NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

By the fifth day, Kyle was ready to go crazy.

Doctors had already cleared him for discharge but his overly worried Mother decided to extend his stay. She had insisted that unless the bruise on his forehead disappeared, he was to stay. The hospital didn't mind for there were plenty of rooms and Kyle's presence did not take the space of another patient.

The nurses REALLY didn't mind because Kyle was such a nice patient that didn't bother them much. Okay, fine. Kyle was the only shining thing in the hospital. Good looking, charming and so well behaved.

He would spend the day by exercising and working.

In the morning, before the nurses in the morning shifts began their rounds at 6am, he would perform some basic core exercises. He only did for upper body strength because he didn't want to strain his ankle. It also allowed him to build his muscles for the upcoming rock climbing competition.

Of course, the hospital shirt wasn't suitable to be worn while exercising so he would do it only with his shorts on. He would only be doing a modified handstand push-up and alternate it with planking and sit ups.

A handstand push-up is basically a vertical push-up. There were two types of handstand push-ups. A handstand push-up is much harder than a normal push-up and uses more muscles. When you first begin, the feet are placed against a wall, held by a partner or secured in some other way to prevent one from falling. One requires not only strength but also a sense of balance.

Once one is able to be good enough to balance yourself, you then progress to a free-standing handstand push-up. It essentially means you don't put your feet against the wall.

Kyle, of course, does the free-standing handstand push-up ... with a little twist. Instead of using the solid ground for support, he uses the armrests of the chair instead. He places both of his hands on it, then goes upside down, bringing up his legs carefully.

Once he is completely upside down and balanced straight, he starts straightening his arms, then bringing it back down. Sometimes Kyle would use the floor but would be using one hand instead. Once he was in position, he would put one hand behind his back and begin the handstand push-up. He would then use only his fingers rather than laying his palm flat on the floor before changing hands and doing it again.

He does the handstand push-ups slowly, ensuring that his form is perfect and that all the related muscles are being used. Maintaining the perfect balance and form requires perfect concentration. He would often be doing this with his eyes closed, concentrating fully as he feels the muscles on his arms being used, his back having to be straight, his abdominal muscles straining with the weight ... so every taut muscle could be seen, rippling with the movement.

After ten minutes, his body would be glistening with sweat, some dripping down towards his collarbone ... his hair was also drenched but somehow, that added to the allure of the entire picturesque view.

Too bad that Kyle would always draw the curtains at the doorway alcove so as to maintain some privacy. Even the curtains at the windows were always closed as he didn't want anyone to look in. It was also as a precautionary measure against any assassination attempts.

So no one could actually witness this scene that would have caused the floor to be filled with drool and blood from nosebleeds.*

Once he finished his exercise, he would cool down and then take a shower. The ankle brace and bandages would be removed before the shower, and he was careful not to put his full weight on his injured ankle.

Since he would need to change into a fresh pair of hospital shirt and pants, plus his dressing would be changed, Kyle didn't bother to put back the bandages and only wore a bathrobe that Kay had brought over.

So the morning shift nurses would be greeted by a freshly showered Kyle in his bathrobe. Sometimes they were lucky to catch a glimpse of his abdominal muscles when the bathrobe wasn't tied properly - which was most of the time, truth be told. Kyle would just close the robe without tying it and it would hang loosely on his body.

So yes. That morning sight was always a welcomed sight. Suffice to say, the nurses had a tacit agreement to have a different nurse to handle Kyle's room every morning. Even though the normal practice is to have the same room duty for one week.

It was only fair to share the goodies.

After breakfast, Kyle would start working.

Right now, the most pressing matter was finding the mastermind behind the 'accident'.

Whoever it was, did manage to cover their tracks very well. They were actually willing to destroy or kill anyone that had been connected to the accident, be it directly or indirectly. MIB would often find that the people they managed to track had either died from an accident or was missing.

This person was ruthless.

Due to this, Kyle had ordered MIB to stop all investigations into the matter. However, it was only the external movements that had stopped. The investigations itself did not.

Kay was busy at MIB itself, using her supercomputers to do the necessary hacking as required. As much as she wanted to be with Kyle at the hospital, she wanted to catch the b*stard that dared to harm her brother even more.

