During the meal, both acted like the previous awkward moment had not happened.

"So, what's your plan?" Kyle asked Sayuri.

"Well, we've just arrived yesterday, so I plan to rest for a day before heading to the site tomorrow," Sayuri answered.

"I'll take you there," Kyle replied.

"Oh? You know the place well?"

"Naturally," Kyle responded, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have suggested the place now, would I?"

Sayuri nodded, saying, "Makes sense. Okay. I've made an appointment to meet with the owners in three days time, so I plan to use the days before that to survey the area."

"I've bought a car and hired a driver, so that would make it convenient to travel," Kyle said, "The traffic here is rather bad but worse, parking is almost non-existent. Country M is really great at creating buildings but not the parking for it."

Sayuri blinked, "Oh ya. You stayed here for two years, so you would be well aware of all of this. Okay, we shall do it your way."

Kyle was quiet, neither refuting nor acknowledging.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked softly.

Kyle's hands paused and he looked up at her.

His ice-cold blue eyes bore into her as he asked, "Why do you ask?"

Sayuri tilted her head to one side, as she returned that gaze evenly, "Because you're not acting like yourself since we arrived."

"It has nothing to do with her," Kyle said, resuming eating, "That is in my past."

"So you don't think about her anymore?"

Kyle took a deep sigh and put down his cutlery.

"Look, Sayuri," Kyle said clearly, "I know you must be worried that my judgment may be impaired due to the history I have here."

"But whether or not my judgment is affected, aren't you here to verify it? Aren't you here to double-check everything and make your own decision? You would be doing this whether or not I have a history here, right?"

Sayuri nodded.

"Then whatever demons are possessing me right now, it is of no consequence. The business venture is not affected," Kyle said, going back to his eating, "And for the last time, my personal business here is not her."

Sayuri remained silent, noting his simmering frustration over her asking but she had to persist.

No matter how he seemed not to like it, she had to keep on asking so long as she wondered. The last thing she wanted was to have these thoughts and second guess herself.

Since she was here to capture his heart (and make sure the location was viable), she didn't want the ghost of the past to keep haunting his heart.

Or hers.

The good thing was, no matter how he seemed annoyed by it, he did answer honestly.

As for Kyle?

Was he annoyed by the constant questions?

Yes.

Was he bothered by it?

No.

He was just annoyed because people still thought he was hung over Sari.

No one bothered to actually ask him straight-up like Sayuri did (except for Kay, of course) and the rumours were abundant about him still not getting over her.

The impression people had was that he was still in love with Sari. That he could not let her go, or forget their love, and was pining for her.

That was the rumour that pissed him off the most.

They truly did not believe that he was not this way because he was still harbouring thoughts for her, but rather, he had given up on the notion of love.

He was, truly, sincerely happy for her. The last he heard, Sari had gotten together with Hamdan and was still with him. He only monitored her for six months to make sure that she was fine before cutting off all ties and news.

Of course, when he said 'cut ties', it didn't mean he deleted her number, or email.

It was simply, he did not contact her since the break-up.

"So, can I ask what is your personal connection or feelings you have here?" Sayuri asked.

Kyle hesitated, then decided that the best course of action is to reveal some of it.

After all, she was going to be here and would certainly find his behaviour strange later on. The day was coming closer, and he was going to have to deal with the aftermath of 'her' death before taking action against those responsible.

The aftermath here being his kids.

He was deathly worried about how the death of their mother was going to affect them and he wanted to be here for them.

He would need to re-establish contact with them, so that his presence in their life later on would not be strange. More importantly, they would not reject him being there to comfort them.

Making this decision, Kyle said while not looking at Sayuri, "There are two kids here that I had gotten close to. I was kinda missing them."

Sayuri's fork made a screeching sound as it streaked across the plate.

"Sorry, sorry," she said as she picked up her fork, "That was not something I expected."

Kyle gave a slight smile as he thought about his kids, his face actually appearing soft and gentle.

Sayuri was mesmerized.

This was the first time since his heartbreak did she see such an expression on his face.

So his heart wasn't totally frozen.

He was just protecting his heart from any sort of romantic love but it didn't mean he cut himself off everyone and everything else.

He was also not bothered to be friendly to anyone other than those he was already close to, thus giving the impression that he was an unfeeling, cold person.

"Who are they? What're their names?" Sayuri asked, intrigued.

"Joseph and Lianne," Kyle answered, then proceeded to tell her all about them.

Sayuri listened intently, her eyes misting over as she saw how alive he looked just talking about them.

"I'd really love to meet them," Sayuri said.

"Shall we go later then?" Kyle asked excitedly.