The person who came to visit was Master Shifu.
He came that afternoon, and it was a visit that Kyle had dreaded. Kyle had just finished lunch when his heart started palpitating. He gulped, realising what it was and leaned back into his pillows more. Kay noticed this and looked at him in puzzlement.
Just then, the door creaked open.
When Kay saw Master Shifu come in, she greeted him with a smile. He smiled warmly at her, came to the bed and patted her head. He gestured towards the sofa with his head and Kay understood. She set aside the laptop and got down from the bed.
[Good luck, brother]
Kyle groaned.
Master Shifu just stood there, staring at Kyle. He took in the huge plaster that covered the bump on his head then down to his ankle that was on a pillow and in an ankle brace. Then he looked back up to Kyle's eyes.
"What nonsense is this?" Master Shifu finally said, pointing his cane at Kyle's body, his voice low and full of disdain.
"How could you have sustained this much injury from such a simple matter?" he continued asking, "If you didn't have that bump on your head already, I would be giving you five more!!"
Kyle grimaced and gave a slight bow by inclining his head down and bringing his body forward a bit.
"It was my own negligence, Master Shifu," Kyle said humbly.
"I had neglected to take into account the possibility of the lift dropping. I knew there were risks yet failed to take the precautionary measures beforehand."
Master Shifu grunted, tapping the ground with his cane, "It's good you know that but it doesn't excuse you for it! You were overconfident in your abilities that you failed to take stock of other factors!"
Kyle didn't refute Master Shifu's statement. It was true.
Kyle had always been the best in whatever he did and that, in a way, made him complacent. His injury wasn't due to his lack of skills but from his failure to take into account all the variable factors at that time. The lift had jerked just as his foot landed on the edge of the lift for the jump.
Thus, the unexpected motion made his landing on the edge incorrect, and his foot had twisted because of it. He had instinctively adjusted which was why the sprain was not worse, but the point was, the injury still happened.
Added to that, the lift had fallen suddenly.
Thus, the momentum that Kyle had been building up for the jump was not enough. It was akin to preparing to jump four meters - you make the running jump and time it so that you cover the distance properly. If it was five meters, you run faster so that the momentum is enough to bridge the distance.
So if you were preparing to jump four meters, and it suddenly became five after you jumped? There was no way you would cover the distance. When the lift fell, the force of the push Kyle had given was incorrect as part of the force was absorbed by the lift that had fallen. Thus, his push upwards was not strong enough to meet the distance required.
"So what did you do wrong?" Master Shifu asked.
"I should have used my tools like the grappling hook to secure a hold. It is better to get that secured first instead of blindly jumping," Kyle stated, reciting what he himself had been analysing over his past actions, "At the very least, identify locations for the hook and have it ready at all times."
"Yes," Master Shifu nodded, "If the platform you are jumping from is secure, then there is no problem to do a free jump like what you had done. However, there were too many uncertain variables and you KNEW there was danger lurking by. You were careless! Stupid! Reckless!!"
"Yes, Master Shifu," Kyle acknowledged, a bit ashamed that he had been too overconfident.
"Harumph," Master Shifu grunted, tapping the floor, "At least your skills still kept you alive. Despite the slight concussion, you managed to grab hold of the ledge and hold on. Normal people would have just fallen after hitting the wall like that."
Then he pointed his cane at Kyle's face, "But that does not mean you're excused! After your rock climbing competition, I will increase the complexity of your training. Looks like having things easy has befuddled your brains."
Kyle groaned more.
.:*・°☆...:*・
The third group that came to visit were Cole and the Rock Climbing team members.
They came on the second day. Even Ken was there. He came grudgingly, and without sincerity, for he felt that it would not 'look good' if he was the only one that didn't come to visit.
After all, he had to give a good impression on his future father-in-law, right?
Rxel and Rylen almost jumped onto Kyle, the way they just bounced over to his bedside. Kay was sitting on the edge of Kyle's bed, cutting some apples for him. Naturally, she offered some to Rxel and Rylen, who happily took them with a huge grin. After all, Kay sliced them!! The apples were just so amazingly sweet, too.
They then went ooohing and aaaahing over Kyle's ankle.
"Will you be able to compete?" asked Cole. Just when he got one amazing team member, he had to get injured.
"Hopefully," Kyle replied, "It's not a bad sprain. Doctors said it should heal within a week. I'm just making sure by not aggravating it right now."
