Kiel was showering, his eyes closed, water streamed down his face, still digesting his newfound information into his head. He thought."That nightmare... it was actually real.. my family... my parents... my brother... all of them real. I thought everything would be normal coming here to the philiippines... I guess this must be fate..."
he looked down as he opened his eyes, looking at the necklace he was caressing, he muttered
"All of ths... just for this necklace... what"s are your secrets" He had a lot of question left still unanswered, specificaly his jade necklace.
He didn"t think anymore and finished his shower.
*knock*knock*
He heard a knock from his door just as he finished changing to his new clothes, he opened it and what greeted was the sight of Izakel holding a couple of gla.s.s and a bottle of whiskey.
he asked in a surprised voice. "You"re here?"
"Can I come in? care for a drink?" Izakel asked in a smile.
"Ah! ye-yes come in." Said Kiel, gesturing Izakel to come in
"here have a seat." Kiel said as they both sat at the opposite side of the a round woden table.
Izakel placed the bottle and cups on table before he said. "I thought you might want something to drink." He also wanted to know more about his brother who he just met in person, and have a brother to brother talk.
"Sure I would like that." Kiel said smiling as he nodded,
Izakel poured both gla.s.s some whiskey and the two started savoring the unique fine taste of whiskey.
he asked, breaking the awkwardness "You okay?"
Kiel was mute at first, he had a lot of things in his minds for the last hours, knowing about the truth, it was a lot take in. "Yeah, a little bit, though there"s still some unsanswered questions, but I"m alright"
"yeah, I know its a lot take in, it"s surprising your fast digest it, it took me a lot of time to digest them when teacher first spilled it out to me, I never thought back then that I actually had a brother. hahaha" Izakel said while laughing.
Kiel chuckled before saying. "Yeah, I"ve always been like that, Even I too was surprised knowing that i have a brother" he drank the and finished his gla.s.s before continuing "Everything came so fast, it felt surreal, I only thought that my wife and daughter are the only family I had."
"come on, pour yourself some more" he gestured to Kiel, he continued "It would really be nice to meet them"
Kiel laughed and said. "Yeah, I"m sure you would like them, especially my daughter, even though she acts like a stinking spoiled brat , she"s actually well behaved when you get to know her"
"You really love them much don"t you." Izakel said smiling.
Kiel nodded, he smiled and said "Of course! all my life they were the only thing that made my world bright, I don"t what I"ll do if I lose them" he asked back "How about you? do I have a niece or nephew?"
Izakel nodded and smiled, he fished out his wallet and took out a photo of a woman holding the hands of a small girl, he said "Just like you I also have a daughter, her name is Emily and this is my wife, Jenny. This was the last picture she gave to me"
Kiel with his eyebrows arched up, he asked "what? did something happend to them?"
"Nothin bad happend, they left, she knows all of it, and felt afraid that because of me, something bad might happend that would endanger Emily" He said in soft sad tone, sighing. There was nothing he could do, he too thought of the possibility, not stopping them from leaving.
"I see, It"s understandable, after all its for the safety of your daughter, any mother would make that kind of desicion" Kiel said as he comforted his brother.
"I know, I love them both very much which is why I let them go, seeing them leaving hurted a lot, but I also just can"t let my parent"s death in vain, even though I never met them, I knew they really loved me from the bottom of their hearts." Izakel said as gulped the all the whiskey in his gla.s.s, letting the alcohol wash over his pain.
"Yeah, its hard even for me. knowing that my parents died unjustly, I just couldn"t stand away and do nothing about it, I reasoned to myself that maybe... they too where ever they are would like if we just lived our life in a normal manner, sigh... it doesn"t feel right, like an empty sh.e.l.l" Kiel said in a low voice, he too felt the same. He had a family take care of, but he also wanted justice for his parents who were brutally mudered. Every moment he thought about it, he would recall those memories, seeing his parents being engulfed by the fire, it made it harder for him to breath.
