He just made a mistake, Elijah realized at the last minute. Nonetheless, he didn't panic and sorted it out in his head. If there was anything his brothers had taught him, it was to remain calm even during chaos.
He peered at her saying, "I meant that figuratively, not literally,"
"What do you mean by that?" Adele looked at him, trying to figure him out.
"You forgot that my father was a judo instructor, he had a lot of students and we often referred to ourselves as brothers. To a point, we were even families, it's practically normal for me to call them my brothers. So yes, I played quite a lot of pranks on my brothers," Elijah covered up his mistake flawlessly.
Perhaps, it must be because of his important role in this family, but Elijah was finding it second nature to lie. It comes naturally to him now. However, one thing was clear, Adele was beginning to suspect him and he bet it started after that visit to Marcel's place.