NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

That night, at the hotel, the Smith Twins were going through the day's event. They were in the 1-bedroom executive suite, which had a King Size Bed that they shared. Originally, Delilah had booked and paid for the 2-bedroom Junior Suite for them - but with a click of the keyboards and Kyle's credit card, they changed the booking and payment.

Both were on the bed and already in their pajamas. Well, for Kyle, that basically just meant a singlet and loose pants while Kay wore a T-shirt dress that reached up to her knee.

Kay was busy looking at her laptop while Kyle was peeling and cutting some apples into bite-size pieces. He would put them in a bowl that was inbetween them. Once in a while, Kay would reach out and take a piece of apple and pop it into her mouth.

"So we were right," Kay said as she munched on the apple, "Today was an auspicious day."

"Yes, so it is confirmed," Kay replied, throwing away the seeds and skin of the apple at the wastebasket beside the bed, "It's Kazuya."

The Feng Shui Master that they had hired identified three possible zodiac signs. There was just too little for him to go on. However, it was still enough. By comparing all the notes they had, the list then narrowed down to two. Out of these two, the 'auspicious' days were different.

If the attack happened today, it would be Kazuya. If in two days time, it would have been another.

"So how did you know anyway?" Kay asked.

"They're really underestimating us," Kyle said, "The moment they said that the security officers were checking the Wall, I knew it must have been in order to tamper with it. So when I studied the Wall, I noticed that one of the holds was slightly not in position. From there, I began checking all the holds."

Kay laughed, "I don't think it's because they underestimated us in this case - I mean, come on Kyle. Just how many people would have known that the hold was slightly skewered? Only you, who had a picture of the original positioning in your mind to make the comparison."

"Plus," she continued as she took another piece of apple, "Who else but you could do that stupid move? I mean, really? An upside-down handstand?"

"Hey, it wasn't stupid. It was awesome!" Kyle said with a grin, comically raising his eyebrows up and down.

"And the buckle of the safety harness?" Kay asked.

"It only made sense, right? If I had used that hold as they expected, I would have fallen. The security harness would have caught me - so it means, that must have been tampered with as well. So it was very suspicious that the volunteer just took a tad too long to fix it," Kyle explained.

"I know that," Kay said, "What I meant was, why didn't you just fix it back?"

"I couldn't actually," Kyle replied, "The guy had snapped the lock in some way so that the buckle could not be locked in position again."

"Still, since you already knew of the danger, why didn't you just raise it to the organisers? Just because you had everything under control?" Kay asked, pointing her finger at him.

"If I did that, then they would know I knew. Then they would wonder how I knew. Then they would start being more careful around me. Then it would be more difficult," Kyle explained.

"So many 'then's' that you're using," Kay said with a laugh.

"Then? Is there a problem??" Kyle replied, pretending to be indignant, "Anyway, this way, they would think it was pure luck - or based on my basic skills - that I escaped. I want them to keep underestimating me. Gives me an edge."

Kay came over and snuggled up to him, "Still, that was so dangerous. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it."

Kyle kissed her forehead and said, "I know my limits. So what happened to the guy that sabotaged my buckle?"

"Dead, presumably," Kay said, as she went back to her laptop, "From the security cameras, he met with the guy you noticed earlier. The camera doesn't show much, other than them meeting and that they left together."

Kyle shook his head, "Poor guy. I don't think he knew what he was getting into."

"He had no choice," Kay whispered sadly, "I hacked into his emails and phone. They had his daughter. I guess she's dead as well."

Both of them became silent then, their hearts heavy.

"This Kazuya has got to go," Kyle muttered.

"Agreed, but it won't be easy," Kay said, typing on her laptop, "He is well protected. He not only fitted the best security in his house and office, but he also is surrounded by lots of bodyguards. He knows he's a moving target."

Kay turned the laptop towards Kyle, "But out of all his people, it's these two that you need to keep an eye out for."

Kyle leaned over and looked at the screen. Two pictures were shown side-by-side. One appeared of Asian descendent, dressed all in black and looked about 20 years old while the other was a Westerner, in his mid-twenties and had dark hair and hazel eyes. Both had dead-looking eyes.

"Drako and Nitrocris, huh?" Kyle mumbled as he looked through their information.

"Drako is Kazuya's #1 assassin," Kay said, "Never failed before and you're his first. Probably hates your guts more for that. The other is Kazuya's son and right-hand man. Rumour has it that he hates his father."

