Four STARZ Members Came to Hide, Then Fell for the Cat Café Owner novel · Chapter 1 of 40
Chapter 1: The Closed Sign
Four hooded strangers come into Missy's cat café for a cabin key, Jisung has a panic attack in the doorway, and when a customer starts filming she turns the sign to Closed; then Chan's phone shows the clip is already up.
A woman at table four lifted her phone and started filming a man having a panic attack in the doorway of the Whisker & Wick.
Missy Larkin saw the red dot of the camera before she understood what was happening to the man.
It was a Thursday in October, and it had been raining on Lighthouse Cove for six days.
The café was full of wet coats, steaming mugs and a dozen cats who had picked the warmest laps in the room.
Missy was behind the counter with a tray of oat lattes when the bell over the door rang.
Four men came in out of the rain, all in hoods, all with their heads down.
"Wipe your paws on the mat," she said. "The cats judge."
The tallest one laughed under his hood. The one in front, with short black hair curling out from under his cap, gave her a small, careful smile.
"We have a booking for the cabin," he said. "Under Chan."
"The writers," Missy said. "I've got your key right here. Welcome."
"We'll be no trouble. You won't even know we're here."
It was a smooth thing to say, and she liked him for saying it so softly.
Then the man at the back stopped on the doormat and didn't come any farther.
He was small and lean, with dark wavy hair under his hood and round glasses fogged white from the rain.
His hands shook at his sides.
His breathing went fast and shallow, and his eyes went from the cats to the customers to the door, looking for a way out.
Missy knew that breathing. She had done it on bathroom floors for most of her forties.
She put the tray down and came around the counter.
"Hey, sweetheart," she said. "I'm Missy. What's your name?"
"Jisung," he got out. "Sorry. I'm sorry. It's a lot of people."
"It is. You don't have to be sorry. Come sit on the floor with me."
She took his wrist, and he let her.
His skin was cold and damp from the rain, and her silver bracelets clicked against his pulse, which was racing.
She lowered them both to the floorboards beside the radiator.
He folded his knees up and put his forehead down on her shoulder.
His glasses knocked her collarbone. His hand closed around her forearm, right over the moth and moon tattoos, and held on hard.
"Name five things you can see," Missy said into his hair.
"A cat."
"Good. What else?"
"Another cat. Your rings. A, a lot of rings."
"Seven. Keep going."
The big grey one-eyed cat walked across the room on purpose.
She climbed onto Jisung's folded legs, turned around once, and sat down on his chest with her whole warm weight.
Jisung made a sound that was half a sob and half a laugh.
His fingers loosened on Missy's arm and then slid down and laced through hers.
She felt it all the way up her spine.
He was twenty-six, maybe, with a mouth made for jokes, and his breath was hot against her neck.
Missy noticed it, and she put the noticing aside for later, because he was shaking and that came first.
"There you go," she said. "Slow. In for four, out for six. She's got you."
Behind her the tall man had dropped to his knees beside them.
He had pushed his hood back. He had long blond hair, the face of an angel, and a voice so deep it surprised her.
"Hey, Jisungie," he said gently. "Hey. Look at me, mate. You're okay."
"I'm okay," Jisung whispered, not at all convinced.
The fourth man, the tallest, had not moved from the doorway.
He stood with his back to the café and his arms out a little from his sides, very still, and she realized he was blocking the window.
He was blocking the view of the street, and of the room.
"Oh my god," said the woman at table four, in the loud whisper of someone who wanted to be heard. "That's them. That's STARZ."
Missy looked up.
The phone was still pointed at Jisung's face.
"Is that a bar?" she said.
"It's a band. It's the, you don't know STARZ?"
"I know my customers have manners," Missy said. "Put the phone down."
"It's a public place."
"It's my place."
The woman did not put it down.
Missy stood up. Her knees cracked, and she did not care.
She walked to the front door, past the tallest man, who turned his head and looked at her with huge dark eyes.
She flipped the sign in the glass from Open to Closed.
Then she turned the lock.
"Café's closed for the morning," she said to the room. "Finish your drinks, take them with you, and they're on the house."
People grumbled and stood up. Someone said it was only a little rain.
Table four went last, with the phone still in her hand and her mouth open to argue.
Missy held the door for her and said, "Thank you for coming," in the voice she used on bad tenants and tax men.
The woman went.
The bolt clicked back into the frame.
Missy let go of a long tired noise and leaned on the wood.
Now the café held only cats, four wet men and the radiator ticking.
Jisung sat on the floor with the grey cat on his chest and his glasses pushed up into his hair, looking at her.
"Thank you," he said. "Really. I'm sorry."
"Stop saying sorry. I'll make you tea and you can sit with her as long as you like."
The man called Chan came to the counter with a leather wallet in his hand and a stiff envelope tucked under his other arm.
It had a company logo printed in the corner, and the flap was still sealed.
"I'd like to pay for the cabin now," he said. "All twelve weeks."
"The listing says you can pay monthly."
"I'd rather do it now."
"Chan," said the blond man from the floor. "We said we'd split it."
"I've got it."
"We said."
"Felix, I've got it," Chan said, quietly, and slid a plain black card across the counter. It was in his own name.
The envelope stayed under his arm.
"Aren't you going to open that?" Felix asked.
"Later."
Missy ran the card and printed the receipt, and she noticed that his hand was perfectly steady and the hand holding the envelope was not.
Then his phone buzzed on the counter, and then buzzed again, and he read the screen.
The color went out of his face.
"It's already online," he said. "The video. They're calling it a sighting."
"Then we'll go somewhere else," said the tall one at the door, in a low, tired voice.
"There's nowhere else. Management won't move us again." Chan read the next message, then looked at Missy and did not look away.
"They say we can only stay in the cabin," he said, "if the owner signs something first."
"The owner," Missy said. "That's me."
"Yes," Chan said. "That's you."
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend