Kyle had fully recovered by Friday, and he decided to head back to Sakura Academy then.

Delilah stood at his bedroom door, seeing her son pack up to go back to school.

"Why are you in such a rush to go back?" she asked, "Why not stay a couple of days more? After all, school only starts on Monday."

Kyle placed the shirt he was holding into the suitcase before looking up at his mother. He noted her sad smile, and sighed. He remembered what Kay had told him, so instead of simply explaining himself, he walked over and gave her a hug.

Delilah was shocked. She couldn't remember the last time Kyle was ever so expressive before. Let alone be the one who initiated it.

She felt his warmth, the sturdy body and how tall he really was. She only reached up to his chin! When did he grow so much?

"I'm sorry, Mum," Kyle said softly as he hugged her tight, "I haven't exactly been home much but I'm not avoiding you. I just have a lot of things to do and responsibilities to fulfill. So it's best I go back earlier so that I can attend to them sooner."

He released her a bit and looked at her in the eye, saying, "I will be staying at Master Shifu's house for a day to rest before heading back to school. So don't worry about me, okay?"

Delilah nodded and gave him one last hug.

Perhaps she was being greedy.

Kyle was already under a lot of pressure, as the Smith Heir and as a student. He was handling both - and could even act outside? He maintained his grades, didn't cause trouble, achieved results in the company and yet, she was griping over him not being home often?

Instead of being more supportive, she was making it more difficult.

Delilah sighed. Being a mother was hard. You want your child to be independent yet dependent. Did that even make sense?!

Little did Delilah know, Kyle understood perfectly. Which was why he initiated the hug. He made a promise to himself that he will, from now, be more expressive with her. As Kylie, he had always been pampered by his son with daily hugs and kisses. Several times a day even.

Well, he was only going to be more loving with his mother, but not Patrick. His father wasn't the expressive type anyway, so he wasn't going to go all out for that one, if at all. Kay was his princess so she can pamper him.

Kyle was simply the Smith Heir to Patrick.

At least, that was Kyle's impression.

✿ Master Shifu House ✿

Xing Han was waiting impatiently for Kyle.

He kept looking at this watch, peering out the window and looking left and right, wondering just how much longer was Kyle going to take? Xing Han would shift the weight from one leg to the other, then look through the window every five seconds.

"If you're going to fidget like that, it's best you just go back home," drawled Nitocris in amusement as he was flipping through the newspaper.

Both of them were in the living room, with Nitocris on the single-seat sofa reading the newspaper and Xing Han was directly in front of him.

Xing Han growled and hissed at him, saying, "What's it to you? Don't look if it bothers you so much."

Nitocris couldn't help the small drawl of a smile that formed on one side of his face while he thought of how innocent the little puppy is. Little did the little puppy know that it bothers him immensely that all he could do, for now, was only look.

He couldn't help the smile that spread when he thought how the little puppy would react if he did know what he was thinking. He raised the newspaper up to hide his face.

"Old man, still reading newspapers in its ancient form. Why doesn't he just read it online?" Xing Han mumbled under his breath, cursing Nitocris.

If it wasn't for the fact that Kyle was going to spend the night here, Xing Han would never come at all. At one time, Nitocris was hardly home so it was fine but lately, even Xing Han noticed that Nitocris was always home whenever he dropped by.

So annoying.

It was so obvious to Xing Han that Nitocris was taking his role of Kyle's 'big brother' to the extreme. At first, Xing Han had been slightly worried but then, who was by Kyle's side all the time? Him. Why should he be worried then, right?

He just needed to keep an eye out on this Nitocris whenever Kyle came over to visit.

Xing Han thought smugly to himself.

No way would Nitocris push Xing Han's position aside.