C15 I Missed You.

“Sir, Miss Mathis’s play is today,” Felix said to David, who had just left the office. It had already been a little over two months since he saw Iris. They had both gotten busy, and the most communication they had was a couple of sporadic text messages.

David looked at Felix, who was at the driver’s seat. He had received an invitation from Iris a week ago, together with a VIP ticket. He hadn’t confirmed if he would be going or not, since his schedule was normally packed and quite unpredictable. Now, as he was getting out of work, he was reminded about this by his assistant.

“Let’s stop by for a while,” He said to Felix and pulled out his tablet to do some work as they made their way to the theatre. He had been quite hesitant about seeing her in the beginning and with their time apart, David felt that his infatuation was not as serious as he thought it was.

It was all probably because he had free time and also his state of mind during the time was not particularly good. It was as her friend had said to her. Even when a pet dies you will feel depressed, so even though Suzanne was not close to him, he still had complicated feelings after she passed on.

“Sir, we’ve arrived,” Felix said as he stopped in front of the campus’ theatre building. Only people loitered around the area as cars normally could not enter, but who would dare stop a Lyons from entering where they wanted to go?

“Get a bouquet of roses,” David said like it was an afterthought, and Felix nodded. David got off the car and went into the theatre. Fortunately, the play had not started, and he had arrived just in time.

He sat down in his seat that was quite close to the stage and waited for the program to begin as he was immersed in answering the work emails that he had received on his tablet.

It did not take long for one of the organizers to notice and approach him, and soon he was surrounded by a group of people. No one had expected that he would be there, so his presence was a pleasant surprise.

As David was forced to interact with these artsy intellectuals, he received a message from Felix telling him that he had returned with the flowers. When he started writing his reply, the lights in the theatre dimmed and someone came up on stage.

He had attended plays before, but they were for business. He had never really been interested in them before.

After the person in front introduced themselves and the play, it officially began. David could only ask Felix to wait for him before focusing on the play.

It had been a while since he had seen Iris and now seeing her in ancient costume and meticulous makeup made his cold stagnant heart race once more than it did before whenever he was with her.

He was completely immersed in the play in just a few minutes as he concentrated on watching Iris act as a naïve, shy and headstrong character. It was all going well, and he was very immersed in the plot until the two main characters kissed on stage.

David had almost stood up from the outrage he was feeling. He then remembered how Iris had told him that she would have to kiss the male lead in her play. That was why she wanted to do it with him first. In all honesty, he would rather she didn’t have to take part in such scenes at all. But he had no reason to stop her, especially since they have been so distant with each other.

*

Did Iris notice David? Yes, she did. She had asked for a ticket that was in a spot that she could easily see, and she was glad that he was able to spare some time from his busy schedule to indulge her. His eyes had been so focused on her that she had almost broken out of character.

Unfortunately, in the duration of the play, she was required to kiss her male counterpart four times, and in all those sequences, she did not have the opportunity to see David’s reaction because there was a scene transition in three of those scenes and the last one she was required to die with her eyes closed.

The play they had rehearsed for two months ended in forty minutes. It was truly a shame. When the actors came out for the encore, she spotted David again and smiled at him before bowing with everyone else. It was like she was thanking him alone for coming to witness and enjoy her performance.

David watched Iris, who was wearing a white dress that contrasted greatly with her black hair with a lot of attention. And a small smile appeared on his lips when he saw how she was smiling so brightly at him.

When everyone was backstage and removing their exaggerated makeup, Iris saw Felix standing at the entrance with a bouquet of flowers. She stood up from the vanity and went to him, mostly out of curiosity over what David wanted to say to her.

“Is this from Mr. Lyons?” Iris asked with an expectant gaze, and Felix answered her honestly. It had been so long since she had seen him, and seeing that he had even bought her flowers, she felt very happy.

Even though she would have liked it better if he had delivered them himself, she had to be satisfied with this because of the rumours that might come up if he did this.

“Give me a minute, I’ll be coming down to see him,” Iris said and Felix nodded. Iris ran back inside as Felix told his boss about what Iris had said to him. His response was as he predicted, he responded by saying “Mmmh” and cut the call.

A good number of people had recognized David, and they were all clamouring to have a chat with him. They were all wondering why he had attended the play and if he was interested in them. David was too lazy to respond, so he only silently listened to them. It looked rude, but him not walking away was already good enough for them.

David stood there with an expressionless face as he listened to the surrounding chattering. He had wanted to go to his car but after hearing that Iris wanted to see him, it would be better if she got in the car first before he went, as a scandal would be born if people see her.

Iris collected her things and quickly left the dressing room. Her classmates wanted to go out and celebrate afterwards but they could only speechlessly watch Iris runout without giving them the opportunity to remind her.

Felix took Iris to where he parked the car and got in the car himself to go and pick up his boss. Once he stopped outside the building entrance, he called David to let him know that he was waiting outside.

David, who was still surrounded by people, received a call from his assistant. After hanging up the phone, he looked at the group of opportunists who had surrounded him.

“I’ll be going first,” David said, and simply walked away. They hadn’t thought he would simply leave like that. It felt like they were there to provide entertainment as he waited for his driver. It was not a good feeling, but who asked him to be the richest man in the continent?

David walked out of the building and Felix got out of the car and opened the door for him. The process was quite fast, to avoid Iris being seen.

As they left the premises, Iris was looking at David like she was trying to curve his face into her brain. Her staring was quite unsettling.

“What is it?” David asked her as he looked back at her.

“I just missed you,” Iris answered frankly.