A Tiger Rolled Into My Life, Bringing Chaos With It - Chapter 14

Upon arriving at the mart, they bought various ingredients, including the romaine that Tinya ate. Tinya felt not just joy but fear as she watched him add everything from bell peppers, pumpkin leaves, and sliced sweet pumpkin that she had been curious about but never tried, to ingredients she didn’t even recognize. It was a practical fear of whether they could carry it all. The cart was on the verge of collapse.

Moreover, the bags containing clothes had been entrusted to the cashier after asking permission. This meant the cart was filled solely with food ingredients.

“Aren’t you buying too much…?”

“No.”

As he answered, he added one more ingredient. Somehow it seemed like he added more every time she asked, so Tinya found herself keeping quiet.

Fortunately, perhaps due to spending quite a bit of money, the mart offered free delivery. When they heard the address was District 1, the cashier’s expression stiffened slightly, but after seeing Cher’s face, they didn’t show much reaction. Tinya grabbed his collar and whispered in his ear.

“This is my first time getting a delivery from this mart.”

“Really? While I’m living with you, we’ll be getting them often.”

“Are you planning to buy this much every time?”

“It’s not that much.”

Though the quantity was large because he had filled it with calorie-dense substitute foods in place of meat, to Cher, it wasn’t even a week’s worth. Are all carnivorous shifters like this? Tinya made a weary expression, then suddenly remembered another concern and let out a small “Ah.”

“What if it doesn’t all fit in the refrigerator?”

“Then we’ll just buy another refrigerator.”

“…What?”

She thought he was joking, but as soon as they left the mart, he immediately headed toward a general furniture store. Tinya repeatedly swallowed nervously at the price range, which was incomparable to the clothing store or grocery mart.

“Um, Cher, I really don’t think this is necessary.”

“Hmm. So this one has good power efficiency and ample capacity, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll take this one.”

“An excellent choice!”

As if she had become invisible, the two had a friendly conversation with Tinya between them. It was enough to make her want to shriek. Cher, seemingly accustomed to Tinya’s screams, ignored it and stopped the employee who was turning away.

“And I’d like to look at beds too.”

“I’ll guide you right away.”

The employee’s eyes sparkled. Customers who bought multiple high-priced items at once were very rare. As Cher was about to follow the employee who was leading the way with light steps, his arm was suddenly pulled back. Cher looked down at her hand on his arm.

“Y-you don’t need to buy a bed too!”

Fearing the employee might hear, Tinya shouted in a hushed voice. The plan to return quickly had evaporated the moment the refrigerator was mentioned. And now he was buying a bed too? There wasn’t even a practical reason like not having enough space for the groceries. She was so burdened that her hands trembled, her heart trembled, and now even her toes were trembling.

Cher, who had been looking at her hand, raised his head. Unlike the pale-faced Tinya, he explained the reason with a calm expression.

“I need to. I accidentally broke your bed.”

“Even so…! W-wait, what did you break?”

Tinya, who was about to object, stammered.

“Your bed. I lay down because I had nowhere to rest, and it broke on its own.”

Of course, it was a lie. The bed, which made creaking sounds but was quite sturdy, didn’t break when he lay on it, so he just broke it himself. He thought she had seen it when she went into the bedroom earlier, but it seems she didn’t notice because she came out in a hurry.

“Ah, no. How on earth did you lie down…”

Tinya couldn’t continue. She couldn’t decide whether to be angry that it was the basic bed Ranran had provided, to be afraid of his build, or to insist that buying a new one wasn’t necessary despite everything. Cher tilted his head slightly.

“I have a personality where I repay any damage I cause. Why? Don’t you like it? Would you prefer I be a piece of trash who breaks your bed and pretends nothing happened?”

“N-no, that’s not it. But you already bought a refrigerator…”

“When I feel sorry, I always repay twofold.”

This wasn’t true until yesterday, but it was a conviction he had developed today. How would Tinya know that? After hesitating, she had no choice but to follow Cher as he moved toward the employee’s call. She didn’t even notice him naturally taking her wrist.

After several rounds of questioning with the employee, the bed he purchased was a king-size, which she had adamantly refused, saying she wouldn’t even need it in the room. Moreover, as if that wasn’t enough, he also bought a set of chairs, saying there weren’t enough for the dining table. Tinya barely managed to stop him from buying a dining table too. It was the first and last time her opinion was reflected that day.

