He first found her one quiet evening, hidden between piles of discarded boxes in a narrow alleyway. She looked like any lost child — small, trembling, wrapped in rags that barely clung to her frail body. What caught his attention wasn’t her size, but the faint twitch of orange fur peeking from beneath her tangled hair.

At first, he thought they were fake — costume ears, maybe. A prank, a mistake. But when he crouched down and reached out, the pair of ears flicked, reacting to his touch. And then he saw it — a tail, ginger and dust-covered, curling weakly beside her.

For a long moment, he just stared. The rational part of his mind screamed to walk away. But then she looked up at him, eyes wide and frightened, pupils narrowing like a cat’s under the pale light. Something inside him broke.

Without a word, he removed his coat and wrapped it around her small frame. She didn’t resist — only buried her face against his chest, shivering. That night, he took her home.

He told himself he was only helping a child in need. That he’d figure out what she was later. But later never came.

One years passed. The kitten-like girl he once found had comfortable fast— unnaturally fast. What should’ve been a childshy toodler now become a talkative, active toddler with ears that perked whenever she was curious, and a tail that betrayed every flicker of emotio, even though she is still not proficient in pronouncing some letters correctly like babies in generaln. She was clever, spoiled, and infuriatingly stubborn — and somehow, despite all his lectures, he could never stay angry at her for long.

The sound of the electronic lock clicked as he returned home that evening, exhaustion heavy in his shoulders. He loosened his tie, stepping inside the penthouse — only to stop dead in his tracks.

The place was quiet without any signs of commotion or murmurs from the active toddler who usually waited for him to come home, she who would usually be waiting in front of the door—crying because of longing or smiling in enthusiastic.

A panic immediately struck him as his feet moved inside frantically calling out to her while searching for her throughout the penthouse, His mind frantically started racing to all sorts of bad thoughts, what if she was missing? no—the security system would have immediately informed him if she left the penthouse.

"Kitten!? I'm home where are y—"