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Leaving his precious cat with the hacker was not his first choice. In fact, the businessman mused, he rather would have left Elizabeth on her own than pass her into the care of Seven. Jumin tugged the ends of his sleeves forward and peered out the tinted windows. The streetlamps streaked past, and the streets were mostly quiet in this hour. Jumin glanced down at the face of his watch, it was three in the morning, and four hours past the time he was supposed to be picking up Elizabeth. His flight had been delayed in Seattle due to inclement weather, and the plane had to be defrosted several times before being cleared for the runway. Hopefully, Seven would stay true to his haphazard sleep schedule, and would be awake when Jumin arrived.
It was unfortunate that his usual cat sitter had left his employment. Assistant Ka— no, Jaehee had resigned from her assistant position a little over a month ago and had thrown herself into her upcoming cafe. The brand new RFA member worked at Jaehee’s side, and when Jumin had asked if either of the girls would cat-sit for the duration of his business trip, Jaehee had enthusiastically declined multiple times for both of them. Zen had logged out of the chatroom the instant Jumin had broached the subject. Yoosung was off the table as well. His new assistant was taking a long time to learn the ropes at C&R, plus, two weeks ago on his last business trip out of the country, Yoosung had neglected his cat in favor of playing LOLOL. It had taken almost a week for Jumin to repair the damage and get Elizabeth’s behavior back to normal.
His father’s new girlfriend was supposedly not a fan of cats, and they were not willing to take in Elizabeth. In an act of desperation, Jumin had even asked Driver Kim, who had turned down the request because he had two dogs at home.
The only remaining option was Seven. It was such a last minute arrangement that the hacker himself had to come retrieve Elizabeth from Jumin’s penthouse. It had already been a hectic morning. Everything had fallen off schedule and Yoosung had nearly lost his mind trying to get everything to the airport in time. Jumin himself was already on edge from leaving Elizabeth, and after learning the plane was taking off within an hour and a half, his mood only soured. By the time the Seven arrived, even Elizabeth seemed affected by her owner’s dark mood.
Seven had poked his head in, narrowly dodging Yoosung who was barreling out the door with Jumin’s suitcase.
“Hello, hello, hello Elly,” Seven sang. As he sauntered inside, he flashed the tips of canines in a predatory grin towards Elizabeth.
Jumin thanked his lucky stars that his cat was safely zipped into her cat carrier. “Her name is Elizabeth the Third,” he said flatly. He rose fluidly off the couch and gently raised the cat carrier up. “Now, before I—“
“Mr. Han!” Yoosung’s voice floated up from below. “The car is here; you have to go or you’ll be late!”
Jumin sighed in frustration and reluctantly let Elizabeth’s carrier pass into Seven’s eager hands. “If I had the time,” Jumin began. “I would have prepared a lecture and set of strict instructions for Elizabeth’s’ care. However, I must leave now. My assistant will email them to you later.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Seven crooned in response. “I’ll take good care of sweet Elly.”
“Her name is Elizabeth the Third,” Jumin said slowly. “If I find anything wrong with her on my return, I will not be happy.”
“You don’t trust me?” Seven gasped dramatically. He tilted his head to the side, flicking red locks out of his face as he did so, and grinned wickedly. The expression made Jumin freeze. The angle, along with points of his canines and the squint of his eyes gave the impression of a wild tomcat. The image of the hacker as a cat suddenly rose unbidden in Jumin’s mind, and quickly he shook the thought away.
“No, I do not trust you with Elizabeth, but you are my only option at this point in time,” Jumin replied.
“Mr. Han!” Yoosung cried again. His assistant’s voice was full of desperate pleading.
“Please exit my house,” Jumin said. “I must leave immediately.”
The two of them headed to the main level. Seven jittered with excitement and was muttering lowly and quickly at the cat carrier. The tone was… suspicious at best, and part of Jumin wanted to rip Elizabeth out of his arms and run for the car. However, as they reached the ground, Yoosung guided Jumin towards the company vehicle.
“Have a fun trip!” Seven called in a sing-song voice. “I’ll take good care of Elly for you!” The hacker turned and headed towards his own personal car; he had brought the bright silver one.
Jumin filled with dread.
That had been four days ago.
Upon his landing in Seoul, the first thing Jumin did was call Seven. He may have been four hours late due to plane delays, but hopefully the hacker would be willing to bring Elizabeth home now. He called three times, went to voicemail, and then called Driver Kim. Jumin had Seven’s address, but had never found any reason to ever visit.
Driver Kim arrived at the airport in twenty minutes, and then it took forty-five to reach the area of the city Seven resided in. The car slowed in front of a singular house, and Jumin exited quickly and made his way to the front door.
The hacker lived in a relatively normal neighborhood despite his employment. The only hint on Seven’s house that a top secret member of an equally mysterious agency lived there was a small speaker panel to the left of the door. Jumin exhaled softly, already bracing for a tedious encounter, and his breath curled visibly through the chill.
Jumin pressed his index finger against the small grey button on the speaker panel, waiting for the door to open, and his lovely cat thrust into his waiting arms. To his surprise, the door remained closed, and instead started to speak.
“Please list Seven Zero Seven in binary numbers.”
Jumin blinked slowly. He had not been expecting that. His dark eyes darted around, searching for some hint of the answer. The welcome mat he stood on listed something in binary.