"Is that so?" Kyle said, "Power struggle?"

"No," Kay replied, "That's the strange thing. Nitocris is capable and highly efficient. He's one of, if not THE, main reason why Kazuya rose up the ranks quickly in the past few years. Why he would be working and helping his father rather than usurping him doesn't make any sense. More so if the rumours are to be believed."

"Kazuya must have a hold on him then," Kyle said, "Find out what it is and we may have leverage."

"Got it," Kay replied then leaned on Kyle's back, "So what now?"

"We wait. Observe," Kyle said, "Be extra careful during the auspicious days. Kazuya won't be doing anymore 'accidents' during the competition itself as there's too much heat now. After today, security doubled."

Kay nodded then said sweetly, hugging him from behind, "Kyle, I'm out of apples."

"So is this hug your payment for my hard labour?" he grinned, ruffling her hair.

"No, it's MY payment for the work you're putting me through," Kay replied cheekily, snuggling up to him more.

"What? The hug or the apples?" Kyle asked as he picked up his knife and another apple.

"Both!" Kay giggled and watched him as he expertly skinned the apple and proceeded to cut it.

? Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l. ?

Kyle was right.

There were no more incidences during the competition itself and Kyle managed to breeze through the preliminary rounds. Thankfully, all of the others passed as well so their team qualified for the team competition.

All of them were gathered around after everyone had finished their preliminary rounds.

"How many teams are competing?" Kyle asked Cole as he took a chug out of his water bottle. He had just finished his round in the lead climbing.

"Not many," Cole replied, "Only three. So it's already set that we're the top three - it's now just competing for the top spot."

"Who are the other teams?" Rxel asked.

"Let's see now ..." Cole said as he flipped through some papers, "Team 288 and 793"

"Were there really THAT many teams participating?" Rylen wondered.

"No," Cole replied, "The numbers do not indicate the number of people participating. Rather, it's all in code. The first number is region, the second number is the number of people in the team and the last number is random."

"Wow, the other teams have so many members. Look. That team has 8 members and the other one has 9," Rxel said, then looked at the other team numbers before this. Although 5 was the minimum, only their team was the one that actually had the minimum number.

"We're the only ones with 5 ... AND we qualified for the team competition. How awesome are we?!" Rylen said smugly.

Cole glared at him, "Don't get too cocky. The other two teams are strong!"

Rylen pursed his lips and became serious, nodding.

Then in a split second, he turned to Kyle and asked, "SO!! Now that we've won, when is Kay coming? On the day of the finals or ..?"

Kyle gave a lopsided grin as he took another chug of his water, his eyes twinkling, "Oh, she's on the way here, actually. She went to greet some of our friends who are coming to watch the team competition finals tomorrow."

Rxel and Rylen gave each other a high five, grinning widely.

Since Kyle was participating in two events, he would not be able to be around most of the time. Rxel and Rylen had already made plans on how to monopolize all of Kay's time. Theirs was the speed run, so it would be over quite fast. Unlike Kyle.

They eagerly rubbed their hands together.

Kyle watched their antics and hid another smile. He could guess what they were thinking and planning, so he was going to relish the next few moments.

When Kay came into sight, Rxel and Rylen happily rushed over to greet her.

"KAY! OUR ANGEL!!" they both shouted as they reached close, intending to give her a hug of welcome and pass it off as a congratulatory hug from her.

However, before they could even get within reach, they were suddenly blocked. Rxel had his head held in a firm grip, effectively making him come to a stop while Rylen has his path blocked by two stern looking guys who stood in front of Kay.

It was only then that they looked beyond Kay.

"Er ..." they stammered, wondering what happened.

Kay's voice then sounded gently from the wall of the three guys in front of her, "Guys, relax. They're Kyle's teammates."

Rxel pointed to his head, as he looked at the exotic olive-skinned guy that was glaring at him, he squeaked out, "Can you let go now, please?"

The guy grunted and released his hold. Rxel rubbed his head. It was slightly sore.

Kay pushed the guys aside, shaking her head, "Rxel and Rylen, meet Ali, Xing Han and Sam. Guys, meet Rxel and Rylen."

Rxel and Rylen stood at attention as three pairs of eyes stared at them, from top to toe and Xing Han snorted a bit.

Kay smacked his shoulder, and said, "Behave. Remember, they're Kyle's teammates."

