Marvin was somewhat nervous to meet them all. But he was more excited. He dressed himself with a little more effort. He had a problem deciding which suit to wear but he then remembered that his cousin Ryan always preferred comfortable clothes. So he put on a blue shirt with black pants. This was bought by his grandfather, he assumed. He did not pack this so he thought maybe they had thought of this. He decided to trust his grandfather.Aster was shocked to see Marvin like this."Mr. Lexor, do you want to leave? Now?""You can call me Marvin. My brothers are your friends. Don't be polite."Aster nodded."Yes, brother Marvin.""Where is your nephew? I'm sorry about his parents. Levi says they will be cured.""Asher is with Jake. They get along really well. He left just before you came out. Thank you. If not for your brother, I would have lost them."Marvin was also sad when he found out what happened to Aster's brother. They never met but he respected him."Let's go. But wait, I have
Aster didn't tell Lia about his alter ego. He was feeling shy listening to her praises. Lia didn't know anything so she was roped in by Jake to meet August.Jake was very excited to meet his idol. He combed his hair ten times to make it look just right. And it wasn't time yet."Mom, what should I wear? Should I go shopping?"Lia watched him get hyper and said nothing. She and Chris kept watching the excitement with silence."You cannot. You have so many clothes. Choose something."Hearing her mom say that brought a smile to Lia's face. She wanted to see what reaction Jake had."But I should look my best. Hey mom, please tell me what should I wear. Please. I will clean everything and wash the dishes. Please, Mom, please."Their mother finally focused on Jake. "You realize he can only see your face in the video call. And your clothing will not be completely visible. Wear your normal clothes. There's no need to dress up specially."Lia also thought that. If he wore something without an
When Marvin entered Lia's apartment, he was greeted by smiling Jake. He didnt know how excited this cousin was to meet his brother. He would definitely feel jealous."Hey, Marvin. How was your day?""It was very tiring, aunt.""Aster, yours?""It was okay, aunt. I'm still resting with my injury and all.""Come and sit. Do you want to eat now or wait?""Let's eat, we are starving.""Then come here."The food was delicious and the starving CEOs enjoyed eating. Lia kept noticing Jake. She and to control her smile because she saw him twitching from time to time. She was amused that he managed to keep himself normal at this time.The dinner was over in a blink. Now was the time everyone was waiting for."I'll call him now."Jake sat nervously beside Lia shaking his hands. He pulled his fingers and played with his nails. "Lia, my stomach hurts. Should I go?""It's just excitement. Just sit here. You will feel better once it's done.""I don't feel good."Lia took his hand in hers and press
"Lia, what do you think about this?"The first aunt asked her. They were all sitting together discussing the plans. First, they had to plant plants. Then they could do whatever they wanted."I'm thinking of some easy ones like leafy vegetables, groundnuts, and melons. We can try saffron too. I saw how some people create artificial temperature conditions."Lia was impressed. Seemed like the first aunt was really serious. "I found the land. The backyard of our yard has a waste space. We can use that to do this."The second aunt answered."But will mother and father agree?"All of them turned and looked at the third aunt. She was right.Then they looked at Lia."I'll ask Aster. If he gives us permission, you are golden. But before that, you have to show that he can trust you."They nodded like students before the teacher. "Then we will meet again with some results, Lia."Lia loved the change this activity brought to them. They broke away from their constraints and gradually became free
Lia felt that her heart was out of her body. Otherwise, how could she hear it beating so loud? She searched for Aster. She couldn't find him. Why was he not here when she needed him? She then proceeded to blink her eyes like something was irritating her.Maybe she looked like a crazy person. "Hi, Lia. I didn't think I would meet you here."Marvin stood before her. "I am also surprised to see you here."Lia debated recognizing him. She could act like she didn't know him but she rejected that."Mrs, Brooks, you know Mr. Lexor?"Someone came and asked her. Before Lia could retort for some reason, Marvin spoke."I know her husband."Lia breathed a sigh of relief. She was worried unnecessarily. Aster should have told Marvin something. That reassured her. She was sweating. Lia then wiped her brows. She was happy that her makeup didn't spread and made her look like a ghost.Aster knew some good people who could think of this. This skill is miraculous. Wow. Aster came back at this momen
"Wait what did he mean by drugging?"Aster got up quickly and ran to the guest room where Marvin was staying. He knocked on the door urgently. Marvin had showered and he opened the room with a towel on his neck. He was drying his hair."You woke up now.""What do you mean by drugging? What exactly happened?"Marvin stepped out of the room and Aster followed him."Sit down first. You need to know so many things."Aster listened as he was told. He sat before Marvin eagerly. "The people who work there are not just from me. So it gives outsiders a chance to do such wrong things.""Aster kept listening."But the in charge happened to keep an eye on drinks because we charge more for some drinks. And he found a person sneakily adding stuff. So when he was about to track that person, he saw me. Now every employee knows about me. So he just told me in order to get promoted. I stopped that person. That's why I came late.""Oh."Marvin didn't answer."So what should I do for this to not happen
