NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

Kyle was surprised at that.

The fact that she hadn't spoken, and was of a small stature now made sense, but it also meant he wouldn't be able to guess the age anymore. Earlier, he thought the intruder had been around 12? Now, though, she could have been 15? 16?

Kyle shrugged.

Didn't matter.

It's not like they were going to meet again anyway.

? ? ? ?

Kyle was exhausted.

After leaving the place, he had to go and 'download' all the information in his head. The advantage of his photographic memory was that he didn't need to waste time taking pics of the documents or risk losing the equipment.

The disadvantage was that he had to reproduce everything.

Luckily, it had all been texts, so all Kyle needed to do was speak into a microphone and the computer typed it all out. He watched the texts of words on the screen as he dictated and once completed, sent it to Nitocris through encrypted email.

The information he obtained was rather valuable. It had the name list of whom Kyle presumed were the clients. There was some coded stuff in there, too, so Kay would most likely decipher that later on. As for Kyle, he'd go through the materials in greater depth at another time.

For now, it was time to sleep. His eyes were a bit blurry from focusing on the computer screen so much and he was yawning by the time he trudged into bed at 7am.

He smiled as he saw Xing Han still snoring away, his mouth wide open with a slight drool at the side of his mouth. Kyle slumped onto his own bed and was asleep in seconds.

It felt like he had just closed his eyes when he was being rudely shaken awake by a wailing ... whale? Puppy?

"Come on, Kyle! Wake up!!" Xing Han was saying, his hands on Kyle's shoulder while vigorously shaking him, "It's already 9am!!"

Kyle opened up one eye, pushed Xing Han's hand and pulled up the blanket to his neck while saying, "Shut up. It's only 9 am."

"Our flight is at 11 am, Kyle!" Xing Han said, continuing to shake him.

"I have time," Kyle mumbled, turning over, "Give me 30 minutes more..."

Xing Han stared incredulously at Kyle. Since when was this morning person, who was always up at the crack of dawn, not able to get up?

Just as he was about to shake Kyle again, he heard Kay saying to him from the doorway, "Let him be. Whenever it's the break, he'd sleep the whole morning."

Of course, that was a lie, but she needed a cover as to why Kyle was still asleep.

Xing Han puffed his cheeks, shrugged and looked at his watch. They would need to be at the airport an hour before time, so he guessed there was time. If Kyle said 30 minutes, then he must be confident of being able to get ready by then.

Kyle had never let him down before.

"Come on. Let's have breakfast," Kay said.

"I had breakfast already," Xing Han replied.

"So?"

He grinned. That's right! So?

Rubbing his hands together gleefully, he followed Kay down to the dining room. Auntie Rheia made the best banana pancake ever! With the fluffy texture of the pancake and caramelised banana slices in it ...

Xing Han's mouth drooled and he picked up the pace.

However, upon entering the dining room area, he frowned.

Nitocris was sitting there, having his breakfast. He was busy flipping through some files while Auntie Rheia piled some pancakes on his plate. She even buttered it and poured syrup over it!

Xing Han scoffed at that blatant pampering. Nitocris was an old man already and yet, he let his own mother, baby him like that?

He was about to turn around and go back when he thought ... why should he? Kyle was still asleep upstairs so he was safe from Nitocris. Kay was at the table as well, so she would be his shield.

With a determined look, Xing Han headed to the table.

Just as he sat down, however, Nitocris asked Kay, "Kyle still asleep?"

"Yes," Kay answered simply, smiling as she took the plate of pancakes from Auntie Rheia and thanking her.

Nitocris tsked, loud enough for Xing Han to hear.

"No energy just from that? And here I thought, he was the young one," Nitocris said, seemingly under his breath. He finished up his pancake, drank his coffee then kissed his mother on top of her head.

"I'll be heading off now, Mum," Nitocris said.

"Good, good," Rheia said, patting his shoulder, "Next time, don't tire your brother out like that."

"I won't, Mum," Nitocris replied, "I'll know how to hold back next time, now that I know what's his stamina."

Nitocris walked off, hiding his smirk while Xing Han hand was shaking as he stared at the pancake in front of him.

"Aren't you eating, dear?" Rheia asked worriedly.

Xing Han blinked, pushed the pancake aside and apologized, "I'm sorry, Auntie Rheia. I just remembered there are some things I have to pack."

Rheia nodded in understanding while Xing Han ran off to Kyle's room.

When Xing Han saw Kyle still sleeping, he gritted his teeth and went to wake him up again. This time, however, he glomped on Kyle first. Then, using both hands, he began shaking Kyle.

