at it.
Why the heck did she think she could even take on such a mammoth task?
Evren eyed the enemy before her. As if innocent, the piece of cloth just lay there limp.
She’d lain it flat to cut it, and it refused to be cut straight. Then after much maneuvering, she’d finally managed to cut it the way she wanted only to begin sewing to realize there was no way it was going to fit.
Maybe if she was making it for a slender teen, maybe then all her effort would have been rewarded.
Eyeing the skirt she’d sewn, she knew it wasn’t going to go over the rise of her ass.
“Aah!” Gripping her hair by the sides of her head, she let out a huff of frustration. “Goddammit!”
Glancing back over the sitting area, she checked to see if Kyro was disturbed by her outburst.
She was pretty sure he’d finished the update a while ago, for every now and again, she found him watching her when he thought she wasn’t looking.
Focusing back on the skirt, her shoulders slumped.
This was supposed to be a fun activity—something to take her mind off things, something she’d looked forward to doing...something to help her regain her independence.
Instead, it had flopped, falling flat like a jellyfish hitting a hard surface.
Bracing her back against the table, she folded her arms.
Was this how her life was going to be now?
Unfulfilled?
She knew the thought was illogical, but she couldn’t push it from her mind.
The skirt hanging from her hands made her feel...useless.
Was she good at only one thing?
Evren sighed.
She was good at only one thing. And now that one thing was gone.
It was gone and she hadn’t had a say in it. It had just been taken away from her—not by illness, not by her getting fired, not by her own choice but by the choice of some selfish asshole aliens who’d ripped her from Earth just so what?
The anger that rose within her almost made her choke and she stifled a sob.
Gripping the failed skirt in her hands, her shoulders shook as she tried to hold back her emotions.
She didn’t even know why a tear was threatening to run down her cheek. She hardly ever cried. Why now?
Why let things get to her?
She knew the answer to that question and even though she didn’t want to say it out loud, it was there in her mind.
Everything she’d lived for was now gone.
She couldn’t be an ecologist anymore. She highly doubted going to the Intergalactic Hub was going to fix that but maybe, just maybe, she could find something to do that was close. Maybe she could find another purpose in some way.
Live somehow.
It was hard living when you had…nothing.
As another tear threatened to fall, she sniffed, holding it back with immense willpower.
“Evren?”
The deep voice behind her almost made her jump. Kyro was so quiet she’d forgotten he was there.
It was the first time she’d heard him say her name and somehow, the way he said it had her questioning if he was really referring to her.
His version of her name made it sound as if it belonged to some sexy temptress. Ev-ren, with an emphasis on the ‘Ev’. The syllables flowed from his lips like they were coated with sugar.
It was also nice to hear her name for a change, instead of being referred to as “the human” all the time. That one little action gave her some of her identity back.
Clearing her throat, Evren wiped her nose with the back of her hand before turning to face Kyro. The smile she planted on her lips felt tight, forced, and she almost winced. She hoped he didn’t notice.
“Oh, are you finished with the update?”
Instead of answering her question, Kyro took a step forward, the concern evident on his face as he moved closer.
“Red swollen eyes. Wet eyelids...” Kyro paused. “You are crying.” He glanced at the table and the skirt in her hand as if trying to determine the cause of her pain.
“The task of creating clothing saddens you?” His silver eyes met hers then and the intensity within them almost had her looking away, except she found that she couldn’t.
“No. I—”
“Then what is it?” He closed the distance between them, his hand reaching out to touch what was left of the tear at the corner of her eye. He touched the liquid and brought his finger up to his nose and sniffed.
Not expecting his next action, Evren scrunched up her nose when he licked the tear from his finger.
Her