Life running a cat shelter was mostly about washing the smell of cat food out of your clothes and cleaning litter boxes. It wasn't a glamorous thing to do. Seona didn't mind the dirty work one bit. She had always loved cats, and spent years begging her mother to let her have her very own kitten. She had always said no. Maybe this was her way of rebelling, Seona thought.

It was all worth it at the end of the day, when she got to visit each pen and cuddle the cats. By then, their bellies were full and they were warm and content, and most of them welcomed the interaction. Sure, there were a few who didn't enjoy it, but most of them came round eventually.

Except for Wilcox. Wilcox had been at the shelter longer than any other cat. He was an enormous tom, black as tar, with huge yellow eyes which would stare at you expressionless until you tried to pet him, whereupon they would flash with a rage fit for Lucifer himself. Seona had been on the receiving end of his claws way too many times now, and she had the scars to prove it. He hated everyone. Seona would watch him pace the cage, fur prickling, growling low in his throat. She often fell asleep at night worrying that it wasn't fair, keeping him in this life the way he was. Perhaps he would be happier if they let him go, a quick injection and then he'd know no more of this stress and frustration. She'd even booked him in with the vet a couple of times, but when it had come to it she just couldn't do it.

As she locked up that night and headed for home, she thought about Wilcox again. Who would ever want him? He was never going to be a family pet. He could barely tolerate being touched. And he wasn't any good as a mouser, either - he was far too lazy for that. He would just spend his days perched on the cat tree glaring evilly at anyone who passed. It was hard enough to find black cats a home - they were passed over more than any other colour - but for this one, it was proving impossible.

Seona was still mulling over the tom's fate when she arrived home and pulled into her driveway. She held a takeaway in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other. It had been a long day, and she couldn't be bothered to cook. With a loud sigh, she kicked off her shoes and collapsed on the sofa, bringing up her emails to read as she ate her noodles.

"Bill… bill… begging letter… request for help… bill…"

Every day it was the same. All the things she had to pay for - cat food, heating, cleaning products - the bills came rolling in, interspersed with emails from people complaining about their cat's behaviour, wanting to know how they could stop them knocking things off tables, chewing wires, crapping on the carpet. People asking her to come and collect their kitty now, they couldn't take being woken up at 5am any more, or their child was bored with it.

You needed the patience of a saint in this job. Some of these people made Wilcox look like an angel.

There was another email, too, simply titled "Invitation". Seona opened it hesitantly, wondering if it was spam.

"You are cordially invited to the R.F.A. party. This is the organisation's first party after the introduction of a new member. We hope it to be a meaningful event, as after Rika's passing, we considered another party impossible. We request the pleasure of your company and hope you grace the occasion with your presence."

The email gave a date and time - just over a week away - and was signed by Jumin Han, the well-known corporate director of C&R International. An extremely wealthy young man who was known to adore cats. Seona felt a frisson of excitement shoot through her belly. If this invite was genuine, it could provide a much-needed connection to funds for her shelter. Maybe Mr Han would want to become a patron? She quickly dashed off an email to the contact RSVP address provided, asking questions to ensure that the party was for real. Then she blocked out a space in her diary, just in case.

That night, she slept better than usual, with none of her usual nightmares.

There was another email the following evening. This time, it had been sent by someone calling themselves "MC". They had answered Seona's question enthusiastically and hoped that she would choose to attend the party. Seona sent back another question. You couldn't be too careful, and while she'd heard of Jumin - who hadn't - she had no idea who this MC was.

Still, she started looking online for dresses. She hadn't been to a fancy party since her graduation six years previously, but she doubted that jeans covered with cat hair would be an acceptable outfit. More money she really couldn't afford - but she hoped that it would pay off in the long term, if she could get Jumin Han on board. It was worth a try.

Another email. More questions answered. MC was still trying hard to persuade Seona to attend. Seona thought she probably would, but sent one final question to be answered. Then she bought the dress she'd had her eye on the day before. Floor-length, fitted to the waist with a corset top, in the deepest, richest shade of purple she thought she'd ever seen. It was ridiculously extravagant but it was beautiful, and she desperately wanted it. Besides, it matched her hair.

Five more days until the party. Seona felt a twinge of nerves. She wasn't good at meeting new people - she tried hard, for the sake of fundraising, but in all truth she preferred the company of the cats to humans. Still, a few glasses of wine and she could manage. She hadn't told anyone else at the shelter about it yet, and wondered how the staff would react. No doubt there would be some jealousy there - Jumin was a well-known eligible bachelor, and she thought she remembered that the famous actor Zen was a member of the fundraising organisation too. He was in all of the magazines, and was widely considered to be a celebrated beauty. She couldn't see it herself, but she was pretty sure that Yuna - one of the volunteers at the shelter - had a huge crush on him, and had been to see all of his musicals.

The following day was a particularly busy one. They had three cats come through intake - one that had been hit by a car and had been patched up at the local vets, but nobody had claimed him. He wasn't in a good way, and needed a special pen where he could be kept comfortable and not be able to jump too high. Another was a stray, picked up on the streets of Seoul, filthy and skinny with tangled fur. The third was a fat house cat, whose owner had passed away. Seona felt sorry for them all, but the bewildered cries of the lost and confused house cat stayed with her all evening. Even another email from MC couldn't shake her out of her dark mood.

It was why she never had a cat of her own to come home to. She lived alone, and didn't want to risk the poor soul being abandoned if something happened to her.

At least the email was cheerful and bright, MC's words of encouragement helping her to make the decision to attend the party. She so rarely went out anywhere that it would be nice to get dressed up and be social for once. And if it brought funding their way in the future, all the better. That night, Seona dreamed of going into business with Mr Han, opening the biggest and most lavish cat shelter that the country had ever seen. She woke smiling with a spring in her step, for once feeling positive about the future.