✿ Several months later ✿

Kyle was at his desk at home, the computer in front of him and a bunch of files beside him.

He was busy looking through the pictures he had of his kids and Sari. He stared at them hard and then looked at the calendar on the wall. He flipped through the files of reports that his Team had been giving him since he left.

In it, there were Sam's observations and fears as well. His Team had acted upon those observations but nothing concrete could be determined. Whatever was happening, it was either too soon to tell or the other party was too good in concealing their movements.

In frustration, Kyle slammed the files shut.

He had gone through the files numerous times and it was all the same, pointing to one thing.

He had to go back.

His heart clenched at that.

He thought he had more time.

He looked back at his kids and Sari.

Leaving his kids was going to be hard, but it wasn't that which he was worried about. He had managed to have time with them, be friends with them and soothe most of the ache in his heart.

It was leaving behind Sari that tore at him.

Ever since she found out who he was, there had been slight changes in her behaviour. That was to be expected, of course, more so since he found out she was a fan of Kyle Smith.

It wasn't that she treated him any differently … but more of the fact that she did not seem to be confident in their relationship. It wasn't apparent at first but as time went by, Kyle began to notice the patterns.

She would ask him about his past - which he didn't hide. Well, except for the ninja stuff. Whatever cover story he had done then, he had to continue giving her.

The first crack began when she started asking him about Samantha.

✿ Mini Flashback ✿

"How many girlfriends did you have before me?" Sari asked him.

Kyle frowned a bit at that question, but figured it was something that would eventually arise once she knew about him. The typical questions of the past. Sari had raised the question during one of their walks back to her house from school.

"One," Kyle replied, even though that wasn't the truth.

"Seriously?" Sari said incredulously, "I saw that post on PoK, but I thought perhaps it was only that one that they knew."

"Nope," Kyle said.

"Who was she?"

Kyle sighed, dreading the twenty questions but it had to be told. Sari, upon seeing this reaction, started getting slightly worried though she didn't show it. She kept up her appearance of showing interest, but nothing more.

In truth, she wanted to find out just what sort of girl had managed to attract Kyle before her. How similar were they? Or different? What had their relationship been like? What does he feel for her now?

PoK said that they broke up amicably - so did this mean that there was a chance she could come back? Was she a potential threat in the future? Sari waited nervously.

Was Kyle thinking back on the past with regret? Was that why he sighed?

"Samantha was the daughter of the place one of the scenes in the John Wick movie was being shot at," Kyle explained, "We just hit it off, I suppose."

"You suppose?" Sari prodded.

Hadn't she and Kyle just 'hit it off' as well? Did this mean they might break up in the future because of circumstances as well?

Kyle looked at Sari and said, "Yes. I can't give you some detailed low-down of why and how, other than the fact that we liked each other. We got along, and things just happened."

"Was she pretty?"

Kyle smiled at that and put his hand on Sari's waist, saying, "Not as pretty as you."

Sari didn't fully believe Kyle about that, but accepted it then.

However, her insecurities flared up even more when she did more research on who the ex-girlfriend had been. Using the clues Kyle had said, it wasn't really hard. Going through the various articles about the movie, she found the mansion that had been one of its sets.

Richard Greene and the daughter.

Samantha Greene.

Sari gulped seeing how beautiful she was, and how rich she was. That, and the fact that there had been numerous pictures of her with different guys. An older, beautiful woman had been Kyle's girlfriend.

Worse, there had not been any more news about her after the death of her father. This was also the time that she had broken up with Kyle, and yet, she didn't appear to have found any more guys after Kyle.

What Sari had not realised was the fact that previously, Samantha had been in the news due to her being in 'high-society' as Richard Greene's daughter. After his death, she lived a low key life and she was no longer 'worthy news'.

Sari, however, thought the lack of news was due to the fact that Samantha was pining for Kyle - or that she never did truly get over him. Since they broke up because she was moving away, what would happen if she came back?

Sari couldn't help but fear that.

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Although Kyle didn't know the depth of Sari's thought process, he did notice that she required more convincing since then.

What's worse is that she would apologize profusely each time, then asking him if she was annoying whenever she asked him these questions.

What could he say?

If he was to say that she was annoying for doing, then she would be even more insecure. Worse, she might even suspect that he was hiding things from her (well, he was but not in the manner that she was thinking).

It was a lose-lose situation so Kyle did the best that he could.

It was hard, though.