“Purr purr~ purr~”
A strange sound seemed to be coming out…
I wasn’t sure if Gu Fan had practiced luring stray cats for neutering enough times that he had perfected the technique for coaxing little kittens. The pressure he applied while stroking my head and cat ears was just right, making me unintentionally emit a comfortable purring sound from deep in my throat.
If the touch was too gentle, it would tickle and itch unbearably, causing me to whimper and squirm, shivering nonstop. My tolerance for itchiness was the lowest—I definitely wouldn’t be able to handle Gu Fan teasing me like that.
If he pressed too hard, it would hurt to the point I’d reflexively hiss and tears would well up at the corners of my eyes. If Gu Fan really wanted to bully me, I—being naturally timid—would probably curl up and let him hit me, wouldn’t I? Umi, it’s not like I’m not scared.
Thankfully, Gu Fan would absolutely never do such a thing, so I didn’t have to worry about it. Even if he truly hated me from the bottom of his heart, he would just use cold violence to slowly distance himself.
I’d only seen him take action against those school bullies, his moves decisive and sharp, like he had some martial arts training.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough knowledge to confirm whether Gu Fan had been sent to learn martial arts by his family when he was younger. But judging by his personality, if I didn’t bring it up first, he probably wouldn’t mention it himself.
The cat tail behind me stood up leisurely this time, unlike a dog’s tail that wags wildly around and smacks into the plastic table or chair backs. After the excitement hormones faded, it left me with a painful little knot of tail fur.
Maybe my arm had grown tired from holding it up so long, or perhaps Gu Fan was conscious of the surrounding gazes, because he stopped stroking my head.
After coaxing my previously sulking, droopy “airplane ears” back to standing, he withdrew that warm big hand.
I stared with a plaintive gaze at my childhood friend who was smirking mischievously in front of me.
I knew this was a public place; if we got too carried away, someone nosy might record us and upload it online for random people to judge.
I’d never experienced that myself, but I’d seen other couples suffer such awkward moments on the internet, with strangers judging their looks and aura, arbitrarily labeling them as “mismatched.”
Putting myself briefly in their shoes sent a chill down my spine. Intimate moments like this were best saved for home.
Without outsiders watching or interfering, I could cling to Gu Fan’s arm and act spoiled all day long, snuggling close to him. Hehe.
These little pink bubbles blossoming in my mind eased the loneliness and emptiness left after losing the gentle head strokes.
Pressing my lips tightly, my cat ears and tail, filled with Gu Fan’s energy, stood up straight with spirit, while my palm pressed down on my skirt.
I straightened my back and earnestly observed Gu Fan’s every move. Just being able to watch him this close made waves of happiness surge in my heart.
At this moment, my childhood friend was holding the mini camera we had placed on the table earlier. He pressed buttons on the camera’s shell, switching through photos.
Then, to my surprise, Gu Fan pulled up a recent photo of the two of us.
My heart immediately leapt into my throat, my eyes widening in shock. I dug my hands firmly into the flesh of my thighs and opened my mouth, wanting to ask him to stop looking and delete it.
Before I could speak, I saw Gu Fan press a small button on the side of the camera, and the screen displayed the words “Saved to Favorites” in large characters, with a small red heart popping up in the bottom right corner.
“Eh…?”
What’s going on? Could Gu Fan really not be bothered by it? In the photo, my expression was so nervous—like those silly cats on online videos who get scared and arch their backs. It wasn’t flattering at all.
If it were me handling this photo, I’d probably imagine yanking out the version of ‘me’ in the picture and giving her a good scolding, slapping her so she’d straighten her expression and posture properly, instead of showing Gu Fan a lifeless face.
Back in elementary school, there was a weekly reading class. I liked to pick out a little tattered popular psychology book from a corner in the reading room.
I couldn’t recall exactly what it said—after all, I was too young at the time, with poor language comprehension and memory. Even reading the pinyin took me a while.
What stuck with me most was the author repeatedly emphasizing “self-care,” stressing that loving yourself should be your highest priority.
That book was hard to understand, and at the time, I couldn’t grasp what loving yourself really meant.
But… now, I’ve barely managed to understand what self-love feels like. I can even find all sorts of people sharing their experiences online. Still, no matter how much I try, I can’t seem to imitate it.
Maybe this is the best proof that I’m a dumb cat? Ugh, I shouldn’t put myself down anymore. My tolerance for this is about at its limit today.
I gently shook my head, and the cat ears that had stood upright on top of my head suddenly flopped down again, swaying in sync with the movement.
After finishing with the photos, Gu Fan noticed my gaze lingering on the camera in his hands.
“Zhinian, did you see it?”
“Ah… yeah.”
I really wanted to take this chance to chat about trivial things, but my brain felt a little overloaded, unable to come up with a topic for deep conversation.
Compliment Gu Fan’s taste? I wasn’t good at crafting elaborate words, only able to awkwardly say something like “As long as Gu Fan likes it” or “Gu Fan’s really good at photography,” which sounded insincere.
“To me, photography is just for recording.”
Gu Fan held the camera, slightly turning his body to face me.
“So, I don’t care about how clear the camera can capture or how beautiful the photos of us or the scenery are. I simply want to record these wonderful moments that belong only to us—that’s enough. If I deliberately posed for dozens or hundreds of photos to pick the best one to post on social media, that would be missing the point.”
“Is that so…”
“Besides, Zhinian, you’re a very beautiful cat girl too. Be more confident. Even if your body language was a bit tense at that moment, that adds a unique charm—it’s the most genuine reaction, not forced at all.”
Hearing this, my first thought was: is this just an excuse Gu Fan used to comfort me? A little lie to quiet down a troublesome cat girl? Knowing Gu Fan’s way of doing things, maybe he really would do that—that’s what he’s best at, after all.
Being called pretty was definitely nice, but realizing it might be a comforting lie from Gu Fan dampened my mood immediately.
Maybe my sorrowful expression was too obvious, because I heard Gu Fan sigh softly. Looks like he was genuinely tired; dealing with a cat girl like me who causes so much trouble must be exhausting.
Umi… what should I do? Maybe I should pretend not to care and just go along with it? Even if it’s a lie to make me happy, at least Gu Fan put in the effort to comfort me.
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