The Scandal (6)

The next morning, Iris still went out in Kyro's T-shirt. He ignored it at first, but when they were about to finish breakfast, he gave her a sideways glance. "How long are you planning to wear that?"

"So you did notice it?" she said, acting as if it was nothing.

"How was I supposed not to notice? What are you playing at?"

He seemed to be getting angrier, so Iris sighed and turned to him. "Playing? I simply have nothing else to wear. If you didn't notice, your friend kicked me out before I could pick my clothes or even the credit card."

A curse escaped Kyro's lips, and he looked away from her, finishing his last bit of coffee. "You could have just said so," he muttered and stood up. "I'll have them deliver you a new card today. Just wait for it and then get enough stuff so you won't be pushed to this next time you lose something."

Couple hours after he left, Iris opened the door to a delivery person. He passed her a letter with the card inside, then left without a word.

Inside, Iris took out the shiny new card and wondered how much she should use it. Her upbringing told her that she should get a few cheap things once again, while her mind insisted that Kyro would not notice if she used a bit more money. He also owed her for what had happened with Gale. Those twenty kilometers still reminded about themselves if she tried to stretch her leg muscles in any way.

In the end, she decided to order a bunch of things that were neither too cheap nor too expensive. They were something she'd have bought normally, if she still lived by herself.

After shopping, she decided to go online and saw plenty of articles demeaning Kyro. They were talking about greed and stuff like that, so she ignored them, knowing they held nothing interesting.

But then, right before she left the scandal sheets, she saw a new article. It had been posted a minute ago, but it was already checked out a couple hundred times. As everyone currently, the author was talking about Kyro, but from a different perspective. The title of his article was 'Pleasure Seeker: The Secrets Behind Kyro Hemming's 'Austere' Image'.

Right beneath it was a picture of Kyro drinking a glass of wine while surrounded by some nine women. They were all quite young, younger than Iris, and they were all looking at him, their eyes shining as they obviously tried to ingratiate themselves with him.

The sight was sickening, and Iris couldn't resist clicking on the article. There had to be an explanation for this. She'd seen him return home every night, so when had he even found time for things like this? They were together for over two months now, and she could have sworn he'd been home every single night.

On the page, she saw even worse things. It was like the author wanted to make sure she vomited out her breakfast that she'd eaten some four hours ago. Every word and every sentence were beyond disgusting, but everything was proved with photos.

[However, at his cousin's coming-of-age party, Mr. Hemming not only flirted with every girl and woman he met, but also got a lot closer. As you can see if this darker shot, he lured one of the girls onto a secluded balcony were they hugged for a time before disappearing into the house and away from this journalist's eyes.]

As the article said, next to this paragraph was a photo of Kyro hugged from behind by a woman shorter than him. Her face was hidden due to the photographer's position, but one could easily identify that it was a woman. Her delicate arms were wrapped around Kyro's waist, and her hair tumbled out from behind him. A small smile played on Kyro's lips, a familiar expression of good humor.

Next came a photo with four faces that Iris knew well. The person holding the phone was a woman in a light blue dress, and she captured everyone who had come that evening. Under the picture, there was a caption written by the woman herself, [Got invited by Kyro to spend an evening together].

The article's author used this as evidence to prove that Kyro was an incurable womanizer who wasn't satisfied if he didn't get four or more in one night. He wasn't even ashamed to invite all of them to his house at the same time.

This dropped Iris' trust in the journalist by a dozen points. She had been present that evening, and nothing untoward had happened. Sure, everyone flirted and she got jealous, but flirting hadn't yet been banned. At home, she knew a few guys that only knew how to talk while flirting.

The next picture, however, sent her heart racing. Due to the small room and not that great lighting, it was hard to see, but details did not matter much. In the photo, Kyro stood in the embrace of two scantily clothed women. Their bodies left nothing for imagination, and Iris was appalled.

Why was Kyro in such a place? And why was he with those women? In the very first photo, he'd been at a party so he might have been just surrounded by the group of women, but here… Iris couldn't come up with a believable explanation no matter how much she tried.

Kyro was too smart to be led into such a place on accident, so he could have only went there on purpose. There were a number of them she could theorize, but not one of them sounded good, for they had to do with Kyro choosing to go there himself.

Shaken, Iris scrolled a little farther down. She wasn't certain she wanted to know what else the journalist had dug up, but it was better to learn everything at once. Then she could curl up and cry her eyes out, cursing Kyro for playing with her.

When the next photo came into view, Iris froze. The tears that had been welling in her eyes dried up, and she stared at the computer screen with a blank mind.

The photo was taken in a familiar location, a certain elevator she'd used quite a number of times. In the night time scenery, Kyro stood in the elevator, all in light. Nestled against his chest, a woman in a white dress with black flower designs slept.