Walking into the classroom, I made a beeline to my table and dropped the news book onto the table.
"Did something bad happen today?"
Looking at my probably dark face, Frank nervously asked as he flipped the newsbook open.
Pausing, I thought about whether I should tell Frank that Oliver was being adopted into my household. But glancing around at the half filled class, I postponed the decision for later.
Turning my head, I noticed the empty seat beside us.
"How rare. Linel is late?"
Lifting his head from the news book, Frank flicked his eyes to Linel's seat.
He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make any noise we heard a familiar voice from the door of the classroom.
"Safe!"
Sliding into the classroom, Linel dumped himself onto his chair.
"Can't believe I overslept today."
Draping his arm over his eyes, the two of us silently observed as he played off the small red puffy ring around his eyes.
"Well at least you aren't late. First period today is Mr Kim's class."
Making a small joke, I patted Linel in the back in silent consolation.
Looking at me with thankful eyes, he shifted his chair closer and leaned over to read the news book.
"Huh? Oliver is actually coming to Middle Middle street."
Reading the title of the article, Linle furrowed his brows. In the middle of reading that article, Frank pointed out one line in the middle of the page.
"They say that for safety purposes, they aren't going to name the household, but I wonder how long they can keep it a secret. There's definitely going to be a lot of people looking out for Oliver in the upcoming days."
Sighing, Frank returned his attention back to the article. Linel nodded his head before tilting his head to read the article as well.
"Is Oliver really coming to Middle street?"
As I was looking at the two of them reading the news book, I heard a voice from behind me. Turning around, I came eye to eye with a female classmate of mine. Her eyes were sparkling, and behind her were several friends of hers who were also looking curiously our way.
Avoiding her eyes, I looked over at the two smirking troublemakers.
"According to the article, yes. If you want to read it, I'll lend it to you later."
Shifting to look at the girl, I could see the sparkles in her eyes increase as she nodded her head.
"Please and thank you. I'll stop disturbing the three of you now."
She gave a small wave before walking back to her friends, a large smile on her face.
Turning back to the two boys, I gave them a glare as they snickered.
"Have you finished?"
Stealing the news book from under Frank's nose, I flipped back to the page talking about Oliver's adoption.
"Ah! I'm not done!"
Too late in reaching out a hand to grab the book back, Frank pouted as I left the two of them.
"What can we do? As they say, once a man meets a woman, his friends are all but cardboard cutouts. Nonexistent."
I'll show you who's nonexistent!
Passing the book over to the group of girls, I stomped back to my seat to give the two of them a piece of my mind.
Linel acted scared, while Frank laughed from the side, and the three of us played for a while until Mr Kim's tall and lanky figure entered the classroom.
Immediately shutting up, Linel returned to his seat and everyone obediently took out their notebooks, chalk and chalkboards.
After all our lessons were finished, as I packed my things into my bag, Linel walked over to the three of us.
"Hey, before we go to the cemetery, could we head somewhere else. I have something to tell you two."
With an uncharacteristically serious tone, Linel said with a frown on his face.
"What a coincidence. I also have something to tell the two of you."
Standing up, the three of us followed the crowd of students filing out of the classroom and left the school building. Walking along our regular path to the cemetery, before we reached the end, we ducked into a small alleyway and paused there.
Facing each other in a circle, we faced each other.
"So...who should start first?"
Linel turned his head to look me in the eye, and the two of us stared at each other for a couple seconds.
"You can go first."
Giving a weary smile, Linel nodded his head.
"Well, for starters, I guess I should tell you a little bit about me. I am the son of a relatively famous politician."
Digging into his pocket, he took out a little metal case. Opening it, we could see a photo of a family of three. The photo looked pristine despite the slightly worn out case it was in.
Looking at the faces on the photo, I saw Frank raise an eyebrow.
"Isn't that the politician who was very open about Alex's case?"
Carefully observing the photo, I tore my eyes from it to glance at Linel.
