A Little Privacy, Please!

"Can I ask why?" She asked in a tiny voice.

"No."

Iris swallowed her saliva before nodding an answer to Love's curt reply.

She didn't really understand what was happening but she could sense that Calixto's family was way more complicated than her family or at least the family she grew up with.

Until now she didn't have an idea about her biological family but she somehow got the idea that her family was connected to the Stocker family just that she didn't know how.

There were a lot of questions in her head but it would be useless to ask Love about it for she knew that she would not answer her at all.

She kept her eyes on the street lights along the highway where Love was speeding up. She had no idea where their destination was but she had no urge to ask. She just hugged herself and wished that wherever they were going, they could get there fast and Calixto would be there so they could go home.

She suddenly missed the familiarity of the basement. She always wanted to see and explore the outside world not just from her computer screen but now that she was outside, experiencing all that she just read and watched on videos, she wanted to go home.

Silence fell into the car and Love drove like a maniac. They had arrived at the same apartment building where Love and Calixto met. When the car came to a full stop, Iris grabbed the door to open but Love stopped her.

"Stay in here," she said, looking at the third floor of the building. The light was off. She clearly remembered leaving it on. She exhaled a deep breath and turned to Iris. "Do you feel Calixto anywhere?"

"Huh? W-what?" She sat up straight and became alert because Love was acting strange. She stared outside and realized that the surroundings of the building were quite dark. She knew that there were lamp posts but right now, none of them were on which was quite strange.

She stole a glance at Love who was hunkered over the steering wheel, alert like she was waiting for someone to approach them. She stayed in that position for about twenty minutes—the longest time of her life. She was holding her breath, straining her eyes in the dark, waiting for someone to appear and attack them. However, nothing really happened.

After being such a weirdo, Love drove off in silence. When they were back on the highway, Iris got the courage to ask her.

"What just happened?"

Love didn't reply and just drove like she owned the highway.

Iris was annoyed and decided to open her laptop and checked if she got an email from her client and if she could do some task while they were speeding over she wondered why no one was stopping them.

"We are here."

Iris lifted her eyes from her laptop screen and looked outside the car's window. She was shocked to find that they were back home.

"I don't know where Calixto went and why he hasn't come back but right now, I can't take you with me. You'll be safe in this house, right?"

Iris gawked at Love with her eyebrows knitted tightly. She zipped her backpack after she shoved her laptop inside and unbuckled her seatbelt.

"Yes, I think I'll be safe in the house. Is Calixto going to be okay?" She asked because she was a bit worried. Not for Calixto but for herself. She had no idea how she was going to explain to the people in the house where she went for three days and the many questions they would ask her.

"Get inside now. I don't have all the time."

Iris clicked her tongue and glared at Love who was staring at her impatiently. She had a look on her face that she would not think twice to push her off the car if she would not hurry. She could not believe her! She was the one who brought her to the club where she met another weirdo member of the Stocker family. And now, she could not wait to have her gone.

She rolled her eyes at her before she got out of the car. She dashed the short distance to the main door of the mansion, getting inside without looking back to check if Love already left.

As soon as she got inside the house, she went straight to the basement. Her steps were hurried and nervous. All the while she was praying that none of the other residents in the mansion would see her.

She breathed a relieved breath when she reached the last step of the stairs without meeting anyone. She quickly entered her room and jumped on her bed. She lay on her bed for a long period of time just staring at the ceiling, replaying what had happened since Calixto told her to pack her back because they were going somewhere.

While lying in bed, she suddenly felt so sleepy that she was not able to leave the bed to clean her face, brush her teeth, or changed her clothes. She just closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep that she didn't stir until noon the next day.

And the moment she opened her eyes, she screamed her lungs out just the way she screamed when she realized that Talon was inside the girl's bathroom and he was watching her every move.

This time it was not Talon who was watching her. It was the first and original weirdo, Calixto.

"You must have slept so well that you have the energy to scream like you're going to shatter my eardrums."

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "Can you not make it a habit to enter my bedroom like I wasn't a girl and you weren't a boy and that I need my privacy and personal space to be respected even though I am only nothing but your meal."

Calixto knitted his eyebrows, staring in confusion at Iris. "I need to eat," he said after a long silence.