203 Unwelcome Visitor (6)

The answer to that particular question was that Kyro was beyond mad. His girlfriend randomly turned into a fox, so how much worse could it get? He was out here not to socialize, but to make sure that no one found out she wasn't quite human at the moment.

"You're imagining things," Kyro said instead of admitting to the truth. "She just slept in the guest room and we almost didn't speak for most of the days, besides discussing the fox a few times during dinner. In the end, I wanted to go to the pet show, as always, and just invited her for the company. We had fun there, and so we decided to spend some more time together."

There was a lot missing in this tale, but it contained plenty enough as well. Although he knew Iris for a lot longer than that, he didn't know that much about her past. She never talked about her life back home, only mentioning her aunt once in a while. That was all.

A breeze rushed at them, and Marge shivered. "Let's go back," Kyro suggested.

She thought to refuse, but then acquiesced with a nod. "So its not all certain between the two of you?"

"Is it ever certain? I thought I was gonna spend the rest of my life with Jane, and see how that turned out." His words sounded way more bitter than Kyro had expected. He pushed his hands into his pant pockets and looked away. "I'm allowing time to take its course. I like Iris, but we'll see where that will lead us."

There was something akin to pity in Marge's eyes for a moment, but it soon disappeared. She knew well that he wouldn't appreciate such a sentiment. "Is she okay now? What happened earlier?"

"Not sure. She didn't say much, just something about suddenly getting dizzy. Since she didn't want to talk, I didn't interrogate her and just let her rest."

They were by the house then, and Jimmy's singing reached them. It was as out of tune as before, but louder. Ted and Emily were already missing, probably having left to their own bedroom.

"Help me get him upstairs and knock him out," Marge said, looking with disappointment at her husband. "That's why I don't let him drink. He's an embarrassment."

Kyro refrained from sharing an opinion. The reason Jimmy had let loose tonight was precisely because he wasn't allowed to drink on most occasions. He just wanted to use the chance to enjoy himself in the privacy of close friends.

It was somewhat of a challenge to drag him up the stairs, and Kyro was exhausted by the time they finished. Although Jimmy was quite thin, he was tall, and his legs were moving in every direction but the right one.

When Kyro dropped him on the bed in the bedroom opposite his, he noticed that Marge was missing. Cold sweat broke out on his back, and he rushed out of the room. As expected, she was about to open his room.

"What are you doing?" he demanded in a whisper, stopping her hand from turning the handle.

"I wanted to check on her, if everything's all right."

Marge looked over at him as if he was acting like a neanderthal, and he felt like one as well. But it was preferable to having to explain where his girlfriend had disappeared.

"Don't wake her," he said. "It was hard enough for her to fall asleep."

With a pitying glance, Marge pulled away from the door. "So that's how it is. You said you just like her, but you're head over heels for her, aren't you?" A smile widened on her face, and Kyro winced inside.

This would lead to never ending teasing, but he couldn't tell the truth. His only option was to suffer in silence.

"Just go to sleep," he muttered and shooed her away. Laughing to herself, she did so, and he entered his own room.

Upon closing the door, he sighed in relief for having averted a disaster and turned around only to be faced with two accusing eyes. Iris sat on the bed with her knees drawn up, her head resting on them. The gaze leveled at him could freeze hell.

"Where have you been?" she asked in a soft voice, but it sounded ominous in the dark room with only the light of the faint moonlight.

"I…" There was a good reason why he'd left, but it somehow seemed insufficient at the moment. He was certain that whatever he said, it was going to be wrong. So he decided not to say anything regarding it. "You turned back?"

"I had a nightmare." Her gaze never moved from him. "I dreamed of what I saw on the boat, being locked up in a space so small I couldn't even raise my head. But there was enough space on the sides, so I rolled right and left, back and forth from the rocking of the ship in the storm. I was alone and in the dark, without an idea what was happening."

Her voice quietened then, forcing him to take a step closer to hear it. "Then I woke up to find myself alone and in the dark as well."

Kyro closed his eyes for a moment, understanding the accusatory gaze. It hadn't been a good idea to leave her right after she had remembered something this traumatic. The event had to have happened when she was transported to America, and due to some substances or another trauma, she had forgotten all about it.

"When did you wake up?" he asked while coming to sit on the bed.

"A bit before you came back speaking about how you wanted to spend your whole life with Jane."

Her words didn't sound any different from before, but he didn't need her to sound bitter to know that she would felt that way. He'd be pissed to hear her mention living with someone else, and if she liked him, she had to have the same reaction.

"She's the past, I haven't seen her in more than four years." He leaned closer then, putting a hand on her knee. "You're the now, the present. And you have something that she can never possess."

"What?" Iris asked with a little emotion in her voice. Her anger seemed to be abating.

Kyro smiled. "Lucy likes you, and I trust his judgment."

For an instant, Iris sat frozen, then she grabbed a pillow and began beating him up with it. "You tricked me! Despicable! I hate you!" Each word was punctuated with a hit from the pillow, and Kyro laughed while defending himself.

They played until Iris exhausted herself and gave up with a huff. "You're despicable," she said for the last time to make sure he really got it and went under the blanket, pulling it up to her nose.

Still chuckling, Kyro changed and came to the bed as well. He didn't plan to freeze to death, so he pulled on the blanket, and Iris rolled over with it, glaring at him. "It's mine!"

"Sure." He then snaked his arm around her waist and brought her to his chest. "Now you won't be able to hog all the blanket to yourself," he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

A few grumbles sounded from next to him, but no one moved. "You can sleep peacefully now," he said after a moment. It was a cheezy thing to mention, but he wasn't sure how else to express himself. If she woke up from another nightmare, he'd be by her side to make sure the darkness didn't look so fearsome and lonely.