"Come on, Kyle! Wake up! If you don't get up and get ready now, I'll bathe you right in bed!!" Xing Han declared.

He stopped shaking Kyle when he felt Kyle's hands on his, then he looked straight into Kyle's eyes. The dopey look that Kyle had with the sleep still heavy in them made Xing Han want to pinch his cheeks. Kyle rarely looked so vulnerable.

"What's wrong?" Kyle asked sleepily.

At that question, Xing Han wailed. Only Kyle understood him! Just from him shaking Kyle awake, Kyle knew that there was something wrong. Xing Han had to save his innocent brother from the evil hands of that so-called person.

"Nothing! Nothing! I just miss my family so much! I can't wait for you to meet them!" Xing Han said, lying smoothly.

Kyle rubbed his eyes sleepily and yawned, "Fine, fine. I'm getting up, I'm getting up. See?"

Xing Han nodded vigorously, then gave Kyle one big hug, "You're my bestest best friend, right? Right?"

Kyle patted Xing Han indulgently on the back and then pushed him aside, "Of course. Now git."

Xing Han didn't think anything inappropriate happened between Nitocris and Kyle last night, but he was sure that Nitcoris was the reason for Kyle being so tired. For that, he hated Nitocris even more.

? Tan Mansion ?

"When is his flight again?" asked Zhènlín, Xing Han's father.

Puay Kiow, Xing Han's mother, replied, "It's arriving at 2pm."

Zhènlín nodded in acknowledgement.

"Is Kyle really coming as well?" asked Karen (Tan Kai Ling), Xing Han's eldest sister. She, like the rest of her sister, preferred to use their English names. Only Xing Han was not allowed to have an English name since he was the heir.

"Yes," answered Puay Kiow.

"He's hot," said Jessica (Tan Yi-Lyn), Xing Han's second elder sister, "If he wasn't younger than me, I'd certainly try my hand."

"It's a good thing I'm the youngest then," piped up Rose (Tan Hing Huen) with a smile as she flipped through Kyle's IG and pouted, "His IG hasn't been updated lately. I wonder what sort of thing he's been up to this year."

"Kai Ling, Yi-Lyn and Hing Huen!"

Their father's voice boomed loudly at the dining table, "At the dinner table, we eat. Put away your phone now, Hing Huen!!"

Rose quickly put down her phone, face chastised.

The three had them been excited to learn that Xing Han's best friend was finally coming to their house. Ever since primary school, all it had been was 'Kyle this, Kyle that' and it drove them bonkers.

After listening to Xing Han boast about Kyle so much, that they tuned him out everytime he started babbling about Kyle. The moment they knew he was the Smith Heir, they shrugged it off. Another typical rich kid, spoilt rotten or something.

They never had the inclination to dig up about Kyle, or google him up, so none of them had ever known how Kyle looked like. All the boasting Xing Han had done, was put down to his 'overly exaggerated rendition' of Kyle.

They never took it seriously.

That is, until the IG came out.

It was purely out of luck that they found out about it, and it was all thanks to Rose.

Or rather, her classmates.

? Mini Flashback ?

It was a day like any other day.

Everyone got up, had breakfast, went to school.

However, when Rose entered her classroom, it was obviously NOT a normal day. They were buzzing like flies, with the occasional squeals and gasps and all the normal sounds made when they gathered in a group to admire someone.

Rose placed her bag on her table and noted that the girls were doing most of the squealing while the guys were either scoffing at what they were looking at, or appeared thoughtful (or perhaps, envious?).

Obviously, a new celebrity came out. That was what Rose thought.

"Hey, what's going on?" Rose asked the closest girl.

"You mean you don't know??" her classmate asked.

Rose resisted an eye roll as she answered patiently, "No."

Well, like D-uh. If she knew, why would she ask?

With a grin, the girl did something on her phone while saying, "Wait a minute. Okay. Here."

Rose took the phone and looked at it, instantly transfixed.

A death-defyingly gorgeous black-and-white picture of a guy teasingly showing off that drool-worthy body?!

Rose's eyes darted over the phone, trying to see the name of the person, while asking, "Just who is this?!"

The girl said smugly, "Kyle Smith."

Rose nearly dropped the phone.

No. Freaking. Way.

It couldn't be the same Kyle Smith, could it? Xing Han's best friend? The one that Xing Han stuck to like glue?

Rose looked at the picture again.

Damn. It was great being a Tan.