One of the reasons why Kai won his seat was because he had a gift for creating devices.
Sheng Corp was, after all, primarily dealing with technology.
He had created a few ground-breaking devices that pushed Sheng Corp up higher.
Of course, he never let on that he had more ideas and could even create them by himself. He convinced the Sheng's that all he had were ideas and the blueprints but he, himself, could not produce them.
In short, he had the knowledge of the theories and what needed to be done but not the skill or aptitude to actually make them.
In this way, the Shengs felt it was a win-win situation and both were dependent upon each other. If the Shengs would think that he could branch out on his own, their grip on him would be even tighter.
In fact, if he showed too much independence, or was rebellious, they'd just kill him. It was the old concept of 'if they can't use him, no one can'.
Before he reached this position, he had been too young and too powerless to fight. He also knew that he could not get away from them fully, so he had decided to return. He had to, in order to learn from them, use them and make him so useful to them that they'll leave him alone.
But he knew that they would not stop using him.
He always had to be at least five steps ahead of them.
They were observing him - but he was observing them, as well.
Bringing Lianne here was a risk but one that he had to take. Sooner or later, they'll find out about her; so he never did hide the fact that he was looking for her and how he felt about her.
This was just the first step.
They had to know that she was important to him.
All this while, he had always followed their orders.
This time, he will be making one of his own.
There was only one person he had to truly convince.
His grandmother, the current Matriarch.
Though on the surface, it is the Patriarch that made all the rules and ruled the Shengs, the true power lay in the hands of the Matriarch.
It was a very well-kept secret and one that Kai discovered by chance - and one that he fully utilised. Nobody knew that he knew, which only made his schemes so much easier to succeed.
Kai smirked again.
Ah yes. Grandmother.
Good 'ol Grannie who dotes on this genius grandson of hers; one whom she almost lost when her 'useless' daughter-in-law ran off with him. If he could get his senile old grandmother to leave his mother alone, he damn well can get her to let him have Lianne.
First thing's first.
He got up, taking the file with him. Time for the meeting.
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Zero pursed his lips as he stared at the T-shirt he had borrowed from Justin. It's been three days since that fake date, and he had not had the time to return it yet.
He had washed it over the night and had planned to return it the evening of the next day, but who would have thought? Right after their lunch break, Lianne had called up and requested some background checks.
She wanted an in-depth background check which meant what could only be obtained through hacking. Whatever was on the surface was only what was most probably sensationalised and/or allowed and also, they had to sift through rumours-slash-gossip.
Thus, this was something Zero decided to do personally, with Lucka's help, as the latter was the main hacker of the group. Lucka dealt with Zayn while Zero dealt with the 'mysterious' lady.
Gathering the information was one thing. Analysing them then summarising it was another.
Zero sighed and pinched the space between his eyebrows.
Not being able to indulge himself in sweets for the past few days was really getting to him.
It was only now, did he realise how addicted he was to Lily's baking and that was not a good thing.
Well, to be perfectly frank, it wasn't that he didn't have any sweets but rather, he had limited himself severely. He still had some of the chocolate chip cookies that Lily had given him and it was in a glass jar beside his workplace.
Zero told the others that he was restricting himself, so they can't have any of Lily's stuff while he was at the office. He would growl at them if they dared to buy any and bring it to the office.
Of course, if they did so in the privacy of their homes, Zero wouldn't care …. but the fact of the matter was, Lily's cafe closed in the evening. Thus, it basically meant they couldn't have any!
Zero knew that.
He grinned to himself as he busied himself at the computer.
If he couldn't have any, none of the other Diamond Team could have any.
There was a knock on the door to their office. Zero didn't pay any attention to it, as usual. Even if he wasn't working, he never did pay any attention to anyone who entered and left the room.
However, this time, the said person came up to Zero's workstation and stood respectfully in front of him.
Zero ignored the said person, hardly glancing up.
Akira, who saw all of this, sighed and called out, "Zero."
"What?" he mumbled, not taking his eyes off the screen.
"Don't kill the messenger," Akira replied.
Zero frowned and finally looked up, seeing it was some MIB person, judging from the uniform she was wearing. Lower-tier, just started … a rookie.
"Mr. Zero," she said respectfully, her voice trembling a bit, "There's a lady in the lobby asking for you."
Zero's frown got deeper, his eyes narrowing, "So?"
If there was a visitor, then shouldn't the normal protocols be used? Once the person was verified, they'd just call him. Why was this person coming up to tell him this? What was her motive? What's her purpose?
The person gulped, and she was kicking herself for taking up this dare.
When the visitor came, they did do the normal procedures. After finding out her identity, everyone got excited. It was already exciting enough that someone actually came to ask for Zero, but when it was this person?
Thus, they decided to tell him personally.
They wanted to see his reaction.
She was the one that took up the challenge.
Now, she wished she didn't.
Wanting to run away quickly, she said, "It's Lily from Kitty Cookie's Cafe. She has a package for you."
Zero got up so quickly that the girl stepped back in fear at the sudden movement. Without a word, Zero disappeared.
The girl looked at the empty desk blankly.
The other Diamond Team looked at each other and grinned.
Without a word, they quickly ran after Zero.