family meeting part 2, " Do you want to talk about him?"

Alyssa's pov 

" In conclusion she is to be eliminated ....." said one of the elders

'I need to be calm.Make it all background noise' 

"from the list of those who are deemed ...."

'Focus on anything other than my presence in this very hall, anything at all.'

"worthy to assist raise the Falls family to soar higher..."

'Get rid of the trial of thoughts in my head. ' 

 'It's not over yet! Let me find a way to defend myself.' I thought to myself as I was hatching a way to not get eliminated. 

 "There is no need" boomed Grandpa's voice and I being so out of it and lost in my own thoughts responded with a "Huh?"

my grandpa looked at me, arched a brow at me questioning my sudden outburst and I quickly apologized. he continued "the vote cast and the decision to remove Alyssa as one of the successors has been rejected."

I almost smiled but chose to the pessimist way because knowing my family, this is far from being over. And I was right.

My second uncle jumped from his seat and asked "Why not? " then continued "The elders voted and it was a fair event with everyone in the family as a witness." As he said this some of the elders were nodding their heads which increased Uncle's confidence as he stared as Grandpa waiting for a response 

" Look at them nod like that, If ever there is an attempt to overthrow Grandpa in the family, we'd know where to look first." Said Chase as he whispered into my left ear. 

" Do not joke like that Chase, It is not funny," I said 

" Oh, it is not a joke, something has been happening among the elders though they do not talk about it, It is there. You just choose to ignore it unlike you, I am a realist... I focus on facts. Why do you think Grandpa allowed Uncle Lucca and his family back?" he whispered 

I think he was trying to annoy me because he might have thought that I was not angered enough by everything happening. " Those are not facts but speculations" I whispered back not even bothering to hide my bored face so that he could see my disinterest in all his theories.

" Whatever, word of advice, do not like 3rd uncle too much because he is the least favored here. Oh and by the way, thanks to your masked lover or whatever, you might end up like him, 3rd uncle i mean." He said with a playful evil grin this time around. 

I simply ignored him because I wanted to know how Grandpa would counter everyone who is keen on removing me from the list. I really hate it but I have to rely on him again because I am currently helpless in the family and replaceable because the minute I step down, any one of my cousins can crawl their way up to take the position I was offered. The list is a list of names specifically selected to be potential successors after grandpa tough I am trained by him, I am not the only qualified to take over from my grandpa one day. Oh and there is a generation skip from our parents to us their children. 

" A rejection is simply a rejection, Arthur. Did you not hear what I said earlier during the ceremony?" Grandpa asked Arthur,paused then continued "If you did, you would understand my actions" this time he said this to not only Arthur but the rest of the people in the hall. 

" Anything else?" Grandpa asked as he scanned the room looking for anyone who wanted to say something but I doubt anyone would attempt to talk while looking Grandpa in the eye because he is so intimidating! This look definitely made a lot quiver and perhaps that is the reason why my second uncle chose to not chase the matter any further than his current location.

" So we are honestly going to ignore the elephant in the room, Dad, Grandfather?" My older brother spoke bringing to light what everyone was hoping to discuss i bet, my mysterious fiance or so they call him.

" Grandfather, Alyssie is young and...naive, who knows under which false pretenses did this man use to get to her? " My brother said as he showed a genuine pained and concerned face. My brother is perhaps the only person I know who shows every emotion on his face because in our family, we are trained while young to keep a ' straight face' at all times, it is safer that way. 

Though I appreciate his sentiment, but did he just call me naive? 

" We all know that Alyssie attends the military medical university in Country F and you guys were so proud when she got in that school, ryt? But has anyone considered that she is always far from home which means she may be target of a lot of things. People do not have to directly threaten your life to reach their end goal, they can use other ways..." he paused " though this is a very cruel method, making someone fall in love is also a method that could be used to harm a person." my brother said as he looked at my sister for affirmation or to let her attest to what he was saying

" Permission to speak Grandfather and elders." said my sister, Cassie. She is one of the best of all the people who were also named successors in our family. Most people believe that she would be the perfect successor after my grandfather and I actually agree wth them on this one. My sister is regal and very strict. She follows the family law to the tee and she is the opposite of my brother, she hardly shows any emotion or even react adversely to something without thinking. If i was not my grandfather's favorite ( although i do not know why till this day) she would.

"Granted." my grandpa replied.

"My brother is right, the medical institute is too far away and Alyssie rarely gets a chance to speak to her family and with that in mind, she would have a tough time understanding the concepts of love without any guidance. This led me to the conclusion that she might have been influenced by outside factors particularly her friends and so yes, this might not be her will though she might not know it because of what she was made to believe," she concluded.

" Exactly." my brother chimed in.

Okay, so her words are partly true but I find this very offensive! I am not easy to manipulate and though my friends were involved in this, the marriage thing was my idea. I bet they would go crazy if they ever found out that I was the one who proposed...they will never find out, they mustn't because it would spell trouble for me.

" So what do you want me to do?" my grandpa directed this question to my older sibilings. 

" Do you want to talk about him?" he turned as he directed his next quetion to me. I was flustered, it was so sudden and out of the blue but i managed to calm down and steady my voice before i answered, 

" No, I would rather not. At least not now." 

He chuckled and said "very well." 

My grandpa is taking this well and I am shocked that they are not forcing me to talk about this entire ordeal but my dad not saying anything at all means he is angry. It's not that I do not want to tell them everything, I do but I just want to keep this as is for now of this without sharing it with anyone, let them be my own until I wish to let the world know because I was told that love is a sacred emotion. 

"But Grandfather..."My brother was about to argue only to be stopped by my sister who was calm as usual as she dragged him back to their seats.

 Well, that's that for now ...Wait!Now that I think about it, my grandpa was looking at my dad as he laughed earlier. Is my dad also involved in this? Are they playing good cop, bad cop with me?