18 Wide Awake!

The day that Isabel died, both Kelvin and Phoenix had seen Susan push her right after the woman had failed to push Kelvin into the path of the oncoming car while pretending to trip. If Isabel had been a step slower when she rushed out to pull him back, Kelvin would have been the one broken in the middle of the street.

Seeing the incident happen with their own eyes, the two children had spared no effort to try and show their father what kind of person his wife was, but all their efforts only had the opposite effect once Susan shed some tears and spoke 'good words' about them only being troubled and that she wouldn't blame them for being angry with her for causing their mother's death.

The woman's white lotus act only caused their dimwitted father to trust her more and become even more dissatisfied with the two of them.

By then, Kelvin had already learned to read certain situations and knew that no amount of talking or proof would change Brycen's mind, so he completely gave on trying to help his father seek treatment, but Phoenix was not the same.

She was angry and full of hate towards Susan, but more than anything else, she had been deeply disappointed in Brycen. The woman was obviously evil and had bad intentions, so why couldn't her father see it?

The woman threatened them both on many occasions, she didn't bother trying to hide her hostility towards them, yet whenever she was in front of Brycen, she turned into a pitiful lamb being bullied by white eyed wolves.

Phoenix couldn't stand it and if it hadn't been for Kelvin holding her back on many occasions, she would have long shoved the infuriating tramp down the winding staircase and because of that, her disappointment in Brycen only grew and grew and before Kelvin knew it, he couldn't even remember the last time he had seen his sister smile although that sickening giggle had always been at the tip of her lungs before.

Although the man never really cared for them from the time they were born and was pretty much only a face they saw in the wedding photo Isabel kept on the night stand or saw on the TV when Kim pointed him out or a name on a birthday present, Phoenix had wholly accepted Brycen as her father and in her heart, she loved him like any other little girl loved their daddy, but Brycen broke her heart. She hated him and she didn't hesitate to show it which only caused Brycen's dissatisfaction towards her to grow.

A year after Isabel's death when the two started high school, while Kelvin joined the elite, prestigious Roland High School in D City which was only a two hour flight away, Phoenix was sent overseas to a Small Ivy League boarding school and she never stepped foot in A Country again.

The same year that the two started high school, the Jaeger family welcomed a new member, the youngest son, Kyle Jaeger who was born with curly blonde hair claimed to be inherited from his mother's side of the family and his father's blue eyes. Sadly, he also inherited his mother's deceptive ways and was a festering thorn in Kelvin's side-- though he could never be dealt with.

Susan made sure that just like herself, her son had an outstanding yet pitiful public image and was greatly supported by the masses. Kelvin couldn't touch him and Brycen was still as clueless as he had always been and without Phoenix around to help him weather through like before, the days when he returned to the house during breaks turned into endless torture for Kelvin. He worshiped the day he left for college overseas.

Kelvin attended J University, and it wasn't because their business faculty was ranked in the top five best business schools worldwide, but only because it was situated in M Country where his sister was living.

By then Kelvin hadn't seen Phoenix for almost four whole years and just as he had grown into a young man, she had become a young woman and resembled their mother so much that it had brought Kelvin to tears when they met up that first day at a café near the university.

Phoenix didn't attend J University, but K University which was in the same precinct; she was studying to be a lawyer.

Those five years of university were the most peaceful days Kelvin ever had since the name 'Susan Walker' first rang in his ears and they were over all too soon with him on a plane back to A Country, leaving Phoenix behind to face that woman and her son and whatever hell they hoped to put him through, but Kelvin wasn't afraid of them.

Sure enough, once Brycen gave him his first post as a team leader at the company, determined for his son to make his own achievements and not ride on his coat tails, Susan started her interference but Kelvin dealt with everything smoothly and caused the woman some grievances in return that she couldn't possibly complain to Brycen about. But she was determined to cause trouble, which in the end only caused her to expose flaws, flaws that Kelvin didn't hesitate to exploit and he eventually came to know her biggest secret.

When he shared the news with Phoenix later the very same day via video chat, he vividly remembered the smile that had bloomed on her face as she laughed herself to tears.

"It's what he deserves! Kelly, you have to let me help; you can't possibly not let me help. I can't wait to see what his reaction will be when he realizes that he hadn't even recognized a cuckoo in his own nest. The far sighted Brycen Jaeger, hahaha~"

Kyle was not Brycen's son. The child he loved and doted on the most, kept well in the palm of his hand and gave all the best things to didn't share even a thread of blood relation with him.

"You're not thinking of telling him are you?"

He watched Phoenix's skeptical expression across the monitor with her brow raised and Kelvin had raised his own in return.

"Do I look like an idiot? Why should I help that bastard after everything his stupidity has caused us to suffer? Since he's blind let him grope in the dark; but when he finally has eyes to see, I'll make sure all that's left for him to behold is ruins."

