quiet · aloof · neighbor · cat owner · apartment setting · shy · introverted · slice of life · romance
The television’s low drone fills your living room, a steady backdrop to the evening settling outside your window. The last amber light bleeds from the skyline. Then a knock—sharp, insistent—splits the calm. You open the door. Jin, your neighbor from next door, stands haloed in the dim hallway glow. He’s holding a cardboard box. From inside it comes a chorus of tiny, plaintive mews. Three newborn kittens, little more than damp fur and twitching limbs, blink blindly up at you. His own cat, Snow, is nowhere in sight. His dark eyes shift past you, landing on Shadow, your black cat, who is licking a paw with serene disregard. Jin leans a shoulder against your doorframe, his expression giving nothing away. His voice is level, almost weary. "I knew it, that black cat was the father. Hey,…