MC: So that’s our proposal.

Victor nods, and flips through the documents a few more times, his face showing no expression.

I hold my breath, waiting quietly for his next “judgement”.

Finally, Victor closes the proposal. But he doesn’t speak for a long time, as though weighing on how to open his mouth.

I very rarely see him like this, and can’t help but swallow nervously.

MC: Why don’t I take this proposal back and improve it...

Victor: MC.

We speak practically at the same time. Victor is slightly startled, a smear of smile escaping the corners of his lips.

Victor: Before you came, didn’t you say that you are very confident in this proposal?

MC: But your expression looks so grave... It’s fine, I am ready. Go ahead!

Victor: Well, congratulations. No need to be nervous, there’s nothing wrong with the proposal this time.

Victor: What I want to tell you is something else.

Victor puts the proposal aside, and gestures for me to draw nearer.

Victor: Do you have plans this afternoon?

MC: If this proposal is approved, then nothing else.

MC: What’s wrong?

Victor: I received a call from an elder this morning. He’s temporarily out of the town occupied with something and can’t come back. He entrusted me to feed and bathe the cat at home.

Victor: If you aren’t doing anything, come with me.

MC: So you finally don't doubt the professionalism of this pet specialist?

[Trivia: MC uses a term ‘铲屎官’ which means  pet owner/someone who's in charge of cleaning up, in other words, people who actually have to clean after their pets. It's a Chinese internet slang ^^’]

Victor: I do.

Victor: This time it's just for some special reason, and it’s not convenient for a single person to look after it.

MC: ...Oh, turns out that I was the last resort left.

I pretended to be disappointed and looked away. After a while, I heard Victor's slightly helpless voice.

Victor: If it would have been the last resort, I could have found a professional caretaker.

Victor: But you may get along better with it.

MC: Are you sure?

MC: But whether it’s Pudding or any other kitten, they prefer to be close to you.

I recalled the scene where Victor was surrounded by kittens in the cat cafe, and was a little puzzled about his subtle look at that moment.

Victor: Didn’t I just say, this cat is quite special.

MC: Why is it special?

Victor did not answer my follow-up question, looked down at the watch, and soon forked off the subject.

Victor: It's almost time. Let's go to have lunch first.

Victor: ‘Go early and return early’, otherwise you won't wake up again tomorrow.

MC: I won’t fall asleep till late!

I followed Victor with great spirits, and couldn't stop being curious about the kitten I was about to face.

Who is this noble anyway who can make things difficult for this "walking catnip"? 

[Trivia: The term MC uses here is ‘猫薄荷’, which directly translates to catnip. It refers to someone who can attract a lot of attention or who can seize your attention very easily. In other words... :’)]

“Kacha---”

Accompanied by a soft echo, Victor pushed open the wooden door, as the sunshine pouring down on the garden filled with greenery broke into our field of view.

In the small courtyard, the pink and white flower trees were in full bloom. There was also a summer sleeping mat arranged under a tree, seemingly being prepared for the kitten to cool off in the shade.

MC: What a romantic yard...the kitten must be very happy to live here.

[MC, you seriously recognise every place as a romantic one when you are with Victor, isn’t it? Well, no one can help it XD]

Victor: But when there is no one at home, it can only stay in the house.

MC: Can you bring it to the yard to play later?

[Tha-that teasing smile...]

Victor: I think you want to play, don't you?

I looked at the obvious smile on Victor's face and curled my lips in an unconvinced manner.

Victor: So?

MC: Even if I don't get any renumeration, you should still give me a reward as the honorary.

Victor looked at me sideways, reached out and pinched my face.

Victor: You've learned to speak on conditions.

Victor: As long as the cat listens to you, tease it as you like.

MC: What about you?

Victor: What, you still need an audience to tease the cat?

MC:  Of course not, I'm inviting you with me.

MC: Come on, let's go meet this kitten soon!

Not giving Victor any oppurtunity to refuse, I pulled him along the bluestone road, towards the cottage.

Vines with blue and purple flowers entwined on both the sides of the white door, looking serene and quiet.

But, when Victor opened the closed door, what appeared in front of us was a picture of ‘disaster site--’

~

In the original elegant and cozy living room, cat litter and cat food were scattered on the floor, the cushions on the sofa were crooked, and pieces of shredded paper were lying everywhere.