"Teammates or not, OUR Angel Kay is not for you guys," Sam said, taking a step forward.

"If you want to tackle OUR Angel Kay, you have to get through us first," Ali said.

"AFTER you get through Kyle," Xing Han continued then added for good measure, "ALSO!! She's OUR Angel, got it? OURS. Not yours. Don't go spouting nonsense and calling her your Angel. Cuz she's OUR Angel..."

Now it was Sam who smacked Xing Han at the back of his head, "I believe they got it, Xing Han."

Xing Han pouted, "You can never be too careful." He glared at the twins again and mouthed, while pointing to the three of them, 'OURS'.

"Urgh, you guys are hopeless," Kay said while rolling her eyes, "Come on, Rxel, Rylen. Just ignore them."

She went over to them, intending to walk beside them as they head towards Kyle. The twins, however, took a step back, making sure there was a respectable distance between them and Kay. They could feel as if their backs had this big bullseye on it and they didn't want to provide any reason for an attack.

They looked at each other.

Getting through Guardian Kyle was bad enough. Now she had THREE stone walls as defence? They shook their heads dejectedly ... but only for a minute. After that, their grins became wider.

The best things are always hard to get, right?

?????????? Author's Note of Appreciation ??????????

16 April 2019

I am writing this here because it's too long for Author's Note. Not going to use up another chapter for it, so bear with me on this.

Anyway ... have a little bit of secret to tell you guys, my lovely readers.

Webnovel actually offered me a contract for this novel. Yup, that's right. Little 'ol me was shocked to the core. WN felt this novel 'had potential' to be big and thus, wanted to pick it up and yadda yadda, blah blah and so forth. You know the drill.

So, yeah. Offer to go premium.

As you know, I started this novel to fulfill my lifelong dream of writing. It was darn hard and extremely scary to take that first step. You know the history from my first Author's Note.

What you didn't know was how hard it was to keep going. It was KIIID that was literally my lifeline and motivation for the first month. Without his/her comments which gave me so much encouragement, I wouldn't have reached this stage.

So, first of all, thank you, KIIID. I don't know if you ever realise how much your comments meant to me then - and still mean to me, now.

Also, during those first few months: Henrika / minime / Qiu that had voted and cghaith for the enthusiastic 'I love your novel' type comments - it kept me going. Thank you.

Now, there are so many of you who makes me smile each day and make me love writing out about Kyle and the others. To share them with you. To see how you fangirl with me over them. To curse the bad guys for them. All of your comments are precious to me.

Thank you, Nitocris and drako555 who always votes but never comments (that's why I used their usernames for the Underworld. Felt it was so apt)

Thank you, Akira / Alex / Edward / Lucka / Yume / Zero for suddenly bursting out from hiding and doing it occasionally. It opened my eyes to the fact that there ARE people who really like the novel to the point of re-reading it. That seriously was mind-boggling. Finding out you were guys was also a shock and it made me so happy as well (cuz I didn't think it would EVER appeal to guys).

Thank you, Rxel / Rylen / moreCHAPlease / cloudgugu / taelovestata / *hidden : who have been commenting regularly the past few chapters. Reading your thoughts on the chapter really picked me up.

Thank you, random readers, who drop and comment, especially those that tell me how much they like the novel or how they feel about it.

Thank you, silent readers, who do nothing but just vote; which shows me your silent support and love for the novel.

So, basically ... thinking of that, I felt that Kyle & the Elite Five wasn't just my creation. They grew because of you guys. I wouldn't have reached this stage if it wasn't for all of your support, love, and encouragement. It was you guys who kept my passion up. With your comments, votes, reviews and most of all, and our interaction in the comments ... it all means SO much to me.

So, having this go premium and making you pay when you're family ... didn't feel right. So, I declined at first.

However ...

? Updated 26 January 2020??

WN contacted me AGAIN for a contract on 20 July 2019.

After thinking about it for a week, I accepted it this time. I didn't want Kyle to die, and since Webnovel was where it first began, this is where he'll stay.

However, I didn't go premium immediately as I wanted to try and finish the novel first. Due to real-life circumstances, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't finish it by December 2019.

Novel will go premium on 29 January 2020 (between 12-6pm, +8GMT) and locked retrospectively from Volume 4. The revenge arc will be done by then, so only the relationship arcs of Kyle and Kay remain. It will continue for 2-3 months (I think), which will also include the epilogue of the Elite Five.

????????????????????????