Kyoko laid in her bed listening to the breathing of the man sleeping on her couch. Well, maybe he wasn't sleeping. He might be awake just like she was trying to adjust to this situation.

Rori Takarada ordered Ren to share her apartment until she was no longer a target. Kyoko didn't like the situation. She protested strongly when they told her. Ren living with her highlighted her helplessness. She hated it.

After they made their report last night, Dr. Woods took Kyoko to the hospital to check on the baby. She stayed overnight to get some rest and wait for the results. The last thing she wanted was to come back to her apartment where she was just attacked. In that regard, it was nice having Ren here. Kyoko didn't want to be alone at night. With Ren sleeping on her couch, it did make her feel safer.

But she hated that she felt she needed him. It was going to be difficult to live with him. He spent the day moving into her apartment. He didn't bring much with him, just a duffle bag of clothes and toiletries. It almost seemed like he was visiting briefly then would be gone again.

Whenever she thought that she looked in the mirror and saw the cut on her throat. A strong reminder that she was attacked the night before, and Ren was moving in to protect her.

They expected Jack to be a challenge, but he was behaving, mostly. If Ren got too close to him, he would growl and hiss. Thankfully, that was the only issue Jack seemed to have with him. He let Ren stay in the apartment without attacking him. Kyoko wasn't sure what caused the change. She wondered if the cat was intelligent enough to realize that Ren saved her last night and wasn't a danger to her. That might be giving him too much credit, she thought to herself as she felt Jack press his head against her hand looking for attention.

Kyoko was glad that Jack was amenable to the situation. The reason they ultimately chose to stay at her apartment rather than Ren's was for his sake. Since Jack hated Ren so much, they figured he might have a heart attack moving into his place. With Ren moving into their place, it at least let Jack feel like he was still in charge of his home.

Ren didn't say much to Kyoko throughout the day. He only spoke to her when necessary asking where to put his stuff and check if she was alright. She couldn't tell how he felt about the situation. Surely, he must not be pleased to have to babysit her like this. He'd gone to bed incredibly early, perhaps to avoid talking to her and taking his frustration out on her.

Ren woke up early the next morning. He went to bed early the previous night excited for proper rest. Sleeping under the same roof as Kyoko took a huge burden off of him. He no longer had to hide as he watched over her and was able to sleep properly. Blessed sleep.

He rolled out of bed and looked at the room around him. He saw Kyoko still in her bed with eyes closed and relaxed breathing. Jack slept next to her. Better not get anywhere near her with the cat around. He was thankful the cat was allowing him to stay, but Jack still clearly didn't want him too close. That was fair. Ren happily obliged. He wasn't much of a cat person anyway.

He sat on his bed as he pulled his duffle bag close and rummaged through it for clothes for the day. Kyoko's couch pulled out into a bed for guests. Ren was glad for it even though it wasn't the most comfortable. The couch itself wouldn't have been long enough for his body and would have made sleep difficult. The only other place in the small apartment he could have rested was Kyoko's bed. He definitely was not going to tempt himself there.

His goal was to protect her while not getting too close. That meant not being too friendly. Getting in bed with her would be far beyond being 'friendly'. Especially with the memories of their first night together. Then there was also the incident from the other night. She likely wouldn't want any man coming too close to her after her stalker violated her.

Every time Ren thought about that night, he felt a wave of rage pass through his body. He wanted nothing more than to severely harm the man who hurt her. Thankfully, he was in police custody and going to prison. Ren might kill him with the anger rolling through his body.

Not only did the man hurt Kyoko, but he also threatened their baby by punching her stomach. Thank god Dr. Woods didn't find any resulting problems. Ren didn't know what he would do if they lost the child. There was the point that the child was the last of his kind to be made. But even more than that, he was finding himself caring for the baby on a personal level ever since touching Kyoko's stomach the other night. Feeling the mound under his hand where the baby was located had a powerful effect on him. Now that he was living with Kyoko, he wanted to help her as much as he could in regards to the pregnancy.

Ren got up and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. He might as well get ready while Kyoko still slept.

Kyoko was thankful she heard the shower running before she walked into the bathroom. She forgot Ren was staying with her now. She almost walked in on him. That would have been incredibly awkward, even if she would have enjoyed the view. Her shower had clear doors on it rather than a curtain, she would have been able to see a little bit. But that wasn't appropriate and an invasion of Ren's privacy.

Instead, she set to work on making them breakfast. It wasn't long before Ren came out of the shower. Kyoko focused on cooking eggs and biting her lower lip to avoid staring. Ren straight of the shower was going to take some time getting used to. He was wearing sweats and a t-shirt and using a towel to finish drying his wet hair. It seemed incredibly intimate to see him so relaxed.

They spent the day awkwardly navigating around each other and negotiating house rules. Whoever was up first would have dibs on the bathroom, while the other made breakfast. Whoever didn't cook, cleaned up afterward. The conversation was mundane but allowed them to get used to sharing a space. Kyoko worked on an article for part of the day. Ren contacted Max to make plans to get together. Then he spent the rest of his time laying on the couch looking up at the ceiling trying to figure out how to tell the kid the truth.

A/N:

This is mostly an intermission chapter. I'm feeling a bit rusty with my writing and didn't know how to link what just happened to what's happening next. This short chapter fills that role.

Thanks for your encouraging comments while you waited for the next chapter. I've developed mad respect for webtoon writers. It takes so many hours for them to put one episode together and many of them do it while working a full time job. I don't know how they do it. Definitely support them if you can.

Good news, I'm no longer a therapy virgin! I've had my first client finally. It went great.

Bad news, school is only going to get busier as more clients get added on top of my school work. I can't make any promises about updates. This is gonna go on another year and a half.

Please be patient with me and don't be afraid to ask about the next update. It's a good reminder that people are looking forward to what comes next in my story.

Thanks for all your comments!

-Besma0003