Chapter 27: Dinner With Olivia
"You know each other?" Lea asked in surprise as she looked between her brother and their new neighbor.
Eli walked out of the kitchen and immediately spotted Olivia, "Oh, it’s the lady big brother was flirting with."
"Eh?" Olivia let out as she looked at the kid, of course she recognized the two, but when the hell had the older brother been flirting?
[What’s going on, Olivia?] Her agent’s voice came from her earpiece, but she couldn’t give a response right now, so she just turned it off.
Which, to Lea, looked like she was moving her hair behind her ear.
"She’s just someone I met in a supermarket," Liam explained, "though it’s a surprise that she’s our neighbor."
"Is that so?" Lea muttered, though she was still a bit suspicious, she decided to ignore it for now.
"I don’t think we were properly introduced," Liam spoke up again, this time without a smile on his face, "I’m Liam, you’ve already met Lea, and this little rascal is Eli. I hope we get along."
"Hmm," Olivia nodded, "it’s nice to meet you all, I’m Olivia. "
Fortunately, it doesn’t seem as if any of the trio recognized her as Radiance, so her secret was safe...for now.
Grumble~
Olivia’s face quickly turned red as her stomach made its presence known.
"You must be hungry," Liam said as he looked at her with a small smile on his face.
Olivia nodded in response.
As much as she was embarrassed, there was also the undeniable fact that she was hungry.
"Take a seat," Liam said as he walked back to the kitchen.
"Here," Eli called out as he pulled a chair for her at the dining table.
"Thank you," Olivia said with a smile before taking a seat, and Eli took the one opposite her.
Lea, on the other hand, looked at Olivia for a while before also walking to the kitchen, where her older brother was.
"So?" She said as she stood by Liam’s side and helped him plate the food.
"So?" Liam repeated, not looking at her, though there was a small smile on his face.
"Did you deliberately choose this place because of her?" She asked exactly the question he expected she would.
"I just thought the view here was quite great," he answered, "also, the security here is quite good. "
"Besides, there’s no way for me to have known where she lived."
"Is that so?" Lea asked again.
"Hmm," Liam nodded before picking the plates up and adding, "let’s go eat."
Lea looked at her brother’s back as he walked out of the kitchen with the plates before letting out a sigh.
It seems Liam had made it a habit of hiding things from her, though it wasn’t as if he’d ever been the type to open up anyway.
And as much as she hated it, she could do nothing.
With another sigh, she picked up the remaining plates and followed behind him.
***
"This is really good," Olivia’s eyes widened as the steak melted in her mouth.
"It surprisingly is," Lea agreed, "I was expecting to get food poisoned again. "
"Hey, I’ll have you know I have been practicing," Liam defended, "besides, that was my first time making sushi."
"Then I’m guessing it was also your first time making ramen, too?" Lea looked at him with a raised brow.
"That...." Liam couldn’t come up with a rebuttal, so he internally blamed it on his predecessor.
Olivia silently looked at their banter for a while before looking down at her plate.
’Is this what a family is supposed to be like?’ she found herself thinking, ’they seem so warm with each other.’
Unlike...
"More steak?" A voice that came from opposite her pulled her thoughts back to the table.
She looked up and noticed the youngest of the three looking directly at her.
She then looked back at her plate, realizing that she had quickly finished the steak in it without noticing.
"Please," she said, holding out her plate.
Eli took it with both hands and carried it to the kitchen counter, where the remaining steak was.
"He’s sweet," Olivia muttered as he watched the kid go.
"Don’t let him hear that," Liam said, "I think his head is already the right size."
She chuckled at that response, and a second later, the kid returned with a fresh plate of steak and set it before her.
"Thank you," Olivia said with a smile.
"You’re welcome," Eli replied, before walking back to his seat, his satisfaction evident on his face.
When the plates were finally empty, and the table had gone quiet, Olivia looked at the time, and she was genuinely surprised by how late it was.
"I should head back," she said, pushing back her chair.
"Already?" Eli said.
"Yeah," Olivia nodded before standing up, "thank you for the dinner."
"Before you leave, I have a request to ask," Liam suddenly spoke up, pulling her attention towards him.
"Hmm?" Olivia curiously turned towards him and asked.
"Since we just moved in," he continued, "we don’t know the area well, and since tomorrow’s a weekend, you could show us around."
"If you don’t have any plans, that is."
Olivia thought about it for a while.
She was currently on break from hero work, and she usually spent weekends cooped up inside her apartment with nothing to do, so this shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
Besides, they were kind enough to offer her food, so this was the least she could do.
"Sure," she finally said, "I don’t have work tomorrow, I could show you around then?"
Liam forced himself not to grin after her answer. There was only one more step to this, and just as expected, his dear little brother executed his part really well.
"Then we’ll visit the amusement park?" Eli let out, "I saw one on the way here."
Exactly as Liam had intended, why else would he take the long way around?
All was according to plan.
Olivia went silent again, thinking on it for a while before nodding, "Sure."
"Yay!" "Awesome!"
Lea and Olivia turned towards Liam, who had let out his thoughts at the same time as Eli.
"I mean, it has been a while since I went to an amusement park," Liam cleared his throat and said.
Olivia just chuckled at that before walking towards the door, "I’ll see you all at ten tomorrow, goodnight."
With that, she walked out of the apartment, leaving behind two boys with smiles on their faces for two completely different reasons.
"A tour, huh?" Lea said as he looked at Liam.
"Of course," he shamelessly responded, "now, let’s watch some TV."
***
Meanwhile, in the sky just above the building was a floating man.
He had both hands in his pockets, and his eyes subtly glowed as he looked at the building below him.
"I guess you’re getting too comfortable again," he said with a smile on his face before pulling a phone out of his pocket and putting it to his ear.
A second later, he spoke, "That doesn’t matter."
His smile widened before he added,
"Would you like to know who took out your Gamma-ranked puppets?"
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