Seven Days (2)

The price of sixty-five dollars surprised Kyro. He hadn't expected for her to actually care about his money. Or well, that a woman could buy anything with this pitiful amount. From what Gale always said, a couple thousand was barely enough for a dress, let alone matching shoes and a purse.

The girl seemed satisfied, though. She had been smiling when he came in.

"Come, I'll show you your room." He pushed off the table and left the study, but the girl was lagging behind. When he turned around, he saw that she was still staring at the monitor. "It's not gonna be delivered faster just because you will it so."

"Ah, yes!" she replied in a hurry, turning to him with a guilty expression. Just what had she been thinking about?

He led them to the three guest room and chose the one that was almost never used. "Gale stays in this one while the one next to it is prepared for unexpected guests. So take the one on the right. I don't think anyone's stayed in it in a long while."

Inside the room, there wasn't much besides a bed, a dresser with a large mirror, and a wardrobe. Everything was slightly dusty from disuse, but besides that, there were no problems.

"Thanks," the girl said with a smile and shooed him out. "I'm fine, no need to supervise me. Go now, do whatever you want."

He didn't resist too much and left, but nothing seemed to require doing at the moment. Instead, he just sat down and thought about how his life had derailed in such a short amount of time.

It was crazy to allow a random woman to freeload in his house—and he would have never done it under normal circumstances—but this one interested him. Turning into a fox seemed impossible, yet it was happening right before his eyes. On top of that, the girl didn't seem to mind it whatsoever.

He found it hard to believe that she had never turned into a fennec before. Otherwise, how could she be so calm? Based on her words, she didn't look for a way to change until the moment she became human again.

Yet she was clearly a person of the modern era. There was history of her life in the UK, and she was familiar with things online, so clearly, she hadn't lived as a fox in some desert or at someone's home as a pet. Not for overly long, anyway.

Why did she not want to turn back then? It was hard for him to imagine a situation when a person would prefer to abandon everything they care about and instead embrace a life of someone's pet. Maybe if someone lived in utter hell, but from what he learned, she had a simple and calm life. Nothing extraordinary.

And she didn't even look sad. Even though she was fearful of him now and somewhat subdued, the words he would have used to describe the fennec were energetic, spirited, and the like.

'Just what is she hiding?'

…

In the room, Iris quickly dusted everything off and opened the window for some fresh air. After that, she fell on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

Finally, she would have a whole bed onto herself, but she wasn't happy. The room wasn't large, just perfect for a bedroom. It should have brought her joy; this was something that reminded of home. But it didn't make her happy.

Even though she knew Kyro and Lucifer were just outside, she sensed the familiar loneliness enveloping her like an old friend. Although she fought against it, saying that the seven day deadline meant nothing, her subconsciousness didn't buy it.

Somewhere deep within, she knew that it was a game over. Even if she postponed it this time, she would soon have to go back. Her old life would restart, with the same friends, the same studies, the same house, the same chores.

Could she return to that?

"You'll have to," she told herself, rolling on her side and pulling her knees close. Now that she turned back human, her future was sealed, and this room was the most obvious harbinger of change. 'You've survived before, you'll just have to make do once more.'

The words rang hollow in her mind, but they were all she had.

The next morning, Kyro went out to get take out for breakfast, and they ate in silence. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable, either. Silence was fine when she was a fox and couldn't communicate. It was normal. But now? She wasn't so certain.

After breakfast, she cleaned up once again, and Kyro left for his study. She stayed in the living room and turned on the TV. There was nothing good on, but she didn't dare to go and disturb Kyro to ask for a stream of something online.

A few hours later, the doorbell rang, and Kyro picked up her package. She grabbed it from him like a starving man would bread and disappeared into her room. Not ten minutes later, she came out wearing her new dress.

"Let's go outside!" she suggested, peeking her head into the study where Kyro had returned.

"What?" He looked up at her in surprise, clearly having not expected her intrusion. "Why?"

She beamed at him. "I want to get out of the house! Without a leash and when I'm not running for my life from kidnappers." She clasped her hands before herself in a half-praying gesture. "Pretty please?"