Xu Jin lay near the doorway, one arm sprawled toward the half-open door, the hallway light slicing across the floor like a mocking spotlight.
His breathing was shallow. His stomach twisted again, cruel and relentless.
He blinked slowly.
No warm fur against his chest.
No tiny paws kneading his hoodie.
No annoying meow.
The demon was gone.
Xu Jin's eyes widened in betrayal.
"…He abandoned me," he whispered.
The realization struck harder than the nausea.
That white fluff. That chaos gremlin. That furniture-destroying menace. After all his sacrifices… after the burnt toast… after the expensive kitten food… after tolerating being used as a climbing tree…
The demon had fled.
Xu Jin's lip trembled dramatically.
"In my time of need…" he muttered. "You heartless furball…"
Another wave of sickness rolled through him. He squeezed his eyes shut.
Inside his mind, the tantrum ignited.
Why did I run away?
Why did I think I could survive alone?
Why did I challenge a professor for a cat like a lunatic?
Why did I cook like a villain in a horror movie?!
He slapped the floor weakly.
"Dad… I'm sorry… I'll go home… I'll study… I'll eat vegetables… please… send help…"
His breathing grew uneven.
"This must be…" he gasped, "…the curse of my own culinary masterpiece…"
A tear escaped.
"My art of food is crying… and now… so am I…"
He turned his head weakly toward the open door. The hallway light blurred in his vision.
"If I die here," he whispered, "tell my father… it was the eggs…"
Silence followed.
No meow.
No paw.
No demon cat.
Xu Jin sighed in despair.
"…I raised a traitor."
Xu Jin's eyes fluttered, his consciousness dipping like a candle in the wind.
The hallway light stretched and warped in his vision. The thin golden line from the half-open door expanded, blooming into a soft glow that flooded the dark room.
He blinked.
A figure stood in the doorway.
Tall. Calm. Surrounded by warm light. Hair slightly tousled. Eyes unreadable in the brightness.
Xu Jin's mind, already halfway gone, made an instant decision.
…An angel.
Of course.
He was dying.
Naturally, heaven would send someone beautiful.
He squinted, trying to focus.
The angel stepped closer.
Xu Jin's heart thumped weakly.
"Wow…" he whispered hoarsely. "Heaven has good taste…"
The figure spoke, voice low, slightly annoyed.
"…Why is your door open?"
Xu Jin didn't register the words. Only the tone. Even angels, apparently, were cold.
He swallowed.
"…Are you here… to take me?" he asked faintly.
The angel sighed.
A very human, very exasperated sigh.
Xu Jin's vision blurred again. The glow dimmed just enough for details to form — a plain shirt, house slippers, a cardigan sleeve pushed up to the elbow.
Not wings.
Just… a neighbor.
The professor.
But Xu Jin's fevered brain clung stubbornly to the fantasy.
"…Angel Professor…" he murmured. "…tell heaven… I fought bravely… against eggs…"
Another step closer. A shadow fell over him.
"Xu Jin," the voice said clearly now, sharper. "Can you hear me?"
Xu Jin blinked slowly.
How did the angel know his name?
His last shred of dignity rose like a warrior making a final stand.
"…Don't… judge my cooking…" he whispered.
In apartment 1207, the night was silent.
Grandma Liang had long fallen asleep, the small lamp beside her bed casting a warm circle of light. The apartment smelled faintly of dried herbs and old paper. Everything was neat. Still. Calm.
Liang Chen, however, was not asleep.
He lay on his side, one arm under his pillow, eyes half-open. He wasn't sure why he had woken — perhaps the faint echo of movement next door, perhaps instinct.
Then he heard it.
A sound.
Soft. Repeated.
Scratching.
At first, he thought it was part of a dream. A branch brushing against glass. The wind. Anything but what it actually was.
Then it came again.
Scratch. Scratch.
From the front door.
Liang Chen sat up slowly, blinking.
Another scratch.
He slid out of bed, careful not to wake his grandmother, and walked toward the entrance. The apartment was dim, lit only by the faint glow from the kitchen night-light.
He reached the door and paused.
Silence.
He was about to turn back when—
Something small launched at him the moment he opened the door.
A white blur.
Soft fur. Warm body. Tiny paws clinging to his shirt.
Liang Chen froze.
The kitten.
The neighbor's kitten.
Its big round eyes stared up at him, tail flicking, whiskers twitching.
For a second, Liang Chen didn't move.
Then, slowly, his arms rose and caught the small body.
It was real.
Warm. Soft. Breathing.
Not a dream.
His heart softened instantly, in a way that annoyed him a little.
"So you're the demon causing all that noise," he murmured quietly.
The kitten meowed in response and rubbed its head under his chin.
Liang Chen's lips curved despite himself.
"Traitor," he whispered fondly, scratching behind its ears. "Abandoning your owner and choosing me instead?"
The kitten purred louder.
Then Liang Chen remembered.
The scratching.
Why had the kitten come out at midnight?