Lia had no idea that she almost escaped a conspiracy attempted at her. She was sleeping and having a nightmare.She woke up in the evening. The party in the morning seemed like it never happened. Lai yawned and stood up to open the curtains. She felt that it was good to watch the sunset. She had to just go to other balconies as hers faced the east.For that, she went and knocked on Jake's room.Seeing the door open, she entered and was shocked. Books, papers, and more books everywhere."Did a library throw up here?""Lia, thank God, you are here. Help me."Lia hesitated. She stood at the threshold and watched Jake warily."I forgot the assignments. I'm writing five now. Please write one for me."Lia laughed at his face."I'm out of that tragedy now. I will graduate in a few days. You enjoy your student life."She was going to leave this room before she got stuck helping him."Lia, please. You owe me ten. I cash one of those."Ahh. She was hoping that he had forgotten those. She should
The head of the James family, Carolyn James met Aster.He didn't think she would condescend and meet him. Anyway, she gave that kind of aura. She was not much older than Aster. She had taken control of her group just for two years. So, it was understandable that many people weren't satisfied with her."Hello. I'm Carolyn."She wore a simple grey pantsuit with her hair in a bun. Very classy and strict. Aster had known about her arrival. She was very polite and she had her assistant make an appointment. Aster was interested in what she had to say so he accepted this impromptu meeting."Nice to meet you, Miss James. Take your seat."She took a glance and sat before Aster. He observed her reactions and found that she was very much in control of her facial expressions."I'm here to express my apology. I never expected that someone would do this to your wife.""What kind of apology?"Aster wasn’t interested in words. He needed to see them bleed."I understand your anger. And you have succe
The date was wonderful. When they came back, Lia couldn't stop smiling."So, I'll see you tomorrow. "Aster dawdled without wanting to leave. Lia smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you go first. I'll wait for your signal."Lia left first and opened the door to Jake's face."Have you son some lottery again?""Noo!"Lia wanted to stop her face from smiling like an idiot but it was proving to be hard."Then your experiment was successful. I knew it, let's celebrate by eating leftover ice cream from yesterday."Lia didn't pay attention to him. At this point, she didn't need to pay attention to him as he was already taking out ice cream. She slipped away to her room.Lia then opened her window and opened the balcony curtain. It was yellow, and the signal successfully alerted Aster. He smiled and sat in his room, waiting for Asher to come back.Aster wanted to talk to his brother and tell him how happy he was today.It was like he was floating. And nothing could stand in his way or hurt him today.
Butterflies were dancing everywhere. Lia felt like she had eaten some and some were flapping around her.That was really hilarious to think. But the thought of dating Aster sent her over the edge. She was being foolish but she was really happy.Lia cleaned her desk three times in a row before managing to calm herself down.Aster- How about we go to the museum today?Lia sent a reply lightning-fast.Lia- YesMuseum date, haha.She would love it.Museums were interesting and she would get to see a slow motion world there.No crowds today and more time to watch the exhibits she loved.Like the historic paintings and fossils.Lia wasn't worried about other things because she found herself wondering. The impact of the dating was this. She found herself double guessing her double guessing results.Finally, she dressed herself in a very casual way.And like always, she left her apartment with a note taped to the door. In case her brother wanted her to a grocery run, he could see the note and
Lia- YesAster grinned happily and he wanted to do a cartwheel. That ended badly as he knocked over the vase on the table. But that didn't damp his enthusiasm.It was a feeling he never experienced. It was like he was living in a fluffy cloud and he was made of a fluffy cloud too.The high he was feeling made him forget so many things. For instance, the stupid contract he made then. And the threatening things in their lives. And the fact that he never told her that the Lexor family was related to her.Yeah, love has selective vision and he was the perfect example.Lia was somehow the more clear headed one in this scenario. She just started working on her game. Lia had this habit. When she was bursting with something, she would try to delay it with some other work as a tactic. And when she felt somewhat calm, she would deal with it.This only worked for ten minutes and she kept having flashes of Aster. Lia sighed and smiled."Stupid Lia!"This showed that her tactic wasn't working an
