221 Inevitable Crash (13)

The next day, Iris decided to see Caron about that cooking practice, if she'd ever have the time for it. The woman suggested to do it right there and then. Iris was a little taken aback by Caron's eagerness, but it wasn't like there was anything to do at home. Lucy was still mostly out of it, just lying and crawling a bit, while Kyro was gone once again.

Thus, she spent around four hours at Caron's place, helping her make an extravagant lunch, by Iris' standard. There was cabbage soup for first meal, followed by a plate of boiled and crushed potatoes with cutlets cooked in the oven with melted cheese on top. On the side, there was a light salad that had a lot of green stuff Iris saw Caron pluck from her garden.

Everything looked beautiful when put together, and there was apple cake for dessert if anyone would still feel like it. Caron said that around this time, end of summer and start of autumn, she baked every few days since there were so many fresh apples falling all the time in the garden.

In the end, Iris sat for lunch with Caron and her husband, who was just as chatty as his wife. He tried to keep his image for a few minutes, but then lost it and started sharing everything he'd heard from the other men yesterday.

It was a peaceful meal, and Iris wondered if this how grandparents were like. She'd never met her own, so interaction with the older generations had been almost non-existent for her.

After the meal, she thanked them both and returned home to try and reproduce something of what she learned. It wouldn't be as grand, but she could do at least one of the three things, couldn't she?

Before she could start on it, though, her phone rang. She took it out to see that Lily was on the line.

"Hi, is—"

The girl didn't allow her to finish. "I didn't know who else to call," she sobbed. "Please, I need to get to the hotel. I must!"

"Lily, calm down. What's happening? What hotel?" Iris asked, her heart in her throat. Even as she asked, she knew that it had to have something to do with Gale. Nothing else could leave Lily like this.

"Brother… He…" The sobs turned into wails, making the girl's speech unintelligible. "I can't…."

Iris leaned back against the counter, trying to calm herself. It wouldn't be good if she panicked as well, especially when she didn't even know what was happening.

"Lily, take a breath and tell me what happened. I can't help you if you don't tell me what is going on."

"I don't know myself…" she whispered. "Brother left for some hotel, and he had a couple bags of white stuff with him. I-I'm afraid." The admission tore at the girl again, and she began crying once more.

She couldn't speak another word, but Iris could guess what was happening. There were only a few things that could be referred to as a 'bag of white stuff'. However, unlike the girl, she wasn't in total panic mode yet.

Would Gale really do something crazy to himself? It wasn't that rare for super party people to do drugs to enhance the experience. Iris had also been offered some on one occasion, but she hadn't felt the necessity for it to have fun.

"Do you know where exactly he left?" As doubtful as Iris was, she couldn't put the overdose behind Gale. He seemed unhinged lately, ready to do anything to distract himself. Or to endanger himself for the thrill of it.

On top of that, Lily wouldn't calm down unless she saw with her own eyes that her brother was okay. If Iris didn't help, the girl was certain to run away on her own.

"Yes, Blue Sunset Hotel. I heard him talking on the phone with someone," Lily said in a nasally voice.

Iris swiftly checked it out online and saw that it was a bit closer to her than to Lily, though it was far from both of them. 'I don't think it's a good idea to go there, but I can't let her go alone…'

She considered giving Kyro a call, then thought better of it. He had a million problems of his own; this wasn't the time to distract him. It wasn't like she couldn't go to a place on her own and return safely.

"Okay, then let's meet there. Don't go anywhere without me, okay?"

There was silence from the other end, then a muffled, "Okay."

"Right, then—"

"Don't be late!" Lily demanded, her voice growing strong for a fraction of a second.

"Promise," Iris swore. "I'm leaving right away."

And she really did that. Her online search had told her that Blue Sunset was a five star hotel with a top floor having a pool, bar, and best music around. It was a favorite for young men and women to have fun.

Iris had no clue how she might be allowed in there, but maybe something would come to her when she was there. It wasn't like she could leave Lily on her own. The option to tell her to calm down was impossible, after all. Who could relax when they've already seen their brother do crazy stunts, risking his life?

'Gale, you better be sober when we get there so I can give you a good talking down. You need a serious beating for making your sister worry for you so!'

( #`⌂´)/