Parental Pressure (8)

For the last half an hour, Kyro had started to wish his parents weren't that aware of his personality and what he would do on a normal occasion. How easy would it then be to waste time without them noticing that was what he was doing.

"Kyro, why are you delaying? Is there something you don't want to show us at your place?" mom asked, for the fifth time.

In answer, he smiled at her for the fifth time. "If that was the case, don't you think I'd have refused and brought you to your own house already?"

"Then let's go to your place. Your break must have ended over an hour ago," dad said with a look that said he knew this was a delaying tactic, but wasn't shameless enough, like mom, to expose him.

Kyro nodded at him, then noticed how tight he was holding onto the cane. They had been sitting at a restaurant for most of the time, but his father had been just released from the hospital. Even sitting was an exhausting venture for him.

'I should have noticed it before.' Kyro frowned and led them back into the car. He had been so worried about them returning before the girl could leave that he forgot to pay attention to his own dad.

After that, he brought them straight home. It wasn't a far journey from the car park to the elevator, but his dad didn't seem to find it such. By the time they reached the place, his hands were shaking and his face was way whiter than normal. Dad didn't like to be reminded of his weakness, so Kyro said nothing, but he couldn't help cursing himself for being so stupid as to exhaust him extra for no reason.

When he opened the door, a familiar voice he hadn't heard in a while welcomed him. It took him a moment to place it, and then his eyes landed on the sandy-colored fennec looking up at him with shiny eyes.

How, why, when—a myriad of questions rushed through his mind, but in the end he just stepped away and let his parents inside. There was no way he could ask anything of the fox without sounding like a lunatic.

After that, he quickly made his exit, spouting the excuse of needing to return to work. It was good for him that the girl had regained her fox form, but it also posed a dozen or so problems. There were those of her presence and how she changed, but more pressing was how he would explain her things.

In his life, he hadn't brought a woman home once. He had liked a couple girls, but never had it gotten really serious. Well, besides once, but then she had decided that he wasn't worth her time and their relationship soon went out the window. This had happened before he could introduce her to his parents, so their separation was a simple thing.

But it didn't help him in this situation. Neither did the fact that the girl was a nobody to him. He could throw the stupid words of 'every man has desires', but that would gain him a slap from both his parents for lying. They knew too well that he spent every waking moment for his job and carnal desires weren't his top priority.

Otherwise, they'd be overjoyed. They've been bugging him to get married and get a child for years. 'Why did I avoid women for the last half a decade? This makes coming up with an explanation twice as hard.'

As always, when he didn't wish for something to happen, it came rushing over. The work hours finished in the blink of an eye, and he was forced to go back home. It was good that mom hadn't called yet, but he dreaded what he'd see after opening the door of his apartment.

The moment he did that, he was met with his mom holding the fox and a familiar dress. "Kyro, we need to talk," she said, her voice stern but her eyes shining with hope. The dress in her hand even shook from the emotions being suppressed.

"What is it?" he asked, feigning nonchalance. He closed the door behind himself and took off his shoes, then went past mom into the kitchen to get a drink.

Or so he planned to do, but his mom stepped around him to block his way. "You're not going anywhere until I get an explanation! Why are there women clothes in your apartment?"

"Better question yet, why were you snooping around my apartment," he said with a smile. His mom's reaction was as outrageous as he'd expected. She was so over the moon she didn't know what to do with herself.

His smile soon disappeared, though. Her happiness was about to be crushed, for there was nothing between the girl and him. "Anyway, the real owner of the fox had stayed here for a few days, but she's gone now."

"Owner?" Mom deflated a little, looking at the dress with suspicious eyes. "Why was she here?"

"She showed up at my door out of nowhere and thought to take back the fox. After some discussions, it showed up that she was in dire straits and would accept some help in exchange for leaving the fox with me."

This time, his mom looked down at the fox, who was looking at Kyro with obvious puzzlement. Its muzzle was wrinkled a little, and eyes narrowed slightly.

"And you allowed her to stay at your place?" his mom asked with incredulity.

It was a far stretch, and Kyro knew it. Still, it was the best he had come up with that wouldn't give his parents unfounded expectations. "Yeah, I thought it was worth it for the fox."

When he said that, he made sure not to look at the person he was speaking about. There were a number of different ways to take his words when knowing the full story, and he himself wasn't certain which way he wanted her to take them. Their relationship was too complicated for him, with her changing forms all the time.

"Right…" He glanced at mom and saw that she wasn't fully convinced. Her forehead had wrinkled, but she didn't say anything more. While biting her lip and thinking about something, she turned around and brought away the dress and the fox.

Kyro then went into his own bedroom and changed. He updated his dinner orders and went to check on dad. When he was near the door, mom came out of the room. "He's sleeping," she whispered and closed the door behind herself. "Let's not disturb him."

He agreed with a nod, and his eyes landed on the fox that was still in his mom's hands. "You know it's not a purse you have to carry everywhere, right?"

"Certainly," she said with a look that questioned his IQ. "But it looked so lonely when we came in, lying so small on that huge sofa of yours. And look at all these bruises! What have you been doing it?"

The fox was then shoved at Kyro, and he picked it with wooden hands. His eyes told him he was holding a fox, but his mind refused that and said that this was the girl. The two images didn't match whatsoever, and his reluctance betrayed his inner turmoil.

"What's wrong with you? Did you stop loving it just because it got hurt during the kidnapping?" His mom's voice rose by an octave. "I didn't raise you to be this focused on appearances!" After a moment of staring at him, she added, "Maybe I should take it off of you."

"No!" Kyro swiftly hugged the little creature to himself. There was no way he was bringing in more people into this mess. His father may never be able to stand up after being shocked to death one day after seeing a random girl sleeping on the ground in his house.