Then out of nowhere, Temi felt a resounding slap that connected her back to her brain.
Ready to retaliate, Temi got up and was about to look the person in the eye, but when she saw the material the person wore, she slowly, but gently lowered herself back to the ground and curled herself up into a ball.
This had the whole house roaring with laughter.
Temi's Father roared with laughter as he held his stomach and almost fell off his chair but managed to jump up from it.
Her Mother on the other hand was the person that had slapped her back. When she saw her daughter's response to stimuli, she couldn't help but run to the kitchen laughing really hard.
Her brothers on the other hand, they made matters worse.
Once their Mother slapped their sister, their laughter attracted the attention the of maid servants of the house.
"Hahahaha!!!"
They laughed so hard, not only did their bellies hurt, but also their backs, because they were leaning in the stair cases so...
One even fell backwards and hit his head in the case with a loud;
'Thud!'
And it was the little one...
Bryce...
Once Temi heard him scream to she quickly got up and headed in his direction, making the rest of her brothers scram, because if she gets a hold of them, she utterly deal with them, personally!
Taking the little one in her arms, she gently patted his back as she gently shushed him.
"Shhh, calm down Bryce, it's okay, it's okay...!"
She said as she gently placed his head on her shoulder as she tried to calm her little brother down, gently massaging the back of his head, where he had used to the stair case.
"But it hurts...!" Bryce whimpered.
"I know Bryce, I know...!" Temi said.
"But if you don't want it to go that's when you'd keep on saying that it hurts!" Temi said.
Bryce stopped crying and then raised his head to look at his older sister with a confused face.
"Huh?" He asked.
Temi nodded.
"Yup!"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't understand...!" Little Bryce said as began rubbing his eye with the back of his palm, an indication that he wanted to sleep.
"Of course, you don't Bryce...!" Temi said as she smiled, walking towards her chair and then sitting down.
Brushing her brother's curly curls away from his eyes, she looked into those beautiful brown eyes and those beautiful brown eyes also stared into hers.
"What I meant was, if you want the pain yo disappear without Mum having to massage it with hot water and balm for you, you gotta show what you're capable of!" She said.
At the mention of hot water and balm, little Bryce squeezed his face.
Temi laughed.
"I don't wanna be massaged with the hot water and balm...!" Bryce cried out.
"Do worry, you won't...!" Temi said.
"Except if you keep on crying Luke a chicken, you will!" Their Mother answered from the kitchen.
Looking in the direction of the kitchen, both Temi and Bryce could see their mother standing at the door frame, smiling at them and pointing at the pot on fire as she looked at her little son.
When Bryce saw the pot, he got scared and clung to his big sister.
Temi laughed, and so did her Mother and also her Dad.
Looking down at her little brother, Temi said;
"What we meant was; if you take the pain too seriously, it'll hurt even more...!"
"Yeah, right, that's what we were told when 'we' were little...!" Troy, Temi's little brother, second to her cut her off to say.
Temi hated it when he cuts her mid way, and he knew that, but he still did it anyway.
They were never on good terms for no just cause...
Temi, turning to look at her brother, she was literally fuming.
Bryce looked up at his eldest sister after hearing what his eldest brother had said and what he had done, he couldn't help but giggle.
Troy raised his eyebrows as if challenging his sister as he said;
"Yeah...it never worked!"
"I was talking to little Bryce, and not you!" Temi said.
"Well, I'm also a junior to you, so...!"
"Plus, I was once his age, and you've always told that to the both of us...!"
Troy said as he pointed at his other brother, Lucas, and then at himself as he continued and said;
"And it never worked, so right now, since I was so blessed enough to have two little boys following after me, I actually see the need to actually warn them of 'fake beliefs'!"
Troy seemed to be challenging Temi, because once he said that, Temi's chest started heaving up and down, as she was getting angry, and get this, Temi wasn't a very patient and calm person.
She's a very bad-tempered person.
"Troy!" Temi called.
"What?" Troy answered.
Before she could say anything else, Troy beat her to it as he said;
"If you wanna try to caution me, think twice Temi, that's not happening!"
