Nyaaat! You Damn Toy! Let's See Who Wins!

That was not a cuteness any human could produce.

It was a cuteness only a cat could manage. No—only Chu-chu.

"Seriously... you're too cute! Why is our baby this adorable?!"

"Nya...?"

"Aigoo, baby! Kiss!"

"Eek!"

I leaned in with my lips puckered, and she flung the curtain shut in a panic, vanishing into the fitting room.

"Baby, hiding like that won't change a thing. Hoo... hoooo... Come on, be good and take your kiss."

"I-I don't wanna! I hate it even more than usual!"

"I'm not trying to torment you. Our baby is just so cute that I only want a little kiss."

"It's not a little! You're gonna do the whole thing, just like last time!"

"I told you I'm not. Baby, open the curtain already. Hoooo..."

Rough breaths kept spilling out of me for no reason I could name, and I was just about to yank the curtain open when—

"Miss."

A clerk called to me from behind. That single ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠word snapped the feeling back into place, and I looked around.

Every person there was staring at me with open contempt. A few were even whispering.

"...Chu-chu, it's okay now. Want to come out?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

Only her head peeked out between the curtains, and my heart thudded all over again—but I had to hold it down.

This wasn't home. It was a public place.

"Do you like this one?"

"Yeah, I like it. I wanna get this!"

How miserable.

To think I couldn't let my feelings spill out, just because we weren't at home. To think I couldn't gush.

And with that cat right in front of me.

This was torture.

Anyway, once I'd bought the swimsuit Chu-chu wanted, we started wandering the department store, just looking around.

"Come to think of it, do you have a swimsuit, Unnie?"

"Yeah, I do. It's the one I wore through last year, so I don't need to buy another."

"Do you like the ocean, Unnie?"

"I do. Every summer, I always go with Daeun."

"I wanna go with Daeun too!"

"Chu-chu, you can't just say Daeun. You have to say Daeun-unnie. She's way older than you."

I crouched down to meet her eyes and taught her the proper way to address her, and she nodded hard, eyes bright and sparkling.

"Okay! Daeun-unnie!"

"Ghk—!"

"Unnie makes weird noises sometimes."

That was entirely because Chu-chu was cute.

Cute enough to give me a heart condition I'd never had and drive me straight to cardiac arrest.

"Ha, so cute. Ah, this is healing. This right here is a cat butler's greatest joy. This is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what a cat is."

"Weird unnie."

"Our baby, is there anything else you want?"

"What's that over there?"

What Chu-chu was pointing at was a pair of sunglasses.

If we were going to really sell the feeling of playing at the beach, sunglasses seemed necessary, so I stepped into the shop.

"These are called sunglasses. They protect your eyes from the sunlight."

"Sunglasses?"

"Want to try them on?"

"Yeah!"

I picked a design that would suit her and slipped them onto her face, and she startled, whipping her head this way and that in a busy little panic.

"Everything went black!"

"That's because you're wearing the sunglasses."

I slid them down just a little, and she breathed a sigh of relief when the world looked normal again. Then she pushed them up and pulled them down over and over, letting out the most adorable gasps.

"Wooow. It's amazing! I didn't know something like this existed!"

"I'll buy you a pair, so will you wear them around?"

"Yeah! I want these!"

After I bought the sunglasses she wanted, Chu-chu trotted on ahead of me—then turned back, flashed a V sign, and grinned.

"Nya! Do they look good on me?"

Before I answered that question, I yanked out my phone and machine-gunned the shutter, taking shot after shot from every angle.

"Kyaaat! Our baby is so pretty! A total model. A model!"

"Ehehe."

"Baby, look over here!"

"Nyaang."

"Aigoo, and the poses are perfect too. Should I just make her a model? Our baby has talent!"

I was half sprawled on the floor taking pictures, so of course plenty of people murmured and stared.

I didn't care about those looks at all.

This was a chance for everyone to see our cute Chu-chu.

There was no way I was going to miss this golden opportunity to show off, beyond any doubt, just how cute our kid was—and just how pretty.

"This is amazing, Unnie."

"You really like the sunglasses, huh."

"Do you only wear them when the sun is strong?"

"Yeah. If you wear them when it's dim, you can see even less, and it's uncomfortable."

"Oh, I see. From now on, whenever there's lots of sun, I'm gonna wear these everywhere!"

If I had to name Chu-chu's greatest virtue, it was that she genuinely used every single thing I bought her.

People say that cats, by their nature, don't stay interested in any object for long—but our good, cute, pretty Chu-chu was nothing like that.

"They sell toys here too?"

"They do. Want to go look at the toys?"

"Yeah! I wanna look."

We rode the escalator up to the toy section on the top floor.

I'd assumed she wouldn't care much about toys made for people, but to my surprise she dragged me along by our joined hands, bustling around at a frantic pace.

"Whoa! What's this?"

"This is a puzzle. Right now it looks like a picture, but if you look closely, it's made of lots of pieces, see? You put all of them together."

"Then what's this?"

"This is Lego. It's a block toy you build."

