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Chapter 2

Penulis: Joe Yo
Amid the noise and laughter, I sat quietly and opened my phone.

Seven days from now was supposed to be the day of our fourth wedding. Instead, I booked a one-way ticket departing at the same time as the ceremony.

The dinner party ended around 2:00 am.

Instead of taking Mindy home, Julian brought her straight back to our house. The moment she walked in, she tossed her handbag into the entryway and collapsed onto the couch. Her heels flew off in opposite directions.

Half asleep, she waved at me, saying, "Good doggy. Go fetch your owner's slippers."

Julian clicked his tongue. The next second, he turned to me. "Celine, pick up her shoes and get her a pair of slippers."

I didn't move. "Does she not have hands?"

He froze.

Over the years, whenever it involved Mindy, I'd always taken care of everything without needing to be asked twice. Clearly, he hadn't expected me to refuse.

Mindy suddenly slapped her forehead. "Oh, no! I forgot to feed my cat!"

She pulled out her phone and opened her home security camera.

"IYou said I’m the cat’s owner, but compared to me, he’s the real boss. How could I leave him home alone?"

Julian glanced at the time and said, "You're too drunk to go back home yourself."

Then, he looked at me. "Celine, can you run over? You know the door passcode. Feed the cat and bring him back while you're there."

I refused immediately. "No. She insisted on keeping the cat, so it's her responsibility."

Six months earlier, we'd found an injured stray cat behind our apartment building. I was the one who rushed him to the animal hospital and stayed through the surgery. I had even bought a cat bed and feeding bowls in advance.

When Mindy found out, she demanded to keep him.

Julian persuaded me to let her, saying, "Mindy never had pets growing up. She likes him. Let her have him."

However, after bringing the cat home, the novelty barely lasted two weeks. After that, she couldn't even remember where the cat food was kept.

"Fine. Forget it." Mindy pouted and retracted her hand.

On the security camera screen, Puffy the cat was sitting beside an empty food bowl, meowing over and over. He scratched desperately at the cabinet door, his cries growing hoarse.

My fingers tightened. Feeling sorry for Puffy, I grabbed my coat and left.

When I arrived at Mindy's place, Puffy spotted me and immediately stumbled into my arms. Even after I fed him and refilled his water, he refused to let go of my sleeve when I tried to leave. I couldn't bring myself to abandon him, so I carried him back.

The second Mindy saw Puffy, she sprang up from the couch.

"Puffy! I've missed you so much."

Ignoring the fact that Puffy was still trembling, she started poking his belly. Then, she grabbed his front paws and lifted him into the air.

Puffy panicked instantly.

"Don't touch him!" I stepped forward and stopped her. "He's already stressed."

Mindy dodged away, still holding him. She said, "He's my cat. I can play with him however I want."

She knew perfectly well that my wedding binder was sitting on the coffee table. Yet, she deliberately dragged a cat wand over it. The frightened cat lunged after the toy, his sharp claws slashing across the pages. The seating charts and invitation drafts were all torn to pieces in an instant.

Mindy covered her mouth. "Oops! I guess cats and dogs just don't get along. Even Puffy doesn't like your things."

Instead of scolding Mindy, Julian crouched and began gathering the shredded pages. "I'll have someone recreate everything tomorrow," he said.

There was a time when smudging a single page of that binder would've broken my heart. But now, staring at the scraps of paper scattered across the floor, I felt nothing.

"Don't bother. It's not needed anymore anyway."

Julian froze, a torn page still in his hand. He had just opened his mouth to ask what I meant when Mindy staggered into the master bedroom.

Giggling, she said, "The owner gets the master bedroom. The kitty gets the couch. And the doggy can sleep in her doghouse."

Julian sighed helplessly.

I stood by the door, waiting for him to tell her to get up.

Instead, he smiled and said, "She's drunk. Let her sleep there tonight."

I didn't answer. I simply bent down, picked up Puffy huddled in the corner, and headed for the door.

Julian followed me a few steps. "Are you seriously still upset?"

Before I could respond, Mindy's voice drifted from the bedroom. "Julian, I don't feel so good."

His footsteps stopped instantly. Without thinking, he turned back toward her.

I didn't wait.

Just before the door closed behind me, I heard Mindy laughing softly from the bed. With a drunken, playful lilt, she said, "The doggy will come back."

I tightened my arms around Puffy and stepped into the elevator.

This time, she was wrong.

I had already booked a room at a nearby hotel for six nights. On the seventh day, I would take my luggage and head straight to the airport.

As for the house, the master bedroom, and the so-called owner… I didn't want any of it.

