CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT:
Tyler and Kai
--
Morning came earlier than Tyler expected. Like his daily routine, he's woken up by his maid, take a
bath after a short run on his garden, then wear his outfit of the day; a tie and his black suit then paired it
up with a black leather shoes.
Tyler stood in front of his human-sized mirror while fixing his tie. His hair is a little bit damp since he
didn't dried it up properly. He's a little bit lazy to thoroughly dry them using towel dry. He even just run
his hand on them, not even bothering about styling it.
Knock, knock.
Tyler paused when he heard the knocks. Looking at the door through the mirror, he called. "Yes?"
"Sir Tyler," a muffled voice called. Although it was a little bit inaudible, he immediately recognized it as
the head maid. His former nanny. "Your breakfast is ready."
"Wait," Giving his appearance a quick fix and check, he turned away from the mirror and opened the
door. The head maid was already standing in a safe distance so he can pass. Tyler smiled at her. "Let's
go."
She nodded then took the initiative to walk before him, acting like she was guiding him towards the
dining room when it's not even necessary. Tyler quietly followed after her.
Seeing her small and frail back, he remembered about the little being he brought home last night.
"Where is he?" Tyler asked.
After they went home last night, nothing really happened. Tyler was a little bit nervous since he never
dealt with children before. And he has to be especially careful since he's Althea's son. That woman can
spit poison. Even if he took care of him, as long as something happened to Kia, he'll recieve her wrath.
He knows how she loves him. He also know how intense mother's love is.
He can even still remember how her mother almost knocked a 7 year old kid when he was an
elementary student. He was rather shy and meek that time, so he got bullied a lot. It continued until he
went home with bruises. Victoria literally dragged him back to school and searched who was the
bastard who hurt her only son.
Tyler remembered how scared he was that time. When his mother angrily demanded him to spit out
which kid bullied him, he was trembling when he pointed one of the kids out. He and that kid cowered
before his mother. When she got into it, no one can seem to stop her from spitting flames. Tyler's sure
that even his father was reluctant about stopping her in fear of her getting angry at him instead.
His father is a traitor.
'Ah.' Tyler thought, when they passed through a window, he briefly took a glance outside. 'Right,
mother was with father yesterday...'
Why did they even divorced in the first place? He can't even remember fight that they. When they
announced their divorce to him, both looked happy and even happily discussed about who will take
care of him in specific dates.
His family is really weird.
"The little boy is already awake sir," yhe head maid replied. "The clothes arrived this morning, we
already bathed him. He's currently waiting at the table."
"He's awake?" Tyler said in shock. "But it's not even past eight!"
"The maids were shock themselves." The woman smiled. "He did not even required waking up. He was
already awake before the maids knocked on his doors."
"An early bird then," a smile surfaced on his face when a certain memory of the distant past entered his
mind.
It was when Althea always strokes his hair every morning, and when he wokes up, she'll greet her with
her big and warm smile.
"He's just like his mom."
The woman jolted after the mention of the kid's mother. Sneaking a peek to Tyler, her curiosity grew
even more after seeing his smile.
Who is that woman?!
They arrived at the dining room not long after. The maids, seeing how their employer is smiling, almost
tripped on their feet.
The smile is small and obscure, if only they're not used to his stoic and plain cold face, they could have
not noticed it! What made or who made their boss smile like this early in the morning?!
As what the head maid said, Kai was already at the dining table. Because of his small stature, his feet
are dangling. His small hands were on the table next to the utensils. Since he's small, the table, plates,
glasses, and even the spoon and fork are massive in Tyler's eyes.
Althea's kid looks like a dwarf in front of his tableware.
"Good morning." Kai greeted him.
Tyler's smile turned into frown after thinking about the possibility of Kai being hurt, but seeing the kid
not bothered by it even by a bit, he wiped the frown and greeted him smile. "Good morning. How was
your sleep?"
"Fine." Kai briefly answered while watching Tyler take a seat across him.
The maids begun assisting Kai after Tyler gestured them to. He noticed that he wasn't eating until he
came. Putting on his egg and ham on his plate, Tyler spoke to Kai with the tone that none of them
heard before.
It seems like the sir cares about the child.
"I have a meeting this morning and then a lunch meeting." He shoved a bacon into his mouth. "I can't
accompany you this morning."
"It's fine." Kai answered while carefully slicing the egg in half. "I'll just stay here. Or you can just drop
me to the hospital. Melanie will take care of me."
"Hmm..." Tyler chew on his food while thinking. "How about I'll bring you with me in the office?"
"Huh?" Kai paused. Bring him in the office? Won't he be a nuisance in him? Even his own father won't
bring him to his office. Kai looked at him hesitantly. "I, I'm fine here."
