A Tiger Rolled Into My Life, Bringing Chaos With It - Chapter 30

Standing in front of the desk, Tinya tapped the pin brush and carefully removed the tangled fur with a pin cleaner. To prevent fur from flying, she dampened the bristles with water, then gathered the fur using a tweezer-shaped tool that extracted it cleanly. While she was busy organizing her tools, Pupu’s voice echoed through the loudspeaker.

(“Everyone prepare to leave! It looks like it will rain until tomorrow, so everyone take tomorrow off.”)

If he thought it would stop in the morning, he would have told them to come in, so it must be expected to rain all day tomorrow. Would the day after be clear? Though Cher had improved her financial situation, that didn’t change the fact that she still needed to save carefully. Tinya finished her cleanup with a heart full of worry.

After removing all the fur from the brushes, she sprayed them with disinfectant and placed them on the drying rack, then thoroughly sprayed deodorant on herself, the combs, and inside the container.

When she opened the door and went out, rainwater wet her face.

‘I should have brought an umbrella….’

The one fortunate thing was that the raindrops weren’t heavy yet. Tinya folded her hands over her head as she headed to Pupu’s office to receive her daily wages.

When she approached Pupu’s office, she noticed the door was slightly open. The sound of conversation flowed from inside.

“A lion shifter? Really?”

“Yeah. I saw it myself.”

“Wow. Why do all these large carnivorous shifters specifically request her?”

Tinya paused. Somehow, she felt the conversation was about her. Pupu must have stepped away briefly, as their conversation was casual.

“Doesn’t she have the most regulars, too?”

“What do you mean ‘most’? Don’t you know that big-shot shifter who used to give her huge tips hasn’t been coming lately?”

“Ah. I know who you mean. The tiger shifter, right? The one Jin tried so hard to meet but failed.”

“Yeah.”

Her heart thumped loudly. Could they know the tiger customer’s movements? Both the desire to listen and an inexplicable anxiety arose simultaneously. Her interlocked fingers tensed, with the overlapping joints locking more deeply. Her fingertips pressed tightly together.

“He’s not coming anymore?”

“I overheard Pupu mentioning it in passing. Said income has decreased a bit since he hasn’t come for over a month.”

“He must have tipped really well if Pupu would say that. But why isn’t he coming?”

“Isn’t it obvious? She must have made a mistake or wasn’t friendly enough. She trembles even in front of us, so how would it be different with a carnivorous shifter?”

Her jaw trembled slightly. As her own inadequacies surfaced, her face grew hot. Having failed to maintain proper conversation with the lion shifter today, that single remark settled heavily in her chest like a lead weight.

Splash.

Along with the sound of stepping in a puddle, Pupu’s voice was heard.

“Why are you standing out here?”

Tinya reflexively turned her head. At the same time, the voices flowing from inside cut off abruptly, as if a switch had been turned off.

“Ah. I just… just arrived.”

It came out like an excuse. Tinya entered awkwardly with Pupu, smiling uncomfortably. The office was unnaturally quiet. Sensing the strange atmosphere, Pupu frowned.

“Why is everyone so quiet?”

No one answered. Tinya deliberately averted her gaze and looked only at Pupu. Though she could feel their eyes on her back, she firmly set her jaw, deliberately ignoring their stares. Pupu looked at them with visible confusion, then dismissed it and sat down to give out the daily wages.

Click.

He opened a locked drawer with a key. From inside, he took out envelopes with names written on them one by one. The envelope on top had Tinya’s name on it.

“Here, Tinya.”

“Thank you. Have a pleasant evening.”

Tinya stuffed the envelope into her bag and quickly left the office. Splash, splash. The rain-soaked ground made squelching sounds beneath her feet. The puddles that spread like pressure under each step momentarily splashed up like tears before dispersing.

Her two hands were woefully inadequate to block the raindrops. The wet wind brushed directly against her face and forearms, and moisture seeped into her clothes.

‘…They weren’t bullying me; it was just talk behind my back. And they weren’t wrong…’

It’s fine. Just as it was fine when she was suddenly ostracized before. Nothing was different now.

Perhaps because the cold rain was wetting her face, her lips turned pale white. Or maybe it was because Tinya was biting her lips hard.

As she passed through the forest, Bell was nowhere to be seen. Either he had taken shelter from the rain, or he had successfully found his way today.

‘If it’s Bell, he must have taken shelter from the rain.’

It didn’t seem likely that his path-finding skills would improve in just one day. Tinya let out a small “hahaha” laugh. But she knew that her expression didn’t match her laughter at all. For some reason, she was acutely aware of the muscles in her cheeks. It was so awkward that her face gradually became expressionless.

