Kyle, Sam and Xing Han turned towards the voice whilst the rest looked up."Oh, hey Aminah," greeted Kyle, after swallowing what was in his mouth, "Join us?"
"Hi Kyle," Aminah replied with a smile, "No thanks. I"m here with my friends and we"re just about to go back."
Kyle leaned a bit to the side, and saw about 4 girls behind Aminah, whispering and giggling at each other. Kyle gave a big smile to them, waving his dirty hand and turned back to his food.
"Hold on," Ali said, getting up. He headed to the sink and washed his hand before joining Aminah. They walked over a bit further away, and started talking.
"Who"s Aminah?" asked Sarah curiously.
"Ali"s fiancee," answered Xing Han, "Or at least, one of the possible candidates."
"FIANCEE?!! But but but ... Ali"s only 13!" gasped Sarah.
"So? I have one, too," replied Xing Han nonchantly, "It"s quite common with us actually. Even Kyle has one, or is about to. And Aminah isn"t his fiancee ... yet. She"s ..what? Candidate #5?"
"8," corrected Kyle, "5 is Jasmine."
Sarah"s head was spinning. She also looked wide eyed at Xing Han, "Wait. Hold up. Ali has several candidates as possible fiancee, and you have a fiancee ... why is this normal again?"
"It"s normal for them," said Sam, "First, we have Ali who is the only heir of the Khair Conglomerates in Country SA. He has 6 sisters, but he"s the only son. Under their law, everything falls onto the son to carry on the family trade. Arranged marriages between powerful families are quite common to strengthen ties. He has 10 candidates to choose from, and they"re supposed to get to know each other first before Ali makes at choice when he turns 16."
Sam then pointed at Xing Han, "This person, on the other hand, has no choice. His fiancee was determined upon birth and he hasn"t even met the person yet."
"I HAVE TOO!" protested Xing Han, "Once. When I was six. She was cute but sn.o.bbish. Then again, she was only five."
Sam then pointed towards Kyle, which made Sarah"s heart wince a bit to realise that he was on the list as well, "Kyle here is probably the luckiest of the lot, depending on how you look at it. Some say Ali is the luckiest as he has 10 to choose from, but I digress. Kyle is to get engaged by 16 as well, to be married at 20 and produce many many babies."
Kyle grunted, ignoring Sam who was giving out their life stories, focusing on his food.
[Sam talks too much sometimes]
He didn"t like being reminded of this, and chose to ignore it for the time being. A bad move, he admitted but he had much more important things to do and achieve. Getting married was at the bottom of the list.
[Well, you"re going to have to face this in 3 years time, you know] Kay chided him. [This is the one thing you haven"t truly planned for yet. You should, before it"s too late.]
Kyle winced, knowing that Kay was right but still chose to ignore it. [Will deal with it when the time comes. What will happen, will happen]
"So who is Kyle"s fiancee?" Sarah asked, her voice hitching a little.
"Ah, that"s the best part," Sam said with a smile, making a dramatic spread of his arms, "No one and everyone."
"Huh?"
"His parents told him to find someone by himself. If he hasn"t found one yet by the time he is 16, then they will choose for him," Sam revealed with a flourish.
Sarah gasped ... and so did several other people from nearby tables. They had been listening intently throughout and was utterly excited upon learning this extremely juicy gossip. Their fingers began typing furiously, as they texted their friends.
"So the pictures were true? Kyle was looking for a wife? And Janice is a possible candidate?"
Kyle almost splurted out the last mouthful of rice that he had in his mouth. He seriously should learn not to be eating when things were being revealed. Having food go up your nose isn"t fun. Give him Master s.h.i.+fu"s training anytime.
"No, Sarah," Kay said in a lowered voice, "Kyle hasn"t found anyone yet, and he wouldn"t be playing around with girl"s feelings at all. Those pictures were fake."
"Then why don"t you clear your name?"
"People will believe what they want to believe," said Kyle, "If they had wanted to know the truth, all they needed to do was ask me directly. Yet, no one did and simply a.s.sumed."
Sarah bit her bottom lip nervously, "Maybe they were scared to ask? Because they weren"t close to you or anything like that ..."