What was more conspicuous was the black cat hair floating everywhere. Some had even become 'hair balls’, rolling in the corner with the wind brought in by opening the door.

I watched that, standing still.

MC:  Although the cat has not been seen yet, it has a strong sense of existence...

Victor: This cat is not big, and is probably hiding now.

As if in order to respond to his words, a dark shadow flashed in front of our eyes, bringing the carpet lying on the floor to fly up, and then slowly landing.

The "culprit" had wondered long where to hide.

MC: Are we going to find it out now?

Victor: Wait for it to come out by itself.

Victor: No one had been here for a while. Give it some time to adjust.

Saying that, Victor put down the suit jacket, folded the sleeves of the shirt a few times, and then helped me put up the sleeves.

[Sweeet....]

Victor: Let's clean up this place first.

I looked at the mess all over the floor, and couldn't help but sigh.

MC: I now suspect that you are looking for me to work hard.

Hearing my complaint, Victor's mouth curled up slightly.

Victor: What this cat did is nothing compared to the trouble you and Pudding cause at home.

Victor: It's fair to let you experience my mood at that time.

Victor met my speechless expression and rubbed the top of my head with a little amusement.

Victor: All right, let's get to work.

~

The house cleaning came to an end, and I walked back to Victor with light steps.

MC: Is the kitten out?

Victor: Over there.

Following his gaze I looked over, only to be met with a small, round, black head peeking out of the gap behind the sofa, as though surveying the situation outside.

I recalled with joy that after Pudding got into trouble, he either got into Victor's arms or swiftly got into a corner out of reach.

If it was the latter, Victor would often leave it alone, go into the kitchen and pretend to open the refrigerator.

Hearing the sound of the refrigerator door opening, Pudding would slip out by itself in a short time, and then would be ‘cut off’ by me halfway.

[MC’s saying that she would block Pudding’s path, haha.]

Thinking of this, I looked at Victor with confidence.

MC: That's it, let’s just use your best "food seduction method"! What do you think?

As I said, I took a box of canned food from the shelf on the side and prepared to pour it into the kitten’s food bowl.

Victor suddenly held my hand and took the can from my hand.

Victor: According to the usual division of labor, you go catch the cat.

[Trivia: In ‘Countryside Date’, remember how both of them talked about how it's their unspoken rule that if one of them cooks, the other has to do the cleaning? Here it is... T^T]

MC: But this kitten should know you better. I may scare it.

Victor: No, it wouldn't want to see me.

MC: Eh?

The doubts that had been entangled from the beginning started to reappear. I glanced at Victor suspiciously.

MC: Victor doesn’t have a grudge with this kitten, does he?

Victor: Do you think I with fight the cat?

MC: Then you look too fierce and scare the little one?

Victor: ...No.

The air fell into a strange silence, and Victor quickly pulled the can and poured the food into the bowl.

I looked at the slightly stiff movements of him, seemed to understand something in my heart, and the corners of my mouth couldn't help but lift up into a smile.

MC: I thought someone was born with catnip, but didn't expect to hit a wall sometime.

Victor took a look at my playful expression, and reluctantly sighed.

Victor: It happened a long time ago, and it was the first time I dealt with cats.

Victor: The elders think that children can play with pets, so they let me stay at home with him alone before going out.

Victor:  It kept hiding in a really crammed space and looked a little dangerous. So, I moved aside everything nearby.

MC:  So it was hiding, and you moved everything aside?

Victor: Yes.

Victor couldn't help but draw his eyebrows into a frown. I imagined the scene he was fascinating, and controlled myself from laughing.

MC: Maybe it could have felt that you were chasing him...

[Poor man, pfftt...]

Victor:  It kept meowing, so I thought it was calling for help.

MC:  Alas. In a sense, it might indeed be a meow for help.

The more he said, the more I couldn't help it, and finally I laughed. Victor glanced at me before I covered my mouth.

Victor: Is it that funny?

MC: Pfft... It’s generally funny.

Victor: Laugh once more, and be sure to scare it again.

Listening to him say so, I hurriedly stopped my laughing to look at the gap behind the sofa, and was relieved to see that the kitten's furry ears were still there.

Victor pushed the food bowl toward the sofa, and the kitten immediately hid back into the shadows vigilantly, and didn't fiddle with his head for a long time.

MC: Does it seem like it's still not willing to come over?

Victor: Step back a little and leave it a safe distance.

Victor straightened up, and pulled me back slowly by a few steps.

