It was late at night and the pouring rain made it hard to look at the front. A lone man held an umbrella as he walked to a familiar shortcut he always used to go home at night. Because of the nonexistent criminal case in his neighbourhood, the man wasn't afraid that he would encounter bad people.

Just he stepped on the puddle of water, he heard a faint call of an animal. He stopped and looked at the junction where it led to an alley. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to hear the sound of small animal among the heavy downpour.

"...meow."

A faint cry of a cat could be heard and the man didn't hesitate to go to the alley. He walked along the darkness, only being lit by a faint light from the windows of the building.

"Meow..."

The sound of a cat meowing grew bigger and the man walked faster. His hearing didn't disappoint him as he saw a black cat on the ground under the sheltered part of the building. He quickly moved to inspect the animal.

He found out the animal was injured on its left hind leg and couldn't move.

"...meow."

He didn't waste time as he removed his cheap jacket and carefully, he used it to cover the small cat, so, the rain wouldn't hit it.

Holding an injured cat and an umbrella, he walked to the one and only veterinary clinic in his neighbourhood. It was already late night and he hoped it was still opened.

It took him ten minutes walk before he arrived at the vet. Despite the closed sign and the darkness from inside, he put the umbrella in between his shoulder and neck. He then knocked on the door and knocked again. No response. He looked sideways and almost forgot that there was a special bell if there was an emergency.

Pressing on the bell, he looked up at the second level of the veterinary clinic which housed the doctor. Not even two minutes, there was light in the clinic and the door was opened for him.

The doctor was a young man in his late twenties. He squinted his eyes as he looked at the man in front of his clinic door.

"Xiao Mao?"

Huang Mao or his nickname Xiao Mao or MaoMao or Yellow Cat was the person who found the black cat.

"Dr. Mu, sorry to bother you late at night. But, I found an injured cat," as he said that, he showed inside his one arm, a pitiful curled black cat.

The cat was a pure black and his eyes were dual colour. One blue and one yellow. It meowed pitifully at the humans.

As soon as Dr. Mu saw the cat, he quickly ushered Huang Mao inside and brought him to the clinic room where he did his treatment for the animals.

Huang Mao put the small black cat on the inspection table and removed his own cheap jacket. He watched from the sideline as Dr. Mu worked to treat the cat.

It didn't take Dr. Mu long to treat the stray cat. After putting the bandage on the small animal, he turned to look at the quiet young man and smiled.

"It's fine now. Only its hind leg is injured and I've already cleaned the wound with antiseptic and bandaged it."

Only then, Huang Mao sighed in relieve and moved forward. He saw the small cat had fallen asleep and felt his heart ached for the little thing.

"Are you going to take it home?" Dr. Mu asked as he watched the younger man.

Huang Mao didn't hesitate to nod his head. He then looked up at the veterinarian. "Is it okay for me to bring it back?"

Dr. Mu smiled, "it's okay. I'll teach you how to change the bandage and clean the wound."

"Oh, thank you, Dr. Mu." Huang Mao hesitated as he asked. "How much is the treatment cost?"

Dr. Mu just smiled and shook his head. "It's free. You don't have to pay. After all, you did it to save this little thing."

Huang Mao sighed inwardly and broke into a bright smile. He had a good look and when he smiled, he looked particularly handsome. "Thank you, Dr. Mu!"

The veterinarian waved his hands carelessly and holding the box provided by Dr. Mu, Huang Mao again said his thanks to the doctor.

Dr. Mu said kindly, "If there's still problem with it, you can come to this clinic. The treatment will be on house."

Huang Mao nodded his head and again thanked the kind hearted vet for his kind gesture before he left the clinic.

The rain didn't pour as heavily as before. Holding the umbrella with one hand, he used the other arm to hold the box close to his chest. He carefully made sure the little cat wouldn't be hit by the rain.

It took Huang Mao another ten minutes walk from the clinic to the old apartment where he lived. Stepping on the stairs, he walked slowly to not wake the black cat.

His room was at the second floor and Huang Mao stopped at the last room on the floor.

Putting the umbrella on the side, he used one hand to search his house key in his pants pocket. The jingling sound from the key being fished out was quite loud during the silent night.

Kachak!

The door opened and Huang Mao took the umbrella with him inside. After locking the door, he put the umbrella in the rack next to the door and removed his shoes.

Barefeet, he walked inside and put the little thing on the table in the living room which was actually also the bedroom.

The room rented by Huang Mao was very small. It consisted an opened kitchen, one bathroom and one bedroom which doubled as living room.

Huang Mao took a short hot shower since he had been hit by rain. After done, he adorned a plain white t-shirt and black shorts. Rubbing his hair dry, he placed the towel on the rack and peered at the black cat he had just rescued tonight.

The cat was still asleep and looking at the small cat, a beautiful smile bloomed on Huang Mao's face.

Huang Mao had a good looking face. A pretty face actually. His eyes which looked like a cat eyes, would narrow and slanted upward when he smiled. His full pink lips would stretch and form a pretty arch. His nose was also straight and he had straight soft eyebrows. He had a head of fluffy dyed brown hair. He was an average height around 177 cm and had a thin and lean body.

Softly rubbing the soft little head, Huang Mao said in a small voice, "good night, little kitty."

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Small Theatre

Yellow cat: "This poor cat is injured."

Little black cat: "Meow..." Hah, human! Just because I'm hurt, I'll let you hold me, hmph!