"There are so many amazing things!"

Quite a few board games were on display as well.

Back in my school days, Daeun and I used to play board games together all the time, so my feet drifted that way on their own, and I browsed slowly, fondly, turning over old memories.

"Chu-chu, these are called board games. You play them by following the rules, and they're fun when you play with other people."

"Board games! They look fun!"

"Want me to buy one that's easy?"

"Yeah! I wanna try it when we get home!"

Games where luck did most of the work—like the one where you pull sticks out of a tree and win or lose by how many monkeys fall, or the one where you smash the ice with a hammer—didn't seem likely to hold Chu-chu's interest for long.

I was looking mainly for something where skill decided the winner, something that would hit the dopamine and let her throw her whole body into it, when Halli Galli came into view.

"This one looks good."

"What is it?"

"You split the deck by the number of players, and everyone takes turns playing one card. When five of the same fruit show up, you hit the bell. Then the person who hit the bell takes all the cards."

"How do you win?"

"You win if you run out of cards to play."

Having heard the rules in brief, Chu-chu looked fairly interested, her tail swaying gently from side to side.

She looked like she'd have a pretty good time with it, so I dropped it in the basket.

"What's that?"

"That's a roly-poly."

"A roly-poly?"

"It's a toy that stands right back up no matter how you knock it."

Curiosity written all over her, Chu-chu gave the roly-poly a poke. Of course it popped straight back up.

"Huh?"

"Chu-chu, no matter how much you poke a roly-poly, you can't lay it down."

"Nuh-uh. This body can!"

She dug in with another stubbornness I couldn't begin to explain, jabbing the roly-poly again and again in a bid to tip it over—but it rose, perfectly unbothered, and that irritated her considerably.

"Chu-chu, that thing—"

"Nyaaa... nyaaat! You damn toy! Let's see who wins!"

She jammed a finger down with all her strength and held it there for a long while, then peeled it away wearing a smile of pure certainty.

She seemed to think she'd conquered the roly-poly with that.

"Nyaaat?! This thing... why does it keep standing up!"

She yelled at the roly-poly, which had sprung upright just the same as ever, and raised her fist high.

"Chu-chu, no!"

"Let gooo! I'm gonna lay that damn toy down no matter what! Even if I have to smash it, I'll lay it down!"

It suddenly brought back the time she'd lost her temper at the claw machine.

She'd made a huge scene then, too, while I held her back.

"If you do that, you're a bad cat. Chu-chu has to be a good cat, remember?"

"Grrrr! I hate that thing! I don't even want to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠look at it!"

"Then shall we go look at something else?"

"Yeah! Who even makes junk like that and calls it a toy. Hmph!"

Every so often, when she turned sharp for no reason I could name, words came out of a two-year-old cat's mouth that had no business being there.

I had no idea where she'd learned to talk like that.

They say human speech sounds to a cat's ears the way some language we'd never understand sounds to ours.

Don't tell me she'd picked it all up listening out on the street.

Fortunately, menace-cat mode faded little by little as we wandered the toy section, and she turned back into small, cute Chu-chu.

"But you can't play a board game by yourself?"

"Right. You play it together. You can't do it alone."

"How many people do you need?"

"At least two. Every game needs a different number."

"Can two people play the one we just bought?"

"Two can play it. Of course it's more fun with more people, but someone to play with... oh, if Daeun has time, she could play with us."

Unlike me, Daeun had a job, so she couldn't make time on weekdays.

Tomorrow was Friday, and asking a working adult to spend her Friday for our kid left me a little uneasy.

Even so, I couldn't simply not bring it up. Chu-chu was already bursting with excitement at the thought of the three of them—Daeun included—playing a game together.

"Chu-chu, wait a second. I'm going to call Daeun."

"Okay!"

It was getting close to quitting time, so I figured she'd pick up—and thankfully, her voice came through.

I explained that Chu-chu wanted all three of us to play a game together, pouring as much feeling into it as I could and exaggerating her excitement just a little more.

Even if she didn't love cats the way I did, a kid this cute wanted to play with her.

How was she supposed to ignore that and just go home?

She went quiet for a moment, thinking it over, and then a small laugh drifted through from Daeun.

I ended the call and let out a sigh of relief along with a light smile.

I turned to give Chu-chu the news.

"What did Daeun-unnie say? Huh?"

She was waiting, neck craned, dying to hear the answer leave my mouth.

Not even the sunglasses could hide those bright, sparkling eyes.

"Daeun said she'll come after work tomorrow. Let's all three play together tomorrow evening."

"Really?! For real?"

"Yeah, for real. Our Chu-chu must be happy."

"Wooooow! Yay! I love it so much!"

She bounced in place over and over, cheering—then, in a single instant, ran over and threw her arms around me.

"You like it that much?"

"Yeah! I l-l-love it so much!"

A smile came to me just because Chu-chu like this was adorable—but it also meant she had spent so long lonely and alone, and the ache of that sat right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠beside the smile.

From now on, I would keep her so happy she wouldn't even have a moment to feel that way.