After a while, the kitten poked her head out cautiously. We pretended not to notice it, so it quickly ran to the food bowl to feast on it.

I looked at it feasting with great relish, and my heart softened momentarily, making me remain rooted to the spot.

MC: Looks like it's starving. How about we wait till it finishes eating and then catch it?

Victor: Is this the tacit understanding between you foodies?

MC: Well, you should be glad there's this understanding between us.

Victor: Then you should exchange more experiences. I’ll go outside and pick up the water first.

[What Victor meant was MC and the cat should share more talks, since they have something in common LOL.]

I stuck out my tongue behind Victor's back, squatted down and watch the kitten eat. Before long, the sound of water came from the yard.

The kitten seemed to be startled by the sound, got up and looked straight into the direction of the yard, and in the next second ran towards the sofa.

MC: Hey, don’t go back!

I chased up and picked up the kitten from behind. It meowed reluctantly and struggled hard with its legs.

I was unable to control it. Being left with no better option, I lifted it up and ran into the courtyard.

~

MC: Victor! Come and help!

Victor heard the sound and walked over quickly, wanting to take the kitten. However, when it saw Victor, it seemed to be even more panicked--

‘Pound!’

We chased over and saw the kitten slip in the puddle, completely covered in mud.

MC: ...Is it afraid of taking a bath? How could he kneel when he heard the sound of water?

Victor: Even if it's afraid, it must be washed now.

Victor leaned down, grabbed the nape of its neck and lifted it up.

Victor: This is the end of your chasing game.

I was worried that the kitten would struggle, but I didn’t expect it to be afraid to such an extent to not even move a bit in Victor’s hands, just like a child after being caught doing bad things.

The picture in front of me was inexplicably humorous. I walked over and tapped the kitten’s head with my fingers.

MC: Sure enough, you still can’t escape the palm of the ‘big devil’ right?

MC: But don’t worry, this ‘Mr. Devil’ won’t hurt you!

Hearing what I meant, Victor did what I did just now, raising his hand and tapping on my forehead with his fingers.

Victor: Childish.

~

Victor held the kitten in his palm, and tried to put it in the water for the third time.

However, the kitten still refused to cooperate, and even forgetting that the person in front of him is the ‘devil’ he was afraid of, clings to his hand.

Victor sighed and opened one of the kitten’s paws with his hand.

Victor: *sighing* Come down.

The kitten clung to him and pampered with him reluctantly, expressing the words ‘ I don’t want to take a bath’ to the extreme.

MC: Haha... If you let it go now, it will definitely ‘freeze the previous suspicion’ of you.

Victor took a look at me and stuffed a soft brush in my hand.

Victor: As long as it is smart, it will know that this is for its good.

Victor: Now you feel pity, but what will you do if it catches a cold and gets sick?

I watched Victor helplessly, carefully grabbed the kitten’s foot, smiled and stretched out a hand to help him.

MC: Sorry kitty, I think the pet specialist is right.

MC: So I am going to play ‘the good cop’!

[The idiom MC uses here, ‘ 唱红脸’ directly translates to ‘playing the good cop’, i.e. to take right decisions, which was cleaning the kitten in this case!]

I coaxed the kitten out of his arm and gently put it into the warm water.

Victor gently held its back of the neck with one hand, and grabbed its two front paws with the other. Taking advantage of current immobility, I quickly started to clean it.

MC: The left hand is washed, good.

Kitten: Meow!

MC: The right hand is well washed, now we can move on to the next step!

[I am sorry my medical mind constantly kept telling me that we are diagnosing this little kitten, aww.]

I shook hands with the kitten, lifted up my head, only to be met with the hesitant eyes of Victor.

Victor: You can entertain yourself bathing a cat?

MC: I just wanted to relax a bit.

Victor: Forget it, I shouldn’t have expected you to ‘play good cop’.

Victor sighed and put the kitten back into the water.

As I watch his proficient, gentle and patient cleaning, I can’t help but continuously think... If only this kitten had met the Victor of now back then....

It'd must have liked him very much.

Victor: Hold it down for me.

MC: ...Got it!

I came back to my senses and held the eager kitten with both hands.

MC: I feel that it becomes much more honest as soon as it gets into your hands.

Victor: It may also be that it is still looking for a chance to escape.

MC: Are you sure? But take a look at-- ah!

