Kirika had expected a lot of things to be waiting for her when she got off work, but not this. 

She'd expected the harsh cold breezes that accompanied the winter, although it was still not cold enough for it to snow, but only for some fat, freezing drops to leak from the clouds. She'd expected her friend to be outside waiting for her to finish her shift, working only a few meters away, but she wasn't. She'd expected the same group of boys to be waiting for her as there always was; the same idiots from her university that would try their terrible pick up lines on her and tell her she looked beautiful, even though her hair would be a mess from rushing around taking orders all day, but they weren't. She'd expected her manager to ask her if she could work overtime, again, or if she could fill someone else's shift - not that they ever filled in for her - but her manager did not ask and Kririka did not offer.  

What she hadn't expected was a tiny, shivering ball of fur to be asleep outside. 

Kirika had found him under the bench, just outside of the cafe she worked part-time in. She watched the cat for some time. She noted the way he would flinch in his sleep, the way his ears would flick at every noise. He was a scrawny little thing, which was obvious when his fur was so wet. She imagined him to be a fluffy cat, when his fur was all dry. But right now, his fur stuck closer to his body, wet, revealing just how skinny the cat was. She wondered when the last time it ate was, after deciding from the lack of a collar and how skinny it was that it was most likely a stray. Careful not to wake him