Lily (9)

In the living room, Gale was already sitting in the armchair with a glass in his hand. He took a mouthful of wine while they sat down on the sofa. "How are they?"

"Sleeping, and you could have checked yourself."

"Was afraid of another earful. Iris seemed pissed enough to tear me apart when I thought to leave." Gale took another swig. "Is she always this vicious? Or just to me?"

Kyro smiled a little, leaning back against the backrest. "Just you." His words were light, but he didn't forget Gale's state when they had just come. It was clear that he had wanted to tear someone's head off at that moment and didn't care much for whose it was.

In such a situation for Iris to stand up to him was quite a surprise. Kyro wondered since when had she become this brave. From what he knew, she tried to avoid conflicts rather than battle them out.

"Wait, wait, wait! Why am I hearing about this just now?" Jimmy interrupted, no longer able to hold it. "Who is this Iris? Why haven't I heard about her before? And why didn't I receive a drink?"

All three questions were important, but Gale started answering with the easiest one. He pointed at the counter nearby where a wine bottle stood. In the glass case nearby there were a wide variety of glasses to choose from.

As Jimmy went over, he turned to Kyro. "You want as well?"

"Can't, I'll have to drive you home."

"Right, forgot." He poured himself a full glass and came back to the sofa. "Now talk. Since when do you have a girlfriend?"

Kyro looked at him with a withering stare. "She's just a friend, so keep your mouth clean around here. If that is not above your capabilities."

His speech didn't have any effect. Jimmy simply turned to Gale, who looked like a child given a candy. "It's a tale as old as time—" he started, raising his hands as if to encompass the whole world.

"I'm going to hit you if you say a girl met a boy and so it started."

Gale snickered, then shared how Kyro met his fennec's owner and fell head over heels for her at first sight. He was so lost to that feeling that he even confined her in his home and didn't allow her to leave, afraid that she would run away from him. His love was twisted, but the girl was a saint and so she managed to repair him and save his damned soul.

"Is this true?" Jimmy asked in disbelief, staring at Kyro with a weird gaze.

For a moment, Kyro stared back at him, questioning his friend's sanity. "What do you think?" His voice held just a touch of sarcasm.

Jimmy shrugged. "Besides the embellishments, maybe. I could believe that of you. So when did this happen? How did I never get wind of it?"

"You'll never hear of it again if I hear you spouting such rubbish," Kyro told him in a deadpan voice. Although they were just teasing him, there was some truth to their words. He hadn't locked Iris up, but he hadn't done much to allow her to leave, either.

There was a difference between not kicking someone out and providing them with the ability to leave themselves. Iris had her old home, but that was it. Her life here was only a shadow of one. No friends, no family, no nothing.

Like a dream.

And people wake up from dreams. If one day she got homesick, what would keep her here? Absolutely nothing. She never stepped out of the house unless he took her out somewhere.

"Why did you suddenly get so thoughtful?" Jimmy asked, his expression having getting weird. "Did you actually do those things?"

"What did I tell you, of course he did! I wasn't exaggerating!" Gale chimed in, his eyes alight with mirth at for once getting to mock Kyro about his mistakes with women.

Kyro ignored them both. "Why don't we return to the matter at hand."

"No need, no need," Gale instantly said. "We've already planned everything, and this is more fun. I didn't think you'd move this fast. Interesting, interesting. I might be the only bachelor left soon."

He grimaced then and emptied his glass. "I thought we were gonna stay single forever and keep each other company, but now you betray me. Tsk, tsk."

"Be careful my mom doesn't hear you," Kyro cautioned him.

There was no point to continue this conversation any longer. They would be better off just going to sleep for an early morning tomorrow if everything was already done, but it was a nice change to see Gale distracted. Kyro didn't know if it would help, but he hoped this would prevent his friend from talking himself into recklessness.

"What? Why?"

Gale looked puzzled for a moment, but Jimmy grasped it right away. He burst out laughing, his glass shaking and almost spilling. "Seriously?"

"Oh yes." Kyro nodded, putting on a depressed expression. "Every time I went to visit them it was all I heard."

Few seconds later, Gale realized what they were speaking about. His face twisted in disgust, and he faked vomiting to the side. "Dirty! Does she have a cabbage for a head?"

"Who started it with that concert under my windows in second year?"

"A mistake, it was a mistake!" Gale exclaimed, pushing his armchair a bit farther away from Kyro. "I thought I buried that deep enough! Why do you still bring it up?"

"You're never going to leave its shadow," Kyro promised, standing up.

This had gone long enough. As fun as it was playing around, he was no longer fond of all-nighters. They were left behind in his early twenties.

"Did he do something to try and escape it?" Jimmy asked.

With a snort, Kyro turned to Gale, who was now looking up at him with pleading eyes. They begged him to stay quiet, but this was too good of an opportunity for Kyro to miss. "You bet. His playboy ways came to be to avoid being paired with me ever again."