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    Three days later, I returned to the cemetery. It was quiet.The dog tags and stickers had been cleared away, and the trampled flower bed had been restored. All the expensive flowers and wreaths from the Paynes were gone, leaving only the two white hydrangeas I'd once planted beside the grave.The man who had spoken up for me was there as well. His wife, eight months pregnant, held a bouquet of fresh lilies."Things got so out of hand that day, and we still haven't had the chance to properly apologize to Mrs. Whitmore," she said.She began to bow, but I hurried forward to steady her. "You aren't the ones who should be apologizing."The man had recovered the delivery van he'd been forced to sell. Julian had publicly set the record straight about what happened and dropped all efforts to hold him responsible. Still, the couple had refused the house offered to them as compensation.The reburial crew began clearing out the grave. When they moved the stone slab aside, I knelt on the gro

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 8

    The day after Puffy was discharged from the animal hospital, I got a call from the cemetery.The staff member on the line told me that people had recently been gathering at Mom's grave to take photos, disturbing other families paying their respects.I thought they had the wrong person—until they sent me a video.In the clip, silver dog tags hung all over Mom's headstone. Dog food, chew sticks, and a plastic bowl of water were set out on the ground below.A few young people stood in front of the grave, whistling and laughing as they shouted at the camera, "Celine Whitmore, your owner's here to pick you up! If you can hear us, hurry up and go home!"The first person to post a video was someone who'd played that personality game at the drinking party. Once it went viral, more and more people came to the cemetery to copy it.Someone had stuck dog ears onto Mom's photo, and someone else had put a sticker right in the center of the headstone that read, "A dog will always recognize its

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 7

    Even though the missing-person notice had been taken down, the secretly recorded videos hadn't completely disappeared.In one of them, Puffy was lying on my lap. Apparently, it was only when Mindy saw it that she remembered she still had a cat.The next day, I got a call from the local police. Mindy had reported me, claiming that I'd taken a pet registered in her name without permission.The police didn't treat the dispute over a pet as a criminal case, so they didn't show up at my door. They simply suggested Mindy and I work it out between ourselves.Mindy, however, refused to negotiate and insisted I send Puffy back. She even had her lawyer send over the adoption certificate and microchip registration, and her name really was on both.Back when I saved Puffy, I'd already made arrangements with the animal rescue shelter to adopt him.Then Mindy suddenly said she liked him, so Julian talked me into letting her have him, even accompanying her to get all the paperwork done.But no

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 6

    On my third day in the new city, I received a call from the police.Julian had filed a missing-person report, claiming I was still recovering from serious injuries and might have gone missing.The officer confirmed my name and date of birth, then asked if I was under any duress.I replied, "No. I left of my own free will.""Would you like us to pass your address along to the person who filed the report?""That won't be necessary."The officer didn't press further, only telling me that they would let Julian know I was safe.After hanging up, I resumed my leg rehab exercises.The fall at the cemetery had left me with a hairline fracture in my right leg, and the doctor said I'd need at least three months of rest.I'd only been doing physical therapy for ten minutes when the therapist held out a phone. "Ms. Whitmore, is this you?"On the screen was a missing-person notice. Julian had hired an agency specializing in finding missing people to issue it, offering a ten-million-dollar

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 5

    As the plane soared into the clouds, I took one last look at the city below.Julian and I had been together for seven years. More times than I could count, I'd pictured myself leaving this city in a wedding dress.But I never imagined that on the day I actually left, I'd be wearing only a baggy coat, with gauze covering my temple and my leg so badly injured that I could barely walk.My cat, Puffy, was curled up in the carrier, gently rubbing against my fingers through the mesh.I stroked him. "From now on, it's just the two of us."Three hours later, the plane landed in a small, unfamiliar city in the south.None of Julian's friends were here, and no one knew who I was supposed to belong to.As an airport attendant wheeled me to the exit, I connected my spare phone to the internet and found over a dozen emails from the wedding planner.Julian was refusing to announce that the wedding had been canceled. Hundreds of guests had already arrived, and he was still standing in the ban

  • The Priceless Cat and the Obedient Dog   Chapter 4

    I woke to the sound of Mindy's voice."The 21st time—Julian, it's okay if you won't answer me. I'll wait for you downstairs. The 27th time—as long as you come back, I'll do anything you want."In an exaggerated tone, she recited the messages I'd once sent Julian while begging him to take me back.The hospital room door was wide open. Nurses, caregivers, and passing patients could all hear about how he blocked me, how I'd stood in the rain waiting for him, and how I'd pleaded with him not to call off our weddings.When Mindy noticed my eyes opening, she grinned and blew a dog whistle.Julian sat on the couch nearby, dark circles under his tired eyes."Why did you give that to her?" My voice came out hoarse.He stood and poured me a glass of water. His voice remained calm as he spoke. "The doctor said familiar sounds and memories could help wake you up. Dogs wake up when they smell their owner. I figured that people aren't that different."Mindy laughed. "Celine, don't be mad. At

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