New Life : A Second Chance

Kay looked away, tears forming in her eyes as deep sadness hit her entire being. She coughed loudly and Sarah patted her back in worry.

Kay waved her aside, still coughing and drank some water, the tears flowing down her cheeks, "Sorry, something just went down the wrong way. Be right back."

Kay quickly headed to the girls' toilet and locked herself in the cubicle. She closed the toilet seat lid and sat down, pulling out some toilet paper and placed it over her eyes. She had faked the cough to explain the tears but now she allowed the tears to flow freely.

Kay knew that the intense emotions she was feeling right now was from Kyle and her heart ached for him. She was well aware of how much he missed his kids and that, to a certain extent, the way he showered his love for her was partly his way of coping with that loss. She didn't mind it at all and felt happy that she was able to help him cope, albeit in a round-a-bout way.

'This new development in the bond may be more troublesome than I expected,' thought Kay.

On the one hand, it would help her understand her brother even more but on the other hand, she felt like she was intruding on some really private and personal feelings of his.

Kay knew that Kyle wouldn't mind sharing but she also knew that he would feel bad for making her go through it. So she wouldn't tell him about this. An idea formed in her head. Since she could sense and be affected by Kyle's sadness, then he would be able to sense and be affected by hers as well, right?

So she began to counter the sadness that was filling up her entire body with happy thoughts. She began thinking of how she felt when she first sensed Kyle in the womb. A sense of wonderment and love. How she felt whenever Kyle pampered her.

All the positive feelings and love she felt, she embraced. Soon, the sadness became manageable and the tears stopped. She hoped she had done some good for Kyle, and she walked out after ensuring that there was no one to see.

Kay washed her face and could see that her eyes were slightly red. Luckily, it was not puffy so she could go back to the cafeteria as if nothing had happened. She sent a silent prayer to Kyle, hoping that he's calmer now.

?? Kyle ??

Kyle found himself feeling rather warm and loved at the moment, making the sadness that he was under bearable.

It was strange.

There was nothing in what he was looking at, would invoke such a feeling. Kylie was going to work and nothing warm or loving at that scene. He had a suspicion about the cause of it, but he'll ask her later. Right now, he appreciated the gesture and was able to properly focus at the scene in front of him again.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Kylie would gather the materials needed for the day. She checked her emails and deleted spam, only opening and replying those that were of relevance.

Kyle slowed down the 'movie' and read the emails as Kylie did. He found there was nothing unusual about it. However, as Kylie answered the last email, Kyle had a hunch. He rewound the 'movie' and zoomed in on the emails that Kylie had previously deleted as spam.

Kyle studied the sender and title of the emails. There was a lot of spam, as the office email not would also include any sort of emails sent to the entire company and various departments. As Kyle meticulously looked through the subject heading of the emails, one caught his eye.

The sender? His killer.

He also noted that the email subject heading had [RexInfo], which indicated that it was the mailing list for the top brass of management. Why did Kylie get the email then? Perhaps it was sent wrongly? Kylie was not part of the top management team, which was why she deleted it without a second thought as she was not privy to it.

Kyle now remembered how he had felt when he first saw the email. For a split second, he had entertained the idea of clicking on it but in the end, disregarded it. He had reckoned then that if she had meant to be part of the email recipients, her boss would have asked her about it later.

He had felt that it was better to be scolded for ignoring the email rather than scolded for reading it. Once secret information was read, it could not be un-read and the repercussions of that could be much more severe.

So Kyle now had a clue.

Since he knew his killer, his subconscious mind must have remembered that email and triggered his death scene memories. Hence, the nightmare. Kyle quickly looked through the rest of the day's memory and found nothing else of importance.

Coming out of the 'trance', Kyle noted that his pillow was quite wet. He ruefully tapped on it, thinking that he didn't realise just how much he must have cried earlier. He sighed deeply. Touching his face, he noted the sticky dried streaks and decided another shower was needed.

?? 5 pm ??

