New Life : A Second Chance

Kyle had opted to stay at a serviced apartment during his time here, as opposed to a hotel or buying a house. 

There were a few reasons for this.

One, service apartment is well-maintained and fully furnished. He didn't have to worry about finding furniture or what to do with it once he leaves. The service apartment he chose also provided housekeeping, so he didn't have to clean either.

Two, everything was under one roof. It has great facilities such as a gym, pool, a park with a small playground, a jogging track, a supermarket, and even several eateries. 

Three … it was close to the area that he used to live, as Kylie. Thus, he could create opportunities to meet his kids and perhaps, even invite them to his unit. Even better, Sayuri stayed next door so his kids may not feel so threatened with such a kind looking lady around.

As they headed towards the jogging track, the couple certainly made people's heads turn. 

One was striking enough. Two? It was blinding.

Luckily, no one bothered them as they jogged. 

Partly because of the cold aura of Kyle that was unusually more threatening this morning, and partly because they were jogging seriously. 

Their speed was fast, and they would pass several people on the jogging track a few times even before those people had completed one cycle. Yet, their pace was steady and they hardly showed any effort being exerted.

Worse, they were at it for over an hour. 

No one really wanted to disturb such a serious couple so they just settled on simply watching. 

Since that day, however, the number of people that frequented the jogging track seemed to increase a bit. Not only were all the resting spots taken, but the area alongside the jogging track also had people sitting on them leisurely.

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Kyle and Sayuri opted to have their breakfast at the cozy cafe below the apartment. 

It was more comfortable and more importantly, there were fewer people. They were at a secluded corner of the cafe, away from prying eyes.

Once the waiter took their orders, Kyle quickly went down to business.

"Do you know anything about Rex Industries?" he asked, giving a shot in the dark. 

As expected, Sayuri shook her head.

"For personal reasons, I started looking into this company," Kyle said, glossing over why he was interested in it, "It may look like a reputable place but in reality, it's involved in some pretty dark stuff."

Sayuri was silent, listening intently.

"I have some men in place there," Kyle revealed, "but so far, the only thing I have managed to gather is that they are responsible to launder some money, plus …"

At this, Kyle's hands clenched, "It's one of the stop-overs, or temporary storage, for human trafficking."

Sayuri gasped softly, not expecting this.

"The thing is, even until now, I have yet to be able to discover who the mastermind is," Kyle said frustratingly, "I know the key players and I even managed to identify some of the main contact person from each side."

"But as to who actually is behind all of this? Nothing," Kyle said, leaning back in his chair.

Kyle suspected that the file he had copied, as Kylie, actually contained this information somehow. 

Otherwise, why were they so eager to get it from her? 

The worst thing was, he could not get the information beforehand.

Whoever it was that was behind it was so meticulous and tech paranoid that it made it near impossible to obtain.

Kyle said 'near impossible' because he could actually obtain it. 

It was stored in a computer that was not connected to the internet at all. 

The computer was in a room that was secured with triple security: to enter, one needed an access card and a handprint. Once inside, one had to close it back within a minute with a handprint.

Kyle often wondered how Kylie ever got security access to the room.

Perhaps it was because she was so innocent and straight? Perhaps it was because she was so ordinary, so people would not think that the room contained anything as secretive as human trafficking details? 

It was simply a 'secure room with company sensitive material' rather than 'a top-secret room with dangerous information' room.

Kyle sighed internally.

Throughout the years, he had thought of the many ways he could get the information out of that room. However, if he did, it would only create a ripple in the events around Kylie. 

He truly hated this grandfather paradox.

It was all fine and dandy when you watched it in a movie or read it in a novel, but when you're actually living through it?

The grandfather paradox is that situation akin to the major plot lines in the Terminator movies. The time traveler going back in time to prevent the start of the whole AI thing from starting … and worse, the fact that the saviour of the future is the son of his best friend?

There are some physicists who believe that if you were to kill your parent/grandparent, the current 'you' would not be born in this world but would still be born in another parallel world. 

Others believe that you would be prevented from such actions as the photons that make up light, prefer self-consistency in timelines (in short, the 'world' / higher being stops you).

Some were of the opinion that this is just hogwash and theory, and can never happen.

For Kyle, he's experiencing it so he can't dismiss the possibility that he, Kyle, would cease to exist if Kylie survives. He had to make sure that her timeline was not affected in any way.

He had no idea what his actions would do to Kylie, so he had been extra careful to make sure any moves he makes, did not affect her. No matter how small.

So he had to leave those files alone.