Perhaps because the payment amount was already large, the employee let him choose a gift. Among the expensive items, Cher chose a 1500-piece puzzle. While the employee continued to express concern about whether this was really okay, Tinya was too preoccupied with the bed size to hear anything.

“Can it be delivered?”

“Of course!”

Unaware that he had requested express delivery, she left the furniture store and absentmindedly hailed a carriage pulled by horse shifters. Seeing the bed that was delivered at the same time they arrived, Tinya thought that this tiger shifter seemed to have much, much more money than she had imagined. It was truly a very late realization.

***

As the night deepened, Cher quietly left the bed. The bed, which supposedly wouldn’t shake even if someone jumped on it, didn’t detect his flexible and stealthy movements. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he glanced inside.

Where had that panic-stricken face at the mention of sleeping together in human form gone? Only a soft, relaxed face remained. He had been incredulous when she, who claimed she wouldn’t be able to sleep comfortably, was breathing deeply in sleep after just 10 minutes. Well, they had been out late today, so it was understandable that she was tired.

Cher silently stepped across the floor, which had become narrower in inverse proportion to the expanded bed area, and left the room. Naturally heading to the kitchen, he reached behind the newly purchased refrigerator. Soon, his hand emerged holding one of the new deodorizers. Thanks to buying several, she hadn’t even noticed that one was missing when he secretly hid it.

He hadn’t intended to deliberately deceive her. It was just that Tinya showed anxiety whenever he showed even a little interest in the deodorizer, so it inevitably ended up this way.

‘Such a scaredy-cat.’

Would she get better once she got used to it? He smiled wryly and sprayed the deodorizer on his body. Then he grabbed a hat he had selected earlier and pulled it down over his head.

With his white hair, common among herbivorous shifters but rare among carnivorous ones, covered, his identity became difficult to recognize at a glance. Adding a high-collared coat that came up to his chin made his identity even more ambiguous. In this state, he quietly slipped out of the house.

‘It’s quiet as a dead mouse.’

It was just past midnight, but the world was as silent as death. It was definitely different from the carnivorous district, which remained bustling until almost 2 AM. This was actually better. Cher bent his knees, lowering his posture. The stance, which looked ready to sprint at any moment, propelled forward with a powerful spring-like motion.

The moment his legs pushed off the ground, his thigh muscles swelled powerfully, and his body extended in an instant. The tiger shifter’s flexible body added speed with each step, driven by strong elastic force, with muscles tensing to their fullest. The wind brushed past him, but the surroundings remained silent. In a brief moment, Cher crossed that distance in one breath, reaching the peace zone.

Chirp.

The sound of insects tickled his ears. Where he stood was a place detached from the area where shifters gathered. The mountain adjacent to the tiger district wasn’t very large, but it wasn’t well-carved enough for a first-timer to avoid getting lost. For Cher, who had frequented this place to avoid other tiger shifters, it was no different from his front yard.

He walked along the familiar mountain path, moving toward his destination. Eventually, a familiar figure appeared between the trees. Cher lightly leaped toward it, tapping the other’s shoulder.

“Hey.”

“S**t!”

The reaction was quite loud, perhaps startled by his sudden appearance. Cher openly sneered.

“Your tiger dignity is all gone.”

“Try having someone sneak up behind you silently in the mountains where no one comes. Not just tigers, even bears or lions would be startled!”

The other person, who was also a tiger shifter, countered while trying to calm his racing heart. He was a longtime friend who had known Cher from when his parents were still alive.

“So what’s going on? You disappeared without a word and then suddenly made that strange phone call.”

He continued without waiting for Cher’s answer.

“I thought you had gotten tired of the tiger group and fled Greyden. I couldn’t find you anywhere; you might have gone.”

He crossed his arms and stared at Cher with an unmistakable glare. From his face to his voice, he was full of displeasure. It wasn’t unreasonable given that Cher had disappeared without a trace for nearly two weeks.

“Why would I flee? My parents’ graves are here.”

At those casually spoken but sincere words, Tiger lowered his gaze for just a moment. He thought that if it weren’t for those graves, Cher would have left long ago.