New Life : A Second Chance

Patrick sat in the cafe, carefully observing Shifu that was calmly drinking the tea.

A part of him resented the man that was sitting across of him, for the said man had spent more time with his son than he, himself had done.

Had it been a mistake to agree to Kyle's request all those years ago to seek out this man and persuade him to be his son's teacher?

Shifu had been Kyle's teacher for only 6 years, yet Kyle never broke contact with Shifu. In fact, Patrick even found it amazing that Shifu never returned to his home country, but chose to stay - even coincidentally settling in the same city that Kyle studied in.

He was jealous of the bond that seemed to be there between the two and he never did anything to discourage it. After all, a teacher of martial arts was like a second father in the olden days.

With the amount of training that Kyle went through under Shifu, it was most likely that such a bond was created as well.

If Shifu had not been around, would his son have turned to him, instead?

Patrick shook his head out of his thoughts.

No, that was unlikely.

Patrick had not been around most of the time, so at the very least, Kyle did have Shifu to turn to. Patrick was grateful for that, even if he was deeply jealous of it.

Also, thinking of all of the 'what ifs' were useless at this point, for what is done, is done.

Right now, he wanted to know … no, he needed to know.

What was his son like?

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Shifu slowly put down the cup and then sat, waiting patiently.

The man in front of him was his 'employer', and his son's biological father. He knew that this day would come sooner or later, The older Kyle got, the more likely Patrick would be dissatisfied with the way Kyle seemed to disassociate himself from his own father.

How Patrick reacted to that would determine whether the relationship between the two would heal or not.

Patrick was the typical 'old school' type of father: the absentee one who dictated the rules and expect them to be obeyed. Yet, Shifu could see that Patrick did try to be the more liberal type and break free from that - yet, it was too ingrained in him to truly let it go.

Kyle was also the stubborn one that could not be dictated to. If he was to do something, he would do it whole-heartedly so long as he believed in it, but he cannot be told what to do.

That was why Shifu had to modify his training method. Every action had to be explained. A military-style type of training would not work with Kyle for he would fight it all the way. Too stubborn to follow orders blindly.

Which was why Patrick and Kyle were like oil and water. Cats and dogs. One who liked to dictate and one who could not be dictated to. Add the Smith Temper.

Both needed to compromise.

Patrick saw that Shifu was looking at him, but suddenly, he didn't know where to begin. In the end, he looked at his hands, the cup and said, "Do you know where Kyle is?"

Shifu chuckled a bit at that and answered unhesitatingly, "No."

At that, Patrick looked at him, "Aren't you worried about him?"

"Should I be?" Shifu countered back.

"He's only a 15 … no, 16-year-old boy," Patrick said, "Alone and vulnerable. How can you not be worried?"

Shifu shrugged, picked up his cup and took another sip of his tea before he answered, "Because it is Kyle."

"Yes, yes," Patrick replied in exasperation, "I know he is. I know he's capable. I know that, but he is still my son. What if he gets sick? What if he's attacked? How is he living? Where is he getting the money from? He's all alone!"

Shifu had a smile on his face as he watched Patrick rant on, agitated and could see the similarities between father and son at that moment. Kyle often ranted and raged like this, about his frustrations with his father and Shifu did the same thing.

Just smiled, and listened while he ranted and raged on.

Once Patrick started, he couldn't stop and all his grievances and worries for Kyle came pouring out. Perhaps it was the way Shifu just sat there and listened without judgment in his eyes that pulled the stopper on his mouth.

At home, Delilah would often blame him for Kyle staying away and Patrick couldn't quite refute that. He had been convinced that Kyle would soon be coming home, with his tail tucked between in legs.

Once his son's ego and stubbornness were whittled away with the harsh life experiences, he would be more pliable.

But it never happened.

After Patrick seemed to lose some steam after several minutes of ranting and raging, Shifu calmly poured more tea into his now empty cup.

Patrick had his hands clenched into tight fists on the table as he took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

It did feel good to let go but it was still frustrating when he thought about his son.

"I am sure you've noticed that your son isn't quite normal," Shifu began, as he took a sip from his cup, "The way he is able to learn things quickly, the way he seemed to be so serious when younger."

"Yes, of course," Patrick said, "That's why I had the best tutors start teaching him even before he started school."

"Yes, you did," Shifu said, "You provided him with the best resources and education even from a young age."

"And he absorbed the knowledge like a sponge," Patrick said proudly, "He showed exceptional talent and skill."

"Yes, and so you continued to raise him as you would a robot," Shifu said mildly, "Or perhaps, to be more accurate: a product."

"I did not!" Patrick protested strongly.