177 Lily (13)

Everything had to happen for a reason. It couldn't be that the change was due to random chance. After all, Iris had tested it once and changed upon a jump scare. It was fear that was the trigger. She was certain of it.

Yet here she stood, human. It was an undeniable fact that she hadn't changed, and she had been scared out of her wits in the taxi, once she realized the gravity of what had happened.

"Am I dreaming?" She thought back to the ride, the excruciating experience of saying it's all fine when all she wanted to do was run away screaming and hide in some corner. It was impossible that a dream would create such vivid imagery of her last hour. There wasn't a moment missing, and no teleportation involved.

Taking in a shaky breath, she returned to the sink and splashed her face with cold water. "You're fine. It was just a little scare. What are you so concerned about?"

It took a lot of effort to push out the creep's nasty face from her mind. The image of him holding her still, unable to move seemed to be imprinted in her memory.

"Stop it!" she shouted out in a whisper at herself. "You're better than this. You need to call Kyro and tell him what happened. Without causing a scene. Enough of this scaredy cat act."

The pep talk didn't manage to make her relax and forget, but she did gain enough calmness to call Kyro. He didn't answer, though. The call rang for a good minute without any response.

Iris' mental preparations fell flat on their face, and she looked down at her phone with a strange annoyance. What was it good for if she couldn't reach the person she wanted when there was a need? This was no different from when she didn't have this piece of—

A ringing stopped her inner rant, and Iris quickly picked up the call.

"I'm in a meeting. Did something happen?" Kyro asked, his voice low and hurried.

Feeling instantly guilty for having interrupted him, Iris bit her lip. She didn't want to be a burden to him. "Sorry. Just wanted to say that we met a weird man in the mall. He stopped me and told me to hand over Lily."

"Are you okay?" His voice didn't change, but his words warmed Iris' heart.

"Yeah. I brought Lily to your place and she's sleeping peacefully now. It's all fine now. Sorry for interrupting."

"My place?" There was a little surprise in his tone, but he didn't give her a lot of time to ponder about it. "All right. Stay there."

And then he dropped the call. Iris pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it, blinking a couple times to make sure she hadn't imagined anything. Kyro had really disappeared on her just like that. It wasn't much, but his abruptness was a little jarring. Did it take that much time to say bye?

'People are waiting for him at the meeting, so of course it matters.' She shook her head at herself and ventured into Kyro's bedroom out of habit. There was a tail peeking out from under the bed, and she bent down to call His Sulking Majesty out.

Lucy was quite unhappy at being dragged out again and even snarled at Iris. She swiftly released him, barely avoiding sharp claws coming for her hands. The cat snorted at having missed, then returned to his hiding place under the bed.

Alone, Iris sat down on the bed and stared out the window. It was beautiful outside, but it somehow seemed mocking to her now. The air around her seemed cold and frigid, filled with a sense of dread she couldn't place.

Well, she could, but she didn't want to do it. The reality she knew didn't align with what she had experienced today. Logic told her that it was nothing, that it was just a small bruise, but the muscular man's dismissive stare was etched into her mind.

In his eyes, she could see him beating her into a pulp for sport.

At this moment, she realized just what kind of sheltered life she had lived when this kind of small thing could leave her this shaky. In all twenty-three years of her life, she hadn't seen violence once. Of any kind.

Her aunt was a robot-like willowy woman that believed in letting children do whatever they want, for the most part. The school Iris went to was in a good part of the city, and there hadn't been any fights in her vision. Only once she heard that some classmate of hers broke someone's nose, but it was just a rumor. She didn't know if that had really happened.

Besides that, she had spent most of her time at home, watching various dramas and reading. The only times she went out was to go to university or a few cafes nearby. Since she went out with her friends during the day, they had never encountered any creeps or even drunks.

A sudden noise woke Iris up from her musings. The apartment's door opened, and a chill seeped into her bones. It couldn't be that man, could it?

For a moment, she didn't dare to move, fear coursing through her system. Then, she remembered that Lily was in the living room.

Without a moment's thought, she rushed out of the bedroom, her hands in fists. She didn't know what she could do, but she had to try and protect Lily. Only that mattered.

"I ca—"

Before the words could register, Iris rammed into the person that had already walked through half the room. Not having counted on him having moved from the door yet, she wasn't able to stop her momentum.

Two strong arms caught her, and she looked up into Kyro's dark eyes. They were such a welcome sight, her mind turned off. She wrapped her hands around him, not caring what he might think about it. His familiar presence was like a healing salve to her soul.

Now she could believe that everything would be fine.