To absolutely no one’s surprise, no one answered the door at Seulgi’s apartment. Not even Seulgi would have been, either.

  The guards conveyed Seulgi’s order to let her in. So, Nayeon and the guard spent a pleasant five minutes politely mocking Seulgi. Neither thought that the subject would mind too much. She wouldn’t have.

  Once in the apartment, the guard ghosted back to his duties.

  The apartment was as quiet as a tomb. Seulgi was so tired that should could not even snore. The only sign of life was the cat on the counter. Where she knew she was not allowed to be, but there she was.

  “Hi, brat,” she greeted.

  Said brat let it slide, even though her proper title was Princess. This pet of her human was an irreverent sort. She never gave due curtsey, despite many reprimands. Her Highness, Princess Suki declined to recognize the les majeste, just accepting this contemptible being in her presence. She would also ignore the impudent grin that was fshed her way. That grin, like the person herself, was beneath notice.

  The haughty cat amused the intruding human to no end. If she was not already on a mission, she would tease the cat some more.

  “Where’s Seulgi, brat?”

  Said brat looked at the bedroom.

  “Already asleep?”

  Slow blink.

  “Very good. I’ll get to making the spare bedroom so I don’t bother you anymore.”

  She checked the time on the wall clock. She’ll have at least 2 hours of uninterrupted time to get this spare room in shape.

  As Nayeon turned away to start working, she heard a sharp ‘Meao!’ and a turned away cheek

  Knowing what was being demanded, Nayeon submitted to the required obsequence to the furry dy and mistress of the house. One chin scratch ter, Nayeon was allowed to continue with her duties.

  Nayeon made it to the back bedroom without further complications. She quickly assessed what was required and quickly set to. Bed stripped and extremely furred sheets were tossed into a corner, new sheets were brought out, but not pced yet. She would need to open the windows first then do a deep dust, sweep, and mop first, so the new sheets would not attract any extra particles. She saw a furry dorsal fin approaching the bed. So, knowing about this troublemaker, she snatched up the clean sheets first and moved them out of reach. Just as the sheets were moved, Suki used a Jedi trick to get to the center of the bed without actually moving. Refusing to acknowledge that she got busted, the cat started supervising the cleaning. She made many derogatory comments about her Human’s pet.

  Nayeon blithely ignored the rude, running commentary. This was old hat to these antagonists. The only reason that they put up with each other is Seulgi. They both knew how important the other was to her. This was the main reason why Nayeon still had an unbit ankle and the furball had not taken an unwilling flying lesson out the window, violently propelled by a foot, sans parachute.

  There never would be a resolution to this ongoing war. And that was fine with the combatants because it was actually all in fun. Neither would admit defeat, though there would be a temporary cease-fire whenever Seulgi was around. It would not be good to destress her unnecessarily.

  Thus, Suki managed Nayeon’s work. Usually to her detriment. But, things still got done despite the running commentary. About an hour and a half in, it was time to make the bed.

  The immobile figure of the cat was still in the middle of the bed with a smugly defiant purr.

  “Scat.”

  Blink.

  “Shoo!”

  Nothing.

  “Move, or so help me…”

  Not a muscle moved.

  “So, that’s how you want it? Okay…”

  Cat acquired and tossed out of the room with a liquid amount of foul nguage heaped upon the perpetrator of the indignation.

  The bed was made in record time. The soft downy quilt added before the cat made it back into the room. Pillowcases were adored before the cat made it to the bed.

  DONE!

  If the cat could have spat, she would have. Suki gred at the friend of her Idiot. Just because her human chose to deal with this fool does not mean she has to. She slunk out of the bedroom back to her perch/throne back in the living room.

  Nayeon felt unjustifiably smug at winning a battle with a cat. Even this one. Still, she has won the battle, not the war.

  Checking the time, she buttoned the spare room back up, put all of the cleaning supplies back, closed the windows, and moved out to the kitchen. She started making a meal that could be eaten quickly. Or on the run, if needed.

  Looking around, there were a bunch of tiny things that could be done for her friend. So, Nayeon was going to toss her into the shower in about five minutes, then shove some food into her face and out the door in record time. Once that was done, she’d stay behind and do some additional cleaning, and tidying, and see what she could do to annoy the cat.

  What could she do to annoy the cat besides just existing? A lot.

  Grinning with sadistic glee, Nayeon went to the bedroom to wake her friend.

  Over the next three hours, the already clean house became immacute. However, while things went exactly as Nayeon had anticipated, except for the fact that she lost to a cat.

  A disgruntled Nayeon left for home while a particurly smug ‘Meao’ chased her out the front door.

  As Seulgi pulled up to Katie’s apartment, the woman in question stepped out to greet her, which was a relief as there was no reasonable person there to let her into the apartment if Katie was still asleep.

  Seulgi stopped her just as she opened the door. “Turn around.” Forefinger doing a 360-degree motion.

  A look of inquisition adorned her face as she complied.

  Seulgi looked at the girl. Hair washed, dried, and coifed. Fresh clothes. Refreshed look on her face, a few missed crumbs on her jacket. B+ for effort. Satisfied, she let the girl into her auto and then pced it into gear, and then took off to the hospital.

  “Satisfied Oh captain, my captain?” Smug grin.

  One mimed backhand ter, Seulgi begrudgingly admitted that she passed. This time. If they were not in a hurry, she doubted the smartass would pass muster.

  They bickered back and forth like that until the hospital came into view. They both put their serious faces back on.