"01101000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 00100000...” Jumin recited, reading the numbers off from below him.
The door was quiet for a moment, but then replied: “Well, hello to you too! But it seems someone hasn’t been studying their binary enough!”
“I apologize if—“ Jumin paused. Why in the world would he apologize to a door?
“Tell me the name of your cat, Mister Trust Fund Kid” the door chirped.
Jumin straightened. “Elizabeth the Third.”
The door chimed. “Wrong, try again.”
Jumin furrowed his eyebrows. “Elizabeth?”
“One more strike and you’re out!”
It was silent. Jumin pinched the bridge of his nose softly and exhaled. “…Elly.”
“Bingo!” The door beeped brightly and swung open.
Jumin stepped into the building. While on the outside, Seven’s home appeared normal, the inside was anything but. The entire space was industrially lit, and the light glared almost painfully off the glossy finished floors and walls. The room’s walls alternated between white, bright red and frequent stripes of yellow, and the decor consisted of computers, cast about laundry, junk food wrappers and…... a giant stoplight hanging from the ceiling. Jumin blanched at the sight, what had Elizabeth lived in for the past four days?
Jumin stepped slowly further into the open room. Up to the left was a raised glass walled room which held several computers and monitors. As far as he could tell, no one was in there. Before him, there was a haphazardly set up living space, with a small television, and a large, leather couch that looked more expensive than most of the things in the room.
As he walked closer, Jumin could hear a soft snore. It was barely there, almost more of a whistle. The businessman reached out and ran one hand over the back of the couch, skimming his fingers over the dark material. The texture caught the pads of his fingers ever so slightly, and was cool to the touch.
The soft noise caught Jumin’s attention once more. He cocked his head to listen for the source, and then slowly leaned over the back of the couch and glanced down. His eyes widened in surprise.
Seven was asleep. His red hair was in disarray, and he had fallen asleep with his glasses on, leaving them to sit askew on his face. The hacker’s phone lay half buried in a shag carpet, which must have muffled any sounds from incoming calls or notifications. Even more shocking was the sight of Elizabeth. Jumin’s precious cat lay curled over Seven’s chest. Her head was tucked up against his exposed collarbones and she purred softly in intervals as she rested. One of Seven’s hands was buried in the fur around her neck, and the other was pillowed behind his head.
Jumin flushed instantly at the sight. He had been prepared to see all sorts of atrocities along the lines of Elizabeth eating Honey Buddha Chips, or Seven manically laughing as he dressed his cat in a myriad of ridiculous costumes. The last thing Jumin expected to see was Elizabeth peacefully sleeping on Seven like she belonged there. More so, he had not expected to see Seven looking like this. He glanced back up at Seven’s face. One half of his red hair was oddly flat, as if he had slept against some surface oddly in his sleep. The hacker’s eyes moved slightly under his eyelids, as if he was having a vivid dream. His lips were slightly parted, but he was breathing mostly through his nose. With each exhale, the odd angle of his glasses caused the breath to whistle slightly.
Jumin’s chest swelled with a low wave of affection. Elizabeth was safe, he would almost guess that she was content. Seven had taken care of her, and Jumin almost moved to wake him up to thank the hacker. He stopped mid-action, he didn’t want to rouse him, not yet. Something about Seven was endearing in his sleep; he was cute, undeniably attractive with Jumin’s cat sleeping on his chest.
At that realization, Jumin’s brain promptly shut down.
“Elizabeth,” Jumin whispered, moving to lift his cat slowly. “It’s time to leave.” Elizabeth peeled open a blue eye, looked at him, and then nuzzled further into Seven. Jumin suppressed a groan.
He grabbed her around her waist and lifted slowly. She meowed in protest and buried her claws in the fabric of Seven’s shirt. “Please be mature about this, Elizabeth,” Jumin whispered. As he lifted the cat, she pulled up Seven’s shirt with her, and the hacker mumbled incomprehensibly in his sleep.
“Elizabeth, please,” Jumin pleaded. Elizabeth relented finally, letting herself be pulled away. As Jumin lifted her, Elizabeth’s long fluffy tail brushed against Seven’s face. The hacker violently jolted away and rolled off the couch in a loud thump.
Jumin froze over the couch, cradling his cat. Seven mumbled in confusion on the floor and as the hacker started to roll up, Jumin ran for it. He kicked aside several cat toys and bells, and even abandoned Elizabeth’s cat carrier as he fled for the door. He could come back for that another time.
“Elizabeth?” Seven called out. His voice was thick with sleep. “Ah, Jumin is that you?”
Jumin’s mind went blank with panic and called the first thing he could over his shoulder. “No, I am not Jumin.”
“Ah? But you sound just like him?” Seven replied, furiously rubbing his eyes. His glasses had fallen off during his tumble and skidded under a coffee table. By the time Seven managed to grab them, it was too late, Jumin had already closed the front door behind him.
Breathlessly, Jumin slid into the backseat of his car and signaled for Driver Kim to take them back home. Elizabeth curled up in his lap and fell asleep instantly.
“How did it go, Mister Han?”
Jumin glanced towards the window. “It…” He paused. “It could have gone smoother.”
He definitely would be leaving Elizabeth with Seven much more often.