is this real life pt 2 :: grey

Wil lifted her kitten, Noor the Second, into the air. The kitten mewed happily, and batted down at Wil’s nose with a playful paw. Wil had never had a wish for a cat, but when she’d wandered to the stables a few days ago she’d been introduced to a barn cat and her litter of kittens. Because she was allowed to do whatever she wanted, Wil chose a kitten.

Noor the Second had a stern face and dark eyes. Both of these things reminded Wil of Noor the First (Grey’s advisor), and so the kitten had named herself, really. Little Noor was much sweeter than the clio, though. Thankfully.

It had only been a week since arriving in Dian, but Wil was already adjusting to her new life as sister of the overloridian. She’d discovered rather quickly that she didn’t care for the meetings poor Grey had to attend, so though she still enjoyed peeking in on them now and then, she spent most of her time exploring the grounds of Dian with Lotus.

Unfortunately this left little time for her to see Grey. They shared a room at Wil’s request, but it was nothing like when they’d spent almost every waking moment together before. Today, however, Grey had the afternoon completely off. And Wil planned on taking advantage of it.

She looked up at the clock. It was almost noon! Grey’s last meeting of the day would be over soon. She dangled a string for Little Noor and the kitten attacked it.

The past week had been unlike anything Grey ever could have imagined. He had gone from living in a one-room apartment that had no cold water and cardboard taped over the broken windows to the biggest, fanciest, shiniest mansion he had ever seen. In fact, it was the only mansion he had ever seen. And now he lived here. Not only that, he owned it.

There were clio who lived here whose entire job it was to do whatever he said, which he figured was supposed to be a good thing but it just made him really uncomfortable. And speaking of uncomfortable, he'd been made to wear a suit. A fucking suit. He felt like a little child playing dress-up in his dad's closet.

He did still have one constant, one thing that hadn't changed drastically and been turned upside down in his life, and that was Wil. Not even becoming ultra-rich overnight could change who she was. If there was one thing that was getting Grey through the meetings and the schooling and the pressure and the anxiety, it was knowing that Wil had a better life now. She could go to the Dian mansion's huge garden, or ride the horses he apparently owned now, or eat whatever she wanted whenever she wanted.

You know, Loren said, you could do those things too. Why not enjoy what you've been given?

Grey sighed as he walked down the long hallway back to his and Wil's room. It just still felt so wrong. Like any minute now someone was going to yank the rug out from under him and take everything back. This didn't feel like how his life should be.

You'll get used to it, Loren assured him as they went into the bedroom. Wil was laying on the gigantic bed playing with her new kitten. "Hey," he said tiredly.