‘It’s not like I want to be afraid.’

The suppressed excuse suddenly popped up in her mind.

The sinking of her heart and the trembling of her body were merely instinctive responses of a herbivorous shifter. It might be different if they were in human form, but when they approached in animal form, the sense of intimidation was different.

But she had never used that as an excuse to do her job poorly. Although she lacked the thick skin of other employees, she took pride in her brushing skills. Yet deep down, she was aware that she was doing a job that didn’t suit her. That’s why their words struck so sharply.

‘Even with the tiger customer, I only froze briefly when he appeared, but I never made mistakes.’

It was the same as the last time he came. Of course, there was no conversation between them that day either, and he didn’t look in the mirror, but that had always been the case. The tiger customer, who showed satisfaction through tips rather than words, had left a substantial tip that day as well.

…But was it just her delusion that he was satisfied? Perhaps the customer resented her for not saying a word of thanks despite receiving such a generous tip.

Come to think of it, she had once heard another employee boasting about receiving more tips after making an exaggerated show of gratitude to a colleague.

Was he displeased because she had never done that? But Leona had said he disliked noise, so she had deliberately remained quiet. Was she too inflexible? Should she have expressed gratitude, if not warmly?

Pitter, patter.

The sound of rain falling through the leaves seemed more sorrowful today. Tinya’s steps quickened slightly. As she left the forest and reached the paved road, her feet stopped.

Shifters with umbrellas could be seen everywhere. Among them, Tinya was the only one blocking the rain with bare hands. Her gaze naturally fell to the ground. Somehow, she didn’t want to see the figures holding umbrellas. Memories of being ostracized from the group crept up. She felt as if she had been left alone.

Just as her head was about to droop, the noisy raindrops suddenly stopped. She could still hear the sound of rain falling around her. Familiar shoes appeared in Tinya’s view. Her gradually widening eyes took in the shoes, then the familiar pants, and finally the face.

Though he wore his hat pulled down low and covered more than half his face with a mask, she couldn’t fail to recognize him. She would have known him instantly, even without the rabbit ears protruding from his hat.

“I thought you might not have brought an umbrella, so I came out just in case. Good thing I did.”

Tinya blinked slowly. She tried to answer, but her lips wouldn’t part easily. Whether due to the rainwater or not, the area around where Cher stood seemed particularly bright. Something quietly rippled near her chest.

“You didn’t bring one because it’s big, right? I should have bought you a folding umbrella last time… Are you crying?”

Cher, who had been nonchalantly scolding her, stopped speaking and cupped Tinya’s face with the hand not holding the umbrella. The moment his cold fingertips touched her, a surge of emotion welled up from within. It seemed like he was saying he had waited here for a long time with the umbrella for her to arrive…

The stress that had accumulated since the lion shifter and the held-back sorrow spilled over through her eyes. Somewhat flustered by the tears flowing down her face, Cher hurriedly wiped her eyes with his thumb.

“Why are you crying?”

“I’m, I’m not crying.”

Her voice was completely muffled.

“You are crying. What’s wrong? Is it because you got rained on? Are you sick somewhere?”

Cher placed his hand on her forehead. He seemed to be checking if she had a fever, but soon went back to wiping away the tears that were flowing like a waterfall. As his touch continued busily, Tinya became even more emotional and began to hiccup. Cher finally draped the umbrella carelessly over his shoulder and cupped Tinya’s cheeks with both hands.

“You need to tell me what’s wrong. Why are you like this?”

“It’s, it’s nothing.”

It’s not nothing. The scene of Tinya leaning against the bathtub, talking about reduced income due to the rainy season, flashed through Cher’s mind.

“Are you upset because you can’t work tomorrow due to the rain? Do you need money?”

“No. Just, just. sob… I remembered something, sad…”

When she finally began to heave her shoulders, Cher’s eyes darkened. This wasn’t sorrow from being unable to work. Something had happened at her workplace. Which bastard? A short curse caught in his mouth. He suppressed the rising irritation. First, he needed to get her home. She might catch a cold at this rate.

Cher firmly placed the umbrella in Tinya’s hand, then immediately picked her up. The eyes of the sobbing Tinya widened in surprise.

“Hold the umbrella tightly.”

With those words, he began running toward home with Tinya in his arms. When the weakly held umbrella threatened to fly away, Tinya belatedly tightened her grip. Due to the speed, the umbrella couldn’t fulfill its role properly and rain seeped through the gaps, but strangely, it didn’t feel as cold as before.