13 Nobody's Pet (6)

While lying on the floor with her whole body hurting, Iris wondered if she was stupid, or just a moron. It was beyond idiotic to check out how she looked in the photo. She was a fox now, a fox! They didn't go around pulling at people's phones to see if they looked pretty in the photos they made.

The plan had been going so well, too. The man seemed amused by her antics when she acted like a playful kitten and tried to walk all over him. And it had been fun, too, testing how far he'll let her go.

And then she got distracted by the phone, having remembered how she'd take photos with friends, all of them laughing and checking out who looked the best after. Then the one who had a weird expression would demand for the group photo to be retaken so she could look better than the others.

It was stupid, really. Iris closed her eyes, trying to banish the image from her eyes. She was no longer that person. More than likely, she'll never see or even talk to her friends again.

'Toughen up, girl. You chose to not wallow around, so own it up.'

"Hey, are you all right?" a soft voice asked, and the man gently lifted her up, holding her like something fragile with both his hands. She opened her eyes to see him looking straight at her, his worried face no more than ten centimeters away. "Did you hurt yourself? Can you move?"

The genuine care in his words touched something in Iris' heart. She might not have any friends now, but she still had him. He was a stranger, and somebody who didn't even see her as a human, but he cared. He cared about what happened to her, whether she was happy or not. If she got hurt.

And that was enough.

She stood up and reached over to bump her nose with his, giving a foxy thanks. Whatever may happen, she wasn't alone in this new place. He may not understand her, but he was here for her.

"Hey, hey, hey! No kissing!" the man shouted out, pulling his hands with Iris in them away. "We didn't agree on this!"

'Wait, what?!' Iris shouted out, flustered even more than him. He was just seeing it as an animal having come to lick his face, but she had a whole different view on it. 'That was no kiss!' she screamed out. 'Just a nose bump, a nose bump, I'm telling you! Don't go around spreading rumors about me! I'm not that kind of girl!'

The man, however, didn't seem to be hearing her right. He moved her to one hand, now that he knew she hadn't injured herself during the fall, and used the other hand to wipe his nose clean.

"Little trickster," he muttered while looking down at her with reproach. "I really thought you had hurt yourself when you lay there like that, unmoving. Yet you were playing a prank on me! Aren't you too young to have such bad habits?"

Iris stared back at him with an expression that mirrored his. She was being sentimental there, thanking him for being there for her, and he cleaned the place she touched as if she was a dirty thing. Who was the one actually wronged here?!

With a huff, she turned away from him. He didn't seem to mind, and that pissed her off a bit, but then he leaned back into the chair and brought her to his chest so she could have a better purchase and wouldn't have to hang awkwardly off his hand.

Iris swiftly shifted about a bit and made herself comfortable. He was large and warm, and most importantly - on her side. With him around, she didn't have to fear that something may happen to her and she wouldn't have anyone to turn to.

And so, with his heartbeat loud in her ears, she fell asleep in his hand.