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Chapter 8,
teardrop
On a dark night, everyone gathered together to watch a movie. Around 11 p.m., I felt drowsy. I laid out a blanket on the living room floor and rested my head on a pillow to sleep while watching the movie. Then, I hugged Seungcheol, who was warm and fluffy and looked like a dog, tightly.
"I want to sleep here too."
"Me too, I'll bring my pillow."
"Then I'll be next to Ayoung!"Seokmin
"Lee Seok-min."
"Then next to Ah-young is Wonwoo hyung, and above Ah-young's head is me!!" Seok-min
"Seokmin..." Mingyu
"... Min-gyu is on top of Ah-young's head. Then I'm on Ah-young's stomach!" Seok-min
"I'll steam it first!!"
"I'll take the empty seat on Ayoung's stomach!!"
" ... too bad... "
From my side to my stomach, Seokmin kept getting pushed around. I turned into a rabbit and gently lifted him from the corner, placing him between Seungcheol and me.
Eventually, they all came out of their rooms, each carrying a blanket and pillow, saying they'd sleep with me. To my right, Seungcheol, a gentle golden retriever, took his place. To my left, three cats took their places, and above my head lay Mingyu, a Samoyed. Jisoo, an Abyssinian cat, and Seungkwan, a tiny hamster, lay on my stomach. Perhaps because they were small and cozy, it wasn't uncomfortable. And Soonyoung, in her fox form, curled up with Junhwi, a fennec fox, and slept together. Myungho, Hansol, and Chani, in their human forms, slept together peacefully.
***
As daylight dawned, I woke up, blinded by the sunlight streaming into the house, even though my eyes were closed. As I raised my upper body, Jisoo and Seungkwan, who had been sleeping on my stomach, also woke up. The three of us were startled by the view of the living room we saw when we woke up.
The floor was covered in water. There was only one person who would do something like this, so I screamed and headed towards the leaking bathroom.
"Lee Chan!!!"
As expected, the culprit was Lee Chan. I looked at Chani, the otter, with an angry expression as he played in the water without turning off the faucet with a happy expression, but Chani just stared blankly at me as if he didn't know anything.
"Ayoung, are you awake?? "
"Lee Chan! What is this!! Why don't you turn off the water quickly?? "
When I yelled, Chan-i seemed startled and hurriedly turned off the faucet. When I brought Chan-i, the otter, into the living room, he hung his head on the floor, still in his otter form, as if he realized he'd made a mistake. When I scolded Chan-i, everyone woke up and started mopping up the mess he'd made.
"Why did you do this?"
" sorry.. "
"You asked me why I did this."
" … I'm sorry, sister.. "
"Don't call me 'sister' only when it's bad for you."
" … "
"Why did you do this?"
"I was bored, but everyone was sleeping, so I couldn't wake them up."
"I should have just woken you up..."
"Uh, I'm sorry..."
The kids who were clearing the water around me all looked at me, and Chan-i, who had been scolded by me, finally transformed into a human and burst into tears. Feeling weak at Chan-i's tears, I stopped scolding him and hugged him.
Chan-i, still in my arms, was crying, sobbing. I hugged him more warmly.
"If you're bored, don't play alone. Wake up your older sister. Or at least wake up your older brothers. Chani has a lot of older brothers that he plays with well..."
"Ugh,.. sigh, mi, not doing it... huhu.. "
"Just stop... I won't get angry."
Chani transformed back into an otter. Then he hugged me tightly. I held him in my arms and went into the bathroom where he had been playing.
"I'm cleaning up right now, so Chan and I can rest."
"Thanks. But are you doing this alone?"
"No. There's Boo Seung-kwan over there."
Jihoon pointed to a corner with his finger. There was a hamster at the tip of his finger. Boo Seungkwan, what is he doing over there?
"That's what helps."
"Isn't that ridiculous?"
" ...squeaking helps... Ah, he can think like that."
"Work hard. When you're done, I'll cut your belly."