Chapter 159: Iris is a woman of few words.

Iris had reached a conclusion, which was that she would never again try to casually run into one of Noah’s mothers.

It had been a terrible idea, since she had followed Sarah for fifteen minutes and, when Sarah finally confronted her, Iris had done something even worse, which was run away.

Iris was sitting in front of her computer remembering that moment while she waited for a match to start.

’How embarrassing.’

She tried to focus, but she couldn’t.

Her character appeared in the match and Iris started playing, but two minutes later she made a basic mistake.

A teammate typed.

[Are you asleep?]

Iris frowned, ignored it, and kept playing.

Shortly after she made another mistake and another message appeared.

[Report.]

Iris closed her eyes.

’This is Sarah’s fault.’

She thought for a few more seconds.

’No.’

It was her own fault and that bothered her more.

She finished the match and lost.

Iris put down the mouse, looked at her phone, and there were messages from Noah.

The first one was from several minutes ago.

[Are you going to explain what it means that you accidentally followed my mom?]

Then another one arrived.

[Iris.]

And another.

[Iris?]

She replied.

[It doesn’t matter.]

Noah answered.

[Of course it matters.]

Iris typed.

[I’m done.]

Noah took a few seconds.

[Done with what?]

Iris replied.

[Following her.]

The answer came immediately.

[THAT WASN’T WHAT I WAS ASKING.]

Iris looked at the capital letters and then locked her phone, since she didn’t feel like explaining anything, at least not yet.

What mattered was that she already knew what to do.

No more casual encounters, no preparations, no strategies, she was going to introduce herself directly and that was it.

The next day, Noah came home after classes.

He was tired, nothing especially serious had happened, and precisely because of that he was hoping for a quiet afternoon, until he walked in.

"I’m home."

Emma answered from the kitchen.

"Welcome back."

Sarah was sitting in the living room checking her phone and Ava didn’t seem to be downstairs, so Noah set down his backpack.

’Perfect.’

He would go upstairs, change, do some homework, and maybe play for a while afterward.

His phone vibrated and he saw it was Iris.

[I’m nearby.]

Noah frowned and replied.

[Nearby what?]

He didn’t get a response, but he heard the doorbell, so Noah stayed still, looked at his phone and then at the door.

’No.’

It rang again and Sarah looked up.

"Aren’t you going to get that?"

Noah sighed.

"Yeah."

He walked to the entrance, opened it, and Iris was standing there, so Noah looked at her.

"Iris."

"Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

"Introducing myself."

Noah opened his mouth and Iris walked in, but Noah turned.

"Wait."

Iris had already taken off her shoes and Noah closed the door.

"What happened to giving me a heads-up?"

Iris pulled out her phone.

"I told you I was nearby."

"That was thirty seconds ago!"

"I warned you."

"Doesn’t count."

"Now you know."

Noah stayed quiet and Iris walked toward the living room while Noah followed her quickly.

"Iris."

"What?"

"Wait a second."

"For what?"

"To prepare them."

Iris looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because you just showed up out of nowhere."

"I rang the doorbell."

"That’s not the point."

Sarah heard the voices, so she sat up a little on the couch to look and, when she saw Iris, her expression changed.

Not because she knew exactly who she was, but because she recognized her.

"You."

Iris stopped and Sarah pointed slightly.

"The girl from yesterday?"

Iris stayed silent and Noah looked at both of them.

"You know each other?"

Sarah smiled.

"She’s the one who followed me."

Noah closed his eyes.

’Great.’

Iris corrected.

"It wasn’t intentional."

Sarah raised an eyebrow.

"It was fifteen minutes."

Iris looked away and Noah brought a hand to his face.

"Now I understand the message."

Emma appeared from the kitchen.

"What’s going on?"

She saw Iris and stopped.

"Oh."

Iris looked first at Emma, then at Sarah, and Noah reacted immediately.

"Wait, before..."

Iris spoke.

"I’m Noah’s girlfriend."

There was silence.

Noah slowly lowered his hand and Emma blinked while Sarah looked at Iris, then at Noah, then back at Iris.

"Ah."

Iris nodded.