"Like you were?" Kyle said with a smile. Sarah blushed, lowering her head. Kyle found that action to be utterly adorable and he couldn"t help but ruffle her hair with his clean hand.
"You can always ask me anything, Sarah. We"re friends, aren"t we? Friends do not need to be shy with each other."
Ali came back at that time then, and saw that Kyle had finished eating already, "Sorry about that."
"No worries, my dear boy," Kyle retorted, "I haven"t gone for seconds yet."
"How on Earth can you eat like that and still look like THAT?" complained Xing Han.
"Genes, dear boy. Genes," replied Kyle, "That, and lots and lots of exercise. The only exercise you do is when you brush your teeth."
**--**--**--
After they were done, Ali"s driver came around to pick him up. Sam hitched a ride with him while the others walked back to the dorms. Kyle looked up at the night sky, admiring the endless darkness with its twinkling stars. It was a clear night, and everything actually looked peaceful and serene.
"It"s beautiful, isn"t it?" said Sarah breathlessly as she looked up at the sky as well, "Sometimes I lie down on my back and look at the night sky and I wonder about the seemingly infinite galaxy out there."
Kyle tiled this head, looking at Sarah. She didn"t notice him looking, as she was busy smiling serenely at the night sky. Her eyes seem to glisten like the stars itself as she basked in the sight. As such, her foot hit an uneven part of the ground and she stumbled. She was about to fall when she felt strong arms catch her. She blushed deep red when she felt that arm was actually right across her chest.
Kyle, who had been walking beside Sarah, had instinctively reached out his left arm to break her fall. He was successful in preventing her from falling onto the floor, but it also meant that she had fallend straight onto his arm. He mentally cursed himself when he felt two soft buns pressing on his forearm. He should have aimed lower, so that he would have captured her waist, but with his height, he had miscalculated.
Now he couldn"t move because to do so, meant that she would either fall or he would be rubbing himself on her. So he kept still and waited for her to steady herself and lean back. Once she did, he took back his arm and said, "Be careful"
He purposely pretended not to have noticed anything, not wanting to embarra.s.s Sarah further. He could see the tips of her ears being beet red, and he didn"t know what he could say to diffuse the situation either. No one else had seen it, and if he said anything, people would realise something and that would be even worse.
That was the first time he had felt a girl"s b.o.o.bs in this life. Then again, it"s not like he was feeling up girls" b.o.o.bs in his past life either. He shook his head at the nonsensical thoughts that invaded his mind. As they continued their walk, and the others were talking, Kyle was deep in thought.
Sam"s revelation about his fiancee, or his search for one, was actually planned although not in that manner. Aminah turning up was a bonus, and Sam managed to somehow slip out the information neatly. They had known that some group of people had followed them out to Kayu, and so, he needed people to continue fanning the flames into a certain direction. What he did NOT expect Sam to add on was about the many many babies part.
Kay had taken that opportunity to remind him - yet again - of his responsibilities to the Family. His planning and work that was geared towards his past life, could not mean that he ignores his current life. As the sole heir, he had a responsibility to carry on the Family name and business. Kay would not only be taking her husband"s name, she would be the Madam of her husband"s family and business. Thus, it fell onto Kyle - not only to "produce heirs" but also to choose a wife that would be able to stand strongly beside him.
Kyle had a headache thinking of all of this. Love? It wasn"t because he didn"t want to find someone, to love and be loved ... the problem, however, is that he has found himself incapable of loving anyone right now. To be more accurate, he cannot see himself falling in love with anyone. He loves a lot of people: his parents, sister and his blood brothers. But falling in love? He wants to, really, but ... strangely enough, he found that he couldn"t.
In his previous life, although he found love late in life, he had his normal phase of having crushes - be it on cla.s.smates or boybands. In this life, however, nothing. He thought boys that was going through p.u.b.erty would be so hormonally charged and s.e.xually curious that most of their actions would be dictated by their little brother. Stereotype much? He didn"t know better then, and if he was anything to go by as a boy in this life, then his impression of teen boys were drastically wrong.
Or was it just him? He had absolutely no interest. Kyle shook his head, and felt that he still had time. He was only 13. Perhaps, given time, he would figure it out and like he told Kay. What will happen, will happen.
Only time would tell.