"In fact, it's healing much faster than the doctor anticipated," Kyle continued, "So it should be fine within another day or two."
Cole nodded, satisfied.
The accident wasn't Kyle's fault and if Kyle couldn't make it, Cole would naturally be upset but he wouldn't have blamed Kyle in any way. He would have just said that it was 'Fate'. Seeing how serious Kyle was in speeding up his recovery made Cole respect Kyle even more.
"Hey, Kyle," Rxel said as he poked Kyle's ankle (well, he wasn't really poking, but kept touching it with his pointer finger).
"What?" Kyle answered, then had to take an apple slice that Kay put to his lips.
"You have to eat more," Kay said suddenly, taking his attention away from Rxel, "You need the energy to recover faster."
"But I'll grow fat like this! Not being able to exercise for two days is making me flabby," Kyle complained.
Kay smacked him hard on his abs, saying, "These doesn't feel flabby at all. Tsk. Fruits aren't fattening either so stop complaining."
Rxel coughed.
"Oh, sorry about that," Kyle said, "You were saying?"
"How do we get a girlfriend like you?" Rxel asked.
Kyle looked at him, "You want a girlfriend like me?! Whatever for?"
"No no! I meant, how can we get a girlfriend, like you did," Rylen clarified.
"I don't have a girlfriend, so I wouldn't know," Kyle replied.
Rxel and Rylen looked at him, then at Kay who fed him another slice of apple, then back at him.
"What?" Kyle asked, while munching the apple, "Kay? She's my sister."
Rxel and Rylen's eyes brightened up and this time, they bounced over to Kay.
"So, Kay," Rxel started ... "are you still single?" Rylen finished asking.
Kay giggled and Kyle growled.
"Single but not available," he declared, staring at them.
Rxel and Rylen were unfazed.
"It's okay," they chorused together.
"We can wait," Rxel said.
"Until you are available," Rylen continued.
"Do you always do that?" Kay asked.
"No," Rylen replied.
"Not always," Rxel confirmed.
"Just sometimes," they chorused together.
Kyle rubbed the space between his eyes, then said to Kay, "At least we're not like that. It's rather disturbing."
"As if how we normally act isn't disturbing enough?" Kay grinned.
Kyle nodded his head, "You have a point."
"So you're twins too?!" Rylen and Rxel said excitedly, catching the gist of what they were saying. It confused the heck out of the others, though.
Kay nodded then lay down next to Kyle, putting her head on his shoulder, "Isn't it obvious?"
The two sets of twins just smiled at each other.
Cole and Ken, on the other hand, were rolling their eyes. They'll never understand this twin thing.
.:*・°☆...:*・
Mary and Dahlia also came to visit. This time, Rex came along as well. It would be the first time that he actually meets up with Kyle.
"Big blooder!!" Dahlia screamed happily upon seeing Kyle.
By this time, Kyle could move again but he still wore the ankle brace. The bump on his head was also reduced to just a purplish bruise and was no longer bandaged. The nurses would only smear some ointment on it periodically. Although Kyle said he could do it himself, the nurses insisted that they do it. Something about needing to massage it properly.
Kyle's face broke into a huge grin as Dahlia impatiently held out her hands towards Kyle. Mary gave a small smile and handed Dahlia over to Kyle, who took her expertly and rubbed his nose with hers. Dahlia giggled and patted Kyle's cheeks with her cute, chubby little hands.
He then carried her in the crook of his arms as he shook hands with Rex, who said, "I'm Rex. I have yet to thank you for saving my daughter's life."
"Don't mention it," Kyle said, "I was just at the right place at the right time."
Dahlia was busy trying to get Kyle's attention, pulling at his sleeve. When Kyle looked down, she showed him her treasures, a Ken and Barbie doll that she had in her little bag. The bag couldn't fit both dolls, of course, and was actually only halfway in.
She took them out and shoved Ken at Kyle's face, saying, "Big blooder!"
She then took out the Barbie doll and said, "Dahia", pointing at herself.
She put them both together and said proudly, "Big blooder Dahia!" and banged them both together repeatedly as she clapped her hands.
"Looks like you got a wife already, huh brother?" Kay teased.
Kyle laughed, "It's just a phase. She'll grow out of it soon. Probably forget all about me once she goes to school. This one is going to be a heart-breaker!"
Kyle nodded indulgently while Dahlia was telling Kyle all about the adventures of Big Blooder and Dahia.
Still, Kyle should never underestimate the tenacity of a young girl's mind - and a pure heart.