He glanced toward apartment 1208's door.
It was slightly open.
A thin line of hallway light spilling inside.
His brows drew together.
He shifted the kitten to one arm and stepped forward. Slowly, cautiously, he placed a hand on the door and pushed.
The door opened wider.
And Liang Chen froze.
On the floor, near the doorway, lay Xu Jin.
Pale. Sweat-damp. Eyes half-closed. Breathing shallow.
One arm stretched toward the door as if he had tried to escape.
Liang Chen's heartbeat skipped.
For a moment, everything was still.
Then the kitten wriggled in his arms, meowing urgently, leaping down and running straight to Xu Jin's side.
Liang Chen stepped in.
And the calm professor, who had only wanted a quiet night and perhaps a cat someday, suddenly found himself standing in the middle of a scene that was anything but quiet.
Xu Jin's world was a blur of gold and shadow.
He heard voices, distant and muffled, as if underwater. A cool hand brushed his forehead. Another steadied his shoulder.
The "angel" was still here.
Xu Jin blinked weakly. The figure above him leaned closer, face coming into focus — soft features, serious eyes, hair slightly messy from sleep.
Not an angel.
The neighbor.
The professor.
Xu Jin's lips parted.
"…Heaven… downgraded…" he whispered.
Liang Chen paused.
Of all the things he expected to hear in this situation, that was not one of them.
"Xu Jin," Liang Chen said, voice low but steady. "Can you move?"
Xu Jin tried. Failed. His head lolled slightly to the side.
"…My stomach… launched a rebellion…" he muttered faintly.
Liang Chen exhaled through his nose. Even half-conscious, this man was ridiculous.
The kitten meowed loudly beside them, pacing in frantic little circles.
At that moment, a door opened behind Liang Chen.
"Chan?" Grandma Liang's sleepy voice came from the hallway. "Why are you—"
She stepped closer, then gasped softly when she saw Xu Jin on the floor.
"Oh dear heavens," she said. "That boy is burning up."
Liang Chen checked Xu Jin's forehead again. Hot. Too hot.
"We need to take him to the hospital," Liang Chen said immediately.
Grandma Liang nodded once, all sleepiness gone. "Lift him."
Liang Chen slipped an arm under Xu Jin's shoulders and another under his knees.
And froze.
He tried again.
Xu Jin did not move.
Liang Chen blinked in surprise.
He tried with more strength.
Nothing.
"…He's heavy," Liang Chen muttered.
Grandma Liang raised an eyebrow. "Young men tend to be."
Liang Chen stared down at Xu Jin's long limbs, broad shoulders, and realized with mild shock that this so-called "bratty neighbor" was at least a head taller than him. And built like someone who did sports.
Not someone Liang Chen, who lived on tea and literature, could casually carry.
Xu Jin stirred slightly in his arms, eyes half-open.
"…Angel Professor… can't lift me…" he murmured weakly. "…Downgraded heaven indeed…"
Liang Chen clicked his tongue, but there was no time to argue with a delirious man.
"I need help," he said.
Grandma Liang opened the front door wider and stepped into the hallway.
"Someone! Help! A neighbor is sick!"
A door down the corridor opened. A middle-aged man in slippers stepped out, startled.
"What's going on?"
"Help us carry him," Grandma Liang said briskly. "He needs a hospital."
The neighbor took one look at Xu Jin's pale face and nodded quickly. Together, Liang Chen and the neighbor lifted Xu Jin carefully, one on each side. Xu Jin's head lolled forward, hair falling into his eyes.
The kitten darted after them, meowing loudly.
Grandma Liang grabbed a coat, threw it over her shoulders, and pressed the elevator button.
Inside the elevator, Liang Chen held Xu Jin upright, one arm around his back. Xu Jin's head leaned against Liang Chen's shoulder, warm breath brushing his neck.
For a brief second, Liang Chen stiffened at the unfamiliar closeness.
Then Xu Jin whispered faintly, voice barely audible.
"…Angel… smells like tea…"
Liang Chen decided, firmly, that he was never letting this man live this down once he recovered.
Outside, the night air was cold. A taxi was already pulling up — Liang Chen had called it in the rush.
They guided Xu Jin into the back seat. Grandma Liang climbed in beside him, supporting his shoulders. Liang Chen sat on the other side, giving directions to the driver.
"Nearest hospital. Quickly."
The taxi sped into the empty streets, city lights streaking past the windows.
Xu Jin's eyes fluttered closed again, his breathing uneven.
Liang Chen looked down at him — this troublesome, dramatic, reckless neighbor who had fought him over a cat, caused chaos through a wall, and now lay helpless in his arms.
"…What kind of life are you living?" Liang Chen murmured quietly.
Beside them, the kitten sat in Grandma Liang's lap, eyes wide, as if guarding its foolish human.
And under the rushing city lights, two neighbors who barely knew each other were suddenly tied together by a midnight emergency — and a white cat between them. 🐾