Family P 8

When Noel grabbed Sera, Lia wasn't even aware of her presence. It was frightening how perceptive Noel was and she wondered what else he had hidden.

Noel was about to open his mouth when Lia interrupted, "What are you doing here?"

Noel's hand that covered Sera's mouth was removed by the latter. Sera caught her breath and adjusted her tone, "I… just wanted to see."

"See what?" Noel let her go but it was clear he was still wary.

"See…" Sera's last word was swallowed by the noise below them. They all turned to the small grid window. Sera put her hand on it and Lia felt alarmed as she saw Sera's hot gaze.

She followed her line of sight and came to a shocking conclusion, "Do you perhaps want to see Elder P?"

This was such a surprise that even Noel couldn't believe it. Noel was a head taller than Sera, who stood between him and Lia, and gave Lia a wide-eyed expression. This was the first time she saw him this dumbfounded and a rare laugh rose in her throat.

Sadly, it had to be stuck there, never to see the light for a long time. The nod Sear gave was so light, it almost went unnoticed.

"Do you fancy him?"

On command, Sera bobbed her head towards Lia and her eyes were misty with infatuation.

"How could I?" It was a whisper but there was longing and another unfathomable emotion mixed.

Sera tore her gaze off Lia and watched the small figure of Elder P below them. She stroked the grid and her breathing got heavier.

Lia and Noel communicated with their eyes. They both weren't comfortable with the current situation. It was as if Sera was going to tear off the grid, jump through the hole and fall into Elder P's arms to lick all parts of his body.

They were afraid she might go into something the mortals called 'the heat'.

"Then are you satisfied with only seeing him from above?"

Noel signalled Lia not to talk anymore but Lia felt this was an opportunity to seize an opening, a way for their plan to accelerate.

"Don't you want to see him up-close?"

Sera's face flushed and she fumbled with her hands.

"I…I do want but I don't want him to see me."

"Of course, I understand. How about I tell you of a way you can simply be close to him but don't have him find out?" Lia closed in on Sera and turned her to look at Elder P again.

"This might be your only opportunity. Don't you want to get close to him? Even if it's for a few seconds?"

"I do..!" Seras gaze intensified. It could melt the iron bars to express her heartfelt longing.

"Then shall I tell you of away?"

"Yes, please!" her eagerness almost caused them to be found out.

As Lia told Sera of the plan, Noel's face contorted from confusion to being alert then to understanding. Lia quickly glanced at him and figured he knew what she was trying to do. He didn't reject what she said either.

Elder P was a young, vigorous man. He had a sturdy body and a good-looking face. It wasn't an understatement to say he could be popular with ladies. It was only his personality that was trash.

Lia could understand why Sera had fallen for Elder P if it only was for the looks but his temper and attitude were notorious, there was no way she wouldn't be aware of it. Yet there would be always those who'd be attracted to a pretty trash can.

But Lia didn't question it. She just needed to use Sera but she was still curious.

"Did you come here solely to see Elder P?"

Sera couldn't stand not to feast on Elder P's appearance for even a second, so while her eyes were still glued to the grid, she said,

"Yes, kind of. The other reason is obviously because of the powers."

After that, they passed the time by listening to the conversation. Lia was left disappointed to find out the meeting wasn't as interesting as she thought it'd be.

It was after all a family meeting, so there was an abundance of bickering, mocking, teasing and fighting.

They were trying to ridicule each other after they told of their floor's results. Boring, uninteresting and childish couldn't even begin to describe this meeting.

Sera was quite happy but both Lia and Noel suffered until the cue they waited for came. The meeting reached its end and the P members all stood up.

"Sera, your time has come," Lia walked down the stairs and waited behind the black curtain. She held her hand out as Noel arrived, "Do you have something small?"

Noel reached into his lab coat and pulled out a used tissue. Lia's lips formed a thin line but she still ripped a small piece off and rolled it to a ball.

Then Sera came behind Noel and Lia hid the white ball in her hand and pushed Sera to the curtain.