Kyle looked at the pile of food in front of him then at Kay, "Really? You think I'm a pig?"

There was a plate of lasagne with potato salad, a serving of chinese fried rice, a bowl of noodles and burger with fries.

"You didn't have lunch," Kay said with a shrug.

"Yeah, but still ..." Kyle said looking at the food with worry. That's a lot of calories to work-out later. Still, he couldn't waste any food.

[By the way, thanks] Kyle said as he dug into the lasagne first.

[Feeling better?]

[Yes, much. I'll need your help in one specific matter]

Kyle began to describe the email, and time of it being sent. He needed Kay to retrieve its contents without alerting the other party that it had been diverted or opened.

[I think it's best to monitor all his calls and emails from now on] Kyle said with a sigh [I have a feeling this is perhaps the start of everything]

Before this, there had been no movement that was unusual or untoward in the company. Kyle would go through the reports every week but there was nothing out of the ordinary. The constant monitoring for the past 12 years was very tedious and taxing. It was monotonous work and it was easy to lose focus or have important data to be missed.

He couldn't even use AI to filter everything for he did not know what sort of 'keywords' he could programme the AI to use. Hence, it was left to human intervention and judgment. It was worse then being in a factory line, doing the same mechanical work as this type of monotonous work required some form of brain power.

With this clue however, they could start focusing on something more concrete. There was a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Let's do something fun. Just the two of us," Kay said to Kyle with a smile, "It's been quite some time since twin time."

Kay knew the amount of stress Kyle was under, which he hid most of the time. However, there was a crack that appeared due to him looking through his past memories which involved his kids. Kay didn't want Kyle to suffer some sort of mental breakdown, so some sort of diversion activity was needed.

Kyle smiled as he nodded, continuing to eat. He decided to pack the fried rice and pass it to Xing Han later that night. He's always up for a midnight snack.

Just the other day, Xing Han had been mumbling in his sleep about food, even getting up halfway giving an order for some braised ribs. Kyle grinned at that memory, for he had been jolted awake by Xing Han shouting, "One order of braised ribs! Hurry!"

He saw Xing Han sitting up, one hand in the air and then lying back down, smacking his lips. Kyle teased Xing Han about it the next day but he denied such a thing ever happened.

"How about going to Gym5? Then our favourite cafe," Kyle suggested.

Kay grinned, "You just want to see the twins, don't you? Or should I say, you just want to tease them, right?"

Kyle's smile was even brighter then, making those who saw it nearly faint, "Nothing beats the stress more than scaling walls ... and chasing after the twins."

"You do know that they're also hitting on you now, right?" Kay said with an eyebrow raised.

Kyle smirked, while licking his lips and said, "Oh ... I think I should reward them once in a while for all their hard work, don't you think?"

Kay looked at him with wide eyes, "You're not seriously going to ... oh, Kyle. That's so mean."

"No, it's not," Kyle protested, taking a bit out of the burger. After swallowing, he said, "It's just harmless flirting."

"You're going to break some hearts, brother," Kay said with a snort.

"Nah," Kyle said, "You know I wouldn't play with people's feelings. How about this? Our usual thing: twin competition."

"What sort will it be this time?" Kay asked curiously.

"First, we tell them what we're doing so that they don't get the wrong idea," Kyle said, laying out his plan.

"And what is it that we'll be doing?" Kay asked, rolling her eyes. Kyle really liked to drag things out.

"See which one of us can flirt the best or the fastest," Kyle said, "All they need to do is resist our charm."

Kay's mouth twitched.

"You're right. This does sound like fun," Kay replied.

"Do you think they'll be up to it?" Kyle asked.

"Those two? They'll probably be fighting over who will last the longest!"

Kay and Kyle linked their pinkies together, the usual sign they did when they agreed on having a twin competition.

[You do remember that part of my training was on seduction, right?] Kay asked.

[Of course. It wouldn't be fun otherwise. You need to practice anyway]

[Hah. I've got this. Prepare to pay] Kay said confidently.