Stardust (noun): a naively romantic quality

There was a pair of cats on the university campus.

A lot of people joke about how the student relationships don’t last nearly as long as the bond between the two cats, and quite frankly, it was true.

The two of them arrived on different days, the tortoise-shell taking over the university cafeteria before its Siamese partner showed up with an offering. Ever since the Siamese cat flirted with the gift of a brown button, they haven’t separated from each other’s sides.

They became the icons of school within a single day. Everyone spoke of the two cats, one brown and elegant, the other fluffy and white, traveling across the landscape together with their tails entwined. They lived a romance story, one that the students themselves could not replicate.

The cats were old now, their whiskers painted white and their pelts growing more matted. They used to frolic about the campus gardens, burying their noses in rose bushes and scattering pink petals all around, but now they simply nap together in the library on sunny afternoons.

The world seemed simple through their eyes.