"That’s what I wanted to tell you yesterday."

Sarah stayed quiet for a few seconds and then started laughing, which made Iris frown slightly.

"It’s not funny."

"A little bit it is."

"No."

"You followed me for fifteen minutes just to tell me that."

"I know."

"And then you ran away."

Iris looked away while Emma seemed completely lost.

"What happened yesterday?"

Noah answered.

"I’d rather not know any more."

Iris spoke again.

"I tried to make it casual."

Sarah started laughing again and Emma looked at her.

"Make what casual?"

"Introducing myself."

Emma blinked and Iris continued.

"The others did similar things."

Noah intervened.

"Not exactly."

Iris looked at him.

"Yume followed your mom’s routines."

Noah opened his mouth.

"Luna took advantage of the café."

"Iris."

"Aria organized a meeting."

"Iris, stop."

"I tried to do the same."

Noah stopped her.

"Please, let me explain."

Iris shrugged slightly.

"Fine."

Sarah sat back down and Emma did too, while Iris remained standing.

Noah looked at her.

"Sit down."

Iris obeyed.

She didn’t seem nervous, which surprised Noah a little, since yesterday she had run away from Sarah.

Now she was sitting in front of both mothers as if she were waiting for a class to start.

Emma was the first to ask.

"So you’re Iris."

"Yes."

Noah looked at his mother.

"How do you know her name?"

Emma pointed at Noah.

"You’ve talked about her."

He blinked.

"Me?"

"A few times."

Iris turned toward Noah.

"What did you say?"

"I don’t remember."

Emma smiled.

"That you played with a classmate."

Iris nodded.

"Yes."

Sarah intervened.

"Wait."

She looked at Iris.

"Are you the gaming girl?"

"Yes."

Sarah started to understand.

"So you’re the reason Noah wanted a computer."

Noah raised a hand.

"Not exactly."

Iris answered.

"Yes."

Noah looked at her.

"It wasn’t just because of you!"

"You wanted to play with me."

"Yes, but..."

"Your phone couldn’t handle it."

"That’s true, but..."

"So you needed a computer."

Noah stayed quiet and Iris looked at Sarah.

"Yes."

Sarah started laughing and Noah sighed.

"Thanks for simplifying months of my life."

"No problem."

"That wasn’t a thank-you."

"Oh."

Emma was watching Iris with curiosity, since, unlike Yume, Luna, or Aria, Iris wasn’t trying to make any impression, she simply answered.

Emma asked.

"What are you studying?"

Iris answered.

"The same as Noah in some subjects."

"And what do you do in your free time?"

"I play."

Emma waited, Iris waited too, and Emma smiled.

"Just that?"

"Mostly."

"What kind of games?"

Iris started talking, not much at first.

She mentioned competitive games, some strategy ones, others cooperative, and then Sarah asked a question about one of them, but the explanation lasted several minutes.

Noah sat nearby and Iris took out her phone.

"It’s easier to show it."

Sarah looked at the screen.

"That’s a game?"

"Yes."

"There’s too much going on."

"At first."

Emma leaned in too.

"And what do you do?"

Iris started explaining the rules and Sarah tried to understand, but it didn’t work very well.

"Why are so many people attacking each other?"

"Because you have to destroy the base."

"And they can’t just go straight to the base?"

"No."

"Why?"

"They’d die."

Sarah blinked.

"I get it."

She didn’t get it and Noah noticed, so he tried to hold back a laugh, but Emma looked at him.

"You play this?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Are you good?"

Iris answered first.

"Sort of."

Noah turned.

"Hey!"

"It’s true."

"I’ve improved."

"Yes, babe, you improved."

"Then don’t say sort of."

Iris thought.

"Now you’re decent."

Noah looked at her indignantly and Sarah started laughing, same as Emma.

Iris kept a serious expression, so Noah pointed at her phone.

"Let’s play."

Iris looked at him.

"Now?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I want to prove it."

Iris accepted.

"Fine."

Noah took out his phone and Sarah blinked.

"You’re going to play here?"

"Just one match."

Emma looked amused.

"Go ahead."

Noah was going to clear his "reputation."