Lily (11)

Once Iris changed into her old dress, the simpler one, she brought Lily outside. The girl was quite chatty, seemingly eager to share all of her interests, so Iris just listened to her with a smile. From it, she learned a lot about the minor things, but Lily didn't once mention her parents or how they treated her.

It was as if it was a forbidden topic. Iris didn't bring them up for a reason, but the girl shouldn't have had one. Yet she did it nonetheless.

"So you weren't planning to go to school this year?"

"No." Lily shook her head while looking with wonder at everything they passed. "It's not good to spend time with other children. I need to study."

She said that in a very offhand manner, not paying it any attention, but Iris couldn't help doing a double-take. Associating with other children was bad? In what universe? How was anyone supposed to learn to interact with others if they didn't go outside even once in their lives?

It suddenly made sense why the girl was so eager to share all her likes and dislikes. She simply didn't have anyone else to talk to, not a single friend her age.

"Studying is good, but you should play around a bit as well," Iris said while pointing at a cafe nearby. They went inside it and ordered some pancakes.

Everything went normally, and Iris relaxed. It seemed that only when she went out with Kyro they ended up in the weirdest places.

After breakfast, Iris located the closest shopping center on her phone. It was only a ten minute walk away, so she didn't hire a taxi and they just went on foot. Lily got scared a few times by the rushing people since she had never before seen such crowds, but she soon got accustomed to it.

Her wide eyes darted everywhere, taking everything in as if absorbing some invaluable knowledge. "Can we really come in here?" she asked while staring at the giant building with tens of floors and thousands of little shops.

"Certainly. Let's go get you some extra clothes, shall we?"

It wasn't hard to locate a children's clothes store, but Iris was soon overwhelmed by the choices inside them. There were dozens of designs and colors, leaving her incapable of making any choice. When she had went shopping last time, she had gotten assistance from the staff, but now she was the assistance for Lily…

Out of ideas, she turned to the girl. "Hey, what do you like to wear? And what is your favorite color?"

"I get to choose?" Lily looked at Iris as if she had went mad. "Why do I get to choose?"

For a moment, Iris just looked back at her. There was something wrong about asking a child what they wanted to wear? Since when?

"Yeah?" Flustered a bit, she added, "It's you who's gonna wear it in the end, isn't it?" 'I really have no clue what I'm doing here…'

The girl's eyes lit up and she flew to the racks of clothes. Like a hurricane, she rushed past them, grabbing one thing there, another over there, and a few more on that side. In no more than five minutes, she had a mountain of clothes piled up on the couch by the wall.

"Ha. Ha. Ha."

Iris massaged her temples and looked at the mountain to her right. There were at least twenty outfits there, and there was no matching color to them. Only thing she could see was that all of them were mainly dresses.

"Right…" She went down on one knee and took hold of the girl's shoulders. "First, you need to try them and see if they fit. Also, this is only the first shop, so you don't need to buy everything here. Just a few things will be enough. What if you like something else more in the next shop?"

'Or maybe you'll get tired and forget about it. Although Kyro said I can use the card as much as I want, this is…'

The girl looked thoughtful for a bit, then nodded reluctantly. She returned a few clothes right away, then picked one and got ready to change.

"Wait, wait, wait! Not here!" Iris caught her by the arm that was about to lift the bag-like dress. "You need to change in a separate room. Let me show you the way."

There was confusion on Lily's face, but she followed after without a word. They soon found a changing cabin, and Iris helped the girl change. Most of the clothes she had chosen were the wrong size, so there was a lot of running around, but in the end they settled on five outfits - three dresses, three T-shirts, a skirt, and pants.

Lily was enamored by the idea of trying out new clothes, so in the next shop they had to try out everything. Time flew in a hurry, but the girl's face was always in smiles, so Iris didn't mind. She only regretted not exercising more. She was starting to get tired after only five hours of shopping. It was simply a disgrace.

It was past one o'clock by then, and Iris decided that they should take a break. Lily was running on pure excitement so she didn't feel exhaustion, but it couldn't last. "Why don't we go grab a bite now?" There was instant disappointment on the girl's face, so Iris quickly added, "We can check the other shops after that."

"All right!" Pacified, Lily herself dragged Iris into a nearby pizzeria. "I never a had a pizza before," she whispered, looking in awe at the waitresses carrying large plates.

"Let's go there then! You're gonna love it!"

Just as Iris said that, a hand grabbed her by the shoulder. "Yes?" she asked, turning around. She must have dropped something on the way. There were plenty of bags in her hands, but who could count them anymore. Certainly not her.

"Who are you and what are you doing with Miss Lily?" a grave voice demanded. Its owner was dressed in a suit, but there was nothing classy about him. He looked like a hoodlum with his massive build and a crooked nose from having been broken too many times.

His grip on Iris' shoulder tightened, and she winced in pain from the force applied. A bruise was inevitable, but Iris pushed her mind past that. There was a bigger problem at hand, like being faced with a gangster-like person that didn't seem to want to talk things out even though he'd asked a question.

"Give me the girl."

Iris pushed Lily behind herself, but didn't try to remove the stranger's hand from her shoulder. She was certain that it would be an exercise in futility.

With her insides shivering, she looked up at the man that was a whole head taller than her and said in as calm a voice as she could, "Release me. I don't know who you are and I do not appreciate being held like that."