"That's right. My Dad has always been very vocal about how the MDVA prevention act was fundamentally wrong by judging victims before they committed any crime. Especially 2 years ago and several months ago, he appeared on the television very often to discuss these matters."
Smiling, Linel then kept the case in his pocket. Then his smile disappeared.
"However, a couple months ago, he was framed for a crime. We faced quite a bit of backlash, and our family had no choice but to escape to Top Middle street for a while. But my Dad says that it's time to go back, so we're going to be moving back to High street soon."
It was at this point where Linel's head slowly tilted down.
Leaning over, I patted his back to console him and waited for his head to lift before speaking.
"Even if you're going back to High street, we can still be friends."
Following my lead, Frank used his fist to bump Linel's shoulder.
"That's right. Although the fact that I have seen your Dad on television is a shocker, it doesn't change the fact that you're still my friend."
Giving a sigh of relief, I could see the tension deflate from Linel's shoulders and his signature smile return back to his face.
"Alright, that's all that I had to say. Thank you. Both of you."
Turning his head to the side, Line and Frank then focused their gaze onto me.
"You said that you had something to say too?"
Facing two curious eyes, I took a deep breath and slowly recounted meeting Oliver yesterday. Slightly shocked, Frank's eyes widened as he jerked forward with sparkling eyes.
"Oliver is really going to be adopted to your house?!"
Beside the excited Frank, Linel had a rare stunned face.
"I didn't expect that he would actually come to Middle street."
Shaking my head, I gestured for us to continue walking.
"Me too."
Reaching the cemetery, we stopped talking about Oliver and instead headed up the stairs. At the second floor, Frank suddenly paused and gestured to the doors.
"Do you want to visit your brother?"
Tilting my head to look at the doors, I silently walked towards them.
I opened the doors and headed towards Leo's tombstone. Kneeling down in front of it, I greeted him.
"Hey, Leo. It's only been a couple of days since I last visited you, but a lot of things have happened. The boy I told you before, Ralph, got a job at the local cafe. The one I told you about. I wish I could have brought you there, but sadly it opened only 1 year plus ago. And then, just yesterday, it was confirmed that someone new is going to join the family."
Reaching out my hand to trace the engraving on the tombstone, I gave a sad smile.
"Please don't think that we have forgotten you. Your room is still there, as you have left it. I clean it once a week so the dust won't coat everything. The guy's name is Oliver, and his sister also had MDVA. Although like you, she has left this world already."
Removing my hand, I patted the tombstone.
"That's pretty much all that has happened since I last came. Your big brother will go now."
Standing up, I brushed the fake dirt off my knees and turned around to face Frank and Linel. Then, without talking, we exited the second burial ground and climbed to the third. Entering the burial grounds, Linel and I stood some distance behind Frank as he gave his daily report to his brother.
Once the three of us were finished, we exited the cemetery and made a beeline for my apartment.
"Do you think Olivr will be at your house today?"
Walking on my left, Frank looked at me with sparkling eyes as he gripped his bag straps.
"I have no idea. He said his visit yesterday was to look at the house, so he might not be here today."
Wilting at my words, Frank turned his head to look in front of him.
"That's a shame. I wanted to ask more about MDVA, since he lived with his sister for around 2 years. Although my big brother had it, he was diagnosed before I could notice a difference."
I couldn't help sneaking a peak at Frank as he said that. He never really liked to talk about his brother, and losing him was obviously a large hit to him. I just couldn't bear to ask him.
Glancing to my right, I met Linel's curious eyes and slightly awkward smile and I could tell that he thought the same.
"There's no telling whether Oliver would be there or not though. Since I thought he would go to High street, and instead he chose a house in Middle street. He might actually be there right now."
Reaching over to pat Frank's shoulder, Linel said as we got closer to my apartment. Although I didn't fully believe his words, and neither did Linel himself judging by his crooked smile, I still nodded my head to agree with him.
Perking up, the sparkle returned to Frank's eyes as he increased his stride and walked slightly quicker.
"Then let's go!"
Sharing a weary gaze with Linel, the two of us quickened our steps to catch up with Frank.