"Do you want to confront him?"Marvin asked Aster.Aster really wanted to ask that person how could he betray his family. This guy was his mother's cousin. And to do this, it was really bad. Simon had sent so many items from his mother's collection and they were more or less bad. Similar to the stuff the old man gave. Now he was really doubtful about the old man too.Was he also involved in this shady stuff? Was he the mastermind behind this operation?Aster didn't know."What's the guarantee that he will tell me everything if I ask him?"Lia nodded. Yes, he could lie. Then they would lose their edge by making the enemy know that they were onto him."Yes, you are right. I think all of the people we found are scapegoats. If it was that easy to find him, your brother or your parents would have found him. And to keep doing this stuff for such a long time, he should be somewhat proficient, right?"Lia rambled.She really thought that way. "Also, we found this organization. Maybe there are
"Yes, the animal categories are very disturbing. It makes no sense why they used that but then again, it all depends on the person who is making the categories. If it was me, I would give them artistic names. Like painting, singing, dancing, you get it, right?"Albert answered and chuckled.But who asked him anything about this? No one. He was very interested in knowing and answering questions. "Hey, you are still working on the cats' folder, Marvin is now combing through monkeys."He also provided status updates.Good guy.This was making Lia nervous and competitive. She felt like she was taking a competitive exam and she had only thirty minutes left to solve half of the question paper."Got it. Your decryption algorithm worked, let's see the results."They all surrounded Aster."Let's see the first image."It was actually a cat playing with a red dot but after the decryption, it became something else.There were words instead.59 million gain 15 million lossAJ recruited"What's thi
Lia watched Aster set up the equipment and do a final check. She stood out of the way watching everything.Albert just stayed there in the chair hanging his legs out and nearly falling asleep. He slapped himself awake and it was very funny to watch.Lia then watched Marvin coming out with cups of coffee.She took one because let's face it, she wasn't awake completely."Okay, we are ready. On your signal."Marvin nodded."It's time. Start."Aster pressed the button and the screen started changing. The text was scrolling and Lia found it difficult to read."This is going well. We don't have much to copy. It will be done in three minutes."And like he said, the status bar came to a stop."It's done."It felt less party kind of an exclamation but they were still happy. Lia thought that they would all jump in the air and celebrate. But the reality was that even with coffee, they were all very sleepy.""I'm going to sleep."Albert fell asleep there.As it was done, Lia nodded and went to her
"Mom I have to talk about the class schedule with Marvin and Aster. I'll be home late.""Okay, have fun."Lia had finished her dinner and when everyone were watching television, she got a signal from Marvin."You go. I'll watch Asher and Jake."Oggy declared. Well, if he was so sure, then why not?"So, what is that water thing?"Lia almost forgot. Oggy was also a member of the kid gang.Seeing their attention drawn to the fountain, the three of them left the room.They went to Albert's apartment because apparently Aster's was not totally safe now.They didn't get rid of all the spy chips there. They left one as a formality.And that's why they had to change their Lair."Tell me, tell me, tell me."Albert started repeating."Wait, let Lia settle down."Yes, Lia was searching for a good cushion. She was embarrassed at having that pointed out "I'm okay, you can start."She coughed."Okay, so here's what we found."Marvin then motioned for Aster to start talking."Marvin connected my cop
"Whew, we are back home. The whole thing was very stressful."Aster felt like he was in heaven when he saw his couch. He was that happy."Yeah, take rest now. We will check the computer in the evening. Let's get the information sooner so that we can work on other things later."Marvin changed out of his clothes and he was ready to go out.Aster was surprised."You aren't going to rest?"He questioned Marvin."Yes, I have to go check the company. With the headquarters not here, I have so much backlogged by being out."Aster felt sad for Marcin. Good thing Ray did his work in the meantime.Maybe when his brother woke up, he would be free and sleep till he naturally woke up.Those were some happy days.Aster sighed and fell asleep on the couch."Uncle, you are back."It should be later because he was woken up by Asher."Yes, Aster, you are back. When did you come back? We didn't know anything."Jake was with Asher."I came around afternoon. Then I fell asleep. I would have met you all in
"This is a disaster," Aster told himself when he saw the bustling crowd in there. The club was totally filled with people and it was getting on Aster's nerves.He had never seen these many people in such a closed space.He made his way to the other end to get to a secluded place.Marvin had gone to the other side so he could keep an eye on people coming and going out of the side door.Aster felt that Marvin was doing a very focused job. Marvin kept shooting him messages that kept popping before his eyes and Aster wanted to block him.Marvin was having fun with the glasses but Aster had worked on them for so long so he didn't have any preference over it."Hey, handsome, are you alone?"Aster was brought out of his reverie by a voice.It was a guy.He had short spiky hair that looked like it could really hurt someone."Oh, no. I'm in my company."That guy came near him and sat beside him."Crazy night, right?""You realize it's just afternoon now.""What? Its night. See."Aster saw no p