119 Missing (14)

The day was a long one. Kyro busied himself with stuff at the company, but he couldn't push away the thought that something was wrong. Why was the girl not back yet? Why did she take Lucy if she wasn't coming back? It had been three days already.

His phone rang, but it was just Gale. "Hey, can you do me a favor? Take the meeting tomorrow."

"Won't they be expecting you?"

"That's part of the reason why I want you to take over. It'll thrown them off. Besides, something came up. I need to leave the city for a day."

"Fine, I'll have Lara get the documents."

They said their goodbyes, and Kyro checked the time - five in the afternoon. He should be going home now, but the emptiness there was disconcerting. He didn't want to stay around there and reminisce about things that might be gone.

Luckily, there was always stuff to do at the company. He signed Sheila's promotion, read through the updates regarding their new product, and then picked up the reports about Brons.

The man seemed to have integrated himself into the old men ruled marketing department with ease. They were all throwing heaps of praise on him, saying he was exactly what they needed. A couple of his ideas had already been implemented, and they were well-accepted by the public.

'It's clear that he won't do anything just after joining, but which one of his ideas later will be the poison to topple us? Will anyone notice it?'

The likeliness of that was minimal, when everyone saw the person as someone with limited ambitions. From experience, Kyro knew just how simple it was to trip up a company when everyone thought you were working for its good. As long as you placed enough evidence to support your claim that a horrible idea was good, they wouldn't doubt you.

Once he was done with his trip down memory lane, he began examining some other reports. There were plenty of them to occupy his time, and he soon lost himself in his work.

By the time he resurfaced, it was already past midnight. His office was almost black, and he blinked a few times to adjust to the dim light. With a shake of his head, he rose and moved to stand by the window behind him.

From the seventieth floor, the whole city seemed to be within his reach. Yet there were so many dark corners under the light. Everything below was lit up—lamp posts, car lights, rainbow-colored signs—but instead of giving him a better view, they were blocking his sight. He felt like there was a screen of light keeping him away from seeing what he wanted.

"I need sleep," he muttered to himself.

After closing up and locking everything, he went to the underground garage to get his car. It was raining heavily and home still didn't sound inviting, so he first went to eat at a random place on the way.

At 3 am, he finally got himself near his apartment. After driving in, he left his car below and went up to the dark and empty house. What the hell was the girl doing? Why was she not back yet? Did she think he'd be more eager to welcome her if she took longer?

Just as he thought that, his house phone rang. It was from the security.

"Mr. Hemming, sorry to bother you, but there's a young woman waiting for you. We normally wouldn't trouble you with this, but she's been sitting near the gates for a couple hours now, and when we tried to shoo her away, she kept saying that she has you cat."

His heartbeat quickened. "Does she?"

"She came with a large black cat. Is—"

"Don't let her leave!" Kyro shouted out into the phone and ran out of his apartment.

Could it really be her? What was she doing not in her fox form? Worry that this was just a scam wormed into his heart, but he chased it away. The important thing was to check it out and see. Once he went there, he would see it for himself and know.

The distance to the gates had never seemed so long to him. Wasn't it just a couple steps away? Why was it taking forever to reach them?

He didn't know what he'd have to do if she left.

The gates were already open when he reached them, and he dashed right through, with barely a nod to the guards. They were standing in the doorway of their building, not wishing to get outside into the pouring rain.

Kyro stopped outside, looking left and right, but there was nothing to see. Could the girl have already left?

A curse was about to leave his mouth when he saw a small form huddled up against the wall. With trepidation, he came closer, not certain what he was hoping to see.

It was the girl. She sat with her knees halfway drawn up, leaning over them as she shivered from the cold. Dressed in an oversized shirt and pants that were three sizes too large for her, she wasn't weathering the rain well.

When he came over, she raised her head up, and a smile bloomed on her face. "You're here," she whispered in a barely audible voice, then slightly straightened up, revealing a dark shape on her knees.

Noticing his gaze locking onto the cat, she said, "I tried keeping him out of the rain as much as I could, but…" She laughed in a self-deprecating manner. "This is all I could do for him."

The cat then raised its head, and Kyro instantly recognized its blue-eyed stare.

All his fury was thrown out the window at that moment, and he bent down to pick up the black demon. Lucy meowed at him in greeting, and Kyro smiled with warmth at the old cat.

"You're coming with me," he told the girl after noticing her looking at him and the bus stop farther away. "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

She nodded, reluctantly, and he narrowed his eyes. He was still angry and suspicious, but the care she showed Lucy had raised her in his eyes somewhat. Maybe they could actually have a civil conversation later on.