The only thing she cared about was that her son would grow up and use his gift to do something that would make him happy, not caring about the opinion of others. This was just one of the reasons why Kyle had loved his mother wholeheartedly.

Because of all the praise he had got, he had strived to stay being the best at everything, to live up to the expectations that everyone had put on for him from the beginning. As such, knowing that his mother, the one person that Kyle cared about the most, was already pleased with him, had done a lot to alleviate that underlying pressure.

At one point, around the time he had met Marie, Kyle had started following his mother’s advice and concentrated more on finding a balance in his life, playing games and doing sports now and then. Nevertheless, thanks to his sharp mind, he had managed to stay top of the class, though whenever teachers would volunteer him to participate in special programs, he would decline, treasuring his free time more.

In a manner of speaking, despite having been born as the son of a gang leader, young Kyle had lived the life of a goody-two-shoes so far. As such, he had never imagined that he would ever take the initiative to skip school and do something that was extremely dangerous, if not suicidal.

‘Marie and Aunt Kiki are happy staying with us, yet you’re the one who’s ruining it all!’ Kyle thought as he walked straight past his school and continued forward.

As he continued to walk, Marie watched him with a worried look, wondering what to do, in the end, she still had to go to school.

‘We won’t do anything, right? …I mean what can he do?’ Marie wondered as part of her hoped that Kyle would back out of doing whatever he planned to do at the last second.

Of course, Kyle was heading to his half-brother’s address. With it being the middle of the day, he was pretty sure that Simon wouldn’t be home, but even if he was he had a plan for that as well. Either way, whatever the case he needed to avoid running into him.

The address wasn’t too far from the school, in the first place Slough was only a Tier-3 town. It was far smaller than a city. In about 2 hours, one could walk the entire length and see most of the main part of the town, so it only took Kyle 30 minutes to get there. He stopped in front of an apartment block, it wasn’t the worst of areas nor was it the best.

Damion could have easily paid for Simon and the Degraces to live in the best area, yet he didn’t. Since Simon was supposed to take over the gang one day, his father wanted to train him from the bottom up. To do that, he should live the same life as his old man had, with no extra privileges, so that he could earn the position as leader of the Underdogs.

Of course, Kyle had experienced a completely different life with his mother. They had luxury apartments, an unlimited spending budget and other benefits. Eleanor hadn’t asked much of her husband, yet there had been one thing she had been adamant about. Kyle was not to get involved in the gang business and since Damion already had a successor he had agreed to that.

As Kyle thought about it, he realised that this could be another reason his brother seemed to dislike him so much, because the two of them were completely different. Of course, that in no way excused his behaviour towards his family. Even his father didn’t lay hands on his mother, and he was the leader of the gang,

‘Marie said that he leaves for work every day at 10 AM and then doesn’t get back till late. Usually around 10 PM and more often than not drunk as well. That’s when she hears her mother and him arguing.’ Kyle recalled.

Looking at his phone, he could see it was fifteen minutes until 10 AM. It made sense, since gang members had their usual daily runs they needed to do, unless it was a special day. Either way, Kyle was going to wait patiently.

Not long after, the door opened up and looking at his phone, Kyle saw that his half-brother was leaving right on the dot. Hiding around one of the hallway corners, he was down the further end of the staircase. He was certain that Simon would use the upper exit, since he had noted that his car was parked at that side.

He waited a few minutes to make sure his half-brother didn’t return to pick up anything he might have forgotten, before he dialled a number on his mobile phone. It was the apartment’s home phone. He didn’t expect anyone to pick up the phone, it was just to check whether someone else might have been inside, but after a few rings no one picked up.

Quickly heading to the door, Kyle pressed his hand against the handle. It was one of the newer types of handles that worked via a fingerprint that could be inputted or a PIN like on one’s phone. Of course, Marie had already given him this information, so after putting the sequence of numbers in he went inside.

The door closed behind him, and for the first time he saw the apartment where Marie and her mother would occasionally live with his piece of ** half-brother.

The first thing Kyle did was head to the kitchen and look for a spoon in the drawer, which he then placed on the door handle. This way he would get an early warning if anyone were to come home. Of course, the spoon would be a giveaway that someone was inside, but it was better than him getting caught red-handed, and with a bit of luck his half-brother would choose to ignore it.

———

“That apartment.” Kai spoke weakly, sitting down on the hard ground, with Gary not too far away. “If only I had listened to my mother and not stuck my nose where it didn’t belong, perhaps I could have continued to live a normal life.”

******

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