“ So what now ?” Liam asked Kyle while they were heading back to the cave entrance.

“ I don’t know, but first we must get out of here, we have less than 2 days before time runs out.” Kyle answered

“ You know those three are probably even more suspicious of you now that your secret is out right?” Liam asked, anyone would be in their case to be honest, Kyle really had been holding back and purposely put them in danger, how could anyone really trust him to tell them the truth now.

“ That's where you come in my friend. I will be the devil and you will be the angel. I will always be forceful and harsh on them and you will be the nice moral compass of the group putting me in check, they will trust you and follow you willingly”. Kyle replied.

“The old good cop, bad cop huh. But I will warn you, I won't keep all of your secrets from them. They deserve to know at least part of them to rely on me or you”. Liam cautiously said, he was expecting Kyle to scream at him telling him not to break his promise, but

“Fine by me, but you know what part to keep out of don’t you. That is none of your story to tell.” Kyle answered in an intimidating voice, his eyes suddenly looked angry and his smile was long gone. It had been a while since Kyle gave Liam that look or you can say a warning.

“Yes of course, I would only give them the tip of the iceberg, just enough to satisfy their questions”. Liam stood his ground and looked back at Kyle. “Good” was the last word Kyle said to Liam before they got back to the other three.

“Get ready, we are heading out of here right now !” Liam told the three.

“I found out that the forest is a lot less dense to the west of this mountain hill and I think I saw some kind of smoke from that direction too. Kyle explained.

Allan, Maria and Luna's faces were full of joy, that was truly the biggest good news they heard ever since they got stuck in this place. When the three got ready and headed out of the cave, Liam noticed something, all of them did not dare to look Kyle in the eyes any more and they showed great hesitance and shame when they came near him now.

“Kyle really did a number on them” Liam thought to himself, “Guess it is time to lift them up.”

The group started heading westward, with Kyle leading the way this time and Liam staying in the back with Allan, Maria and Luna to make sure they stayed on the right track. After a while, Liam started to try and make some small talk. “Sorry if we went a little harsh on you guys earlier, we were in a lot of stress too” Liam spoke in a very soft and warm voice.

“ No, it was our fault, we are the one who should be sorry, we really did nothing to help you guys and if not for Kyle and you we would have …” Luna said with a very emotional voice.

When they were left in the cave entrance, they really got the time to reflect on their actions so far and how they treated Kyle, they knew that they were mostly wrong and did not know the way to say sorry to the both of them. Allan also expected that Liam and Kyle would still be mad as hell and it would be wise to stay quiet and do what they said for now. That was the exact opposite of what Kyle wanted from them, he wanted the three to learn from that and move on quickly so they would be valuable assets and Liam knew that too.

“ Let’s me tell you a secret” Liam kindly said to three of them “ We really did not hold a grudge against you guy at all, besides Kyle would never gonna leave you behind, he was too much of a softy to let you guys got hurt anyway”

Allan, Maria and Luna eyebrows were all standing up, “well you could have fooled me” Allan said in a sarcastic way.

“ It’s true, we used to call an Angel with the Devil face back then. Even though he acted all tough and cold from the outside, he will always be there to help you when you need him the most, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”. Liam looked at Luna.

And yes they have already known that by now, especially Luna, she could still remember him risking his own life to save her. When she closed her eyes, she could remember everything so clearly that it was like this was just all a dream and the reality was she was still on the field getting chase by those men, she could still remember that unexpectedly soft and carrying voice of Kyle when he looked into her eyes and promised her that everything was going to be okay.

The three of them already discussed how they felt about Kyle now and the fact that if he really did want to harm them, there was no way he would have done what he did for them.But there was still one big and sensitive question.

Allan pulled all of his courage “ Can,.... Can we ask you a question about Kyle” Allan asked.

Liam smilingly answered “ You wanted to know how a guy who claims to be an economics and finance bachelor was able to defeat all of those men from last night right?”.

They all swallowed their dry saliva and nodded. “Well, If you were intensely learning martial arts from the age of nine, you would be able to do the same.” Liam answered with a casual tone.

“ What !!! ???” All three of them shouted, there are many people in the world who have learnt martial arts for many years but they doubt many would be able to kill 10 men with his bare hand like Kyle. “Is that really all there is to it?” Maria asked in shock.

Lian replied, this time not with usual care free upbeat voice but a more serious, sadder tone

“ He did not learn those martial arts that you normally heard or trained, those kinds of things teach you about discipline and self defence for the most part. Kyle learnt from a variety of martial art over the years with the main purpose to take down the enemy at all cost”

Fear once again creeps up on Allan, Maria and Luna, “ What kind of child would want to learn those kinds of things ever since the age of 9”. Allan asked, they suddenly realized that they might have crossed the line with that one, but, “ That is a good question, a reasonable one. Why do you think he wants to do it? Don't be shy he wouldn’t bite” Liam smiled.

“ Was he forced to ?” Luna asked, “ No, he decided to do so on his own”, Liam replied.

They did not came up with any reasonable explanation why, Liam finally spoke

“ I can't tell you the reason why he decided to do so, Kyle is the only one who has the right to do so, but what I could tell you that it was a damn sad story and he did not find joy practicing it”, Liam stopped to take a deep breath and continue “ Have you ever forget everything around you and only focus on his eyes, under all the coldness and intimidation it give you there was always a sense of sadness and sorrow.”

“ It is no different in this case, he really wants you guy to survive, to catch on as quick as possible, to learn from your mistakes, and that why he is being so harsh and mean to you guy, he is give you the “tough love”, the only way he know how to?”

Allan, Maria and Luna were very surprised about that answer. Though it did not give them everything they wanted to know, it gave them all they needed to know and gave them a deeper inside look on who Kyle was as a person. They were somewhat satisfied with it and after seeing how Liam emotionally answered their question, they knew not to ask questions they did not want to know the answer to.

In their eyes, Kyle's image had changed if only for a little, yes to them he was still intimidating as hell, but they felt like they could trust him, that somehow if they were to fall on their back, he would be there to catch them. Liam's image was also changed, now he was someone they could open up to, someone with compassion, he was becoming someone they view as a leader and a moral compass of the group.

Kyle up the front, did not know anything the rest had been talking about at all, he assumed Liam had followed the plan “good cop bad cop” and gained their trust, but in reality, Liam had said more than he should have and now it was kind of the “good cop semi bad cop” situation.