Chapter 9: 9.1

“Dummy…” Bai Yao is putting his hand on his forehead, “are you ok?”

The little sea otter slowly gets back up, probably still dizzy from the fall, before slowly shaking his head a little to indicate he’s fine.

He sure is pretty dumb, thinks Bai Yao as he heads to the kitchen for cleaning. The ‘plop,’ ‘plop’ sounds following him tells him all he needs to know.

So the sea otter has decided to cling to him, huh…

There are still some dirty dishes on the counter with leftovers from the customers; his trash can is also full right now, so he packs up the trash first before cleaning anything else.

The closest bin is behind the restaurant, so with two large bags in hand, Bai Yao pushes the backdoor open with his shoulder, and walks towards the bins.

The town doesn’t see a lot of rain, but today is one of the exceptions. The air feels moist and a little stuffy. One feels like they might evaporate and fade into the air while wading through.

After throwing the trash away, Bai Yao puts the lid back on and returns to the kitchen. Though when he pushes the glass door into the kitchen, he almost finds himself fuming at the scene.

The little sea otter has stretched himself thin with his webbed feet on the ground and standing on his ‘toes.’

Sea otters have short forelimbs, so he can’t quite reach the counter proper, and so he is extending his head as much as possible, with his paws holding onto the drawer handles. He has half a customer’s leftover baked cheese lobster in his mouth, while a few spring rolls are visible in the little pocket beneath his arm.

The lobster quickly ends up in his tummy, and he is still licking the plate, clearly finding it delicious. Then his nose starts twitching around, clearly smelling for more food about.

“Don’t eat those!” Bai Yao quickly walks over, and grabs the spring rolls emerging from the pocket of the little sea otter, “other people have eaten these! It’s unsanitary! Seriously, is your zodiac sign the dog?”

His tone is quite harsh, and he’s also completely confounded by how dumb this sea otter is being.

The little sea otter, with his food stolen, starts growling and even puffs up his fur a little. It reminds Bai Yao a little of animals protecting their food.

He can’t help but get even angrier seeing the sea otter unrepentant, and bares his teeth just like the sea otter does, and yells, “are you a beggar or what?!”

His tone is carrying a little of his imposing aura as a predator, like when a snow leopard is ready to pounce on a cashmere goat high atop the mountains.

The little sea otter seems to feel really wronged, lowering his head, welling up in the eyes, with his paws hanging low, rubbing together. He’s like a puppy who kept getting knocked on the head by the owner’s finger.

Great. One yell and the dumb sea otter is on the verge of crying.

Is he literally starving or what? He eats like a ghost died of hunger possessed.

Bai Yao glares at him, but his eyes relent soon enough. He doesn’t think he did anything wrong, but he does feel like he’s the bad guy in all this.

“Alright, alright, keep the tears to yourself. Just tell me if you’re hungry, but we can’t eat other people’s trash, ok?” Then he reheats some prawn and noodles he had in the fridge, also making some meal for himself as he haven’t eaten, before grabbing two sets of utensils and putting them on a dining table.

When the little sea otter sulkily follows after, Bai Yao finally remembers sea otters can’t hold chopsticks. In fact, he can’t even reach the dinner table.

So he gets the sea otter’s plate once more, and is about to ask how he wants to eat, when the sea otter takes the plate and puts it on the ground, sitting with his arse facing Bai Yao, to begin eating.

Throwing a tantrum, huh?

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Bai Yao is a bit pissed before, but now he’s just amused. He’s fun.

He sits at the dining table and finishes his own quickly, then starts playing with the sea otter for his dessert.

“Tasty?” Asks Bai Yao, while poking the sea otter’s tail with the tip of his shoe.

The sea otter ignores him while moving his tail and his body away.

Bai Yao smiles and watches him eat with his head resting on his arm. The sea otter doesn’t have a big mouth, so he is eating slowly. He finishes only about half of his meal after a long time.

He’s not just slow, but quiet. A sea otter pile that doesn’t move much, which actually looks a little pitiful from the back.

After the meal, Bai Yao gets up to tidy up the kitchen.

This is grueling work. He not only has to clean and decontaminate any used plates and dishes, but also take stock of all the vegetables and meat and fishes in his inventory, see if any have already gone bad.

Bai Yao wants his restaurant to be clean. Not just where the customers can see, but also the kitchen where he prepares the food. It takes him over two hours to finish cleaning and processing everything.

Outside the kitchen, he looks around, but doesn’t spot the sea otter immediately. He finds him after some time.

The sea otter has planted himself under a booth seat by the entrance. He’s rolled himself into a ball, and looking downright drowsy. He spots Bai Yao, and raises his head to wave his little paw for a little greeting.

It’s almost time for Bai Yao to sleep as well, and he’s quite tired, but he still has to think about the problem of sleeping.

He walks outside, and sees that there are still droplets of rain falling down every so often. There’s a consistent breeze, ringing his wind chimes continuously. The town has already gone quiet.

He never thought he’d be taking in a sea otter overnight; he’s sentient, so it’s basically the same as inviting a complete stranger into your house for a sleepover. Yet the brewing clouds and dark seas dissuade Bai Yao from telling the pile of sleepy fur under the table to leave.

Finally, Bai Yao shuts his entrance.

He just gave it a shower; he can’t possibly chase him out. It’s like a clean towel you just cleaned up – it took a lot of effort.

“Let’s go, we’re sleeping upstairs,” Bai Yao waves his hand in front of the sea otter before heading for the stairs.

Halfway up, he notices he hasn’t heard any footsteps, so he looks back and sees the sea otter on all fours at the base of the stairs, just staring at him. Seeing Bai Yao turn around, he immediately lifts himself up a little, putting his paws on the first step; he wants a lift.

Great. He’s spoiled him too much by carrying him, and he doesn’t want to walk.

Bai Yao sighs in defeat, and walks downstairs to carry the little sea otter up. He’s done a rough job by planting his arms right over his armpits, basically handling him like a big fluffy doll.

A few steps later, though, he notices the sea otter is very nervous, all tensed up. Bai Yao is tall, and the little sea otter is only hanging on by the arms. He is looking between where he is and the ground, and squeaks while turning around to plant his head on Bai Yao’s shoulders, unmoving.

Bai Yao is a little amused, but after the chuckle, he changes the posture to support the sea otter on the back, and hugs him closer to his chest. Now the little sea otter is lying in his lap. He’s warm and soft, and smells of citrus.

Honestly, it only makes him feel more like a clean animal doll.

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