章 13: The Crazy Lion

Camille sighed as she walked up the stairs to her apartment.

It had been yet another long day at work with Neil.

Thanks to Lyris' dirty habits, she felt even more sensitive to the filth of Neil's office.

Having to work with all of that dust floating around, tickling her nose and scratching at her throat, the smell of old coffee and the sticky floor around his desk, had put her in an even worse mood.

Not to mention, Neil had been in a worse mood than ever after returning from one of his meetings.

Part of her wanted to be sympathetic that perhaps there was some turmoil occurring within the company, but the rest of her couldn't care less about Neil.

Knowing he was in a bad mood already, she knew she probably shouldn't have said anything, but she couldn't help herself, and so they exploded into an argument.

As she placed her hand on the doorknob to her apartment, she thought back to the fight they'd had earlier that day.

"What's the issue? Tell me what the problem is! I'm getting tired of having this same fight with you over and over again!" Camille yelled as she waved a dust-rag around in the air.

"I'm tired of it too! Why don't you listen to me? As someone who keeps complaining I don't listen to her, you sure don't listen yourself! I've said multiple times I don't want you touching a damn thing!" Neil screamed from behind his desk.

"Why is it such a problem? It's really disgusting in here! I feel like I'm suffocating from all this dust! At least let me clean something! I'll do it in front of you. Just tell me what areas to avoid!"

Neil stood up and slammed his hands against his desk, "I don't want you touching any of it, I said!"

"At least let me do the windows and floors! It looks like there's a tint on your windows and it's not! It's just a layer of dust!" Camille motioned towards the windows, a ray of sunlight barely pushing through.

"NONE OF IT!"

Camille threw the rag down on the ground and marched to the window angrily.

"I can't possibly marry a man who is so filthy!"

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Camille shook her head, shoving the memory out of her mind.

Now that she lived with Lyris, and experienced having filth at work and at home, the idea of marrying Neil felt even more impossible.

She entered her apartment and was met with another surprising scene.

On her couch sat a group of young women who seemed to be around her age.

They were all exceptionally gorgeous, their hair and makeup done without a strand of line out of place, and their short mini dresses perfectly highlighting their amazing figures and complimenting their out of this world proportions.

The women stared at her with disgusted looks on their faces and she found herself feeling a little self-conscious.

Her white button-up blouse had frills on the sleeves and pearl buttons; paired with it was a black miniskirt.

She'd worn her hair down today and donned a pearl headband along with it to match the buttons on her blouse.

While beautiful and also complimenting her figure, the dust that covered her made her outfit look old and frumpy.

In contrast to their floral, sweet perfume, she probably smelled musty with a hint of old coffee.

She found herself awkwardly dusting herself off and picking at her outfit as she closed the door behind her.

'Is this going to be a common thing? Coming home to less than joyous surprises? Why are these women here anyways?'

Camille walked to her kitchen with her head held high, placing her purse on the countertop.

'I'm not very fond of a bunch of strangers in my house. I want these girls gone!'

She cleared her throat and turned towards the girls, who had turned their heads as they followed her movements.

"Ladies, I am not sure why you're here, but it's time for you to go."

Two of the girls scoffed, while another snickered in response.

The fourth stood up and gently tugged at the hem of her dress, pulling it down gracefully.

"Listen, whoever you are, we're not here for you. We're Lyra's guests. I don't know who YOU are, but he invited US here personally to have some fun. You're free to leave though." She said with a smirk and a joyous tone.

Camille placed her hand on her hip and slapped her hand against her countertop, leaning against it as she stared at the group with annoyance.

"I am the person whose apartment this is. Now, get out!"

She pointed towards the door as Lyris came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

"Hey, what's the commotion about?"

Camille placed her hand at her temple, creating a shield for her eyes, "Did I not buy you clothes to wear?!"

Lyris scratched his head, "You did, but they're uncomfortable."

"Lyra! This girl is being so rude to us! Who is she? Your ex?"

The girl playfully jogged up to Lyris, grabbing onto his arm and hugging it tight.

Camille instantly put her hand down and stared at the girl with her mouth agape.

'Is she serious?!' She could feel her blood boiling.

"Well, she-"

Just as Lyris began, one of the other girls on the couch spoke up, "I bet she's his girlfriend and she's just jealous that he wants to hang out with us instead!"

"Or, she's in love with him and she's jealous that he doesn't want her. I mean, just look at her…" one of the others said, causing all of them to laugh.

"Lyris! Get them out of here now, or you're going to go too!"

"Lyris? I thought your name was Lyra…." The girl holding onto his shoulder said, staring up at him confused.

"Ah well. I think it's time for you ladies to go. We'll continue this some other time, don't you worry!"

He escorted them out, as Camille tore her headband off, marching into her room with a huff.

As Lyris entered back into the apartment, he was met with Camille slamming her bedroom door shut.

Lyris slowly opened the door, peeking inside through the small crack to check on her.

For some reason, he felt extra cowardly.

"Are you alright?" he asked nervously.

Camille was sitting at her vanity, staring into the mirror, her arms crossed as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"Look at the company you keep. Is that the kind of girl you're interested in?"

Lyris smirked and slowly entered the room, shutting the door behind them.

"Oh? Is that you were jealous?"

Camille stood up and turned away from him, "I'm not jealous! It's just the company you keep says a lot about you!"

Lyris approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him, "You keep myself and Neil around. What does that say about you?"

Camille turned around to face him and pushed him away, "Do you see Neil around me outside of work hours? No! With you, I'm just paying a debt!"

A devilish smile appeared on Lyris' face, "Is that the only reason? I think you ARE jealous. Would you rather be one of my beauties? Could it be….you want to be the only one?"

He lifted her chin with his finger and leaned in for a kiss.

"Knock it off!" Camille shouted as she shoved him away.

He stared at her confounded.

"You're sick! You just have these random women around that you don't even know, doing God knows what! You're messy too! You should live well instead of living recklessly!"

Camille flopped onto her bed and pulled her black pumps off and began to rub her feet, the shoes making her ache from the long workday.

"I can do whatever I want! I don't answer to you! You're just a mortal! Yes, my father DOES know what I'm up to, that's the whole reason I was sent here. Not even God himself could stop me from doing what I want, what makes you think you can?! I've already been cleaning up after myself, what more do you want from me?!"

She was shocked, it was the first time she'd really seen him angry, however, that didn't calm hers down any at all.

Camille stood up and marched up to him, standing on her tippy toes to match his height the best she could as she got in his face.

Lyris leaned back, his eyes wide, surprised at the aggression.

"Listen you crazy lion! Maybe you've been out in the jungle too long, but you're in civilization now! Stop acting so animalistic! Find something productive to do, and I'm not referring to another person!"

He then smirked and leaned in closer to her, causing her to back off a little.

"Ah. Lions don't live in the jungle though."

Camille glared at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"Whatever. You know what I meant! I'm going to go make dinner."

She pushed past him and opened the door.

With a pause, she turned back and yelled, "AND GET A HAIRCUT!"