Chapter 91 The Choice (1/2)

Mall T is a 9-story building with an oval layout, whereby the stores were all located at the outer ring and the middle was an open space (so its layout is like an oval doughnut). The large empty space normally housed exhibitions which people would be able to view from any floor.

The spa was on the third floor, and the toddler had presumably fallen from the top floor. Within those few seconds of her fall, the toddler's outfit somehow got hooked on a decoration that was on the wall and she was hanging there, literally by the seat of her pants. She was now dangling precariously on the wall that was the foundation pillar of the Mall.

Unfortunately, she was between the sixth and seventh floor. No one could get to her and even if they could, there was no way that they could get a grip without her falling. The baby's mother was wailing and screaming at the top floor while the toddler was crying and moving about as well, understandably scared at the height she was at.

This was not good.

Kyle ran to the railings and watched all of this with his heart in a twist. He knew, without a doubt, that it was only a matter of time before the whatever hold that the wall decoration had on the toddler would break. The toddler would fall and be smashed to the ground, never to rise again. He gritted his teeth as he looked about.

His eyes darted and noticed Mall security going in a panic and making lots of calls on the walkie-talkie. He knew that this was an unprecedented accident and no one really knew what to do. If the toddler had fallen on the decorations in the middle, there was a mechanism that could bring the toddler down.

However, the toddler was stuck on a fixed decoration on the wall. Its location was right in the middle of the pillar of the wall that no one could reach. It was deliberately built that way in order to avoid vandalism. Right now, it served as a painful sight.

Kyle's eyes narrowed as he looked at the panicked toddler and the distraught mother. He

studied the layout of the Mall in a second, taking into account the terrain of the wall and its height, the bumps and ridges on the wall, including all the little points of lights and decorations littered around it.

There was no way that the rescue team would be on time.

The memory that he had tucked away in the dark recess of his mind resurfaced. Of the little boy that had been sexually abused and tortured by the lowlife he had eventually killed. He had been in Zen mode when he callously decided to leave the boy behind, and he felt the full brunt of the regret after getting out of it. The fact that the boy was dying didn't mean the choice he made didn't cause Kyle any pain.

The pain of that choice never left, just was successfully suppressed.

Now, the choice was different. The toddler was not dying. The toddler could be saved ... if Kyle did something. However, if he was to do something, then his skills would be out in the open. He had already sworn an oath that his skills under Master Shifu was to remain in the dark - how was he to explain it? How could he rescue the toddler without breaking the oath?

Was his choice only either to save the life but break an oath or honour the oath but let the child die?

Was that even a choice? Kyle was frustrated and angry. He gripped the railings so tightly that his knuckles were white. How could he save the child without breaking the oath? Could he do so? How?

Kay came then and stood by Kyle silently, observing the scene in front of them and placed her hands on his. He started to calm down and turned to look at Kay, the despair in his eyes. Kay placed her hand on his cheek and said simply, while looking at his tortured eyes calmly, ”Do what you need to do.”

”B-b-b...” Kyle stammered.

[Calm down and think things through. I believe in you, brother. You'll figure out how to save that toddler without revealing anything]

Kyle took a deep breath and nodded. He held Kay's hand and closed his eyes as he calmed his rapidly beating heart. Then, his eyes shot open as he suddenly thought of something. He grabbed the shopping bags that he had placed on the ground and gave it to Kay. Kissing her on the forehead, he ran quickly to Rock5 Gym.

He didn't have much time.

As he rushed in, he saw Cole who was grumbling at the counter while Cathy was still berating him for something. Both of them heard the commotion outside but had chosen not to go out to see what was going on as they were both too engrossed in their own complaints.

”I'll do it on one condition,” Kyle said suddenly as he ran up to them.

”Anything!” Cole said excitedly, after getting out of his shock at the suddeness of it all.

”If anyone asks ANYTHING about me, tell them that I've been training under you in secret. That I am making my debut at the competition. Okay?”

”Er, wha-”

”YES OR NO?!” Kyle demanded, his heart in his throat. He hated wasting time like this, but it was needed.