Kyle took another towel and started to wipe his chest and then his hair. Kay completely ignored what he was doing as she shouted happily, “Kyle!! KYLE!!”

She made one twirl in the bathroom, the skirt billowing along with her movements and flowing down naturally when she stopped. She then smiled widely at him, asking, uniform, “How do I look??”

“Very beautiful,” he answered honestly as he hung the towel he was holding around his neck.

Kyle looked at his sister and pursed his lips. With her dark hair in twin ponytails, her red lips parting in a dazzling smile and her fair skin glowing, she looked like she was wearing a party dress rather than a boring school uniform.

Sure, one could hardly say that the Retsu Primary School uniform was boring. In fact, it had one of the better styles in the country even though it was a simple design. All private schools appeared to be competing about it or something, Kyle thought wryly.

The school uniform that Kay was wearing was a white collared blouse with intricate lace designs on the collar and sleeves, matched with a dark navy blue skirt that flared a little around the knee. There was also a small blue ribbon tied around the collar, held together with a silver emblem which was embossed with the school logo. A name tag was pinned on the left side of the blouse, just above the heart. It was white name tag, with silver borders and her name, “Kayla” embossed on it in silver.

Kay smiled happily and handed him his school uniform, which was on a hanger. The male version was a simple white collared shirt, dark navy blue pants and a navy blue tie with the school emblem sewn in silver right at the bottom of the tie.

Kyle took the uniform, thanked her with a kiss on the cheek then shooed her out. She turned around and skipped out, and Kyle locked the door this time. He reached over to the drawer under the sink and pulled out his underwear. At least he didn’t need to go out again just to get it.

Kyle looked at himself in the mirror, and sighed. Seven years old. Luckily he occupied his time with so many things. Otherwise, he would have been bored to death or feel like killing himself having to act like a toddler. Even now, the thought of entering school with screaming kids and going through the syllabus made him shudder.

He took a deep breath and began putting on his school uniform. At least, Kay was excited about it, so he would latch onto that. Initially, he thought he would form some ties during primary school days but he quickly brushed that thought aside.

People tend to change, somehow, after puberty and he wasn’t going to risk forming a bond only to have it crash and burn for some stupid reason. It wasn’t to say that one couldn’t form a close bond, but that the risk of failure was quite high. So, taking that into consideration, the Allies Plan would only begin once they started secondary school. For now, it was focused on strengthening their foundation. Skills and money.

He took one last look at himself in the bathroom mirror after he dressed. Running a hand through his hair, the pinned his own name tag on before walking out of the bathroom. Kay gasped at the sight.

Kyle may be her brother, but she wasn’t blind to the dashing figure he cut out for himself, even at 7 years old. His hair was cut short from the back and sides, but he had slightly more hair on the top. He parted his hair on the left and had a slight wavy fringe that covered a part of his forehead just above the right eyebrow. His eyebrows were shaped well and dark, while his strikingly blue eyes were clear and sharp.

He had skin that any girl would be jealous off and a dimple that would be seen on his left side whenever he smiled. That added to his charm even more, and Kay was glad that he didn’t smile often. Otherwise, he’s going to cause lots of heartbreak or something.

Kay giggled to herself and Kyle raised an eyebrow at that, “What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said as she took his hand, “Let’s go have breakfast”.

“Ok”, he said, walking with her as they headed off to the door.

Just as they reached it, the door opened to reveal their AuPair, Ms. Sophie. Upon seeing them, she put her hands at her mouth and exclaimed with tears in her eyes, “My oh my,” she exclaimed with tears in her eyes, “Ma petite are all grown up now.”

Kyle rolled his eyes while Kay did a curtsy. Ms. Sophie was a young 20-year-old French lady, an AuPair that their parents had hired last year to replace their nannies. Now that they were all ‘grown-up’, so to speak, Delilah felt that they needed a companion to teach and guide them, rather than one who mothered them.

Their parents had decided on Ms. Sophie after going through several intensive interviews and felt that Ms. Sophie was the best fit. “Your parents are already downstairs,” Sophie said, “Come, let’s go and join them for breakfast.”

Kyle and Kay followed, hand-in-hand, to the Dining Room. Sophie opened the large doors to the Dining room, and they followed her inside. There were clinking and clanking noises of cutlery, an indication that their parents had just started to be served breakfast when they walked in.

Upon them entering though, everything became silent suddenly. You could hear a pin drop at that moment. Then suddenly, there were gasps and shouts of wonder and excitement.

“Oh! Oh! Daddy! Just look at them!!” sniffed Delilah, dapping the edge of her eyes with the napkin then waved her hands at them. She then placed her hands on her chest, smiling widely. Patrick merely smiled at his kids, giving them a curt nod.

Kyle just gave another eye roll at his mother’s melodramatic exclamation. They went to their designated seats to the left of their father while Sophie sat across them. As an au-pair, Sophie’s position was higher than the staff in the house. She was considered part of the family, albeit distantly. Thus, she would join them for meals and any holidays that they went for (full paid, of course).

There were two maids stationed at the head of the table, who then promptly came over to place scrambled eggs, buttered toast sliced like triangles and sausages. Kay promptly gave Kyle her sausages, even though she could have just refused them when it was plated. She didn’t like sausages. She just liked giving him her food and watch him eat it. Everyone indulged her little quirk. That was why they were only given one sausage, rather than the customary two.

After finishing their breakfast, Kyle and Kay went to pay their respect to their father before heading out. Delilah quickly ushered them to the car and accompanied them for their first day in school. Sophie sat in the front with the driver while their mother sat at the back with them.

Kay was in the middle, busily chatting away to her mother in excitement as she gushed about what they would do and the people they would meet. Kyle was quiet, looking outside as he pondered on this new phase of life that they were going through.

Thoughts of his own primary school years were still fresh in his mind, along with the memories of his previous life when he sent his own two children for their first day in school. His heart clenched a bit at the memory and his eyes misted over for a while before he calmed himself down.

This was the year that the first one would be born. In May, to be exact. At this moment, ‘she’ was already in her second trimester and just getting over her morning sickness. Although ‘she’ would only die many years later, to Kyle, those things were already in the past.

He couldn’t help but think of the two children that he had left behind. The future that his soon-to-be-born children will experience. If he could do it, he would have formed some sort of friendship or connection before that event. Then, he could be the one to help them through their grief.

It wasn’t possible now. They were not only too young (not to mention ‘her’ kids aren’t born yet), they were in different continents. How could they meet?

Kyle remembered the frustrations he felt when trying to come up with a plausible plan to form a friendship with the kids of his previous life. If it was up to him, it would be upon their birth but logically and realistically, that was impossible.

This waiting and the sense of helplessness was something he hated. It made him remember the time of his first death and that intense feeling of despair that overwhelmed him when he couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t fight back. Couldn’t win.

Kyle turned his head away and bit his lips as he felt tears threatening to form. He was both angry, and sad at the same time and he couldn’t control hiding what he was feeling now. This won’t do. He can’t let Mother see him like this.

He had to calm down.