132 Seven Days (7)

For the rest of the day, Iris was all alone. She watched some videos, then a new tv series till the evening. Kyro came back only for late dinner, and she heated the frozen meals they hadn't eaten yesterday.

He didn't say anything about Gale, and they ate in silence. They fell into the same atmosphere as before yesterday, and she mourned the feeling of friendship that was strangely absent after Gale's appearance.

The next morning, he left for work, and she stayed at home all alone. The time could be passed while watching various series, but it wasn't as fun when it was all she ever did. Lucy wasn't up for playing, either, wanting to nap on the sofa's backrest.

In the end, she decided to leave the house. Kyro had left her a key in the morning while also informing the guards on his way out that she should be let through the gates.

Outside, she walked a good distance to a more busy area and watched the passing people as well as the buildings. The city was full of activity, with people rushing about, and she smiled at this familiar sense of being on the way to somewhere.

Before, she would have been one of these people, always rushing, always in a hurry when out in the streets. Going out just to walk around had seemed alien to her. Why waste energy? Don't you get enough walking to and fro school, the shopping trips, the extra classes?

Yet none of it had anything to do with her now. Out here, she stood out like a white crow in a black-feathered flock. A few people cursed at her, telling her to start moving. Others just passed her like she was standing instead of walking, her speed wholly insignificant compared to theirs.

She was tempted to just find a cafe and sit down by the window, but her pockets were empty. Not that her dress had any. Kyro might have given her something if she had asked, but she didn't. It wasn't right to trouble him more than necessary.

'What are you doing then? Didn't you decide to do everything you can to turn back into a fox so he would let you stay? Isn't that imposing on him as well?'

It was easy to pretend that matters like money didn't mean anything when she was a fox, but lately, her conscience kept reasserting itself. More and more, the thought of money entered her mind, and she had no solution for that. She couldn't live off of Kyro forever, yet she wasn't good at anything.

Her skills were average, her talents were average, her intelligence was average, and even her looks were average. She was just another insignificant existence that would have zero impact on the world. It was something she had known since little, but it strangely hurt more than usually at this moment.

For the first time, she didn't want to be a nobody. Just another name that would be crossed out once she died.

But what could she actually do? If watching TV series was a skill, she'd be a grand master, but besides that, nothing really caught her attention. She had no serious hobbies, and her studies had been chosen by what was seen as the most stable profession. Her interest in Economics was minimal. It was simply something to study when nothing interested her; after all, people were expected to finish a degree of some sort.

'Does that mean I can only return to that quiet life and forget about this grand adventure? This grand escape?'

She was unwilling, but she couldn't freeload here forever, either.

Tired after all the walking, she sat down on a bench that oversaw the street. On the other bench nearby, and old man was reading a newspaper. She paid him only a cursory glance, but the newspaper cover caught her attention.

There at the front page's top right corner, she saw a familiar figure. 'What is Kyro doing on the news?' She was instantly interested, but it wasn't like she could just grab the newspaper from the old man.

With forced patience, she waited as the old man read through everything slowly, not missing a single post. Her nerves were on the edge of tearing by the time he finished. "May I borrow it for a moment?" she asked in as respectful voice as she could manage, motioning at the newspaper.

The old man looked at her with surprise, then glanced at the newspaper like he wanted to be sure she was talking about it, then nodded. "Sure, young lady."

"Thanks!"

She swiftly turned to the page mentioned on the cover and found a whole page dedicated to the new product of some company named, "T. A. Electronics". It didn't sound familiar to her, but apparently it had come up with a new toy-like gadget which was selling like hotcakes. The item was named Clover, but the reporter hadn't bothered to say what exactly it did.

Most of the page was instead dedicated to talking about Kyro Hemming, who was one of the two owners of the mega corporation Dioscuri. The journalist tried to come up with a few facts to dim the ceaseless praise she was throwing at this young and handsome billionaire, but Iris knew a biased article when she saw one. There was no way everything was as perfect as portrayed here.

"Thank you," she said again to the old man and returned him the newspaper. After that, she stood up and returned to wandering the streets like a ghost.

Although the article might be biased, she still learned something. For example, Kyro was actually a billionaire. He also owned a mega corporation whose size she could not even grasp.

And just like that, the light she was holding onto slipped through her fingers and disappeared into the night. She had known he was rich, she had known he was someone she would have never met under normal circumstances, but this… this was just crazy.

He was so above her that words paled to compare the difference between them. It was like trying to explain how a pebble is different from the solar system. The mere thought of comparing such things was ludicrous.

"Fool," she told herself bitterly. The world around her seemed to be shattering with every step, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run away. In this place, no one cared if she lived or died.

Even though it was a warm afternoon, a sudden chill went up her back. She was all alone. Again. With the only person she could rely on living in a world she could never understand or join.