Fox Life

The next day, Kyro came to work almost late and was in such a mood that everyone with any brain stayed a mile away from him. They had no clue what had happened, but the fury in their boss' eyes was clear to see, and nobody wanted to be the scapegoat. Even Lara made herself scarce.

Not everyone was this smart, though. A certain somebody entered Kyro's office without much care and sprawled out on the chair. "What happened? I thought somebody died here from the grave looks everyone threw my way."

"Nothing," Kyro muttered at Gale, not even raising his head. His temples ached from the lack of sleep, and even coffee wasn't helping much.

Gale leaned over to see what documents he was working on. "You don't even have to read those, that's just for you to sign them." He tilted his head, puzzled. "Are you that bored?"

"No," Kyro hissed out. He simply couldn't concentrate on anything. Sleepless nights were his bane. Alcohol, overwork, and anything else could be tolerated, but not lack of sleep.

The night before, Lucy and Iris had stayed by his side throughout the whole movie, then dragged him into playing with them. He was sleepy as hell, but the pets kept tugging at him so he would throw around the toys or separate the two of them when their spars got too serious. By the time they exhausted themselves, it was two in the morning, and they didn't give him an extra minute to rest in the morning, either. The moment the alarm rang out, the fox was on him.

"What is it then? I went to talk to the heads about what they thought about my ideas, but they just looked at me funny. You didn't tell anyone about what we talked yesterday!" Gale's voice wasn't loud, but his face twisted with unmistakable anger. "Did you change your mind and decide that it's stupid?"

"Fuck," was all Kyro said. He leaned back in his chair and covered his eyes with his hand. They needed to go fast with this, and he had forgotten all about it. He cursed again. Whatever he said now, it was going to set Gale off.

The office phone rang, and Kyro picked it up with relief. Lara's voice came over, saying that Sheila came to deliver some documentation.

"Let her in," he said, almost happy for the interruption. Especially by that woman.

There was no reaction from Gale when she stepped in, but that was mainly because he hadn't turned back to see who had entered. He was too busy glaring at Kyro, waiting for an explanation that he didn't want to hear.

"What is it you have for me?" Kyro asked, attracting the woman's attention on himself before she could notice his guest.

Sheila came over to his table and put a thick stack of papers. "This is everything that Frank did last week. All of his deals and suggestions are included, along with even some casual observations from his peers that wanted to share."

"And you're the one bringing it here because..."

Kyro opened his mouth to speak, but Gale was faster. He jumped to his feet, looking between them with wild eyes, a frown etched between his brows as a million thoughts were clearly running through his head. "You two… know… Wait, no… What the hell is going on here?!" he finally demanded, turning to face Kyro with something akin to betrayal in his eyes. "I thought you didn't know her."

"I don't," he answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "She hired Frank, so we got acquainted."

"Wh— Frank? You can't mean THE Frank?"

"The one. She also promised him I was very happy to see him and it's gonna be a blast working for us."

Gale fell back into the chair, his hands hanging loose by his sides. He threw Sheila a pitying glance. "I thought you were smart… This… Why would you open this barrel of worms?"

"I—" Sheila looked lost for a moment. She glanced between the two of them, then at the papers on the table. "Is there something I don't know?"

"Just a whole truckload," Gale answered without a moment's hesitation. He then turned to Kyro. "Is this why you're in the mood?"

It wasn't really the truth, but as an escape path, it was good enough. "Partially. I still haven't figured out how to get rid of him without anyone starting a fire beneath me for it. Oh, and he's also working at marketing now."

Now it was Gale's turn to curse. "You can't be serious. Then what about what we talked yesterday?"

"We'll have to go through with it with him around. Not that I'm happy about it."

"You don't need to say. Will you call the production team then?"

"Yeah, go talk with marketing. See if that airhead is the same as before."

"Sure thing." On his way out, Gale shook his head by Sheila. "I'm still surprised you're not fired," he told her quietly, then went outside, toward the elevator.

The woman looked back until his figure disappeared. Her postured was still straight, but she didn't seem as confident as before. Kyro massaged his temples and pulled the documents she had brought over.

"Leave. I've got work to do."

"Wha— Oh, right." She nodded his way and made her way out, her gaze lingering on his hunched form.

It didn't matter to him, though. He had bigger problems right now. How was he supposed to survive a whole day without falling asleep after resting for only four hours? And he even had to hold a meeting, look for pitfalls in Frank's suggestions, and check on the production calculations once the heads got back to him.