This morning in Toronto, the sky glows with shades of pink and orange. Sunlight gently brushes Leo awake. He opens his eyes slowly and realizes that today is Saturday.

Nina, his white tabby cat with emerald-green eyes that look as though they were outlined with kohl, jumps onto the bed and greets him with a meow that sounds like a mix between “Good morning” and “I’m hungry.”

Leo scratches her chin as he gets up, then glances out the window. The tips of the skyscrapers sketch the city’s horizon.

His work phone is switched off, and it will stay that way until Monday. Today, Leo will take the same subway he always does, but for a very different reason: to devote his time to what he loves most, volunteering to help stray dogs and cats.

He had started years earlier, when he found Nina frightened and lost beneath a sign marking the construction site of the new subway line. A 15.6-kilometre metro line, more than half of it running underground, with 15 stations crossing the heart of Toronto and connecting the Ontario Science Centre to Exhibition Place in less than 30 minutes. Among the many names displayed on that sign, Leo remembered reading, with a touch of pride, the name of an Italian company: FS Engineering, which continues to export the excellence of Italian engineering around the world, providing advanced technical and design expertise for the development of a key piece of infrastructure for Toronto’s metropolitan transportation system.

Back then, his parents in Italy did not yet fully know who he was. Then Nina arrived to help him: a frightened little cat whose eyes looked uncannily like his own. She had stared at him and understood everything without a single word. In truth, Nina had welcomed him long before he welcomed her.

Thanks to that unconditional love, Leo found the courage to embrace who he was, to introduce himself honestly to his friends and family, and to build a life in this immense city, so far from the small town where he was born.

Years earlier, on that street beside the construction site, Leo and Nina had saved each other. The subway, just like that cat, had given him a second chance, a new beginning in a city that now truly felt like home.

Suddenly, he pulls himself away from his thoughts and returns to reality. Today is going to be a great day: he has to accompany a kitten to its forever human. He fixes his hair, which seems redder than usual, slips on a pair of sneakers and a comfortable tracksuit, and picks up the pet carrier. At Flemingdon Park Station, he heads down the stairs with a confident stride and reaches the platform in moments. He takes a seat, checks on his precious passenger, then looks at the address: Ontario Place. He relaxes and enjoys the ride as the train glides smoothly along its route. Just a few years earlier, that journey would have been a nightmare, even on a Saturday. Toronto could be incredibly chaotic. Leo had never liked driving, and cycling was never really his thing, especially during the Canadian winter. That subway line had truly transformed the way he experienced the city, making it feel even more like his own.

When he arrives, the emotion is overwhelming. He knocks on the door, and the young woman who answers seems just as excited as he is. They step inside and, together, help the kitten out of the carrier, allowing him to explore, settle in, and find his place. A four-month-old ginger kitten who, despite his young age, has already seen too much of the world. Leo has cared for him until today, until this very moment. “Alright,” he says at last. “I should get going. Take good care of him... um... what are you going to call him?” The young woman looks at him, a shy smile forming on her lips. “Leo,” she says. “I’m going to call him Leo.”