Chapter 193 Broken Hearts [Chloe]

It wasn't hard to predict the outcome of the confession.

Despite the simple "...sorry, I'm not interested at the moment," hurting my pride a little bit, unintentionally, my goal was not for him to say yes.

Making him fall in love with me was going to take a long time, and it needed to begin with me falling in love with him first.

*

I wanted to get a cat. I wanted a cute fluffy cat I could take care of and pet. The experience at Shin's house reinvigorated my desire to get one. I was independent enough to the point where I probably could get one anyways, especially since my parents aren't home that much anyways. I'd just buy everything I needed myself.

As I lay on my bed with my computer in my lap, I browsed through some adoption websites. I probably had the funds to buy one from a breeder, but I didn't really see any reason to do so when there are so many in adoption centres anyways. The Side Rooms had given me a pretty large sum of money when I left, so finances were never really an issue for me.

It was getting pretty hot, so I turned on the fan and pulled it closer to my bed. The gentle breeze it provided refreshed me on my journey to get a cat. The crude, poorly designed website of the local adoption clinic made it rather difficult for me to look at the cats. They didn't even have pictures of most of them, and the website looked like it was designed in 1999. I decided that it would be better if I just went straight to the adoption centre and look at them in real life. I checked the bus times and saw that there was a bus leaving in twenty minutes.

I quickly put on my usual outfit of shorts and an oversized shirt and made my way towards the bus stop. I took a seat under the shade of the bus stop, but I noticed that there were some people staring at me. It was awkward but nothing I hadn't experienced before in the Side Rooms, granted it was probably for a different reason. Eventually, the bus arrived, an I tapped on my full-access student bus pass and made my way over to one of the seats. I was instantly brushed by a wave of cool air. It was the same bus that I took to school.

I looked out the window observing the street side and gardens, which came by like a blur. My brain slowly faded as my sight was filled with the gentle pastel-like colours of the outside world. I had wanted a cat for quite a while, even back in the days of the Side Room. I often read books with cats and had dreamed of getting one. I was surprised I hadn't gotten one sooner. It was likely because my ambitions had grown further than the 'little things' in life. However, this time, I would commit and get a cat for sure. I was armed with determination and several hundred dollars.

It wasn't long before I reached the stop close to the adoption centre. I crossed a highway which was much more dangerous than I expected and walked through a grassy field where my legs were slaughtered by a whole variety of insects. I was finally blessed with the sight of 'Fernwick Adoption and Rescue Centre'. It was more of a plot of than a 'clinic' per se. There were a few buildings scattered around, but they were neither big nor were they particularly close together. I entered the reception and spoke to the lady.

"I was wondering if I could look at some of the cats up for adoption?" She pointed behind me and gave me some simple directions, "They're just in that building over there." I couldn't exactly see the building she was referring to, but I assumed it wouldn't be that hard to find, so I thanked her and walked in the general direction. After a few moments of looking at poorly placed signs, I eventually reached the cat building. There was a narrow claustrophobia-inducing hallway into the enclosures before I was greeted by almost a hundred cats in a few cages. Whilst it sounds bad now that I say it like that, the cats all actually had a decent amount of space.

The building itself was pretty large, and there was about a bathroom-sized room for around ten cats. There were toys and play-things for the cats alongside large castle-like scratching posts. It was honestly a nice environment in direct contrast to the other pieces of management of the organisation. Then again, I couldn't blame them. They probably didn't have many funds. There was a pretty large poster which gave all the information necessary. The prices were labelled, 'Kitten (between the ages of 2-12 months) - $200, Standard Cat (between ages of 1 and 6 years old) and Elderly Cat (Above the age of 6)' I found the wording of 'standard' and 'elderly' to be quite awkward, but it didn't really matter.

There was a key to the enclosures just beside the doors. Above it was a sign that read, 'Make sure to close the doors after you play with the cats!' Which I took into mind. I opened one of the enclosures and sneaked in, making sure not to let out any of the cats. There were a variety of toys strewn on the floor, from little plushie rats to feathers on the end of sticks. I pick up a toy and began playing with the cats. Several of them jumped straight for it whilst others watched from a distance.

It didn't take long before I spotted an almost pure-white Persian. The look on its face was really funny to me for some reason, so I went over and petted it. It rubbed its fluffy face on my leg and laid down beside me. It was really cute. It also reminded me of myself. It was like a side character, just like me, not really being all that sociable and enthusiastic around the toys but also not shy to the point that it was its own personality quirk. It was just 'normal'.

After that, I decided that I would take him.

I wasn't sure what I was meant to do at this point. I didn't think I was supposed to take the cat all the way to the reception, so I got up and walked out of the building. I made my way back to the reception and spoke to the lady again about the cat I wanted. "All you need to do is fill out this form and pay the $100; it should process within two hours." I filled out the paperwork she gave me and paid the amount of money required. "Alright, we'll call you when the paperwork goes through."

The adoption clinic included vaccinations and registrations in the cost, so I didn't need to worry about that. There was a pretty decently-sized shopping centre nearby where I was going to go buy some equipment for the cat. I had also texted my parents about this, whereby they responded with a brief, "As long as you take care of it." I walked back onto the uncomfortable, long grass with the noisy sound of cars travelling by on the highway. It was a little distance before I finally made it to the car park of the shopping centre. My legs were finally released from the torture.

I looked around, and there was a store named "Pets and Co. Stock.", I made my way inside and looked around at the variety of toys and items for the cat. I had read plenty about the needs and wants of a cat, so I walked around the store, putting all the things I thought were necessary into a trolley. I got a brush, some toys, a litter box, a bag of litter, a scratching pole and some canned food. It looked about right, so I finished up at the registers. "That'll come to $180," it was about as much as I expected to pay for everything, so I tapped my card, and that was when I realised something. This was going to be a hell of a pain to carry.

It wasn't necessarily that I didn't have the strength to carry all of this. It was more of an issue of how exactly I was meant to carry this. I had full bags of items and the scratching pole, which was separate from the bags. I decided to just heave the stuff back to the adoption clinic and figure it out there. I could just barely carry all this stuff by hanging the two bags off my arm and carrying the scratching pole, but there was no way I was going to be able to fit an entire cat in a crate along with all this stuff. A "Your cat is ready to be picked up" message appeared on my phone.

After a pretty treacherous walk, I made it back to the adoption clinic. I set myself down on a seat in the reception and waited for the fluff ball to be brought to me.

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