The One after my Heart

12 hours earlier, Brooklyn, New York

The city of dreams. Heavily populated and diverse enough to make it a mocktail of various cultures.

Fast-paced and yet exhilarating. It was one of the most challenging cities one could ever live in, but if you could survive here, you'd be able to live anywhere else.

It was late December and, the winter snow had already long forced its way into the weather news. And yet, the hustle and bustle of daily lives on the criss-cross intersecting streets and dreams never diminished the splendor of the city's beauty.

Even though it was just another early morning with the sun handing out false promises of showing up, most of the residents were tucked into the warmth of their blankets and homes. Simultaneously, the more courageous preferred to embrace and adventure the magnificence of a cold, snowy morning by heading out as usual on the streets.

And what better way to start a morning than with some form of friendly activity or an exercise. Well, at least that's how Kyra preferred it. With her earphones plugged in, drumming out loud music in her ears, she just loved the feel of the snowy cold breezy morning air whipping at her face as she jogged and made her way on the streets of Brooklyn in her usual dark grey jogging outfit.

As an attractive young woman in her mid-twenties with an athletic figure, a bright face that formed dimples when she smiled, dark brown eyes that had a naughty twinkle in them, and sensuous kissable lips- she was quite the charming sight as she ran with her brunette hair tied up in a ponytail which was now bouncing in the cold wind.

One of her favourite routes was to run over the Brooklyn bridge along the way before making the loop back home. Others claimed it was too crowded with the occasional accident against speeding cyclists, but Kyra didn't mind. She loved to see the old and new faces, locals and tourists who were bustling about, the serenity of water view and sounds around- were something that calmed her mind and chaotic thoughts.

Kyra was an orphan who grew up with the graces of the local orphanage taking care of her. All that she knew about her family was that about her being abandoned by a young woman named Lianna Walker one night twenty-two years ago. She seemed to be on the run from something, and the authorities couldn't trace her later afterwords. Towards this not so promising mother of hers, Kyra had long given up all hopes as she realized and accepted the reality over her growing years.

As a young orphan, she often yearned for a family of her own. And despite the years and time toughening her up as she made herself independent today in this world, it was a secret wish buried deep down in the depths of her heart. Someday perhaps, she would have her own family and home.

But for now, her top priority was to save up enough money at the pub where she worked as a bartender. She planned to save up enough to buy a place of her own rather than relying on the mercy of her current landlord.

Oh, how she wanted to strangle that pot-bellied bald, middle-aged man named Tom who showed up at the start of every month with his yellow-toothed crooked grin. The way he leered at her making indirect rude suggestive signals as he stood at her doorstep, made it so much harder for her, testing the limits of her patience of not kicking him between his legs! If it weren't for the fact that rent was cheap, she'd have long left the place.

Her fanciful thoughts of kicking that disgusting pig and hearing his squeals put a small grin on her face as she found herself now walking back through the musty old lobby and climbing the familiar steps of her apartment. Her flat was a single bedroom with a quaint little separate kitchen and bathroom along with a small balcony that had a view towards the city. Compared to the surrounding real estate prices, this seemed a little reasonable, which is why she had stuck around until now. At least she had a roof over her head.

As she walked over to her familiar musty green painted old door pulling out her keys, she remembered she had two guests staying over temporarily, which put a small smile on her now sweaty face that seemed to be blushed light pink.

Her friend Maggie, who worked as the assistant chef at the same pub as Kyra, had left her two pets in Kyra's care just yesterday since she would be busy visiting her fiance's parents for the holidays. Since her future in-laws didn't like having any furry pets over; Maggie was left with no choice but to ask Kya to take care of them, to which the latter happily agreed.

'Well, good luck to her future, thought Kyra wryly. They'd known each other for about two years now and had become close friends.

It wasn't the first time Kyra was 'pet-sitting' or whatever one called them these days and doing her friend a favour, and besides, she loved the company of the two cute furry little friends. They were - 'Lucy' the white Norwegian forest cat, and 'Max' the Siberian grey husky with deep brown eyes.

But of course, Kyra had her own little nicknames for these two monsters over the years she knew them in private- 'Lucy Fur' -which was on purpose since it sounded like Lucifer and 'Wolfy' for the latter for his obvious looks. This cat was quite the devil, being moody and difficult to please at times.

"Alright Wolfy and Lucy Fur, it's time for breakfast", she hollered and whistled as she walked over to the kitchen. Max came bounding over to her, barking as he wagged his tail and gave her a few enthusiastic licks as she bent down to pet the adorable creature.

Kyra then noticed Lucy Fur slowly walked with her tail up in the air. And then stop at a distance from her giving her a look as though saying- 'Get on with it and feed us, lady.' Kyra could swear that's what it meant. As she bent forward with the intention of petting it, she found Lucy Fur trying to back away in alarm.

"Ohh.. I see you took your own time sweet cat-walking over and not even bothering to greet the owner of this house. And now you're giving me the attitude? How dare you?!", complained Kyra glaring at this furry cat in front of her.

Lucy Fur barely glanced at her and started licking her pink paws as though she wasn't bothered at all with this confrontation. Apparently, she was used to these small theatrics from this human by now.

Kyra was stunned at the indifferent expression. "Will you believe it when I say I won't feed you today?", threatened Kyra raising her voice as she glared at the indifferent cat.

Lucy Fur slowly looked up its paws and stared into her dark brown eyes, muttering a low 'meow' as though it were saying 'I dare you to, Meow-man.'

For a few seconds, the cat and the stubborn woman locked eyes in conflict. The skies would split, the earth would turn over before either of them backed down! The silence was deafening, with Wolfy in the background panting as he looked at them with a curious expression.

"Haa--forget it. I'm too busy to fight with you today," said Kyra exasperatedly as she gave up, throwing her hands in the air with a sigh.

Besides, Kyra didn't want her newly bought sheets, fluffy pillows, or her carpet shredded to bits when she came back from work. If there was one thing Kyra learnt from pets, it was to never leave a pissed off pet and leave home.

Hmm, that's right, she was looking at the bigger picture here, being the bigger being after all amongst the three, she thought as she nodded inwardly.

Lucy Fur seemed to have a smug victorious expression on its face and went back to licking its paws.

'Oh, one of these days I'm going to just squoosh and mush this cat like a cotton ball in my arms. Hehe, I refuse to believe you won't fall for this Queen's charms', thought Kyra wickedly to herself, secretly staring at that devilish cat from the corner of her eyes.

She poured out enough food and water for both in separate trays before fixing herself with a bowl of cereal and some grapefruit at the counter.

As she finished up, she looked at the time to check if she was running late and headed to have a shower. Thankfully both Lucy and Max were well-trained, so she didn't have to worry about a mess when she returned, as long as she had kept the bathroom door open for the pets while leaving.

Once she was done, she dressed herself up with a long-sleeved maroon checkered shirt and skinny black jeans as she threw on a red plush winter jacket, which she had received as a Christmas gift from Maggie last year. As she wore her jacket she remembered something and made a mental note for tonight after work. It seemed she had a little stitching to take care of.

As for makeup, she just applied a little powder and coloured her rosy lips with a light pink gloss. After making sure she had everything she needed in her handy purse along with her mobile phone, she went on to wear her comfortable cold weather boots that had fake faux-fur lining on them.

"Alright, Wolfy and Lucy Fur. I'll see you later. Be good now", bade Kyra goodbye to the two as she ran out before giving Wolfy a quick pat-rub and Lucy Fur a loud noisy flying kiss much to its displeasure, earning her an annoyed look from Lucy Fur.

Today was going to be a great day!