And that was exactly what he did.

He wasn't hasty, and for years, Kelvin bided his time, working his way up Jaeger Corps' executive ladder and hallowing it out as he went until he sat in the chair of Managing Director.

The people next to Brycen were all just as short sighted as he was, so the job was fairly easy, plus, with the additional aid of his brother-in-law that Phoenix picked up from who-knows-where who had both feet sunk deep in the underworld, the job was a breeze.

That night, he was attending the opening banquet of the newest mountain spring resort opened by the Vincent Cooperation's hotel chain when he began to feel weak after drinking a glass of champagne. He had laughed because he knew then that Susan had finally lost patience in dealing with him.

He didn't struggle when two young starlets escorted him from the banquet hall or when he was tossed into the trunk of his own car- it was more like, he couldn't struggle. He had been drugged and had no control over his own body.

He remembered when they had been setting the stage for his 'accident', the eighteen year old Kyle had walked over to him who at that time was sitting immobile in the car's driver's seat and whispered to him.

"I won. Even though you fought so hard to protect and hold on to it, in the end, no one can escape their fate and your fate, is to be nothing more than a stepping stone for me. But in some respects, I believe I should thank you. If you hadn't worked so hard to make Jaeger Corp what it is today, I wouldn't have such a wonderful future to look forward to. So, thank you for paving my smooth road ahead, 'big brother'."

At that time, Kelvin had wanted to smile a smile so bright, but his facial muscles didn't even twitch. The boy had no idea how right he was.

No one can escape fate and without him, Jaeger Corp certainly wouldn't have turned out the way it did; Kyle's future would certainly be wonderful to behold-- from a living room sofa with a bucket of popcorn, especially when Phoenix finally released all the hidden scandals they had picked up over the years pertaining to Susan and Kyle's real father. It really was a smooth road ahead for him... to hell that is; smooth and slippery with no chance to turn back.

At the time of his death, it would be a lie to say that Kelvin had no regrets, he had many of them, the greatest at that time being that he would never be able to see his niece who was pretty much a carbon copy of her grandmother, golden eyes and all, grow up or ever be able to see his unborn nephew. But he had been delighted at the fact that those people who caused them to suffer so much would never have another peaceful day in their lives.

Just as he was preparing to open his eyes in hell for all the misdeeds he committed to be able to exact his revenge, he felt that his head was hurting. It hurt so much and coupled with the many complicated emotions filling his chest, Kelvin started to cry. But, shortly after his first screech of pain, he felt himself being lifted up and nestled in a warm embrace.

"K- Kelvin! Oh my gosh, your bleeding! Kim-Kim we need a medic...!"

He saw an angel.

It was the middle of winter, their location was the old Moon Kingdom theme park he and Phoenix loved to visit when they were kids and with her hair braided in two plaits that fell on her both shoulders, his mother looked much younger than he remembered the last time he saw her.

She was wearing a white down jacket with a pink wool sweater underneath, a pink pair of gloves and two pink crystal hair clips on either side of her head. Her bright golden eyes were full of tears as she held him and panicked while Kim pushed her from behind toward the park infirmary with one hand, using the other to support Phoenix whom she was piggy backing.

It wasn't difficult for Kelvin to recall this day, it was a day he remembered vividly.

It was one of Isabel's days off and as usual, he and Phoenix wanted to visit the Moon Kingdom, so she brought them together with Kim.

They had been playing in the snow the park management allowed to build up around the fountain area when he hadn't been careful and tripped, hitting his head on the side of the fountain.

Although he had been the one to get hurt, Isabel had cried a lot more than he did, as though she was the one in pain. She had cried so much that he didn't dare to cry anymore and instead started comforting her, telling her that he was okay and begging her to stop, almost on the verge of tears for a second time.

When she finally stopped he had asked, "Why were you crying mommy? Were you in pain too?"

Isabel had nodded and knocked her chest with her folded fist. "It hurt a lot here. Kelly is mommy's baby and babies are tied to their mothers' hearts; whenever you get hurt, I feel it a lot, right here."

When the exact same scene played out for a second time before him and Kelvin found himself buried in that warm embrace in the cold of winter with his sister's tantrum about also wanting to be hugged in the background, he hadn't hesitated to believe that everything he knew about the future was a lie, indulging in the sweet bliss of his childhood.

However, thinking that none of those terrible things had ever happened and would not happen again was just him dreaming and all dreams eventually came to an end.

Kelvin opened his eyes and sat up when he heard the room door open and Isabel came in with several doctors and nurses in tow. The doctor in the lead approached him with an amiable smile.

"Well, I see someone's finally awake."

A small smile tugged at the corner of Kelvin's mouth and he glanced at Isabel standing in the corner before the smile deepened, even his eyes were smiling, but there was danger hidden in that smile.

"Yes, I'm definitely wide awake now."