NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

The Smith Mansion was in an uproar.

Not a bad one, but a good one.

There was a flurry of activity as people were going about in excitement. In the Master bedroom, Delilah was going around in circles, which made her poor husband, Patrick, rather dizzy. He decided to ignore her and just focus on reading the newspaper.

"I can't believe it!" Delilah was saying, skipping and jumping a bit before resuming her pacing, "They're going to be shooting here! Well, not here, here but in our area. I can't believe Kyle managed to convince them of it. I mean, how incredible is that? My son is so capable!!"

Patrick rolled his eyes, while trying to block out what she was saying and resumed reading the newspaper while lying on the bed, his back leaning against the bedrest.

Anything Delilah said was going in one ear and going out the next.

Or at least, he was trying to do it that way. Delilah can be extremely loud when she wants to.

Not like Delilah was bothered by the lack of reaction from her husband. She was too busy gushing out her excitement ... that is, until Patrick said, "It's not like you can watch. It's a closed set. Kyle made you promise, too."

Delilah stopped pacing then and glared at her husband, furious at him for raining on her parade.

Yes, she had promised her son.

Yes, the whole area was cordoned off and strict security was in place. Yes, even her, his own mother, was not allowed to try and use her influence and power to get in. She had promised all of this and in return, would stay at home with Sam, and would do his best to get Keanu and the other main characters to stay in the Smith Mansion as well.

If she broke her promise, Kyle would stay with the movie crew members, at the location, throughout the entire 6 months of filming.

"I'm his mother!! Does he really have the heart to keep me out?" Delilah grumbled, pouting her lips.

Patrick smiled, put down his newspaper and looked at her, "He's a Smith. Of course he would."

Defeated, Delilah slumped on the bed.

?? On Location ??

After the incident at Mansion BMX, Chad felt that the location they were going to film next wasn't ideal. The security wasn't that tight, and reporters were everywhere. It wasn't just about the homicide, but the huge fact that everyone now knew John Wick 4 was being filmed.

It made filming rather troublesome.

Though he could hire more security, the reporters would camp right outside the location site and cause a disturbance. Fans started coming to stake out the area as well. Unfortunately, the fans at Country TZ was rather loud and a bit disruptive, so Chad was really getting a headache. He had to find a new location.

When Kyle proposed his parents' place, it was like Heaven Sent.

After meeting with his parents, Chad was even more impressed. They were very down-to-Earth and very accommodating. They allowed a huge area for them to do whatever they wanted and needed for the film, and even sent people to help with building the set. Caterers were borne by them.

They even provided temporary housing for the crew members so that they didn't need to go out often. Furthermore, unlike Mansion BMX, there were no guards with guns walking about and they were free to explore the place.

They also humbly requested that the main actors stay at their mansion - but only if they were comfortable with it. Chad could see the eager glint in Mrs Smith's eyes and he knew Keanu would most likely agree.

After all, the Smiths were doing so much for them without asking anything in return other than that. Still, Chad did not make any promises and only thanked them profusely.

He could see why Kyle was so humble himself, despite the vast amount of wealth that he grew up with. The house, though big enough to be called a Mansion, was tastefully done. There were expensive items but it wasn't pretentious like it had been at Mansion BMX. He had only been there once, and all that glitter already made his eyes hurt.

Right now, the site was being made. The carpenters were there, looking through the plans and having an intense discussion with the team. As usual, Keanu was right there with them, studying the plans and nodding his head as well. He was a serious actor, a helpful guy and an all-rounder nice guy.

Chad let him be. Right now, while they were busy planning and building one movie set, it was time to do Kyle's scene. It didn't require much, just a dark, dank room. Kyle eagerly showed them his secret underground bunker that he had as a kid. It was hardly used but was still kept in good condition.

When he first heard about the bunker, Chad had thought of one small, underground room that the Kid Kyle would be playing in. When he saw the actual bunker, he had almost fainted from shock.

?? Flashback ??

"Okay, so let's look at this underground bunker you had as a kid," Chad said, laughing. Calling Kyle, who he still saw as a kid, to look at the things he had as a kid made him laugh for some reason.

Kyle led him a bit further away until they reached a relatively open field.

Kyle reached a tree and opened a panel, revealing a button. Pressing it, the ground then started to shake before a large turf of grass went up, revealing a dark opening. As the panel went higher up, lights began to flicker and switch on, illuminating the place.

It showed a spiral staircase and a fireman's pole right in the middle.

"We can either take the stairs down, or slide down. There's a cushion at the bottom of the pole, so you don't have to worry about it," Kyle explained.

"How deep is it?" Chad asked, peering in.

"About two storeys high," Kyle replied.

"We'll take the stairs," Chad said, "As I'm still unfamiliar with the place."

Kyle smiled and didn't say a thing, leading the way. There was no point in teasing Chad about it, right? Going down the pole at that height would frighten anyone, really.

As they went down the stairs, Chad asked, "How is this place get its power?"

"Solar panels," Kyle explained, "And we do have a generator just in case. Everything also has its own manual mechanisms should both fail. It's a lot of work, though since you have to generate enough energy to create the power. So we use a treadmill and stationary bicycle. It's much easier than winding it up by hand."

Chad nodded, impressed by the planning it took. This was the playground of the rich, for sure.

Once they reached the bottom, Chad found the room to be much too small. The length of one end of the room to the other was only six big steps.

"I'm sorry, Kyle, but this would not do. It's just too small," Chad said with regret and a sigh.

Kyle's lips twitched. He didn't say a word, but walked ahead and flipping a flap, he then pushed the wall. It was a door. Kyle didn't open it all the way, but gestured to Chad to walk in first.

Chad did and stopped as his gaze fell onto what was in front of him.

A square shaped room, with sofa, television and bean bags are strewn around. A bookshelf adorned one wall and a landscape painting hung on the other wall. There was an open archway to another room, and two doors on the left and right of the room.

Kyle said behind him, "This is the living room. Straight ahead will be the kitchen. The door to the left leads to the store room, the door to the right is the study room."

Kyle walked ahead and pointed to the areas he was talking about. He walked to the study room and opened the door, showing a simple square room with a desk and a chair, "The bookshelf used to be in here, but I moved it to the living room when I grew older. I use this room for my exercises when I'm bored."

"This ... is an underground bunker? The place you used to play in as a kid ...?" Chad managed to get out, his eyes taking in the place in front of him.

Chad looked at the room and at Kyle, his head not quite wrapping around what he was seeing and what Kyle was telling him.

"This is the room I was talking about for the scene. Just some minimal changes need to be made. What do you think?"

Chad nodded, agreeing, "Yes, with some modifications, the room itself will do. But it's not really feasible. I thought this was a normal underground bunker, like a wine cellar. Not this ... it's just too deep underground. It would take too much effort to bring all the filming equipment down here."

Kyle wriggled his eyebrows, "No, not really."

Chad looked at him in puzzlement and watched as Kyle went to the bookcase and pushed it aside. The bookcase itself was on rollers, so it was easy to push it aside. There was something that looked like elevator doors behind it.

"That's not what I think it is, is it?" Chad asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes, it is," Kyle said smugly and flipped open a panel. He liked putting things behind panels as it looked much more streamlined.

He pressed the up button and the elevator doors opened, "See. The space in here is big enough for you to be able to bring any sort of equipment in. We had this installed first because we knew this hideout of ours would go through changes."

He grinned widely at Chad, "You didn't really think I'd suggest this while not taking into account the filming equipment now, did you?"

Chad was silent, just staring at him.

Just how much of a freak was this kid?

?? ??