*Click*
After opening the door, Shade entered his home with Irina following behind closely.
"Huh?"
Coincidentally there was another person at the doorstep, ready to greet them with confusion in their mind.
"Shade? You went out for something? ... A—And who's this cute girl you brought home?"
He felt amused seeing his mother's reaction, but soon cleared the misunderstanding.
"Yeah, I went to the library, she is-"
"I'm his girlfriend, Irina. Nice to meet you ma'am."
Or so he tried to.
"…"
…
What…?
Stunned by her words, both Shade and his mother stood in silence for a few seconds.
Unable to comprehend the meaning of the words, Shade looked at Irina tricking his brain as if he misheard her.
"Irina, what-"
"Are you sure I should tell ma'am about that?"
It didn't take a second after her sentence for Shade to realise it.
She's doing it on purpose.
Eyes that had only looked at Irina with apathy and bafflement until now were staring at her with indication of hostility in them.
While Irina replied with a silent confident smile in return.
"What are you two talking about?" Unaware of the current situation, Shade's mother interjected their conversation with her question.
"No, it's nothing."
"Yes, it's nothing serious for now."
Irina followed his words with her own again.
Stop it!
I would not.
One pair of eyes glanced at the other while the other blinked and rolled, subtly conveying their words through the means of timing and understanding.
The stares could have lasted a bit longer but Shade's mother pulled him forward.
"Did something happen? I'm sorry, Shade never talks about his personal life so I'm really unaware of your situation."
Now with the look of defeat, Shade looks at Irina, as if asking to stop her plots, for the last time.
But it was futile.
"It's fine, I'm the one that asked Shade to not tell anyone about me or my family."
"Did something serious happen?"
"I have actually been kicked out of my family's house?"
"What?!"
Sparing one look towards Shade, Irina starts her story.
From having a selfish stepfather to having a fight with her family.
She tells a moderately emotional story.
Getting completely engaged, Shade's mother gives out equally entertaining reactions.
Unlike his mother however, Shade does not even bat an eye for a second. He doesn't question the genuineness of this story.
It's a lie.
"Shade, how could you hide such a thing from me!"
I wouldn't, if it was even remotely possible.
Had it been anyone else except his mother, they probably wouldn't have believed a word of Irina.
Shade acting so impulsively and going out of his way to help someone was mostly impossible. Even if there was a small chance of it happening, the chance of him having a girlfriend made the odds back to zero or dropped it past the negative mark immediately.
"Irina, why don't you stay here tonight, we even have a room free."
But it was his mother whom Irina was talking to.
"I shouldn't trouble your family that much."
"No no, in fact you should learn to rely more on people around you, right Shade?"
She looks towards Shade with a gentle smile asking affirmation.
Irina as well now looks towards him with a curious expression.
The entire situation flew over his head.
He did always consider his mother to be a gullible type but the sight of her being played so easily by Irina made Shade frustrated.
No!
Was the answer he wanted to scream out but he held it in his tongue before rolling the word back and swallowing it whole.
Giving up at the face of pressure, he nods his head lightly with a crooked smile plastered on his face.
His mother who had just greeted them a few minutes ago leaves the house after exchanging a few words with Irina.
Trying to hold back his anger silently, Shade stares at the figure of Irina playing around with her phone.
"Let's start our discussion then." She says with no shame but with absolute indifference.
Leading her from ahead, Shade takes Irina to her room.
Perhaps entranced by the sight of Shade's unique room, Irina walks inside thoughtlessly.
*Click*
Noticing the small sound she turns back but her vision darkens the next second.
Feeling the texture of carpet, she realises being pushed on the ground but her mouth doesn't open.
After turning the light off of the enclosed room, Shade covers her mouth and pushes her down gently but quickly.
"Speak."
Slowly removing his hand from her mouth, he asks.
"You were planning this from the start?"
"I thought you were a bit more timid from our interactions."
"…"
She spoke calmly like before, no perhaps even more comfortably now.
She didn't panic at all after realising my mother's actions.
It meant that Irina had already prepared people to act as the story she had recited at doorstep.
One thing that had been bothering Shade was Chandler knowing his death.
Since Irina did know about Chandler, that meant, the rest of the information written by Chandler would also be correct.
That meant Chandler knew how and when he would die but that still didn't make any sense, aside from being absolutely ridiculous to be true, why would Chandler not try to prevent his death?
What were the hints about?
The answer was probably one thing.
Somebody cornered him enough to stop him from resisting.
"You're being targeted by the people that killed Chandler?"
"Who knows?"
Her actions throughout their interactions replayed in Shade's mind.
No matter which moment he thought of, there were no times he could understand her behaviour.
Impeccable, from each expression to word. Like an actor in a play following the script, she continued flawlessly unlike most normal people.
"Answer me or I will harm you."
The words made Irina chuckle loudly.
Already confused by her laughter, Shade experienced a sudden pull after that.
"?!"
An unfamiliar sweet scent entered his nose.
In the dark room with not an object visible he felt two arms wrapped around his neck.
His left hand that he used to support the back of Irina's head was now empty.
And the breaths of another person could be felt on his face in this intense situation.
"You should have slammed me down the floor or acted more physically."
"…"
"You can't do anything to me."
The pressure instantly vanishes.
"Wait!"
But she doesn't stop, turning the light back on, she leaves the room without any further discussions.