96 Party (10)

Gale watched Kyro's every expression, noting down that he was genuinely shocked after seeing that young woman who called herself Iris. His reaction wasn't faked, which raised a lot of questions.

The girl herself wasn't acting out any obvious script, either. She had been wide-eyed and trembling when Gale had caught her. In a moment, she calmed herself and even laughed lightly, but it couldn't hide her dismay for being caught.

However, she didn't seem to be afraid of the two of them. Even though she wanted to escape, it seemed like it had more to do with the fact that she was dressed in a blanket than that they were there.

"You know her?" he finally asked.

Kyro slowly shifted his gaze from the bathroom door and shook his head, then ran a hand through his hair. "I've never seen her in my life." Gale gave him a disbelieving look, and he elaborated, "I'm serious. Do you think I'd actually get some tramp from the street just to spite you?"

His points had merit. Gale himself would totally do it, but that was him, not Kyro who liked his personal life to be a clean slate, avoiding any kind of womanly charms.

This didn't add up, though. If he didn't let the girl in, there was no way for her to enter. The apartment was on the third floor, with all doors and windows closed and locked, and there was a tight security around the building itself. No one not specialized in espionage would be able to get past that.

"Could she have stolen something important?" he asked, going through the options. There shouldn't be too much important material in the apartment itself. Kyro was smarter than to bring confidential documents back home.

Kyro's eyes narrowed and moved to the bathroom door. "I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to think that I'd hide it under my pillow or in the underwear I'm wearing."

Gale burst out laughing. He couldn't help it, the image of this reticent man that avoided human contact being searched by that vixen was just too amusing. 'I should have arranged something like that myself, I could have even made it more high profile.'

While he was mourning the loss of such a great prank, Kyro started moving, and Gale grabbed his hand. "Wait, we still don't know who she is."

"That's why I'm going to ask her," he said in a low growl.

"Ask my ass, you want to interrogate the little thing, and do you really think she's just gonna open the door for you? We shouldn't frighten her. I have a feeling we're missing something here."

Kyro glowered at the locked door, then went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of cold water. "Yeah, like why the fuck she entered my bed and then kicked me out of it."

"What?" Gale asked with a laugh. He hadn't seen that when he entered, just that the girl rushed out in a hurry.

"Yeah. I was woken up by her scream, then felt myself being kicked. The next moment, she stole the blanket and ran out," he answered, rubbing his temples.

"That sounds a lot like the morning after you got a girl drunk and brought her to your bed." Gale leaned on the kitchen counter, watching the world outside, but not really seeing it.

His explanation was the most fitting one, but the likeliness of it happening were minimal. He had stayed up for most of the night and knew that Kyro hadn't gotten up, unless it was in the wee hours of the morning. But that was impossible. If he knew one thing about Kyro, it was that he deemed his sleep holy. Nothing, especially not some random woman, could make him get up in the middle of the night.

"Speaking from experience?"

For a moment, Gale lost track of what was being said. Experience? In what? Oh! "Of course. So what do you plan to do with her now?"

"Get some answers," Kyro said, throwing a warning glare over.

Gale raised his hands in a surrender motion. He didn't think this was the best course of action, but he couldn't make heads or tails of this situation. If the girl was a spy, what was she doing getting into Kyro's bed and then waking him up with her screaming and pushing him away.

If she was just a normal girl, which seemed more likely, how could she have ended up here. They weren't in some hotel where connections could have brought her in . Nobody had a key to Kyro's apartment beside the two of them, and Gale was certain that the spare he received for safekeeping was still in the safe.

No matter how he looked at it, the girl's presence and actions didn't match.

At that moment, the apartment rang from a terrifying kick to the door. Gale glanced at his wristwatch and winced. Such a ruckus at 6 am on a weekend was sure to receive attention, and not the good kind.

"Unlock the door, or I'm really going to kick it open," Kyro demanded in a cold voice. He sounded extremely pissed, which he probably was. Being woken up this early without a reason, he must be mad.

Gale smiled and moved back, half-sitting down on the sofa's backrest, watching the show. It was going to be interesting to see what the girl would say. Would she be smart enough to open the door herself and talk to them, or would she dig her own grave by forcing Kyro to destroy his own property and probably have cops called on him?

A soft whimper came from inside the room, and the two of them froze. For a moment, they thought the girl was crying, but then, this was no human sound.

'Is the fox locked with the girl?' Gale thought, no longer liking the development of this show. Kyro was crazy about his pets, and that fox was his new baby. If anyone injured it… 'Damn it, I don't feel like playing the white knight today and saving the girl from the demon. So much fuckin' work.'