoyao.’

So the whole afternoon, Mu Mu’er is playing with his shells on the living room floor. And seeing that the big cat is awake, he also tugs at the tip of the tail with one hand, like he’s worried he might suddenly vanish.

A while later, Bai Yao picks up footsteps coming from outside. His ears twitch in response, and his eyes widen up in alert a little.

A few seconds later, the doorbell to his restaurant’s back door is ringing.

The restaurant’s front entrance is locked today as he doesn’t plan on leaving either. There is no doorbell there either, and no one would come visit him there either. Instead, they would know to go to the back entrance, which has a doorbell.

Mu Mu’er seems confused where the sound is coming from, but he is at least looking at the door which leads to the stairs.

Bai Yao considers his options. If he transforms back into his human form, he won’t be able to tease Mu Mu’er with his disappearance at all.

Maybe he should ignore it?

Coming to a decision, Bai Yao stretches again on the sofa and yawns, to pretend that no one’s home. If it’s mail or delivery, they can just leave it on the doorstep.

Mu Mu’er, though, is restless. After deliberating for a while, Mu Mu’er looks at the door, then back at the sleepy big cat. He pushes Bai Yao’s paw, and says, “big fluffy cat, there is someone downstairs.”

Bai Yao’s tail wiggles in response, but he doesn’t open his eyes at all either.

He assumed Mu Mu’er would be too shy to go open the door downstairs alone, but soon enough, footsteps make him open his eyes, and he sees there is no one on the carpet anymore.

He looks around, and Mu Mu’er is already out the door, going down the stairs.