TopAppnovel Chapter 195: Alarm
Chapter 195: Alarm
After dinner, Veronica and Amanda silently cleaned the table.
Silently, because Kyle had drifted off to sleep while talking to them.
"He must be tired," Veronica said quietly as she carried the dishes to the sink.
"Physically, he has worked much harder than he did today. It’s the mental pressure and sense of responsibility that must be weighing on him," Amanda replied, her gaze lingering lovingly on him.
She didn’t like seeing him burden himself with so much pressure. Still, she was happy to watch him take another step forward in life.
"At least his parents will stop nagging him now," she muttered before realizing she had spoken aloud.
That caught Veronica’s attention.
"His relationship with his parents is still bad?"
Amanda looked at her in surprise before stepping closer.
"What do you mean by ’still’?"
Veronica blinked. "You... don’t know about his past?"
Amanda let out a quiet sigh.
"Actually, I only have a few clues. I know he had a difficult childhood, and that’s why his biggest dream growing up was to move out and live on his own."
She rolled up her sleeves and started washing the dishes. The gentle sound of running water was soft enough not to disturb Kyle’s sleep.
"I asked him about his past once, but Kyle wasn’t comfortable talking about it back then. He felt like he would only be burdening me with unnecessary problems." She paused, glancing toward the sleeping man. "I didn’t push him because of how worked up he became whenever I brought up his family."
Veronica remained silent for a few moments. Lost in thought, she simply stood there, staring at Kyle’s peacefully sleeping figure.
Then, noticing a plate being held out to her, she snapped out of her daze and accepted it.
Using a clean, dry cloth, she carefully wiped the plate before placing it away.
"Well... from what I’ve seen, I know he was abused by his parents."
Amanda paused briefly at those words.
Veronica lowered her gaze to the plate in her hands.
"I still remember that incident... the first time I heard him cry. Someone locked him inside a changing room as a prank, and what followed after that."
Amanda bit her lower lip, her fingers tightening around the cup.
"Whatever happened in the past... it left deep scars on him."
Veronica nodded.
"Even after everything, he never once considered going back home. And when the news spread that Kyle had awakened, I never heard of his father contacting him."
Amanda nodded in agreement.
"Under normal circumstances, any father would have either been overjoyed or worried sick. But from what Kyle told me, his parents were exactly the same as always."
Her expression turned stiff.
"Uncaring."
Silence settled between them once more.
Veronica had never known her parents. For most of her childhood, she had lived with her grandparents before eventually being enlisted.
She didn’t know what familial warmth felt like, but even then, Kyle’s situation seemed painfully sad.
Veronica had never expected much from the world because she had grown up without parents. Kyle’s circumstances were different. His parents were alive.
And Kyle was perhaps the best son they could have asked for.
He was hardworking, responsible, capable of taking care of himself, an excellent cook, physically fit, and unfailingly considerate toward others.
As far as Veronica could tell, there was only one flaw in him.
He was too kind.
But which parents wouldn’t like their child to have such traits?
"You think we should ask Brother Blake about it?" Amanda suggested.
A trace of concern crossed her face.
"It hurts seeing him carry those childhood wounds all by himself. This is the one thing he never talks about with anyone, so I thought asking someone who cares about him just as much and knows the full story might be the best option."
Amanda had no doubt that Blake cared for his younger brother as deeply as they did.
She had seen him panic whenever Kyle got involved in dangerous situations, and she still remembered the concern in his voice when he told her to make sure Kyle was properly equipped yesterday.
And as someone who had lived in the same house and witnessed those years firsthand, Blake had to know what had happened that made Kyle so guarded whenever his parents were mentioned.
Veronica considered the suggestion for a moment before shaking her head.
"But wouldn’t that be unfair to Kyle?"
Amanda looked at her.
Veronica set another plate aside and continued softly, "If he doesn’t want us to know, and we end up learning about it from someone else... wouldn’t that be a betrayal of his trust?"
Amanda fell silent.
The thought had crossed her mind as well.
Kyle was willing to share almost everything with them. Yet whenever the subject of his family surfaced, he would immediately close himself off, as if there was a wall neither of them could cross.
Perhaps there was a reason for that.
A reason he wasn’t ready to put into words.
And if they learned about it behind his back, would they really be helping him?
Or would they simply be taking away his choice to tell them himself?
In the end, Amanda decided to let the matter rest.
"You are right. We shouldn’t ask him about it."
Veronica hummed in agreement before Amanda asked another question.
"By the way, how come you never tried contacting Kyle before? I mean, you’ve been stationed in Montclair for almost a year now."
Veronica let out a sigh.
"There were several reasons. I lacked confidence, and I never really had an opportunity to reach out to him."
Amanda grinned.
"The Commander lacking confidence? That’s the first time I’ve heard that."
Veronica groaned and shook her head.
"Commander Veronica and just Veronica are two completely different people. So when we meet at the base, don’t you dare act casual with me."
Amanda instinctively straightened her posture before catching herself.
"Oh, come on, what kind of..."
"Ah!"
Both women flinched as Kyle suddenly jerked upright, his eyes snapping open.
The cup in Amanda’s hand nearly slipped.
"Kyle?" Veronica asked immediately, concern filling her eyes as she stepped forward. "Did something happen?"
Her question never reached his ears.
At that moment, Kyle was focused on something entirely different.
An alarm from the System had forcibly woken him up, something that had never happened before.
And the reason behind it was even more startling.
[Host! You need to start a live stream and calm down your viewer
[This is an emergency situation, Host. Please heed the System’s request.]
[Host, now that you are awake, the System requests immediate live streaming.]
Kyle took a moment to gather his bearings before asking, ’How serious is the situation?’
[Assume "the end of a world" levels of serious.]
Kyle let out a weary sigh at the dramatic response.
What could a cutie like her possibly do?
Still, if the System was going this far, then it wasn’t something he could ignore.
’Fine,’ he replied. ’Connect me to her.’
°°°°°°°°
A/N:- So yeah, moving forward, we would discover more of the other side to give a better balance to the story. Thanks for reading, please leave a comment if you are enjoying the story so far.