Eventually, I decided enough was enough. If he wanted to ignore me, then I would ignore him too. I have dignity. At least a little.
Whenever I walked past his window and saw him sitting there, I immediately looked away. Not a glance. I would walk straight ahead as though he didn't exist.
As though we had never spent months exchanging slow blinks across an HDB corridor.
Of course... Using the corner of my eye, I could still see everything. I could see him watching and his eyes following me. I could see him waiting. Expecting me to come over and to scratch his neck.
Me to forgive him, but I didn't.
I let him wonder. Let him reflect upon his actions and let him sit on his expensive cat tree and think about what he had done.
After all, I was merely pet sitting. The other cats had sat on my lap voluntarily. Surely that was not a crime.
Then came Saturday morning. I was leaving for my regular morning walk when I saw him. Sitting there. Waiting. As though nothing had happened.
Our eyes met. Neither of us looked away.
For a few seconds, we simply stared at each other. Then...He blinked. Slowly. Deliberately.
I froze, because cat people know, that blink means something.
So I blinked back. Slowly. Deliberately. He blinked again. I blinked again.
And just like that, a diplomatic negotiation was taking place without either party speaking a single word.
Blink.
Blink.
Blink.
Peace talks successful. No apology or explanation. No discussion about the three cats. Just a blinking session. That was all it took.
I walked over. He remained where he was. No hissing. No running away ordramatic behaviour.
Instead, he stretched out his paw towards me and I reached out and touched it gently.
Aaaah. Still soft. Ridiculously soft.
The sort of softness that instantly destroys every principle you claimed to have.
Then came the final gesture. He stretched out his long orange neck.
The invitation.
The request.
The official approval for petting to resume. I began rubbing his neck. Massaging under his chin. Scratching behind his ears.
And then... Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
There it was.
The sound.
The glorious sound, I had missed.
Honestly, cat purring must be one of the most satisfying sounds on Earth.
You hear it and suddenly everything seems better.
Stress disappears.
Life feels simpler.
The world makes sense again.
And as the purring continued, I knew.
Everything was forgiven and forgotten. The betrayal and the hissing. The silent treatment. The emotional damage. Gone.
Reduced to nothing by one blinking session, one soft paw, one fluffy orange neck, and a very powerful purr, because that is the thing about cats.
No matter how determined you are to stay angry.
No matter how much dignity you think you have.
The moment they start purring...
They win.
Every single time. 🧡🐱
October 2026
