Test of Strength (8)

The sight of Jane walking away by herself was a savory moment for Iris. She wondered for a second if Kyro would call her back, but not only did he not do that, he even turned away and ushered Iris back into the house midway through.

"Is it true, what she said?"

As happy as Iris was to have been chosen, she wondered if it was to the detriment of Dioscuri. Could Kyro still afford to do as he wished?

"More or less," he sat down on the sofa, pulling her along to land on his knees. There was a strange expression on his face, one between a frown and a sigh, so she didn't struggle and just sat calmly, pretending it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "The company may crash and burn at any moment."

The words on Iris' lips were pushed back inside, unspoken. She didn't want to question him about refusing Jane's offer when it was done for her. Yet she worried. Now more than ever before. What consequences would he have to face for keeping her around?

"Would you tell me all that happened?" she asked. It was unlikely that she could help with anything, but she wanted to know it, to understand the burden he carried.

And so he told her. His story started with a certain Frank Brons, a scandal that tainted his reputation and credibility, then another regarding him turning on his best friend and partner. All those were something Iris had known from online, but then came the simpler and more damaging stuff, the private betrayal.

Kyro explained about the Mosleys inciting their old employees to bring out sensitive data, sharing it with an enemy company, and how they tried to set up Frank for that. Then he added about the meeting with Horten Family Group, how they wanted to buy him, and if not, they would push him down.

Unlike Mosleys, they didn't try to steal employees, but used another, just as nasty method—they put pressure from above. All private investors were told to pull out or suffer their wrath, and the same went to all partner companies. Even some subsidiary companies that were part of Dioscuri were forced out like that.

Iris listened with her face going paler with every sentence. Just how much did everyone want Kyro to go down? She could almost understand Mosleys—they were crazy, but they were doing it for Gale. But Horten? They had no reason!

"Then what about Jane? Why would she offer you help out of nowhere?" It didn't really fit with the whole 'we'll put you down until you join us' act they'd been pulling.

Kyro shrugged. "Dunno, but I can't trust her. It can only be some new plan hatched by her father."

New plan? Iris glanced at Kyro, wondering which one of them was the blind one. If she was to guess, Jane had certainly offered that because of Kyro, wanting him to be by her side, even if it went against her father's plans.

But Iris wasn't kind enough to mention that. If Kyro didn't even entertain the idea of Jane liking him, then all for the better. No reason to make him aware of the matter.

With a smile, Iris nodded, agreeing with his deduction, then leaned to the table to pick Gale's letter. It wasn't sealed, so she opened it to find a passport inside. Puzzled, she opened it and saw a picture of herself. Her eyes roamed to the data to the right, and all of it was correct.

For a moment, her mind blanked out. What was this? It wasn't her passport; the photo was wrong, but… She could swear it looked like the real thing.

Kyro took it from her hands and flipped through the others pages. In one of them, he found a slip of paper with neat handwriting. [A small gift for being a friend to Lily. I couldn't get anything exceptional on a short notice, so it won't survive deep scrutiny, but for a casual use, it's perfectly fine.]

"Seems like you no longer have anything to worry about," Kyro said with a smile, returning the passport to Iris' hands.

She stared at it, her mind still blank. One could just procure a passport in a few hours? How? Wasn't it something only done in the movies?

"Will it really work?" she asked, not ready to just believe it. "What if they check in the system and doesn't find it?"

"Give Gale some credit; he wouldn't have sent something useless." Kyro shook his head, chuckling. "He was always good at making friends with the right people."

Iris wondered about those 'right people', but didn't ask. For a day, she'd had enough stuff thrown her way. It wouldn't be good if her brain short-circuited from too much information.

They spent the rest of the day at home, watching TV and annoying Lucy. The cat wanted to be around them, but not touched, so they were in constant warfare.

The next day, when Kyro left for work, Iris opened the list of those who were going to attend the gala and her eyes almost fell out. How was she going to fit in with all those people? There were famous actors, singers, businessmen whose names even she'd heard about, and a whole array of other people that seemed to be at the top of their field. Not one of them seemed like an average person.

Worry threatened to drown her, but she did her best to ignore it. She had already promised to go, so there was nothing else to do but trudge on and hope for the best. With determination, she started memorizing the names of everyone she didn't know to not appear like a country bumpkin.

And like that, most of the day went past. She didn't even go to Caron to have more time to mentally prepare herself for the upcoming event. Only when Kyro was about to return did she pull herself away and went to cook.

He came back looking tired, but not down. When asked about it, he just shook his head. "I'm thanking my stars for little things. Our drop today was only minimal."

In the end, Iris began to drill him about what was expected of her and how she should act around all the people they'd meet the day after tomorrow. He said it was fine to be natural, but she just sneered at such advice. Who was stupid enough to believe that?

With a huff, she went to look for help online once again. It wasn't like she expected to find everything there was to it, but there had to be something. Someone should have noted down at least some of the unwritten rules for such events.

Friday passed in a blur, and Saturday came over like an unwelcome guest. In the morning, a package arrived and Iris opened it to see a long champagne-colored satin dress. It didn't have any elaborate designs, but pooled in her fingers like liquid.

The luxurious feeling it gave off was something Iris had never imaged to possess. For a while, she just stared at it, letting it slide through her fingers again and again. This was something she'd never expected to wear in her life. Not only was it too expensive, but where would she even wear it? In front of her mirror?

"Are you going to try it on, or just hold it for the rest of the day?" Kyro asked with amusement.

Iris glared at him for breaking her moment of bliss and went into the room to change. The dress fell around her body like a second skin, giving her a sense of power. Instinctively, she straightened, raising her head higher.

There was something special about wearing fancy clothes. Although she knew they didn't add anything to her personality, it didn't change the fact that she was feeling like something more than her usual self. A mere glance at the body-length mirror was enough to know that the person there wasn't her.

That woman who Iris didn't recognize had her hair in a loose ponytail, her dark eyes were bright with life, a smile tugged at her lips, and she wore a dress fit for a queen. She turned then, coming out to show herself before Kyro.

He looked her up and down, and a matching smile showed up on his lips. "You look amazing," he said, coming closer. Uncaring that he might damage the dress, he pulled her into his arms. "Now I no longer know if I want to bring you along for everyone to ogle," he teased, then kissed her like only she existed in the world.