Off Hours

                                    

                                          
A woman in a white dress sat on the grass, her hand brushing the snout of the gigantic wolf as it lay on the ground, letting itself be pet by her. Her strokes were gentle and instilled calmness into the wolf.
"Hello there, Ms. Ophelia." Kristina greeted the woman as she approached with a kind smile. Her head looked over to her, and her stoic, stern eyes suddenly turned to those of an ecstatic teen. Her expression brightened up instantly at the sight of Kristina.
"Kristina! It's so good to see you today!" At a speed that was a little surprising coming from her, she bolted over to Kristina and gave her an overly exaggerated hug, which almost had Kristina spill the food she had for the wolf. "I hope your work isn't taking too much out of you today," she said as she loosened up the hug, giving her enough room to look at Kristina's face.
"It's no problem, Ms. Ophelia." the girl would say back, trying to free themselves from Ophelia's affectionate grasp.
"Well, tell me if Dad is overworking you too much, okay? It is just no good for a girl like you to work too much," she pampers as she tries to bring Kristina back into the embrace, but the girl luckily managed to slip out.
"T- that's quite alright, Ms. Ophelia. Overworking isn't much of a problem. Reuben here will carry some of the load starting today." Kristina says as she gestures to her side.
"Oh... and that is?" Ophelia would say questioningly as she didn't seem to find anyone there to where Kristina had gestured.
"Well, he's right- huh?" Kristina would finally look and see that I was nowhere to be found.
Her eyes scan the area before landing on me, watching them from afar, behind the corner of the manor from where we went through.
"Don't worry bout me, Kristina!... you got this!" I say from where I was, having to yell a bit because of our distance.
"He's... he's a little odd, " Kristina says, looking back at Ophelia. I think he may be afraid of the wolf," she deduces.
"Afraid of Kalmir? Nonsense, Kalmir's a nice little puppy! There's nothing scary about him one bit~" Ophelia would say while she spoke to the wolf, now Kalmir, in a babying tone as she patted him again on the snout. "I'll bring him right over, then he'll see." the woman would say as she walked in my direction.
"Why is she coming over here?" I quietly asked myself as I watched her figure grow closer. "Wait—oh no!" I yelled as I soon realized her plans.
I turned in place and tried to make a break for it. Still, Ophelia was surprisingly swift despite the elegant dress she had on as her hand was able to grip the back of my collar in time and proceeded to forcefully drag me towards where Kristina and Kalmir, the big grey wolf.
"Come on, don't be shy. He doesn't bite," Ophelia would say reassuringly while dragging me against my will. I would try to make myself as heavy as possible to create drag.
"No offense, Miss, but I think it does bite! please let me go!!" I told her in a panic since it was apparent that she hadn't been on the other end of the spectrum and was incidentally trying to put me in a problematic scenario due to past occurrences.
"None of this makes sense! Look here. Say hi to Kalmir." Ophelia would then move me to her front and face me towards the wolf. I looked at the wolf with fearful eyes as it opened its eyes and saw me, its mortal foe of the forest.
"Uhm... h- Hey there Kalmir..." I nervously greeted the wolf as it stared at me.
"You wouldn't happen to have forgotten the thing I did... did you?" I ask as if asking such a question would matter, considering it was a wolf, and in no manner did it just forget a thing that happened a day ago.