133 Seven Days (8)

By the time Iris returned, her mind was a total mess. She couldn't help seeing how different her life was when compared to everything in the apartment. The mere idea that she might understand what went in Kyro's head was laughable. While she wasted her days doing whatever, he set up to rule the world and was on his way to doing that.

The room was quiet, without any movement. She checked the clock and saw that it was still an hour before Kyro would be back. It was for the better, since she wanted a bit more alone time to get herself into shape.

Internet called to her, and she went online. After a few silly videos, she decided to log into her mail and see if her aunt had replied anything. There was a new email, and her heart began to beat faster.

Her mouse hovered over the reply with indecision. She didn't want to see it, but she was going back soon, so it would be a good idea to give her aunt a heads up.

Swiftly, like tearing a band aid, she clicked and read through the message. It wasn't hard; after all, it was just one word - Okay. Full, no abbreviation, but just one word.

Out of nowhere, tears spilled down her eyes. She loved her aunt, loved her dearly, but sometimes, sometimes she really wished the woman could show a bit more care. Her niece disappeared, yet after receiving a message that could have been sent by anyone, she just said okay and left it at that.

"Aunt, are you really not worried for me in the least?" she asked through tears.

It was always like this, though. There was not one time Iris could recall when aunt had showed her anything beyond basic consideration for her health. Anything that didn't endanger her state of being alive held no meaning, and thus could be dismissed as unimportant.

Iris brushed off the tears and closed her mail. She wasn't going to mope about things that she had come to accept over the years. 'I'll just enjoy the last few days here and then regard this as the highlight of my life, a grand adventure that I lucked out to go on.'

…

At home, Kyro instantly knew that something was wrong. Having dealt with various investors and other businessmen, he instantly knew when someone was keeping a distance from him. The girl was acting similar to how she always did, but her actions were a bit more reserved, her smile a little forced.

He had no clue what had happened, but he wasn't certain how to approach the subject, either. In a business meeting, he would try to engage his opponent to dissolve their walls or just leave soon, if the matter was not too important, but these strategies didn't seem fitting here.

In the end, he tried to probe her by asking what she did all day, but her answers were perfunctory, without the old passion behind them. She did not say anything that might be troubling her, and he didn't feel like demanding an answer. If she wanted to take care of it herself, then he could only allow her to do it.

Yet nothing changed in the next couple days. Every time he returned, she met him and ate dinner with him. Played with Lucy. But all of it seemed like a facade, and it bugged him.

As did the fact that he wasn't certain what to do with her. She was a nobody, someone he could have passed on the street and never noticed. Yet he had picked her up and helped her. It was mainly due to the fact that she had looked like a fox at the time, but he didn't want to kick her out when she was down.

He felt strangely responsible for her. Even though she was a grown woman and no child, she had no one to turn to on this side of the Pacific besides him. And maybe on the other, too. Based on her reluctance to even contact anyone there, the likeliness of something being not okay there was great.

And if he threw her out and something happened to her, it'd be on his head.

Yet what was he supposed to tell her? You can stay here for as long as you want? Wouldn't that just lead to her avoiding her problems instead of solving them? It wasn't a healthy solution.

And so, when Friday came with its seven day deadline, he returned home very later and went to bed straight away. The next morning, he woke up early and left a note with a spare credit card to get food.

[I'll be out for a few days. Don't starve yourself and take care of Lucy.]

This was stupid and he was perfectly aware that he was now avoiding her, but he couldn't come up with a fitting action plan. If they talked, he'd need to say something regarding his previous deadline comment, and he didn't have a good way to explain or renounce it.

At the time, it had seemed like a decent plan. He'd give her some days, see if she can really change back into a fox, and then send her back from where she came. It was simple and clear, and totally not working.

He hadn't counted on the fact that he might actually start to care whether she was fine with returning. At the time, she had seemed like a total stranger, but once they talked and she shared all the little details of the month they've spent together, his view of her began to change.

From some unfamiliar woman, she turned into a person that actually knew the real him. When he had to go out to socialize, everyone talked to him about his company, his work, and the business world in general, having the idea that it was all he cared about. It was the image he portrayed, so it was no surprise that they thought this.

Those things were important to him, but they weren't the total sum of him. Sometimes he just wanted to share Lucy's antics or spend an evening playing mindless games to relax.

'This weekend, I need to come up with a way to allow her to stay without giving her an excuse to ignore her problems.'

At that moment, Lara called, "Mr. Hemming, there's a problem brewing. Gale has disappeared, again, and the board wants a meeting on Monday. They say it's regarding that new toy."

Kyro looked at the resort he'd been about to enter, then went back toward his car. "Fine, I'll take care of it."

'Those old men sure are impatient. It's about time I made them aware of who has the last word among us.' His gaze flicked past his phone, and he sighed against the wheel. 'Why does everyone around me suddenly have to face an internal crisis? I'm not some fairy grandmother to solve it for them.'