Hellbound With You

She looked down at Zeres who was sprawled on the floor beside her bed, guilty and worried. “Are… are you…” her voice trailed off at the sight of him, lying unmoving on the floor. His expression was… he looked genuinely shocked. It was as though he was still wondering what had just happened in his life.

Iryz could not help the laugh that was bubbling and about to burst out of her lips. He did not even move a single inch as he continued to lie there on his back, staring up at her bedroom ceiling.

”You okay?” she asked again, struggling and finally managing to swallow her laugh.

He looked at her but still did not bother moving. He still looked as though he was processing the whys and how had he ended up on the floor.

”Uhm… yes… I’m fine.” he finally replied, blinking at her.

Iryz pressed her lips tightly together. It seemed as though this man had never been kicked off from the bed before, that this one – his first – experience seemed to have thrown his entire system into such a lag so badly that he had troubles responding as usual.

”I’m sorry about that… I was just too flustered to find you…” she cleared her throat and changed the topic immediately, going with the assumption that he understood where that sentence was headed towards. “Well anyway, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kick you that hard.” She apologised somewhat sheepishly.

He just stared at her for a long while before slowly, his expression changed into something… sad, despite the small smile that seemingly curved on his lips. “No… that kick… I fully deserved it.”

While Iryz had fallen speechless at his self-recrimination, he let out a deep breath and covered his eyes with the back of his hand. He did not seem to have any plans on getting up from the floor anymore. This man… why must he be acting like this? How could she even have the heart to just kick him out of her house when he was behaving all mopey and morose like this?

”I’m so so sorry, Iryz.” He muttered out an apology without looking at her. “It was presumptuous of me to… hold onto you like that and sleep in your bed when you’re drunk.” His voice was filled with nothing but regret and guilt.

It took her a moment before she could finally open her mouth to respond. But before she could form any word, he beat her to it and spoke first.

”Iryz…” he called out her name in a soft voice.

”W-what?” she could not help but get flustered there. It was so rare for him to call her name. And the way his voice sounded when calling out ‘Iryz’ just sent a jolt of electricity zinging through her. Why did she feel as though he was calling her name so much more frequent lately? She furrowed her brows. Was it just her being overly sensitive again?

He took his hand off his face and turned to look at her from his lying down position on the floor. For some reason… there seemed to be something that had changed in the way he looked at her. Somehow, his gaze seemed to be heavier, to be full of meaning – as though he was telling her something using only his eyes. And her heart… her stupid, stupid heart was working itself up into a frenzy, all on its own.

”I want to… live here. In your house.” He finally said and it was Iryz’s turn to just sit there, unmoving, unsure if she had heard him correctly the first time. It was like her system had malfunctioned big time and failed her right at the most critical moment.

”H-huh?” she responded lamely.

”I will pay rent…” he added quickly, in case she wanted to reject him. His face was so damned serious as he bargained. “If it’s okay with you, I can pay maybe ten thousand dollars per month? Or even more if you think that is not enough. I don’t really mind the amount. I also don’t mind continuing being your model for your sketches. I don’t have anything else to do now anyway –” Zeres rambled on. Iryz was so shocked as she had never heard Zeres spoke so many words at one go to her before that she could not respond for a couple of seconds.

”Wait…! Wait a minute, you little screwball. What the hell are you saying?!” she could not take it anymore. She had not seen this coming. Not at all! What the hell was going on?! Did she accidentally step into an alternate universe by chance perhaps??!! Why was Zeres behaving so… un-Zeres like?!

He just looked at her. His expression remained serious. “I want to live here. In your house.” He repeated it slowly, in a straightforward manner and without any hints of joking. That just caused Iryz’ lips to part.

Then she forced out an awkward laugh. It would be more awkward if she had just kept quiet and stared at him as though he was crazy. Which she did think he might be at the moment. Did he knock his head somewhere before coming to see her?

”You’re kidding me.” Iryz voiced it as a statement.

”No. I’m not, Iryz. I am as dead serious as I will ever be.”

”Oh gosh, but why?!” her eyes were wide as saucers as she questioned him. “Why would you come here and pay rent to live in a run-down library?”

He put his arm back over his eyes again and answered in a small voice. “I have… nowhere else to go…”

Iryz felt like she was about to explode and before she knew it, she climbed off the bed and squatted next to him. She grabbed his hand off his eyes and made him look directly at her.

Once he did, she bombarded him with words. “Look here, Zeres. You have a massive luxurious apartment in one of the tallest buildings in the city and you are telling me you have nowhere else to go? Don’t tell me that the place isn’t yours because I won’t believe it. Not one second! And surely, someone like you would definitely have many other places you could go to. So tell me the real reason why or I will kick you out of my house right now!” she threatened.

”Because… because this place feels like… home. And you’re here.”