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The longer you interact with cats, the more deeply you realize that a kitten’s love resembles adult love. Kittens hardly experience “love at first sight”—they’re all about “love that grows over time.” Never imagine that bringing a kitten home and providing food and water will make it love you immediately.
A kitten’s love begins with 试探 (tentative steps). They cautiously hide under the bed, gauging your attitude and trying to fathom your intentions. When does a kitten fall in love with you? The kitten doesn’t know. Does a kitten love others? The kitten isn’t sure either.
It only knows that when it mustered the courage to approach you for the first time, you happily accepted its closeness. When it made a mistake for the first time, you scolded it but didn’t truly hit it. The first meal it ate was fragrant cat food, safe and harmless.
The kitten saw you diligently cleaning its excrement, furrowing your brows as you carefully researched cat food brands, and handling it with such care to avoid hurting it. It also noticed that when it tried to snuggle against you, your voice instantly became soft and high-pitched, your eyes sparkled uncontrollably, and your smile grew exaggerated.
A kitten loves you because you first gave it love and patience, because your actions made it feel at ease and warm. A kitten’s love is built on those dedicated behaviors. If you betray its trust at the start—taking out anger on it or withholding care—it will alertly run away.
So, the love you receive from a kitten is the result of its tiny walnut-sized brain thinking: “In many lonely nights, I will jump onto their lap, curl up my soft, warm body, purr gently, let my little nose breathe softly against their heart, and let my tiny heart thump—playing a quiet, powerful, reassuring drumbeat for them in the stillness of the night.”
The human is happy. The kitten is happy too. They enter a pact to bring happiness to each other.
What a beautiful thing.