Before the words were finished, the cat who was still being praised, suddenly flopped and slipped out of my hand.

The water spray flew up with the cat's movements, catching me off guard, and I fell into the ground with a loud thud.

Victor: MC!

Everything happened too fast. Victor looked back at me, still holding the soft brush in his hand, his expression being a rare one.

His body was almost drenched, the line of his back faintly revealed by the shirt half-attached to his upper body. He didn't care about wiping, and immediately reached out for me.

Victor: You okay?

[The amount of softness his voice has while saying this line T-T]

MC: I am alright, although I didn’t expect it to be so strong...

MC:  But you're right, it was just trying to get away!

I fished back the cat. Victor lifted me up once again and set us down on a wooden bench, both of us dripping wet.

Victor: I think by the time the cat is cleaned up, you would be covered in mud again.

Victor: There is no water basin that can hold you here. It depends on what you will do when the time comes.

Victor took the kitten away and continued to clean it. With a guilty conscience, I patted the petals and grass off my body, and cooperated him to quickly wash the kitten.

~

The chaotic cleaning was finally over, and we sat side by side in the door of the house, covered with towels.

I held the kitten, and Victor held the hair dryer to dry it.

I looked at the person by my side and the kitten finally getting along, and couldn’t help but lift the corners of my mouth.

MC: Victor, let me dry the kitten. Do you want to hold it?

Victor: No, I don’t want to see it run into the mud again.

MC: No, you see how well behaved it is now!

As I said, I placed the kitten in his arm and took the hair dryer from him.

The kitten meowed twice, and didn’t seem to be unsentimental. Victor adjusted his posture unnaturally, and gently strached his chin.

The kitten raised its head cooperatively, and stepped on his hand to let out a comfortable cry.

MC: Sure enough, no kitten can refuse your care.

I leaned forward and dried its hair. Maybe it was too comfortable, it yawned, lowered its head and seemed to want to sleep in Victor’s arms.

I was feeling a little embarassed, when Victor brought a funny cat stick out of nowehere and led the kitten back into the house.

Soon he came out empty handed, took the hair dryer from my hands, and took me by the arm to help me dry off the damp clothes.

MC: Victor, is the kitten asleep?

Victor: Hmm. After tossing about all day long, it should be asleep for a while.

He continued with my words absolutely naturally, while his hand didn’t halt in its movement either, as though helping me in blowdrying my clothes was a very regular activity.

The force of the wind spreading was not too much, and it slightly tickled my body. I froze unnaturally, and wanted to withdraw my hand.

Victor: Don’t move, it hasn’t dried yet.

MC: *blushing* I’ll just do it myself, so you go take a break first!

Victor: It’s just a handy thing to do, and not troublesome.

MC: But your own clothes are still wet.

Victor: Unlike a certain someone, I don’t catch a cold just in a moment of inattentiveness.

Although there was a familiar grudge in his tone, but Victor’s movements were still very attentive.

He lowered his head slightly, the contours of his chiseled jawline being inlaid with the warm gold of the setting sun. 

His body obscured the dazzling afterglow, and the light and temperature landing on me were just right.

I seemed to have been already taken care of by him like this many times, repeatedly. A string in my heart snapped, and let me speak the words deep in me.

MC: Victor, you know... I often can't imagine you being at a loss of knowing what to do.

MC: If it weren’t for you teaching me, I would have to think that being able to take care of someone is also some kind of gift.

Victor: How many good things like that fall directly from the sky? Many things have to be learnt later in life.

MC: But I haven’t seen how you have studied me so much.

Victor checked my clothes one last time, and then turned off the hair dryer.

Victor: You are not a pet. Even though you live in a sloppy way, you are still capable of taking care of yourself.

Victor: It’s just that... since someone loves to giggle, I just want to see her giggling face more often.

Victor: As for adding the flowers to the brocade, I simply follow my instincts.

After Victor finished speaking, the corners of his lips hook up into a smile. As I looked at him while resting my head in my hand, I broke into a smile along with him as well.

MC: CEO Victor truly doesn’t give away any of his know-hows.

Victor: How many more know-hows do you want to know?

Victor: The person I want to take care of is a dummy, who is easily satisfied. That’s already a shortcut.

The evening breeze blew the blooming flowers overhead, leaving the rustling of falling flowers between us.

The flowering season was almost over. But I didn’t need any reasons to believe that the coming mid-summer would be just as tender.

~