165 Lily (1)

For the rest of the day, Kyro saw little of Iris. She came out to eat lunch and dinner, but her eyes weren't on him. She swiftly finished her meal and disappeared back into her room.

At first Kyro thought she was just embarrassed, but why was she hiding from him for the whole day? Did she gain some self-preservation instincts? Somehow he doubted that.

The evening proved him right. As if nothing was wrong, she waltzed into his room in her flimsy pajamas when he was about to turn off the lights. Her clothes revealed more than hid, but she didn't seem to be aware of anything.

Grabbing onto Lucy, who was already lying on the bed, she said, "I'll be taking him tonight!"

"You do know he's used to sleeping here?"

"And I'm used to sleeping with him," she retorted while trotting out.

It brought back a lot of memories which Kyro had a hard time suppressing. He could just remember turning around to see her having changed yet somehow not aware of it. For a fraction of a second, she'd been on full view, even if the room was dark.

"Damn," he cursed and turned off the lights. This was getting under his skin way too much. He needed to get himself under control.

The next morning, he was woken up by someone shaking his shoulder. He cracked his eyes open, thinking to smother anyone who dared to wake him up earlier than necessary.

"Your alarm kept on ringing," Iris said, stepping away. She quickly ran out of the room after that, and Kyro covered his eyes from the light around. He had work today, so he should focus on that. It was more important.

He then did as he said. After a quick breakfast, he left for the company and buried himself under his documents. There was the whole fiasco with Brons' mistake, and they needed a new plan. A number of suggestions were on his table, but he didn't think any of them was reasonable when based on the level of the problem.

Everyone was acting as if the sky was falling when it was just a misstep. They could regain their lost ground in no time if they didn't blow up the problem. However, everyone seemed to be influenced by his supposed hate for Brons and thought they needed to do triple the damage control necessary to make sure everything went smoothly.

'Why do they all worry for him so?' Kyro wondered, putting all the suggestions away. Not one of them could be taken.

"Mr. Hemming, Frank Brons from marketing is here. Do you wish to meet him?" Lara asked after slightly opening his door.

Raising his head, Kyro saw the man in question. Frank was standing by the secretary's desk, looking calm and composed. It was hard to tell what was on his mind.

'And now the culprit himself comes over for a chat?' Kyro leaned back in his chair and told Lara to let him in. There might be something interesting in Frank's excuses.

"Sit down," Kyro told him, and Frank came closer, sitting down in the chair. Up close, Frank didn't seem as collected. His right hand kept beating a rhythm on his knee as he looked around then focused on Kyro.

"I've come to apologize for my mistake. It was a genuine misread of the situation," he said in a level voice.

Kyro watched him for a moment, giving him time to get uncomfortable. "And you came to me because?"

"What do you mean because? I want to keep this job, so I came to apologize."

The beat of Frank's fingers became faster, but he didn't stop. It was strange, and Kyro wondered if this was a fake reaction. How could someone like him not have gotten rid of such an obvious tell?

"If all employees came to me after their every mistake, wouldn't my office get pretty crowded?" Kyro smiled slightly, but his expression held no humor. "Why are you really here, Frank?"

The man hesitated for a moment, then stood up and came to rest his hands on the desk, leaning toward Kyro. "I know that you hate and fear me, but I'm not here to exact revenge, whatever your diabolical mind might be telling you. All I want is a stable living for once."

"And you came to MY company for that?"

Frank's logic had more holes than a sieve. 'Did he watch too much TV and think I'll just believe him because he said he didn't come here to destroy me?' But that was too childish a game. Frank was naive, but not stupid. At least not to this degree.

"I didn't want to come, but I was told that you no longer blamed me. Your company presented me an opportunity I hadn't received for years, and I decided to take a chance. Fool me, huh? I thought you were human and could let go of the past."

'Human?' It had been a while since Kyro had heard this insult. It brought memories of when the Brons family learned of their end. For a time after that, all he heard was that he was a monster and devil spawn.

Frak's face twisted at that moment, pain coming into his voice. "I know why you did what you did, but your revenge was too excessive. My brother was a bastard, but you never touched him, did you? You destroyed us, the rest of the family that had nothing to do with what happened.

"Did you know that my father took his life soon after the event? My mother then went mad, unable to bear the loss of all her life. One moment she was a respected matron, one with a happy family, plenty of money, and good social standing, and the next her husband was dead and her fortune gone with mountainous debts piling up into the sky. As someone who was born a princess of the family and didn't know a hard day in her life, she broke under the pressure.

"I sometimes visit her at her parents, but I don't see my mother there. The woman I meet is just a shell without a soul, something broken beyond repair."

This was something Kyro hadn't known. After the whole affair, he was too annoyed that there was no satisfaction to his success. All he felt was a momentary crude joy, and then it was gone, leaving behind an emptiness inside of him. Once the goal was achieved, he didn't know where to go and what to do next. He wasn't in the right frame of mind to realize the repercussions of his actions.

Which were way worse than he could have ever thought. For a fraction of a second, he closed his eyes, regretting his choices, but it was something in the past. All he could do now was to make sure not to repeat those mistakes. That was the only thing in his power.

And so he didn't let anything show on his face. If Frank wanted pity, Kyro wasn't going to be the one to give it to him.

"That's all?"

"You don't care one bit, do you?" Frank laughed bitterly, tears almost in his eyes. "I thought this might happen, but I was having a hard time believing someone could be this heartless. You probably already knew of my family's situation and didn't give a damn, didn't you? What does it matter to you that we almost starved to death at one point when no one came to help us, afraid of Gale standing behind you?

"And to think I once considered you a pretty cool guy, telling mother how you were going to go far. Ha! I wasn't wrong in that, was I?"

Kyro was used to dismissing words that were meant to strike him down. There were simply too many people in his circles that were envious of his success, of his achievements to pay any attention to their nonsense.

But this was a bit different. Collateral damage was always the worst, and here he knew he'd done a monumental mistake. Although Brons family didn't consist of saints, they weren't any worse than most families of their standing. They were just unlucky to end up in his way.

"You're making quite a bad case for yourself, Frank. You come in saying you don't want any revenge yet you proceed by explaining to me just how much you hate me."

Disgust showed up in Frank's expression at that moment. "I hate you, and it's never going to change. You destroyed my family. But I'm not stupid enough to court death by raising up against you. I have neither the funds nor the backing to face you. Not that I could ever outsmart you anyway.

"So sit on your bloody throne and don't look for me. I'll work to the best of my ability for the sake of my family and not get in your way. You're welcome." He then smiled mockingly and left the office.