"No." Tyler shook his head. He can't believe he just thought of this now. "I'll bring you to the office, then
we'll both go to the hospital after my meetings."
Kai stayed silent, he stared at him while thinking what to respond. Will he really bring him? He never
went into an office before.
He saw no hesitation in Tyler's eyes, so Kai was convinced he's serious. Kai nodded. "Okay. I'll make
sure to not get in your way."
Tyler chuckled despite the question circling in his head.
Who told him he was a hindrance? Kai is calmer and well behaved than his peers.
"Okay." Tyler masked his questions. "Now let's eat. Eat plenty, it's gonna be a long day."
--
Their breakfast didn't last long. After that, they drove to his company. The drive wasn't long either.
When they arrived at the parking lot, someone stopped Tyler.
"Tyler," it was April. "We need to talk..."
She stopped when she saw him holding a small hand. With wide eyes, she trailed it and saw a young
boy with an eye which is oddly familiar with her.
"Oh," she wiped her serious face away and smiled at the kid. "Who's this?"
"My name is Kai." The little kid took the initiative to introduce himself.
"What a smart kid!" April was amused. "Well hello Kai, I'm April. How old are you?"
"I'm five."
"Ahh," she nodded.
"April," Tyler called out. "What is it that you want to talk about?"
April's face turned serious. "It's about them."
Tyler also turned serious. He was silent before kneeling fown in front of Kai. He handed him his ID.
"Here, enter the company and give this to the lady in the front desk. Tell her to bring you in my office."
"Okay." He nodded then took the ID. He waved goodbye and walked towards the entrance.
Tyler watched his small figure it until it disappeared from his sight. He turned to talk to April.
"What is it?"
"We found them already, but they're dead."
"What?" Tyler furrowed his brows.
"We recieved an anonymous tip yesterday, it gave us a location in a certain forest. The tip also said to
bring a firetruck, just in case. The police were reluctant at first, but when they got there, the forest were
on fire." April explained. "It was fortunate enough that they moved fast and the fire was put out."
"... How sure are you that it's them?"
"About that, the one who shot Althea was outside the forest... He's also dead. With gunshot."
"Gunshot?"
"Yes."
"Someone killed them?" He was confused. "Why?"
"That, we don't know too, unfortunately." April sounds guilty. "Although we are looking deep in it."
"Okay." Tyler nodded. "Thank you for the information."
"Hmm..."
Then they stood there in silence. Tyler raised a brow and asked, "What? Is something wrong?"
He thought she'll go after telling him what she knows. But she was hesitating to go away and kept on
looking on his back.
"Uh," she started. "Who is he?"
Oh. "He's Althea's son."
"What?!" April shouted in shock. "You met her again 5 years ago and impregnate her?!"
Tyler frowned. "What? No."
"So he's not yours..." She laughed hesitantly. "So... So she's married...?"
"No."
"Then... Who's the father?"
"Who knows."
"..." April faced palm before sighing. "Whatever. Then I'll go now. I'll visit Althea at the hospital."
"Okay." Then both of them waved goodbye to each other.
Tyler walked inside the company but stopped at the entrance when he saw a small commotion. He
frowned and tapped a woman in front of him.
"S-sir!"
"What's wrong?"
"Sir! There's a kid there holding your ID! He's saying you know him!"
"What?" They didn't let him up?
Sliding through the sea of crowd, he ended up in front. He can see Kai looking up at the lady in front
with her face contorted.
"Look, kid. I don't know where the hell you got that ID, but there's no way I'm letting you in." She spat.
"Who knows what kind of virus you carries. You'll infect our boss!"
"...?" Kai was confused. "I'm not carrying anything harmful. Mr. Tyler told me to make you assist me up.
He said you'll bring me in his office if I show you this."
"Yeah, right." The lady nonchalantly said. "Lies, lies. Why would he give it to you when he can just
accompany you?"
"He's talking with someone-"
"Stop lying, gosh!" The lady went impatient. "I hate kids like you the most!"
"Excuse me."
A voice that familiar to everyone made them silent. Many eyes fell to Tyler's figure. Their boss was
walking towards rhe boy that is topic of their murmurs.
"Sir!" The lady was startled. Then she begun blabbering away. "Someone is claiming that you gave
them-"
"Kai," Tyler called the kid. "Why are you up yet?"
"Mr. Tyler." Kai replied meekly. "I'm sorry. I even promised you that I won't get in your way..."
Seeing his small figure, Tyler glared at the lady. The lady flinched and looked away while slowly getting
pale.
Tyler sighed and crouched to pick Kai up. He held the boy in his arm and talked to the lady. "You,
prepare a snack for the kid. Bring it to the office."
In silence, everyone there watched their boss enter the elevator with an unknown kid in his
arms.
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