Furrowing my eyebrows at Oliver, I saw the smile on his face lengthen into a more smug one.
"Well, what do you want to ask? I'm all ears."
Gritting my teeth, I turned my head and closed my eyes.
"Nevermind."
Hearing three separate voices chuckling, I snapped open my eyes to glare at the two betrayers, I couldn't help but feel the corner of my lips rise. At least the atmosphere has lightened up.
"Sorry."
Hearing a soft voice from beside me, I glance over to Frank to see him trying his best to hold in his laughter. Giving him an accusing stare, I bared my teeth to him in a playful threatening way which only made it harder for him to hold back laughing.
Turning my glare to Linel, who had a wide smile on his face, I gave him a death stare and he made a zipping motion over his mouth. Although the gesture was meaningless since i could still see him silently laughing while doing it.
Finally, turning to Oliver, I folded my arms at him. Out of the three, his chuckling was the quietest and least noticeable. However, his almost crescent eyes and the light inside his eyes betrayed him. Inside those eyes, a sort of thanks was also present.
Huffing, I waited for everyone to come off their laughter. Finally, when Linel stopped trembling, he dragged his chair closer to the bed.
"I actually also have some questions for Oliver. However, those can wait for later."
Giving a look to Oliver, the two seemed to communicate through their eyes. Once that secret conversation finished, Linel turned his attention back to the two of us.
"Right now, let's put the QnA session aside. Isn't there something more fun to do?"
Obviously panning his gaze over to the sand boxers stacked beside the bookshelf, I saw Oliver look over with a confused gaze.
Smiling, Frank slipped off the bed to grab the boxes. Passing around the four boxes, everyone got off their seats and sat in a circle on the floor. Once everyone had one, I introduced the games and their rules for Oliver, before we started the first round.
"What interesting games."
Oliver exclaimed as we gave him the first move. Pausing for a while, Oliver then made a single move.
Seeing the move, I smiled and immediately prepared a counterattack. Beside me Linel also grinned as we both silently ganged up against Oliver. Glancing at our actions, Frank blocked us and saved Oliver from an instant K.O.
"Thank you."
Noticing the balance of power form, Oliver smiled as he took his time to learn the ropes of the game. However, since I was the most veteran in this game, and the opposing side had a beginner holding them back, it wasn't long before Oliver and Frank were defeated. Left with Linel and I, the two of us dissolved our partnership and started going at each other's throats with no mercy.
"Those two are so unfair."
Oliver sighed, although his tone held no signs of complaint despite his sentence's contents. Focusing on the battle from the sidelines, he quietly observed our moves. Whenever he encountered something he didn't understand, he would ask Frank, who would explain it as much as he could.
"It's my win!"
Striking a victory pose, Linel smiled as he dealt the finishing blow. Sighing, I admitted defeat and the four of us reset our sand boxes. This time, since Oliver had a better understanding of the game, it no longer became two intermediate players ganging up on a beginner.
Countering Oliver's move, I smiled as I joined hands with Frank to corner Linel. Cursing, Linel desperately fended us off as he called out to Oliver.
"Truce! Truce!"
However, ignoring Linel's pleas for help, Oliver instead chose to go after one of us.
"Hey!"
Crying out as he lost, Linel slumped back as Frank and I decimated him.
"Let's go!"
Setting my sights on Oliver yet, I didn't even have the chance to celebrate before I was ambushed by Oliver with a clever move and suddenly lost.
"Damn!"
Leaning back, I watched as Linel showed me a 'serves you right' look and we continued to observe the battle.
Suddenly left alone, Frank was in a tight spot where Oliver kept forcing his troops to retreat. Pressing on, Oliver aggressively pressured Frank until it seemed that the winner was obvious. However, in what seemed like the last few moves, Oliver suddenly made a fatal mistake and Frank didn't hesitate to use it to fight back and snack the crown of victory from him.
"I can't believe I won!"
Cheering, Frank pumped his fist into the air while Oliver clapped for him. Smiling with joy, the three of us continued playing several rounds. After that sneak attack on the second round, the three of us no longer underestimated Oliver and the victor constantly changed from match to match.
