Kay was thinking so much over the matter that she was in a daze the whole day at school

Mark and Lance noticed this immediately.

The three of them were having lunch, with Kay poking at her food.

"I think the pasta is quite dead by now," Lance said with a straight face.

Kay, breaking out of her daze, looked up at them.

"Sorry," Kay apologized, "I'm a bit out of it today."

"We can see that," Mark said, inching closer to her.

Without missing a beat, Kay grabbed his head, twisted it to the side and as his body moved on instinct to avoid the twist, she placed both hands on his back and pushed him off the chair.

Lance, who was sitting opposite of Kay, tilted his head and asked while ignoring the tumbling Mark, "Anything we can do to help?"

Kay shook her head.

Mark got up hastily, dusted himself and sat back down, acting as if nothing had happened.

It was the normal routine.

Kay hung out with the two boys often, causing a lot of people to sigh and wish they were part of that group.

Without doing a thing, Kay became the Belle of the Campus, while Lance was the King of Campus. Many shipped them together and thought that they were the ideal couple.

They even had Mark, the loyal follower-slash-entertainer.

After all, Kay was always flinging him about. Literally. The perfect companion to Lance, the judo champion.

Of course, all of that was just the campus's own delusions.

The three of them had settled into a comfortable routine and companionship. Even if Mark never gave up trying to woo Kay despite her being firm at keeping him at a distance. Mark hoped that his persistence would, some day, win her over.

He was persistent, but not too annoying. So Kay didn't take it to heart.

Looks like Kyle wasn't the only one that attracted strange, obsessive people … though in Kay's case, Mark did appear harmless. There was always Lance to keep him in line as well.

Despite the fact that Kay appeared to get along very well with Lance and Mark (and she did, truly), it did not mean that she trusted them whole-heartedly.

She enjoyed their company and hung out with them but she never talked about herself or her family. It was usually the normal small talk or school stuff.

She even had a file on both of them.

If, for any reason, any of them crossed the line, they would not only have to face her Team, she would plant a virus into their computer and she would cause as much havok on their lives as they had done to her.

In other words, she wouldn't do a thing unless they did, and the extent of what she would do, would depends on them.

For now, even though they were okay, Kay didn't let her guard down 100%. After all, she had seen what Kyle had gone through - and her own experience with Sarah had made her extremely wary.

She simply didn't trust easily anymore.

She just looked like she did.

"Kayla?" Lance probed gently.

Kay shook her head, saying, "No, there is nothing you can do. It's simply something I am dealing with and need to deal with, by myself."

She smiled at Lance, "But thank you, I appreciate the thought."

"Well," Lance said, "We may not be able to do anything, but we can still listen. Maybe give you either a listening ear for you to vent, or an opinion if you need it."

"Yes, yes," Mark agreed enthusiastically, as he continued eating, "Use us as a sounding board. Not a problem. I'm a good sounding board."

Lance smirked, "Yeah. A board indeed. I can see that in the way you flip over so easily when Kay throws you."

"Hey!" Mark protested, "That's different. I let her."

"Yeah, right," Lance grinned, "You let her because you're not good enough to be able to stop her."

"Of course," Mark agreed, "But it still means I let her."

Lance looked back at Kay, and reiterated, "Remember, we're here okay?"

Kay smiled.

"Thanks," she said.

Perhaps she would, one day. For now, she didn't trust them enough to actually talk about this.

Then, her eyes brightened.

How could she forget?

There's always the Elite Five!

They may not be in constant contact due to them being physically apart like this, but it didn't mean she couldn't contact them to talk about it, right?

When she thought about it, she realised that Kyle had truly been the glue that held them together.

All of them had taken it for granted, so when he left, a huge hole was left in all of them. It was different for each person, but it was there.

Kay had also never thought about the Elite Five when she was struggling with this problem, for her connection to them was different than Kyle's.

They were close, yes but she hardly shared her innermost thoughts with them. They were her friends, her 'protectors', but as she was the only girl, it was only natural that she didn't talk to them about a lot of things.

This, however, was different.

It would involve all of them even though it was Kyle's love life. He had been there for theirs, so it was only fair that they'll be there for his, right?

Most importantly, she could be herself and reveal all her innermost fears without fear. They would understand and not judge. Perhaps they, too, would have their own reservations and they can also give their perspective as guys.

With that thought, she immediately sent a message to all of them to meet up fo a chat (online, of course) that weekend.

✿.✿.✿.✿

Xing Han stared at the computer screen.

What did Kay just say?

He could even see the shocked expression on the others. Even Sam, who was normally stoic and was easily adaptable.

Kyle had a girlfriend now?