Temi bit her lip as she raise an eye brow.
"Yes, you can't be going around, lying to children like that!"
"It's called a child's 'brain twist', you're just tryna fool little kids into making them think that something's true, meanwhile, it's not!" He said as he looked at his sister, as if eyeing her.
"A brain twist you say?" She asked in a low tone.
Nodding, Troy answered;
"Yeah, a brain twist!"
He was not aware of the hidden meaning behind Temi's words.
"Is there a hidden meaning to my question?" Temi asked.
Troy had wanted to say something before, but when his sister asked that question, he paused with his mouth wide open as he know understood what his sister had said, causing little Bryce to giggle.
"You little...!" Troy was about to pounce on Bryce, bit since Temi was there and was holding Bryce in her arms, Troy could only pass an empty threat.
Once Troy attempter to attack Bryce, Temi didn't move. She only watched him.
She knew he knew his limits, and that was why she didn't make a move. If he had made a move, then she would have been glad to show him the way out.
But since he hadn't, she simply relaxed.
"Just because Temi's here doesn't mean I wouldn't get you later...!"
"And just because Mum and Pops are both here doesn't mean you can run your mouth!" Temi snapped at Troy, shutting him up.
Eyeing his sister, his eyes slowly moved down, until they settled on his little brother, narrowing his eyes at him before getting up and leaving the dinning room, leaving his family and headed for his room.
Opening the door to his room, he opened the door, stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him, with a loud, 'BANG!'
"Why is big bro angry?" Bryan asked as he sighed.
"He's been acting odd lately...!" Bryan said.
"Yeah, he's been acting out of character lately!" Lucas added.
"Maybe there's this girl that he asked out but got rejected!" Temi said as she shrugged.
Little Bryan chuckled.
Lucas laughed also.
After a little laughter, Temi settled her eyes on her Dad, to find him staring at her.
"Dad?" Temi called.
"Hm?"
"What's wrong?"
Looking at his daughter for a while, before lowering his eyes, he gently sighed as he gently shook his head in a negation and muttered a little;
"Nothing...!"
And with that, he stood up and left the room.
Everyone stared at him, before turning their eyes and gazes to one another in confusion, even their Mother.
"What was that 'bout...?" Lucas asked as he looked at his Mother, then at Temi.
"Is Daddy okay?" Little Bryan asked as he liked up at Temi.
"Of course, why wouldn't he be?" Temi asked back as she looked down at her little brother.
"He's acting kinda weird...!" Lucas answered.
"He's okay, don't worry, he's just got a lot of things on his mind right now!" Their Mother said.
"Yeah, like having to send me to school remember?" Temi said.
That was when they all froze.
"Please don't tell me that is true." Lucas gently said.
Temi smiled.
"So you're are you leaving us for, like, for...forever?" Bryan asked as his voice got choked.
Temi's smile broadened.
"Of I'm leaving, but not forever...!" She replied.
"Then what's the essence of having to say that you're leaving, but not forever, when the amount of time you would take is as equivalent to you moving out of the house?" Lucas asked as he evaluated.
Reaching out her hand as she shook him by his head, Temi said;
"You know, I'm smart enough to get into this university, but yours, no one would be able to understand it!"
"I wonder why God had to split the brains amongst all the children...!"
"So that you'd be thee only smart one on this house, right?" Lucas asked.
"Duh...!"
"Wouldn't that be being greedy?" Bryan asked.
"Yeah it would!" Temi answered.
"And I was only kidding!" Temi said as she hugged Bryan tightly.
"Yeah, right!" Lucas said as he rolled his eye balls.
"I bet you're just saying that because of Bryan...!" Lucas mumbled.
"Huh?" Bryan didn't hear what happened s older brother had said, but Temi heard every single word.
"Huh?" Lucas asked as he raised his head up to look at Bryan.
But instead if looking at Bryan, his eyes met Temi's and he froze.
He knew that she had heard all what he had said.
It was just for her to act.
But the greatest thing was that he hadn't said it loud, because she if he had, it was the end of the world for him.