198 Unwelcome Visitor (1)

Iris stepped away to let Kyro take off his shoes. She went to find a vase for the flowers. There was one in one of the guest rooms, and she filled it with water before bringing it to the living room.

The flowers added a touch of liveliness to the simple room. Their vibrant color stood in opposition to the light palette of the place.

Once Kyro returned, having changed, she asked how his day had went. His expression darkened at the mention of it.

"Could be worse. Everyone's shaky due to Gale being left out, so I need to go about reassuring them. It's a lot of wasted time, but without them, the company would face some dire times. A number of people have already jumped ship."

"What about Gale? Have you heard anything from him?"

Kyro shook his head, then shrugged. "He won't contact me any time soon. Of that, I'm sure. And before you ask, my family is doing well. I told them I blocked their numbers, and they've been quiet."

His dismissal was an obvious redirection, but Iris didn't let go of it right away. "But what if something really happened to them? Your father didn't seem well…"

"I didn't actually put them on my blocked list… The warning was enough for them to get scared into staying quiet for a time. I hope they will learn their lesson during that time. Mom is the main instigator, but dad supports her from the back. Always."

Iris leaned back against the sofa, bringing her knees to her chest. "Sounds like they're made for each other."

There was a slight smile on Kyro's face as he also made himself comfortable. "They were. I heard they fell for each other in high school at first sight." His voice fell soon, though. "But the world isn't fair. No matter how much they loved each other, they couldn't get a child."

"What? But…" Iris stared at him, not certain what she was hearing. They did have a child. He was right before her eyes.

Kyro's eyes found hers, and her heart clenched before he even said anything. "They adopted me when I was five and they were already in their forties, which is why they're so overprotective of me."

Adopted? A maelstrom surged up in Iris' mind. She had never once even considered that Kyro was not his parents' natural child. All of them acted so close to each other that the thought had simply never crossed her mind.

"Have you ever…"

"Yes." Kyro didn't need her to finish the sentence to know what she meant. His eyes shifted away as he spoke about it, looking into the distance. "I went to check it out once. Apparently my birth mother was a drunk that got arrested while I was still a baby and I got sent to the orphanage. She died in a few years from overdose, while my birth father is an unknown entity."

"I'm sorry…"

He turned back to her, his expression calm. "I don't really care about it. Jessica and Frederic are my real parents. They were there for me on my first day of school, when I got into my first fight and when I won one, when I got my first F and first A+. Although we're at odds now, it doesn't change the fact of who they are to me."

He was right in that. There was a reason why she had never noticed anything. They shared a familial bond even if there was no blood connection between them. But who said it was important?

They changed the topic then and talked of lighter things. This was enough sharing for one day. It wasn't often that Kyro spoke about himself, and Iris was glad for the little door he opened into his world. Now she understood why he was so tolerant, so forgiving to his parents even when they stepped way over the line.

Once dinner came, it were chicken wings, and Iris sneaked a few bites to Lucy, who received them with shocked delight. He sniffed her offering for a bit, then snapped his jaws over it and licked his lips afterwards.

"Think he might start to like me more than you if I did this more often?" Iris asked while keeping her gaze on the satisfied cat.

"Giving him a stomachache? I doubt it."

"What?" She turned to stare at him with shock. "What do you mean stomachache?"

"Lucy's not keen on spices. This much might still pass, but he once stole a whole chicken leg and then couldn't keep anything inside his stomach for two days. For a time, he had learned his lesson and didn't approach my meals, but it seems he's already forgotten about it." He gave the cat a deadpan stare.

Iris wondered if she could push her hand into Lucy's throat and pull the meat back. If he started to feel bad, wouldn't that be her fault? Both the owner and the cat would be angry at her.

While she wondered about that, Kyro spoke up again. "Do you have plans for the weekend?"

"Hm?"

Iris returned her gaze to him. Was he really asking her that? She went out of this apartment by herself almost never. Most of her days were spent watching dramas and playing with Lucy. With that kind of schedule, how in the world could she even know the word busy?

"I was thinking, would you like to meet my other friends for real? You saw them at the gathering, but you never got to talk to them. Ted is planning to propose to Emily, and he wants support. I'm not that familiar with him, but Jimmy invited me, saying that Marge is going to eat him alive if he doesn't get me to come, preferably with you."

"Marge..." In Iris' memory, there was an image of an amazon woman joking about burning a number of kitchens while she had hid as a fox, wishing to ask about it in detail. "You think it'd be fine? For me to meet everyone?"

"Why not?" Kyro didn't seem to understand her worries. Maybe he had never been introduced to his girlfriend's friends and didn't know what kind of heavy challenge it actually was.

But what did she have to lose? Didn't she keep complaining that she was bored all the time? It was a good way to get rid of the bad aftertaste from trying to help Gale and failing.

Not only her, but Kyro could also use a break. Troubles were hounding him like hungry shadows, always on his heels. From the way he talked about his day, there hadn't been a good moment throughout it.

"All right then, let's do it."

In her heart, Iris was certain that it was somehow going to end up in a disaster, but how bad could it possibly go? She already knew those people, somewhat. The amazon woman might be a bit pushy, but she seemed kind enough.

'It's all gonna be fine. Just don't turn into a fox, and you'll be all fine.' The fact that it had been a while worried Iris, though. It felt like somebody had been saving her transformation for a terribly inconvenient moment just like the last time she had changed.