New Life : A Second Chance

Kay rolled out of bed once the worst of the sounds were over.

Seriously, the way her brother and Sayuri were constantly at it, one would think they were rabbits rather than humans. They were at it last night and now, early in the morning. 

Do they even need food?!

She grumbled and complained all the way to the bathroom, staring angrily at their bedroom door. 

✿ Author only posts on w.e.b.n.o.v.e.l. ✿

Kay had thought long and hard about it, and felt that the best way to help Joseph deal with his grief was simply … to listen. Be there for him. Not hound him for anything. Use this time to learn about him and act accordingly.

The stages that were said one would go through were denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. However, this was actually for those who knew that they were going to die; and not those left behind.

The process was different. Each person was different. They went through grief in their own way.

For Joseph, Kay could see that he was trying hard to hold everything together. To treat things like they were normal. It wasn't that he was in denial, but rather, he was coping as best as he could without his mother.

Kay didn't know Kylie, so she couldn't share moments about her to him. Instead, she would listen to him if he wanted to talk about her. 

Which he did, surprisingly.

Kay found Joseph to be an extremely entertaining guy. He wasn't pretentious and warm. You could tell from his little gestures that he did unassumingly, how much he cared for his sister. 

Annoyed, as well, but that was pretty normal, wasn't it?

It was only Kyle that wasn't normal.

He never regarded her as being annoying, and always indulged her in whatever she did. He was patient, matured and well, heck. He had been a mother, right? So, of course, her antics were nothing to him.

So, seeing such a normal boy doing so much for his sister - yet, was also normal enough to be annoyed by some of the things she did, made Kay feel that it was rather … nice.

Kay smiled to herself as she finished bathing and dressed up for the day. She waited until Stephan went to work before she headed over to their apartment, upon which she found that the two were having their breakfast.

Stephan insisted that they did things as a family as much as possible, thus breakfast and dinner would be a family affair. Breakfast was a simple affair of cereal and toast, with some scrambled eggs. 

Joseph was the one that had opened the door and he invited her in politely, asking her if she had breakfast and wanted to join them. 

Kay smiled, shaking her head, "No thanks. I'll wait for Kyle and Sayuri to finish their run and have breakfast with them."

"Run?" Lianne asked curiously.

Kay nodded, "Kyle exercises extensively and regularly, in order to maintain his fitness level. So he goes for a jog everyday with Sayuri in the morning before breakfast."

"Then his weight training?" Joseph asked as he finished his toast, "He doesn't do that anymore?"

"Of course he does," Kay replied, sitting at the dining table with them, "No matter how busy his schedule, he will always slot in time for that."

"He works so hard just to keep that physique?" Joseph asked curiously, "I mean, it's impressive, but he's just a CEO, so why …?"

"What has being a CEO got to do with anything?" Kay asked back, tilting her head, "Everything that Kyle achieved, is through sheer hard work though people do tend to think it just fell on his lap. As if he woke up one day knowing how to run the business or his body is sculpted that way or something."

Kay placed her chin on the palm of her hand, looking intensely at Joseph as she asked, "Didn't you do some weight training with Kyle when Sayuri was teaching Lianne art? Why stop?"

Joseph didn't answer immediately, chewing slowly on his last piece of toast and taking several gulps of milk. 

Kay didn't push him nor insisted on an answer.

Her objective is to get him to face the day as he used to, or rather, to normalise it and get it into a routine. She would raise the issue, or suggest it, but the decision would be up to him.

Joseph was lost in thought at Kay's question. Why did he stop? Of course, he stopped due to dealing with his mother's death but what about now? Did he want to start again? Is it okay to start again?

He peeked at his sister, who was ignoring the both of them talking as she stared at her phone while eating. She was playing some sort of game on it, and watching it as the game was in its auto-mode.

Joseph then looked at his empty plate and didn't know what to say, really. 

He did want to, but it had just barely been a week since his mother's death. 

Would it be okay?

He gulped, then looked up at Kay, who was just waiting for an answer from him. She didn't look like she was judging him nor thinking badly of him upon asking the question. It was a genuine curious one, and she looked like it was the most normal thing for him to be doing.

Would it be okay to continue?

"I didn't stop," Joseph said finally, his voice a bit hoarse, "Just .. things … you think Kyle would be okay to teach me again?"

Kay gave him a bright smile, and replied, "Of course. He'd love to. Just go and ask him about it."

"He wouldn't mind?"

"Why should he mind?" Kay asked him back, "I'm sure he's more than happy for the company."

Feeling reassured, Joseph nodded.

Kay smiled, happy that with this step, Joseph started doing something he used to do.