NEW LIFE : A SECOND CHANCE

It was evening by the time Kyle and Sayuri headed to the location.

It was a shopping mall, thus perfect for such an exchange. There would be lots of people, plus exit points. Kyle stood in the middle of the exact drop place, looking up and all around, making mental notes in his head.

His hands were in his pocket, his handsome face looking bored even though he was concentrating. He didn't want anyone to suspect he was there to survey the place.

He certainly cut a dashing figure (as usual) and people couldn't help but slow down or stumble a bit to admire the Adonis just standing there, seemingly waiting for someone.

"Kyle?" came a soft voice beside him.

Kyle's heart jerked a bit upon hearing that familiar voice and cursed himself.

Why should he still be affected by her?

He knew very well that it wasn't because he still had feelings for her, but rather, he still felt rather upset over her impression of him. It felt as if there were some unfinished business, and the unjustness of it all still ate up at him.

He didn't blame her, truly. He just couldn't help but feel rather upset about it.

Still.

That made him angry at himself for he knew, letting go completely was the best way to truly heal. Yet, no matter how much of a saint you are, if you feel that you had been wronged, you can't completely wipe it out from your heart.

He turned slowly towards the source of that voice and saw that indeed, it was Sari.

With that one look, everything came crashing down on him.

All the memories of what they had shared, of the strong feelings he had for her then and the sense of betrayal which had hit him so deep, he felt he could never recover.

In truth, he never did.

When you love someone, and that person actually returned the feelings - it was like a dream. A wonderful dream that made you feel like you were walking on air. Those 'heart' shaped background images from cartoons to depict the inner feelings really did feel like that.

Everything was lovely, rosy and beautiful.

However, Kyle knew that every relationship needed work. Constant work to keep the magic alive. Such work, though, should not be one that would be stressful. Worse, if only one party was doing all the work, it would sap up at you.

Eat you alive.

Unfortunately, Kyle still did not realise that there was one thing that was even worse than that.

The worst thing was when you didn't mind doing all of the work. In fact, you keep making excuses for the other party and put the entire blame on yourself. You only saw the flaws within you, and the mistakes you made - yet, never truly blaming the other party.

In Kyle's case, it was exactly that.

He could understand Sari's point of view, and he knew what she was like, thus he didn't blame her at all. The frustration was still there that he could not be the man that she needed and deserved, no matter how hard he tried.

He was also still very upset that she thought the worst of him - but he didn't hate her.

The pain was still there, even though it had been several years now.

It was as if, seeing her, made the scab over his heart tear open again and started bleeding afresh.

Still, all of those thoughts and feelings were bottled up inside of him and he didn't show it one bit on his face, nor temperament.

He simply pushed it aside and faced her with his normal, indifferent and cold manner.

"Sari," he said calmly, nodding his head in acknowledgment upon seeing her, "Hello."

Sari was a bit taken aback at that and she berated herself mentally. What was she expecting? Well, certainly not some sort of warmth or whatever but at least a smile?

Who was this cold creature in front of her?

She had already glimpsed the 'less than loving' manner he treated her with the last time they met, but she really was not expecting this sort of cold and indifferent attitude.

He wasn't like this even to other people before. Was it just her because of their past? Or is this how he truly is?

Despite the nervousness in her heart, she still managed to give a smile, and said, "I'm glad to be able to bump into you. I've always wanted to tha-"

"No need," Kyle said, cutting her off abruptly, "It's in the past."

Sari swallowed the rest of the words that had been at the tip of her tongue.

Kyle knew he was being a bit rude but the last thing he wanted was to talk about the past or reminisce about it. It was, after all, the past.

Kyle studied her and saw how she had grown up into this mature young lady. At 18, her 'girl-next-door' look was still prominent and most likely invoked a sense of protectiveness from any guy that was around her.

He had been one of those guys and he was glad to know that he didn't have such feelings anymore.

One chain in his heart was broken then, and he felt relief. He often wondered how he would react or be like if he should meet up with her again - which was likely since he was in Country M.

"What are you doing here?" Sari asked hesitatingly, wanting to start a conversation.

She often wondered what happened since he left and so, she still followed the news about him. This time, she subscribed to Country Tz's online news portal and kept abreast about anything related to him.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much other than the things he had done since becoming CEO.

It can't be that he was still single, right?

He had already been labeled as the most eligible bachelor - EVER - yet, no news about any women. What happened?