Be Honest

Usually, Iris would refuse to walk because she always wore high heels, easily got tired, and complained a lot. But now, she looked different with sneakers, and it amazed Justin.

"You don't mind if we walk there?" Justin asked.

"Well, it doesn't matter," Iris replied. She needed to walk and exercise her body. She could feel that this girl's physique was extremely weak. Having martial arts skills would be useless if her body was weak. If she met her enemies in her current strength, her enemies could easily defeat her with a single move.

"Xavier, Niles, you guys can go home first," Justin said, making the two men walking before them suddenly stop and look back.

Justin continued, "Iris and I need to talk in the café outside. Alone! You guys can't follow us, especially you, Xavier!" He narrowed his eyes at Xavier, wanting to let him know that they would be talking about him a lot.

Xavier and Niles nodded without saying a word. They already knew that Iris and Justin always met outside, and they were well aware of what they talked about.

"What are you doing?" Niles finally said something after seeing Iris and Justin walking away from the parking lot. "Get in the car. I'll drop you both at the cafe!"

"Iris, let's just take a car to save time," Justin suggested as he stared at Iris, who seemed silent, but he could tell that she was confused about something.

Iris felt reluctant because if she got in their car, she would be sitting next to Xavier, and that was something she didn't want right now. Xavier's aura always made her feel suffocated. It was strange because, from the memories of young Iris, she was most comfortable being beside Xavier and never felt any pressure from him.

After a few moments of sinking into her thoughts, she faintly heard Xavier's domineering voice, "Iris, get in the car!"

Iris felt odd because she was unable to refuse his words. Without her knowing, she moved her feet and slowly walked to the back row. "Thank you," she said to Justin as he opened the car door for her.

After a long deep sigh, she entered the car and sat beside Xavier, pretending to ignore him. She knew he was now busy reading something on his cell phone, so she ignored him.

'Thank you, Lord! At least he didn't bother to look at me, or worse, talk to me!' She silently felt relieved.

The close distance felt like an eternity for Iris; she couldn't enjoy the scenery outside and limited her movement, afraid that the cold man beside her would be provoked and talk to her.

Trying to enjoy the short trip in silence, but her source of headache, Justin, made the atmosphere in the car even more awkward. He wouldn't stop talking, and sadly, this man was talking to her.

"Iris, yesterday," Justin looked back at Iris with a probing look, "...why did you ignore us?" he continued after getting Iris' attention.

Iris was speechless.

She wanted to avoid his question, but she couldn't do that because now, she could feel everyone looking at her, including Xavier.

Feeling frustrated, Iris silently scolded Justin in her heart while trying to smile, even though her smile looked stiff. After forcing her brain to think hard, she finally decided to be honest with them so that Justin would stop asking that question again.

"Have you ever heard of short memory loss?" Iris asked back. When she saw Justin nod, she continued, "I experienced it, although not all of my memories are lost, only partially, including you. I don't remember all of you," she said in a regretful tone. "But luckily, my memory came back this morning." Her voice sounded sincere.

Instantly, the car went quiet. No one spoke to her, not even looking at her. They all returned to their activities. She felt relieved.

However, the calm was suddenly broken by Justin's booming laughter, "Bahahaha... Iris, oh Iris, you think we believe that? Don't lie. You just wanted to play a trick on us, right?"

Iris, "..."

'Heaven! Why it's hard, to be honest with this guy!' she secretly let out a long sigh before saying, "Justin, it's up to you if you don't believe it," she said softly, turning her gaze outside the car.

At the same time, their car stopped in front of the café shop. She immediately opened the door and expressed her thanks to Xavier and Niles before leaving the vehicle.

...

Iris immediately looked for the chair she usually used when she came to this place with Justin, the one by the glass wall directly facing the street. While waiting for Justin, she glanced at Xavier's car as it pulled away and disappeared from her sight.

"You don't need to feel sad, Iris..." Justin's voice made Iris flinch. She turned her eyes and saw Justin already sitting in front of her with two cups of hot latte.

"Why do you think I'm sad?" she said casually, picking up her latte cup and taking a sip, ignoring Justin's surprised-looking eyes.

"Iris, was that also one of the things you forgot about?" Justin raised his eyebrows, believing Iris' earlier words about her brief memory loss after the incident.

"I did forget you guys, but don't worry, I remembered everything now!" She smiled and placed the coffee cup on the table. "And, just for your information, I'm not sad right now."

Justin narrows his eyes at her. After a while, he said, "Come on, Iris, I know you know what I mean. Alright, let me be clear, have you also forgotten that you were after Xavier? You used to feel sad to see him go!?" he said.

"Ah, so you mean that..." Iris let out a soft chuckle. "Well, I decided to stop chasing Xavier because no matter how hard I try, that person will still avoid me."

Justin was taken aback.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked in disbelief. Still fresh in his mind, a few days ago, this girl begged him to create an opportunity for her to be with Xavier despite being rejected many times. That's why he likes being friends with Iris—because she is the most shameless woman he has ever known in his entire existence in this world.

"Yes. And I've said this to Xavier," Iris paused, amused by Justin's shocked expression. "Justin, you can stop trying to create opportunities for us. We've decided to become friends..." She intentionally said that because she wanted Justin to stop setting her up with Xavier.