It was Sunday. I left the house. For some reason, I told Vittoria not to look after me for a few days because I had business at the office. She nodded in understanding.
After that, I left the house armed with my phone, an empty wallet, and a folding knife stored in my pocket.
I had a bad feeling. Last Sunday, when Iris came to my house, I knew she was watching me. My daily routine, when I left, when I came home. I realized that. So I acted as if nothing was happening, letting Iris do what she planned.
And, the climax was this Sunday. When Iris called me on the phone, and held me captive in a narrow, dark alley. Iris knocked me unconscious with a wet cloth containing drugs placed over my nose and mouth, so I ran out of breath and had no strength to scream.
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a room.
A room where every inch of the walls was covered with my photos. My photos from childhood and now. Various poses, not just my face, or even photos of me changing clothes or photos of me just talking or eating or drinking. Everything was a photo of myself here.
A slightly stuffy aroma wafted. There was no air vent other than the exit door. No windows and no sunlight coming in. I suspected I was in underground, feeling a rather damp chill on my skin.
There was only a wooden chair I'm sitting on, with my hands and feet tied quite tightly to the back of the chair in that room. A study desk was attached to one wall, facing away from the exit door. A single lamp hung, illuminating every inch of the room, whose owner was clearly evident.
Iris Winterbourne.
She appeared from behind the door behind me.
She then stood one step in front of me, smiling in a way I had never seen throughout our friendship.
She smiled broadly, very happy, like a little girl receiving a gift from Santa Claus at Christmas.
I showed no expression other than a flat one. I tried to remain calm and began to ask.
"Why are you doing this, Iris?"
I moved my legs and hands, both of which were tied. Iris chuckled, watching me try to wriggle free only in vain.
"That's because I love you so much, Vincent. From today until we die together, you will live here, forever, just the two of us, with no one between us."
Iris's sense of shame seemed to snap, and she sat on my lap. She hugged me, pulling my face into her cleavage. I could feel her warmth and her rapidly beating heart. She was wearing the same dress she had called me in this morning.
A blue off-shoulder mini dress with smock details and puffed sleeves. I could see the white skin of her shoulders and Iris's cleavage. Her skirt barely covered her entire thighs. With garter belt in one of those thighs.
Iris hugged my face for several minutes, more than I could count. There was no clock here except the watch I was wearing.
"Iris."
"Hmm? What is it, dear?"
I pulled my head away from Iris's embrace. Looking directly into her eyes. Iris's eye color was icy blue. Different from the dark red it had been before.
I paused for a moment to think if the person in front of me was really the Iris I knew.
"Who are you?" Only that question came out of my mouth. Iris was still smiling broadly, her eyes narrowed.
"I am Iris. Iris, the snow white."
***
"Where did Vincent go?" Vivian asked worriedly, seeing the sun had just set outside but Vincent had not yet returned. If this continued, dinner would not feel normal.
"Vincent said he had business at his office. Maybe one of Vincent's company executives needed Vincent to do something, he said he wouldn't be home for a few days." Vittoria explained loudly from the kitchen. She was cooking dinner alone. She cooked earlier than usual because Vincent wasn't there to help.
Vani heard her open her mouth but no words came out. Or Violet, who held her cheek worriedly.
"I hope Vincent is okay. Mommy already miss him."
"It hasn't even been a day, how can you miss Vincent already?" Valian, who was passing through the dining room, interjected her mother's words. Violet smiled gently, motherly.
"Ara~ tonight I was supposed to feel Vincent's hand massage again. That's why I miss him immediately. If Vincent isn't here, I feel like my hypersexual condition will relapse."
Valian regretted asking a little. But she also sighed softly hearing the news that Vincent would not be home for several days. In other words, her blood supply would be low for those few days. It had almost become a routine every afternoon for Valian to suck a little of Vincent's blood from his right index finger. But now Vincent was gone and Valian was starting to get uneasy.
"Well, I hope Vincent comes home soon."
Everyone in the house nodded in agreement. They had already started to miss Vincent even though not even a day had passed.
Including Aria, who had somehow and since when, was sitting at the dining table next to Vani.
"Vincent will definitely be fine. He's my future husband, he'll definitely finish his business quickly and come home." Aria said cheerfully. Making Vittoria turn from the kitchen to hear her school friend's voice suddenly in the dining room.
"What are you doing here, big sister Aria?" Vani asked. She had just opened her mouth to ask Aria that.
"Because my future husband won't be home for days. It's only natural for his future wife to take his place here, isn't it?"
Vani made a long "ooo" sound. Then nodded cutely.
"In that case, come here and help me cook." Vittoria dragged the chair Aria was sitting on to help her in the kitchen.
"Eh? Isn't a future wife's job just to wait for her future husband to come home?"
"If you are truly a proper future wife, you should help me cook, clean the house, and assist with every residents need of this house because that's what Vincent usually does. If you can't, then what can I say, it seems you're not suitable to be my stepbrother's future wife." Vittoria said with a smirk, while Aria puffed out her cheeks, refusing to be teased like that.
"Hmph! Of course I can."
That night, Aria blew up the Vincent family's oven and almost caused fire in the house. Fortunately, they had a fire extinguisher.
***