240 Test of Strength (12)

In the darkness, no one could see. It was because of it that when Iris landed on the bed, her hip brushed by the cat who had lied down in the middle. Lucy screeched like the devil, and his claws went into Iris' flesh, waking her from the haze of desire mixed with a sense of great awkwardness.

A gasp of pain escaped her lips, and she pulled away, covering her hip with her hand while biting her lip to not let slip anything else.

"Shit." Kyro wasn't as well-mannered as her. He grabbed the cat and threw it out of the room. In a gentle enough matter that the devil wouldn't get injured, but that he would know he'd pissed them off. Lucy was still indignant, but Iris couldn't be bothered to care for him at that moment.

She pushed her pants a tad lower to examine the wound in the light that came from the living room, and her eyes went wide. Lucy hadn't held back in the least. Blood was seeping out from the four claw marks.

"I'll get the medicine box," Kyro said in an out-of-breath voice, and Iris nodded in absentmindedness.

Then she jumped to the ground and grabbed her T-shirt. With a heart hammering loudly in her chest, she put it on, thinking about how hot her face was. The events moments ago flashed through her mind, but she didn't think her cheeks could get any redder.

It was wondrous how she was both relieved and disappointed that they had to stop. A part of her thanked Lucy for being her savior, but the other cursed him as devil incarnate, getting in the way of… of… No, she couldn't voice it even in her head…

"Here, some disinfectant," Kyro said, coming back in.

Iris took it from him, feeling self-conscious when his eyes landed on her. She shuffled a bit, then decided to just focus on the wound. The rest could be faced later.

When she looked at the four scratch marks, her heart soured. With her mind so distracted, it didn't hurt too much, but it still was uncomfortable. And the marks were still bleeding a little.

She cleaned the blood, then disinfected the wound, and put some paper to her hip in case it thought to bleed more. The amorous atmosphere was long gone, and she puffed up the pillow behind her to lean against it.

Kyro was still standing nearby, not saying anything. She didn't know what she should say, either, so she just stayed quiet as well. For a time, she pretended like it wasn't an awkward silence, but that was a lie she couldn't sell even to herself.

It took her awhile to collect her courage to speak up, but the moment she was about to open her mouth, Kyro chose to move. "Go to sleep," he told her in a gruff voice, before stepping out and closing the bedroom door.

Although Iris was ignorant of many things, she had an idea of what kind of dissatisfaction a man might have with what happened. She brought her knees to her chest, and soon after pulled the covers to her nose.

What was with the dual feelings she was having this whole time… Now she was both prideful and embarrassed. It was like her mind simply couldn't decide on what to think and feel about everything that happened.

And so she pulled the covers even higher, till they hid even her face. It helped little, but amusement at how silly she was acting chased away some of the heavier thoughts. Giddiness filled her mind, and she turned left and right, not knowing what to do with herself.

In the end, she checked on the scratch marks. They weren't bleeding anymore, just were a little sore, so she put her pillow down and forced herself to lie down normally. Sleep was the last thing on her mind, but it was past two in the morning.

As if reminded by that thought, her organism recalled that it was thoroughly exhausted by the excitement throughout the long day. In a couple minutes, Iris was already in the world of dreams.

She slept till midday after that. Even when she woke up, she found it too hard of a task to get up and just lazed in bed. If not for Lucy meowing loudly and scratching at the door, she probably wouldn't have left the warm cocoon of the covers till evening.

Kyro didn't seem to have any more energy than her, so in the end it was her who pulled herself up. Out of the room, she gave Lucy a dark look, not having forgotten what he did last night. It might have been an instinctive reaction on his part, but she still held a slight grudge; it wasn't fun to be attacked by your own pet.

Yet the cat seemed to have no recollection of what happened. He imperiously went to the kitchen and waited for her to fill his bowl. There was little water left, so she added that too.

"Happy?" she asked, but Lucy didn't even raise his head, crunching on the dry food with satisfaction.

At the sight of him enjoying himself, Iris' stomach growled. She realized she hadn't eaten anything for almost a whole day and went to heat up frozen dumplings. Cooking was good, but not when one was starving. She wasn't ready to wait an hour till she could finish some elaborate meal.

While waiting for the water to boil, she picked her phone to scroll through what was new. On the first hit, she saw her own face along that of Jane. There was a large VS between them in red ink, and the title on the side screamed "Dioscuri Gala 2018: Battle for a Renowned Bachelor's Heart and Pocket?"

A sinking feeling filled Iris, but she clicked on the link. Her eyes narrowed with every line she read, until they were no more than paper thin slits. Who would write such a thing?

The whole post was littered with sentences like: Mr.Hemming, known for his cold demeanor and interest only in profit, seems to have chosen a girlfriend with sass rather than a respectable background; Jane F. Norwood, daughter of Ocean F. Norwood, was left on ice when her offer of her heart and father's company were ignored; Sources say, the confrontation between the two women was full of fire, with the new girlfriend not biting her words and flaunting her relationship with Mr. Hemming for all to see.

After that, there were plenty of pictures. Iris winced with every other one, seeing herself portrayed as someone with few redeeming qualities. Well, she looked pretty? That had to account for something… Besides that, she looked like a mean-spirited vixen that came between Kyro and Jane's star-crossed love.

It was too disgusting to read, so Iris returned to the main page. She wanted to go and ask that journalist if she needed an eye surgery, for she certainly was blind. What true love? What seeking trouble and flaunting of the relationship? Iris had clearly been the one attacked!

The very next post was also about the gala, just this time the journalist chose a different approach. After reading the first few paragraphs, Iris didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The text was full of phrases like: 'Cinderella's story', 'real-life fairy tale', and 'the man every woman needs'.

In this story, Jane was the villain, trying to tear apart true love with her machinations. Yet Mr. Hemming, like a true prince-charming, did not fall for her traps. Even if his company was to fall, he would never let go of the woman he loved.

Iris was certain she could just substitute the rest of the text with the swooning emoticon and no one would notice. There was nothing of substance written there anyway.

There were a few nice pictures of her and Kyro at the end of the post, so she saved them. It would be something by which to remember the event.

While she was doing that, she saw Kyro getting out. He looked still half-asleep, his eyes almost closed. She chuckled at him and scuttled to his side with her phone open on the page. "Look, you've been crowned a prince as of yesterday evening."

"Prince?" Kyro skimmed over the first few paragraphs, his lips curving upwards. "I don't remember you losing a shoe at my place, though."

Iris thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "There's still time. I've lost myself at your place, so I'm sure it won't be hard to lose a shoe as well."