New Life : A Second Chance

He didn\'t say a word, but simply stared at it. After a minute, he looked at Kyle, tears glistening in his eyes as he said, \'Thank you\' before getting up and going to his room.

Now, Kyle was torn.

He wanted to go and check up on his son, but he also knew he had to deal with his daughter as well.

Although he had not ignored her but acted naturally upon looking at everyone, he could already see from his peripheral vision that Lianne was staring at him with incredulous eyes.

Most of all, hope.

Kay could sense the conflict within him and patted his back for comfort.

[I\'ll keep an eye on Joseph, don\'t worry. You go and handle Lianne]

[Thank you]

Kyle turned his head to look at Sayuri, who understood and said cheerfully, "I\'ll go and make dinner. Or perhaps, luner? Since it\'s too late for lunch but too early for dinner."

Sayuri kept mumbling on as she headed to the kitchen while Kay knocked on Joseph\'s door.

Kyle finally turned to face Lianne fully and with a gentle look, he asked, "How did you know, Li?"

Li was an endearment that only Kylie had used with Lianne, that she had never spoken in front of anyone else. It was like a code between them, an understanding. Whenever Kylie called her Li, it was her signal as well to say \'I am here for you\' to talk.

Lianne\'s mouth trembled and she hugged Ren, her husky close to her. She stood up slowly, then took small, slow steps towards Kyle.

When she was finally in front of Kyle, she looked up, her eyes just staring at Kyle\'s face and then with gasping breath, she said softly, "Mama?"

Kyle went down on his knees and hugged her, saying, "I\'m sorry, Li. I\'m so sorry. I never wanted to leave you or Joey."

Lianne didn\'t say a word but allowed Kyle to hug her as she lay her face on Kyle\'s shoulders, silently crying.

Kyle wrapped his arms around Lianne and scooped her up, carrying her.

Even though Lianne was already a big girl of 11-years-old, Kyle had no trouble picking her up. He went into her bedroom, lay her down on the bed and sat down on the floor, facing away from her.

Lianne snuggled under her blanket, hugging Ren tightly, and stared at Ren.

Kyle wanted nothing more than to stroke her hair but he knew that she would not be comfortable with that. She also wouldn\'t be able to talk face-to-face, so he had to lean away from her.

All these things, he knew from his past life but had never associated it with her being Aspergian. Of course, he now knew better and understood it.

Previously, he simply acted based on what made her most comfortable.

Which, unknown to Kyle at that time, was why Kylie had been such an anchor for Lianne. Only her mother seemed to understand her, and indulged her in these little things.

Kyle sat there, waited for a minute or two before he finally said, "How did you know?"

"You knew everything that I liked," Lianne said softly, "Every single thing in this room, are things I am familiar with. It\'s not exact, but it\'s similar enough."

Kyle pursed his lips.

Trust her to notice all the fine details.

"Your brother never noticed it," Kyle said with a smile.

"He\'s useless," Lianne scoffed, "He never notices anything."

Which was, truth be told, a normal thing. It was just Lianne\'s attention to detail that was abnormal.

"But I\'m a guy, and 19 years old at that," Kyle said, "I didn\'t think you\'d be able to connect the dots."

"I don\'t know," Lianne said, "It just made sense."

"I was never planning to tell you," Kyle said, "Even though you and Joey are going through so much pain. Death is inevitable and I didn\'t want you to have to lose me twice."

"I know," Lianne said softly, "But I prefer it this way. Even if you don\'t come back again, I know that you\'re out there somewhere. I can cope better next time."

"Okay," Kyle replied, "It\'s still strange though, huh?"

"Yeah," Lianne agreed, "But no matter how you look like outside, you\'re still Mama."

"Mhmm," Kyle acknowledged that.

"I\'m getting sleepy, Mama," Lianne said softly, her voice sounding more groggy.

"Okay, Li," Kyle said, turning around finally, to face her. He kissed her forehead and tucked her in, just like he used to do.

Lianne had a contented smile on her face as her eyes closed, and Kyle walked out after closing the lights.

"How is she?" asked Sayuri when Kyle came out.

"She\'s really taking it like it was nothing," Kyle said, sitting on the sofa, "She\'s asleep right now. Probably the exhaustion hit her after she\'s calmed down."

"Kay\'s still talking to Joseph," Sayuri said, as she sat down next to him, "Are you going to tell him?"

"No, of course not," Kyle said.

"Why not?"

"He wouldn\'t be able to accept it," Kyle said ruefully, "It\'s too illogical. The fact that his mother is now this dude would be too much for him to handle. I think his brain may explode."

"You\'re so bad, talking like that about your own son," Sayuri said with a slight laugh.

"Don\'t get me wrong," Kyle said quickly, "I love my son but I\'m not blind to what he\'s like. His heart is pure like Xing Han, but he can\'t think out of the box."

"Would it be a problem later?" Sayuri pondered.

"I hope not."