Silence ensued between the two, minding their own drinks, until Izakel asked "You"re afraid?"
Kiel stared at his brother for quite some time, he saw in his eyes, faint shades of helplessness, he realized that his brother too was afraid. He nodded "Yes, I"m afraid, afriad that because of this, I might never see them again, never see their smile, never feel their love again, their loving kisses, their warm hugs, I"m deeply afraid."
"I feel you, it"s frightening knowing that you would never feel the warmth of your loved ones." Izakel said, his voice a little shaky, for him who never seen much his daughter. He regretted a lot of things, he thought to himself why he had to do this, he wanted to stop, but he couldn"t bring himself to do it.
Izakel looked deeply at his brother and said "You know you could just leave it to us and go back to them, even though you never said it, but I knew you wanted to come"
Kiel was mute for a moment before replying in a firm voice "I know, but I don"t want to. We"ve just met, but I"m your older brother, I couldn"t bring myself to be selfish and let you do it alone."
Izakel was touched in his heart, he wasn"t expecting much, but what Kiel said meant a lot of things, hearing it made him less afraid and a lot more hopeful. He asked lsughing. "your wife might get worried you know."
Kiel laughed and said "I know, the moment she knew... I"m more scared about consenquences of making her angry than the Stanfords." he already knew what would happen the moment she finds out, he was sure that he wouldn"t be sleeping in the couch but outside of the house.
Izakel too laughed from Kiel"s joke "Nothing more scary than seeing your wife"s angry face staring at you, thinking of countless ways to end you."
"yeah I never got used to it, after years and years of being together, I still get scared whenever she starts getting angry, I maybe the head of the family, but I knew that she would still have the last laugh when we fight." Kiel also laughed as he said.
Izakel raised his finger and wagging it "that"s where you"re wrong brother, never have a fight with your wife, no matter it is fate that they are always right! hahaha!"
"Hahaha! women, quite an unique creature" Kiel sighed.
"But it"s because of that, that made them special" Izakel added.
"Yeah, but jokes aside, even though that maybe the case, but I know deep down they know their own mistakes, and would make it up to you the next day, that"s how she acts whenever we fight." Kiel said in a smile. Women were always something that made many men"s head hurt like crazy, being prideful won"t help between a fight, it will only make things worse, fights are normal, it make"s couple understand more about the difficulties of one another, Communication is the key for a lasting marriage, this is what Kiel learned over the years of being married.
"Being prideful isn"t good, a good communication is the right thing for any relationship, this is what most couples lack" Izakel nodded his head in agreement.
Seeing that the atmosphere was bright, Kiel shifted the topic and asked "So what have you guys planned?"
Izakel"s face immedietly became serious, he said "We"ll proceed as planned, we"ve received an intel from the chief. The Stanfords are planning an expidition, we"ll strike tomorrow before they could finish making preparations."
Kiel said in an astonished voice "Tomorrow? Isn"t that a bit fast? How will we get past their defenses? You know how technologicaly advance they are,"
Izakel grinned at his brother and a.s.sured him, saying "I admit, with their technologies it hard to say. But let me tell you, were the same."
Kiel asked with his curiosity piqeud. "The same? What do you mean? Is there a major power backing you?"
Izakel smiled and said "Of course, The Reago Technological Works, We own them from the shadows"
Impressed, Kiel laughed and said "Reago… agore… word plays huh? Quite surprised they didn"t notice, such an easy word play." The corp Izakel mention was the least known leading corp know known to the world, But Kiel heard from others that despite it, they weren"t some group to ignore and belittle. Little did he knew that it was actually owned by people he had blood ties.
"No… I"m sure they noticed long ago, but sad for them, We never left our traces. We made sure to conceal our presence by using codes that we only knew." Izakel grinned.
The two laughed as they talked through the long night. This drinking sessions made the two long lost brothers get closed with each other.