The woman shook her head, narrowing her eyes in confusion. “No… I don’t remember saying that. You’re lying. I agreed to this project knowing there was no going back so why would you say that?”
The suitcase she had been carrying was on the floor by her feet until she quickly picked it up and held it tightly in her arms— the new expression on her face was something you’d only see on those who were about to lose everything, and her voice cracked as she pleaded. “Don’t do this to me Aki… Please!”
Noticing her expression, Aki bit his lip and tried to think of something to say. Eventually, he gave up trying to make some sense out of this and just went with what his mind was telling him. “You… want me to stay that badly…?”
Iris clenched her eyes shut and screamed at the top of her lungs. “I HATE BEING ALONE!” Her eyes suddenly opened and her face fell into shock as she quickly covered her mouth. Had she really just shouted that out loud? She’d never told anyone how much she hated being alone— not just hated, feared.
The woman was silent for a moment before she loosened her grip on the suitcase and averted her eyes. “Sorry… If you want to leave then just leave. Take your stupid suitcase…”
Hearing that, the scientist turned to her fully. He pulled her up from the seating position she was in and did something he wouldn’t believe himself doing in a million years. Unhesitatingly as well, he had pressed his lips against hers, closing his eyes as if to say he wanted this to be proof that he wouldn’t leave.
Iris’ eyes widened and she pushed Aki away from her, her hands shaking as she stared at him in horror. “You— I— Why?” She shook her head in confusion, rubbing her forehead while her frown deepened. Was Aki purposely trying to confuse her and send mixed messages? “Aki, what do you want from me? Please just give me a straight answer.”
“I…” the man thought for a moment before sighing. “I want you to feel happy, wanted, and loved, that’s all. You’ve been living in such a deep hellhole of a life and I just want to pull you away from it. I don’t like helping people as much as you think I do but I want to help you, Iris,” he claimed with a firm tone, yet a warm one either way. “The Project was designed as a way for you to communicate with me, and potentially some others, but if that doesn’t work, I suppose we’ll have to use the old method of normal communication,”
“Who else would I have spoke with, and by normal do you mean like actually talking on the phone?” Iris raised an eyebrow, her mood suddenly switching again as she laughed. “I don’t see why we didn’t just call in the first place, it would have been a lot easier than you sending emails all the time.” She then turned to the suitcase and sighed. “Can you just tell me the last number so I can open it?”
Aki sighed softly before nodding. “Six,” he spoke calmly, referring to the number of days the corpse has been there. “You still plan to go home after this, yes?” He asked, genuinely wanting to return with her if anything.
Iris nodded, picking up the suitcase and other bag. “I think it would be better to open the suitcase in the confines of my room rather than on a park bench.” With that, she started walking in the direction of home and glanced over her shoulder. “Come on then.”
“But, your housemates. Wouldn’t they question you bringing me home? Plus, it’s not like I seem like a good person either. Heck, the government is probably looking for me or something like that at this point,” he spoke, sighing softly despite taking a step towards her.
“Government? Wow I haven’t heard that term being used for a while.” The woman sighed while shaking her head, casting her eyes to the floor. “I am not required to tell my housemates anything— besides it isn’t like Danny hasn’t returned with a man or woman occasionally.”
After a moment of just straight walking, the two arrived at Iris’ home and she immediately opened the door. Judging from the living room light being on it was safe to assume Danny was awake.
Aki walked in after Iris, pulling his mask up just in case someone really was awake. He wasn’t sure what he should do if someone really was awake. Bailing out wouldn’t be nice, and talking just won’t work. At least, that was his thought process. He looked around before following Iris up to her room. Once there, he sighed and pulled down his mask, taking it off entirely.
“So… would you like to open the suitcase?”
After closing the door and letting out a heavy breath, Iris set the suitcase on her bed and input the last number before opening up the suitcase.
Inside the suitcase, simply put, were a single new pair of earphones and nothing else. Aki turned away, his cheeks turning slightly pinkish. “I-I know your earphones aren’t the best so I got you new ones,” he claimed with a gentle smile. “I hope you like it…?”
Iris stared at the earphones for a moment before looking up at. “You mean to tell me that I trekked around the city and was exposed to two dead bodies, all for a pair of earphones??” She shook her head with a warm smile growing on her lips. “That’s oddly romantic in its own way.”
“I-I suppose so…?” The man laughed quietly before looking at her smile, himself smiling back at her. “Hey, I’m sorry for earlier. I think I got a bit too over my head kissing you like that… that was uncalled for on my part. I do apologize,” he spoke, nodding quite deeply, clearly apologetic.
“I accept your apology, thank you. At least let me fall in love with you before you start doing things like that.” She took the earphones out of the case and set them on her desk, also taking out the two phones and bag of white powder from her coat pockets. “I’m becoming quite the collector, don’t you think? Belongings of dead men and photos of a dead girl… Interesting mix.”
“I mean, technically, yes,” the man laughed softly, a bit surprised at her first statement. About… love, that was. He wanted to talk more about that, how he was curious what kind of men she liked but… perhaps he shouldn’t after all. “So… if you fall in love with me, you’ll let me do that more often?” There his mouth goes again.
“Perhaps, though I don’t see it ever happening. I’ve never fallen in love before, I tend to leave those sorts of emotions to—“ Iris paused, wincing as she gently rubbed her forehead. What had she been about to say? With the slight shake of her head, she sighed. “I don’t remember what I was going to say, all I know is that I don’t deal with flowery emotions. Though I think you already know that.”
The man nodded. “I won’t bring it up if you don’t want me to. I’m glad enough it’s not a no,” he laughed softly and looked at her again. “So… is there something you want to do? I can do anything honestly,”
Iris thought for a moment, rubbing her chin, before shrugging. “At this time of night I’m usually either watching a movie or throwing up at whatever Danny is cooking and or smoking. I also don’t spend time with people so I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“Watching a movie sounds nice. What do you wanna watch?” He asked, sitting with his knees up to his chin. “I’m good with horror and thrillers by the way, in case that’s what you’re into,”
Her eyes widened immediately and a bright yet somewhat sinister smile lit up her face. “I know the perfect thing then! But uh… Do you not want to take off your coat and shoes? It might be a little comfier. I should also mention that I don’t really have anywhere else for us to watch the movie apart from my bed, if that’s okay?” As she said this, she removed her coat and shoes and set them by the bedroom door before taking out her laptop, opening it up to reveal the news articles still on the screen.
The man looked at the screen before turning back to Iris. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” he smiled softly and turned back to the screen. “What are we going to be watching? Something like Hannibal maybe? Or some sort of psychological horrors?”
“So many questions!” Iris frowned, backing away a little. “Calm down.”
“Iris?” A knock came to the door and Danny’s deep voice called from the other side. “Are you okay in there? There are an extra pair of footsteps in this house… Did you bring someone home?”
The woman looked at Aki for a moment before turning back to the door. “Uh… Yeah. He’s a friend.”
Everything was silent for a moment before the door opened and Danny shuffled in holding a knife, narrowing his eyes as he entered the room. Upon seeing Aki, he didn’t know what to make of the situation. “I can’t tell if he’s an intruder or not, Iris, both you and I know that you don’t make friends.”
