81 His Friends (14)

The time passes quickly when one is sleeping. When Kyro left, Iris felt like she hadn't rested in the slightest, so she turned on the other shoulder and fell asleep once more. By the time she got up, it was already midday.

Her stomach growled lightly, so she first visited her bowl of food, which had fresh insects Kyro hadn't forgotten to place for her. 'Thanks,' she muttered and ate a couple of them. The taste wasn't getting any better with time, but she was getting accustomed to it at least.

Lucifer was resting on top of sofa's backrest, but she didn't feel like annoying him for the moment. She was too lazy for such exercise so early in the day. Yawning, she instead turned on the TV and watched the wildlife channel that had a show about lions and their familial relations.

In no time, there was the sound of footsteps outside, and Iris ran over to welcome Kyro home after turning off the TV. He didn't need to know she had spent most of the day sleeping and the rest lazying about.

When the door opened, the man that entered didn't even bother to go down and pet her. He closed the door behind himself, threw off his shoes, and then went straight for the sofa. There, he fell like a log on his stomach, eyes closed.

'What the…'

She went over to check. Was he all right? It wasn't normal for him to be this lifeless when he returned from work.

Her action of sniffing around him didn't get any reaction out of him. He simply continued lying on the sofa, eyes closed, not having even bothered to change out of his suit. When she jumped onto his back, he waved slightly with one hand, but didn't even really reach for her.

"Go away, I want to sleep," he murmured, his voice muffled by the close contact with the sofa.

Instantly, a light bulb lit up above Iris' head. She finally understood what had happened. Unlike her, he hadn't had the time to sleep the whole morning away, but was actually forced to go to work.

'Poor soul,' she thought and lay down on his back. Might as well sleep a bit more, too.

Right when she was about to enter the dreamland, the doorbell rang. It was a loud, obnoxious sound, and she screamed at it to stop. When that didn't help, she screamed at Kyro to get up and do so. It wasn't easy to wake him, but she was already used to the endeavor.

With a bite to the ear, he was soon up and aware of what was happening. It didn't mean he was happy, though—judging by all the quiet muttering—but he moved toward the door. Since Iris had been forced up, she also went there to see who was interrupting their nap.

"Hey! What took you so long? I thought you were going to leave me standing outside till the morning!" Gale complained, pushing his way in. Kyro's freezing glare didn't seem to deter him in the slightest.

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to win over the fox, what else?" The way Gale said it, this was the only possible explanation and Kyro was being stupid for even asking that. "I got something nice and I'm sure it's going to work this time."

Kyro glanced at the bag in his friend's hand, then shook his head and went into the bedroom. "Suit yourself. Don't wake me till morning."

"What do you…" He wasn't able to finish because Kyro closed the door so none of them could enter and distract him again. "I see… So that's what everything was about. Oh well, who cares. So I heard your name is Iris?" he said, shifting his attention to her.

She watched him with weary eyes. Steal her away? Wasn't he a bit too brazen about that? But Kyro didn't seem worried, so this probably meant they were just playing around. Right?

"Iris, Iris, Iris! Come!" he called, the bag in his hand swinging right and left.

Its contents interested Iris, but she wasn't going to follow his every command just because he might have something tasty. Dealing with one person was quite enough for her. If she had to be nice and accepting of more people, her pride might not be able to stand it any longer.

"Really? You're not coming?" Gale looked dejected. "And here I rushed over right after my flight home. Well, I did visit the company, but this place was a close second," he swore. As he did it, he sat down on the ground cross-legged.

'And?' She sat down a meter or so away, watching him.

The man shook his blonde-haired head, his bangs flying everywhere. "You girls are all the same. Without expensive gifts, it's impossible to attract your attention. Come here now, look what I've got for you."

While speaking, he opened the bag and took out a carton box. Inside it, she could smell something she hadn't eaten as a fox. Tempted slightly, she took a couple steps forward, then clamped down on her eagerness and sat down again.

"Still resisting?" Gale laughed and extended his hand, but she was still too far and wasn't moving any closer. "Now, now, you even want me to unpack it before you come close? Your lack of interest is so hurtful."

He faked a wound to the heart, but since she wasn't amused, he returned to the carton box. "Fine, fine, give me a moment."

Iris waited. She could already smell what was inside, but it was better to see it as well.

Soon, the box was opened and she could see it bursting with burgundy-colored berries. They were large and ripe, right for the picking. The smell was also overpowering now that it escaped the confines of the box.

'Cherries...'

They never were her favorite berries, but it was a nice change once in a while. She often bought them when she got tired of all the others throughout the year.

She tiptoed to the box and, with a glance at Gale, stole one cherry. Like lighting, she ran away with it and lay down to eat it on the other side of the room. The taste was heavenly, and it was only enhanced by the thunderstruck expression of the man sitting next to the carton box.

He kept looking at her with disbelief written all over his face. "I've never had anyone accept my gift and run away this fast..." he murmured in wonder.