The sooner the SOB# was caught, the sooner she can implement all the torture methods she had created just for him. Him, and all those people who helped him get at Kyle.

Although physically apart, the twins would be working together. Kay would often update Kyle on her findings and Kyle would start collecting the information and collate it. There were many things he needed to do prior to the rock climbing competition, and time was of the essence.

.:*?°☆...:*?

In another area, a rather pensive looking girl was staring at a photograph as she lay down on the bed and sighed. Luckily Kyle had the Insta account, so she could quietly stalk him and stare at his pictures. She even printed her favourites out but had to hide them for fear of her parents finding it.

Right now, he was at the hospital and her heart lurched in pain for not being able to visit. She was already home for the holidays, so it was impossible for her to get permission to go all the way back to another city just to visit a classmate.

"Kyle, I miss you," Sarah whispered and sighed again, She placed the picture back under her pillow and got up.

.:*?°☆...:*?

In another part of town, a lone man could be seen practicing his knife throws in an open field.

There were targets set all around the place, with a picture stuck to it. The emotionless man was busy throwing knives with unerring accuracy at the pictures. His face showed clearly his anger as he continuously threw those knives.

When he ran out of knives, he walked over to the target and started taking the knives out. He tapped the picture with the tip of the blade, then cut the picture into two.

"Soon. Soon," he said through gritted teeth, "Soon you will fall. You made me break my record streak. Unforgivable!!"

Drako spits at the ground where the cut picture of Kyle lay, then he crushed it further with his foot.

"I had a first kill streak of 555!! 555!! You stupid kid, breaking my streak! I will make sure your death will be a slow, painful one," he said, breathing hard.

How could he, the #1 assassin (well, in his own mind), have been foiled by a mere kid?! Even if Boss told him to stop, he can't now. He would not be able to rest until this irresponsible kid lay 6 feet underground. In pieces. Smashed pieces.

Drako stopped, seeing his man come running up to him. He solemnly handed him a handphone.

"What?" Drako barked onto the line. He listened intently, then a slow smile spread across his face.

His subordinate couldn't help but shudder upon seeing that smile.

.:*?°☆...:*?

On the day he could be discharged, Kyle felt like jumping for joy. Even if it meant that he'd be facing Master Shifu's hellish training after the rock climbing competition. Despite the fact that he didn't just wile away his time, it was suffocating to be cooped up in the hospital.

He couldn't even wander about because Tom and Jerry, the two darn MIB bodyguards outside his door, would stop him. They had very strict orders from Kay not to let Kyle do his nonsense in the hospital and Kyle was to remain in his room.

Of course, Kyle could have taken them down and escape but that would have only angered Kay.

Kyle didn't want to face an angry Kay. That was worse than a sulking Kay.

The Elite Five were there and Kyle gave them all a hug out of sheer happiness. Except for Sam. Not that he didn't hug Sam, he did but Sam didn't hug back. Xing Han, of course, refused to let go for some time.

"Kyyyylllleeeee!! I missed you sooooo much!!" Xing Han was saying while squeezing Kyle tightly, "Watching Team Zero was fascinating, and I learned a lot but it meant nothing without you!!"

Kyle laughed, patting Xing Han's back, "Well, I'm back! First thing to do is EAT!!"

"YEAH!" Xing Han fist pumped, "EAT!"

As they noisily left the room, Kyle stopped by the nurses station.

He gave them his Million-Dollar Watt Smile and bowed, saying, "Thank you for taking care of me during this entire time. It must have been exhausting."

Kay hung onto Kyle's arm and also made a slight bow, "Yes, thank you so much for taking care of my brother. I truly appreciate it."

The nurses smiled and watched Kyle walk away with a sigh. There goes their sunshine.

???????? Author's Acknowledgment of Appreciation ???????

Welcome and thank you, new voters (albeit some late as yesterday's Author's note was for the mass release announcement) Domn, Photec, Morpheous123, Tri_knight, Koushik52, bliblablub, Akaneria, francesco_giachell, barry96, rajmen, Aswath336, RainSaint22, ACZ, moreCHAPleaseV2, Andryani, ZomBrain, Justynchinn, maelynocean, I_I, Neil028, MystiqueByuntae, XioaHeiTian.

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