Margot is a 20-year-old college student who works at an art-house cinema. There, she meets a 34-year-old customer named Robert, and begins to flirt with him at the concession stand. He returns to the cinema another week, and asks Margot for her phone number.
The two continue their courtship via text message, discussing the kinds of banal subjects that tend to characterize the early stages of any 21st-century flirtationship. They discuss their cats, lending the story its title. Robert has two cats, Mu and Yan, and Margot had a cat in her childhood named Peta. As a gesture of endearment towards one another, they sometimes discuss how they feel by using their cats' names instead of their own—"Mu feels sad when Peta goes with Yan."
During the reading period at Margot's school, Robert meets her at a 7-Eleven to buy her snacks. Her crush develops further, but it really incubates when she returns home for the holidays, texting Robert nonstop the whole vacation.
When she's back on campus, she and Robert meet up again. They see a movie together, but their chemistry isn't quite the same. Despite the absence of that romantic spark, Robert takes Margot out for drinks. There, he learns that she's younger than he'd imagined. Margot is offended by how he reacts, and is on the verge of tears when Robert kisses her.
They throw back several drinks before heading back to Robert's house. His room is decent, and Margot is relieved, though she notes the jarring absence of a bed frame. They have sex on Robert's mattress, but in the process, Margot realizes that she's truly uncomfortable with him. Whether it's the age gap or his inability to live up to the fantasy version of him she'd imagined, Margot finds herself unenthusiastic about the sexual encounter. Afterwards, Robert discusses his feelings for Margot in uncomfortable detail. On the drive home, she realizes she is not interested, and decides not continue the relationship.
For the next several days, Margot misses the fantasy version of Robert she had invented in her mind, but knows she is not attracted to him in real life. With the help of her roommate, Tamara, Margot finally breaks it off—via text, of course. A month later, she sees Robert in a bar, and her friends escort her out dramatically. Robert texts her that evening to say he misses her. She does not respond, and in her radio silence, Robert's texts get increasingly hostile, eventually crescendoing: "Are you fucking that guy right now..." "Answer me" "Whore."
