Parental Pressure (21)

Once Iris wrote those words, she started regretting them. Who was she to question him? And it wasn't like she really feared him doing something as crazy as expecting her to deal with a real fox.

It was all just jealousy speaking through her fingers. She didn't like him flirting with other girls. The hours spent lying still on his knees while he chatted with other women, laughed with them, told jokes was the hardest thing she'd ever done. It was personalized torture for her.

'Didn't I just say we were friends?' She wanted to cry at that thought. Being friends was the last thing on her mind at the moment. After seeing him with all those young beautiful women that were all a perfect match for him, she couldn't remain calm.

Had she really expected for nothing to happen after she spent so much time with him? He was the epitome of the perfect man—rich, handsome, kind, loving pets—so how could she have avoided falling for him!

She wanted to tear all of her hair away. 'I've been an idiot… I should have run the moment I saw him if I wanted to avoid this.'

In retrospect, she could clearly see each thing that led to this moment and this realization. There was not one thing that pushed her over the edge, but everything added up one onto another.

'Kyro… I-I...'

She didn't even dare to finish her thought. Even whispering in her head seemed dangerous. She was afraid that some random magic would make it so he could understand her if she thought any louder, which would certainly be the death of her.

"Why are you staring at me like that again?" Kyro asked again, and she blinked, realizing that she had indeed been staring.

Swiftly, she looked away and took a step back, then a few more. In the end, she started pacing back and forth, unable to stop herself. It was impossible to look up at him again, and she didn't want to sit still. Her thoughts were running at a hundred miles per second, and most of them repeated how unfit she was for such a task.

"Now I'm getting worried for you. What's happening in your head?"

'You don't want to know,' Iris answered in passing, not stopping in her steps.

There were so many things to consider. Before, staying by his side was just not to have to return home and that felt a bit hollow, but now, if she became his girlfriend, wouldn't that mean she could stay here without it being wrong? It would be perfect!

And she'd be the worst girlfriend in existence. With her being unable to take a step by herself, not even existing on papers, how could they have any kind of relationship? She'd be nothing more than a stray with a title to make it look better.

'It's too pathetic.' He wouldn't accept something like that, and she wouldn't either. As a pet, she could pretend that she was fine since her movements were limited, but as a human? It'd be too shameful. She wouldn't be able to stomach being nothing more than a beautiful vase.

"Are you seriously that worried that I'll pair you up with some fox?" Kyro asked, and she looked up at him, for a moment lost after her train of thought had been broken.

Once his face darkened and she grasped his meaning, she shook her head and forcefully stopped her frantic pacing. It wouldn't do her any good if she got him worried. Until she figured out what the hell she planned to do with her own emotions—run away or dig her trenches—she couldn't let him find anything out.

The mere idea of him noticing it sent a shiver down her spine, and she swore to not let anything slip. She wasn't certain how he felt about her, but that was fine. She wasn't certain how she wanted him to feel about her anyway.

It was simpler to just consider her own options, before taking into consideration what he might have to say about her plans. She knew him pretty well, but not in such matters. Fear rose in her just thinking about talking to him about what she just realized.

He was most certainly going to say that she was just imagining things, and then everything would become so awkward that she would be forced to leave. Or maybe he would simply kick her out. He had been extremely angry when he thought that she was a gold digger.

'No, no, I can't think like that. It's not decided yet…'

"Are you going to tell me anything?"

She resolutely shook her head, and Kyro turned the computer off, looking quite annoyed. He threw a few glances her way while the monitor was still light, then stepped away and left into the darkness.

His disappearing figure seemed like a foreboding omen, and she was reminded of how accidental their meeting had been. How lucky was it that out of all the people in the world she had encountered him on that day she turned into a fox?

But fortune is a fickle mistress. Iris couldn't hope to be this lucky again. If she let go for even a moment, there would be no returning to this. Once she left, they would never see each other again.

After all, they were people that should have never met in their lifetimes. If not for her randomly turning into a fox and appearing a world away, they would have lived out their lives without even knowing the other existed.

With a sudden fear, she chased after Kyro. This wouldn't turn out to have been just a dream, right? She didn't think she could live out the rest of her life as if nothing happened after that.