As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Byron suddenly found himself face down on the table, his head being pressed on it while his arm was being twisted around his back.

From his position, he could see an extremely annoyed Lianne, who was glaring at him while crossing her arms across her chest.

"I can sue you for slander," Lianne said.

Kay came up beside her and took out her phone, "I'll get you the best lawyer."

Joseph just looked at Byron in pity, shaking his head.

"Sue?" Zero said from above Byron, "Why go through that hassle? I can just …"

Zero looked around, and noticed people were watching them, "... bring him home and give him to his parents."

Then, under his breath so that only Byron could hear, "after teaching him a lesson or two."

As he said that, Zero twisted his arm a bit more and pressed down on his head more, though those actions could not be seen.

His expression also didn't change.

"Seeing this kind of reminded me of Kyle so long ago," Kay mused, watching Zero nonchalantly holding Byron down.

"Oh?" Joseph said, raising an eyebrow then came over, putting his arm around her waist, "Do tell."

Kay smiled as she recalled the time they were in school, and had gone to the food trucks for dinner after Kyle had done the school council interview, "It was when we were still schooling, actually. It was during dinner. Kyle and the others had gone to get the food when some goons appeared trying to hit on me."

Joseph pulled Kay closer to him, his face frowning.

His wife really was a magnet for men, even then.

"Kyle broke the leader's arm, after knocking him unconscious by hitting his head on the table," Kay said, "After that, everyone else just ran away."

"So, Zero to Lianne, is like Kyle is to you," Joseph said, understanding as he watched Zero protect his sister.

A part of him was rather peeved, though, because he was not capable of doing what Zero was doing. He was Lianne's brother, yet someone else was standing up for her instead of him.

Another part of him was glad that Zero was here to do so, for Byron's shout had made everyone turn towards them. Even if Country Tz was much more liberal than Country M, it did not mean saying such personal things out loud, was appropriate.

Even if Lianne was pregnant (which he knew, she was not), his words had crossed the line.

Zero was in his 'bad mood' mode, and Joseph wisely did not interfere at all.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Byron was begging, "I wasn't thinking!"

"Yes, you weren't," Lianne said, not showing any pity, "The sort of nonsense that comes out of that mouth can only come from an idiot with a pea-size brain like you. The brain needs to be used, you know. Otherwise it would shrivel up … like yours obviously did."

Zero gave a smirk.

He exerts the physical pain, Lianne dishes out the mental pain.

He could feel Byron wince at Lianne's words. Who wouldn't feel it when the object of their crush insults them like that?

"Or perhaps, you did a brain transplant with a monkey," Lianne said, tilting her head while putting her finger on her chin, "And now, that monkey is a f*cking idiot."

Kay and Joseph hissed under their breath.

"She's only getting started," Joseph said, bringing his mouth to Kay's ear to whisper to her. Kay couldn't help but shiver a bit upon feeling his body so close to her, and his breath right at her sensitive ears.

Joseph, noticing her reaction, smiled slightly and blew a little bit into her ear.

"Joseph!!" Kay screeched, putting her hand on her ear and pushing him on the chest.

That shout of hers made people now look at her and she huffed, turning away from Joseph.

Joseph couldn't help but laugh a little bit upon seeing her act so cute.

Byron, on the other hand, was now looking at the couple with wide eyes.

From their closeness and interaction, it was quite obvious that they were a couple. Such a gorgeous woman, and she was with Joseph?!

What was with this Yang blood?

Not only were their partners people with such outstanding features, they were of a higher level. He couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but to him, they seemed to be people 'out of their reach'.

Yet, the Yang siblings were with them??

[Kay, can I ask for a favour?]

Kay's facial expression didn't change upon her brother's sudden connection.

[Of course, brother. You don't even have to ask]

[Stephan and I need to talk with Lianne, but we don't want Joseph to know yet] Kyle said slowly to Kay as he was in the kitchen, making a drink.

[Okay, so what can I do to help?]

[Let him stay with you for tonight?] Kyle said [I don't know how long the talks would be, or whether I would need to take Lianne out for a more mother-daughter talk. So it's best that Joseph is out of the picture right now]

[When are you planning to tell Joseph?]

[When we have more information] Kyle told her [Telling him these vague things would not do anything other than make him worry. Once we have all the information, we'll tell him]

[Make sense. How did Stephan take the big reveal?]

Kyle looked at his former spouse, drinking the coffee that Kyle had made [Better than I thought. Things are ok at this end]

[That's good. And don't worry, Kyle. I'll take care of Joseph today. In fact, why not just let him stay with me for the week? I am sure you're going to send Lianne for testing over the weekend?]

Kyle was silent for a while. It was still the middle of weekday, but perhaps it was the better option. He doubted that Lianne would be in a proper state of mind to think about school or even want to be with people after breaking the news to her.

But to have Joseph stay with Kay the entire time?

That would certainly make him suspicious and wonder why, right?

And what about Stephan?

If Kyle was to take Lianne and handle all the medical issues, and Joseph wasn't home because he was with Kay, Stephan would be left all alone.

[I'll get back to you on that] Kyle said after thinking for a bit [Tonight is definitely needed but for the rest, it will be up to Stephan]

[True. Okay, just let me know]

Kay had been too excited over having Joseph over that she neglected Stephan. Being able to have Joseph over for several days was great so she leaned over and whispered to him while taking the opportunity to land a kiss on his ear, "Guess what?"

The tip of Joseph's ear immediately went red but he managed to keep his face straight, "What?"

"Just talked to Kyle," she said, "He's got a few things he needs to do. Long story short, he's asked if I could put you up for the night."

Joseph was so happy at the sudden news that he didn't even care about the why or the hows of it, "Really?!"

"Yes, really," Kay replied with a smile.

"Lianne?"

"Oh, don't worry about her," Kay said, "It's just you and me tonight."

Joseph squeezed her waist more, then ran his fingers gently along the side, just barely touching the swell of her breast, while saying, "That's good."

"Let's stop by the shops before going home," Kay said, "We really should have some of your things besides just the toiletries."

Joseph smiled.

Home.

His home, with Kay.

"What about Lianne?" Joseph asked.

"Zero will be with her," Kay said, "And I believe they need to settle this boy issue first."

"True," Joseph said, "Let's leave them to it then."

He couldn't wait to go and buy things with Kay. Making their home more comfortable.

Kay walked over and tapped Zero on the shoulder, "We'll be making a move now. Be careful not to break his arm or leave any visible marks."

Byron's eyes went wide open at those words.

Zero didn't say a word but merely nodded.

"Lianne, see you later," Kay said with a smile, walking out hand-in-hand with Joseph.

Lianne looked at her watch and noted that it was still rather early. She didn't think much about Joseph following Kay at the moment, for she knew that Kay would bring Joseph back in time to avoid suspicion.

Of course, she didn't know that her parents were waiting anxiously at home in order to break the news to her.

For now, her mind was on Byron.

"What now, Lianne?" Zero asked, pointing at Byron with his chin.

"Well, I believe your plan to bring him home is good," Lianne said, "We need to settle this Byron once and for all."

Byron gulped.