One by one the members came out. First was Elder P, Sera was so excited, she almost gave them away. After Elder P's turn was over, Noel pulled Sera a bit back that only her side profile would be visible if someone pulled the curtain away.

First P was a short male who looked to be in his 40s, he had a beard and droopy eyes. Then Second P came. He was of average height but wore a suit. Finally, Third P and behind him Fourth P. Fourth P was the only female the P family had and her looks seemed to be on par with Elder P's.

She was an attractive lady with a toned body that showed through her tight attire.

Third P was about to vanish into the hallway when Lia aimed the white tissues and hit his neck. Surprised he turned around and saw Lia silently waving at him and pointing at Sera and Noel next to her.

Noel was still holding onto Sera who was so lost in ecstasy she couldn't notice anything that was happening around her. Fourth P noticed Third P's strange actions and also turned around. She saw the trio and her eyes narrowed.

Lia pulled the curtain back and heard their footsteps fading away. Lia could almost hear their thoughts. She turned to Noel with a small, cold smile.

Noel let Sera go and Sera flew through the hallway in hopes to catch another glimpse of Elder P.

Lia and Noel walked side by side.

"You know what to say?"

"I'm not stupid like you," Noel smirked and they parted ways.

Lia had no doubts that Noel could grasp without any problems what she had in mind.

She walked to the second floor and headed straight to Third P's office. Third P's cold face with his slightly curved lips met her. He had his elbows on his table and his head rested on the back of his head.

"Explain."

It wasn't a question nor a request. It was a command and an absolute order yet Lia didn't like it when someone tried to exert control or dominance over her.

"Sir, you surely figured out yourself."

Third P sighed and turned to the window, "My sister and I have decided. We will ally."

"Sir, your skills are unparalleled."

"No need for useless flattery. That girl which floor is she on?"

"The third floor, Sir. She's aiding Second P. After lunch, we saw her acting suspicious, so we followed her. It turned out she was spying for Second P. Luckily, we were able to convince her we were only there to admire everyone."

"Good. Good," Third P mumbled, "My two older brothers really want to play this dirty."

Lia had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. If someone was paranoid, no matter how absurd or illogical something was, as long as they felt it'd harm them, then their brain would stop thinking clearly.

There were two reasons why Lia thought Third P was truly too paranoid and suffered from an inferiority complex:

1: The meeting had no use at all. Even if someone wanted to spy, the content of the conversation was ridiculous. No information could be taken.

2: There was no point in having a spy in the first place because Second P was present himself, so he wouldn't even need to bother having someone spy for him. If he wasn't present, then that would be another story.

Lia had no idea if Noel was able to use the exploit of an inferior person's psyche but she had the feeling that no matter what, Noel would always succeed.

There was nothing to back up that baseless confidence she had in him but she couldn't imagine Noel failing.

Third P was really thinking about how to get rid of First and Second P. If only he thought more logical, had a clearer mind then he would notice the two points and the abnormality that Lia presented.

He would also then recognise that the person he should be wary of was Lia but he just came out of a meeting with his brothers who degraded him.

Seeing someone from another floor which belonged to his older brother, set his mind ablaze and opened the gates to the flames of his heart spilling out and rendered any logical thinking ability impossible.

It was just a tiny drop falling on the already overspilling water bottle but that tiny drop came with such a force and good timing, it made its fall into the water look extremely threatening to cause the water to completely spill and leak out.

"I will take my leave now. Will you go to Fourth P immediately?" seeing that Third P only moved his mouth and not this body, Lia had to push him a bit to act.

"Yes. You can take the day off as I have mentioned before."

"Thank you," Lia left the office and waited to see a few seconds later Third P rush out and descending the stairs.

Tom was nowhere to be seen but Lia didn't care, she wanted to discuss with Noel. However, the second she went to the stairs, from above someone else just came down.

Their eyes met. Then his raspy voice glided into every pore of Lia's body to grip her mind and refused to let go, "You seem familiar."