In the middle of our sixth match, the second I won the round, I heard my mother's voice sound from outside the room.
"Boys! Do you want some snacks!"
Holding up a hand to pause the game, Frank and I stood up from the floor. Turning my room knob, we exited the room and headed to the kitchen.
"Here, some fruits for the four of you."
Smiling as she passed the plate to us, my mother bent down slowly to whisper to us.
"I'm glad that you three are getting along well with Oliver, and I hate to interrupt that. However, we need to go out later to buy some furniture for Oliver. Would it be alright if you wrap up soon? You four can visit anytime in the future."
Listening to her gentle request, Frank and I looked at each other and nodded our heads.
'Thank you."
Patting us both on our heads, we then left the kitchen to return to my room.
Entering the room, before we even took a step in, we could feel the sub zero atmosphere. Looking at each other, Frank took a step back while I took a step forward to check out the situation.
Inside the room, Linel was standing opposite of Oliver, his eyes burning. If looks could kill, Oliver would have a thousand holes pierced into his body.
"Where did you get that information?"
Due to the door being open, we could barely hear the argument between the two.
"I can't reveal my sources, but I can confidently say that they are reliable."
In a neutral and almost unfeeling voice, Oliver answered back. Almost the exact opposite of Linel, Oliver was sitting calmly on the bed with an expressionless face.
"You don't have to believe what I say. But I would recommend you heed my warning."
In an almost factual tone, Oliver warned Linel. Seeing Linel's brows angle further, I took a step into the room, ready to stop the two of them if a fight ever broke out.
My sudden action caught the attention of the two, and they both turned towards me at the same time.
"Sorry Dan, I think I need to leave early."
Giving me an apologetic smile, Linel shot a glare to Oliver as he started walking towards us.
"Leaving now won't solve anything."
Oliver called out, stopping Linel in his tracks.
"Then what do you want me to do?!"
Swerving around, Linel burst out as the tension in the room rose to just shy of exploding.
"Nothing. There's nothing either one of us can do. You should know this."
With those words, the high tensioned atmosphere suddenly cooled like magma being exposed to the air. It soon became so cold and hard that you could almost touch it.
Clenching his fist, Linel tore his hate-filled eyes away from Oliver.
"I know."
And with that, the argument between the two of them ceased.
"Thank you for bringing the fruits."
Turning his head to face us, Oliver smiled as he glanced at the sparkly and juicy looking fruits on the plates.
Sitting down on my chair, Linel took a couple of seconds to cover up his strong emotions before smiling at us and thanking us.
"...No problem."
Putting the fruits on my table, Frank and I didn't comment on what we just saw and heard. Instead , we relayed what my mother told us.
Listening to us, Oliver smiled as he took one fruit.
"So we are going shopping today."
Putting a whole piece of fruit into his mouth, he squeezed his eyes shut as the sourness hit him full on.
"So we can only play a couple more rounds before we have to call it a day."
Sighing, Linel took a small bite of the fruit.
"So what do we want to play?"
Chewing and swallowing, I asked the three of them.
Recovering from the sourness, Oliver suggested one of the more simpler games I had introduced in the beginning.
"Sounds like a good idea.'
Frank commented as he took another bite of the fruit. Then, putting one whole piece into his mouth but not biting down on it, he sat down in front of his sandbox. Following him, the three of us sat down and continued playing. The tension between Oliver and Linel was less noticeable, but the current 'peace' compared to the near explosive argument they had before caused a sense of uneasiness that I just couldn't ignore. And just like that, we finished playing the few rounds we could before my mother called for us to stop.
Walking the two to my front door, we waved goodbye to them. Linel, before he left, gave a look full of unsaid words to Oliver. However, no one mentioned anything about the argument and we all parted ways like that.
"Are the two of you ready?"
Exiting the kitchen, my mother asked as she wiped her hands on her shirt.
"Yes!"
Replying back to her, the two of us put on our shoes and waited obediently at the door. There wasn't anything for us to bring.
Exiting the apartment and locking the door, my mother led us to Middle Middle street, where the furniture shops were.