Chapter 2

In our past life, Raines knew I was allergic to animal dander, yet she would cuddle the manul and wave it in front of me every day.

Not only did she feed it by hand, she even slept with it at night.

But this time, she was extremely impatient.

Did she think the manul was useless just because I showed no reaction?

I soon got my answer.

For the next few days, Raines left early every morning and returned late at night. She completely forgot about the manul.

On the rare occasion she remembered to check on it, she paid it little to no attention.

Within days, it began emitting a putrid stench. It was starving and was barely clinging to life.

I thought it would die.

But the next morning, I opened my eyes to find it crouched by the bed. It glared at me with a bloodthirsty glint in its eyes.

Manuls were inherently vicious. They were quick to understand human intent and hold grudges.

After a moment’s hesitation, I went out to buy some medicine to treat its wound and picked up some cheap lymph meat from the market.

After returning home, I washed its fur, cleaned its wounds, and applied the ointment.

At first, it tried to bite me from the pain, but I whispered softly, “I’m just helping you.”

It calmed down immediately and no longer bared its teeth.

After I finished, I tossed the lymph meat toward it.

It walked forward, sniffed it, and then devoured it. It was clearly starving.

From that day on, I regularly bought lymph meat at the market.

I also bought a used cat bed from a colleague for a reasonable price.

Seeing how devoted I was to the manul, Raines stopped caring about it entirely.

Since Raines had given up on it, I planned to take it to the rescue center.

But I did not expect her to make a move.

I was in a meeting that day when Raines called me back home. A large crowd had gathered outside my door.

Before I could ask what was happening, someone pointed at me accusingly and demanded, “Is that cat yours?”

I shook my head. “No, it belongs to my roommate, Raines.”

The moment I said that, Raines immediately jumped in protest.

“Molly, you’re the one who owns it! How could you pin this on me?”

Someone chimed in, “You keep such a vicious pet here! Aren’t you just asking for trouble?”

Seeing the situation escalate, the neighborhood committee stepped in to mediate. “This cat bit a child. You should give it away immediately!”

I found out that Raines, seeing how viral cat-walking videos were, decided to ride the trend and become a content creator.

So, she had taken the manul for a walk downstairs to film a video.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of their walk, it had suddenly lunged at a passing child and bitten off half their cheek.

Raines put on an act as she lectured me. “I warned you countless times! This cat bites people. I told you to get rid of it, but you wouldn’t listen!”

I was speechless for a moment and then said, “You’re the one who adopted it! Lots of people saw it that day. If you don’t believe me, ask anyone around.”

The neighbors did not dare to cross Raines and stammered incoherently.

Jake tried to shift the blame to me. “I often see Molly going to the market to buy meat to feed the cat.”

The parents could not stand it anymore and accused me angrily.

“If you adopted it, own up to it! How dare you frame someone else?”

“It bit my child! Here’s the medical bill. Pay up now!”

Raines shamelessly chimed in from the sidelines, “They’re not even demanding compensation for the child’s emotional distress, nutritional costs, or the parents’ lost wages! Just pay up and settle it!”

The neighborhood committee tried to mediate.

“Your roommate’s right. You’re lucky they’re being reasonable. Just pay up and clear this mess!”

“Just be more careful in the future.”

Seeing this, Raines could barely contain the smug grin spreading across her face.

“Don’t even think about shifting the blame to someone else right now. Just deal with it.”

I looked at Raines and said slowly, “I have proof that this cat is yours.”