Watching as the table turned silent, I couldn't help but recount the day's happenings to Ralph in order to fill it with noise. Sipping my soup while talking, I saw Ralph occasionally nod his head as he drained his bowl. Similarly, Oliver stayed at the table with his empty bowl, although he didn't seem to be listening to my words.
Once I finished relaying everything, I gulped the rest of my soup down before getting up. Following me, the two boys also grabbed their bowls and we placed them into the sink. Tilting my head, I saw the pitch black sky, and turned to Oliver.
"It's a little too late to go out. Are you going to stay here tonight?"
Glancing at the blackness outside the window, I saw scrunch his face in thought.
"My bed may be small, but if we squeeze we can probably both fit."
Walking to the living room, I suggested as we headed towards my room. Even though it was so dark, it would probably take a while longer for June to reach home.
"No need. There's some loose ends I still have to settle back at the adoption center. I'll probably be done by tomorrow though."
Turning the knob, we entered my room and Oliver immediately headed towards my bookshelf.
"I see."
Sneaking a peek at his expression, I confirmed that he wasn't just lying to avoid 'inconveniencing' me, and then sighed.
"Good thing the furniture arrives tomorrow. When you move in, everything will probably be set up already."
Taking three sandboxes from the bottom of the bookshelf, I gestured for the two boys to come over and sit on the floor right next to me.
"While we wait for the adults, want to play a couple rounds?"
I opened the boxes and grabbed the stick.
"Sure."
Nodding their heads, the two opened their boxes and started drawing the battlefield lines.
"Everyone here knows how to play, so we can just start."
After deciding the turn orders, I marked my first move in the sand. In response to that, Ralph who went next placed his mark near the corner. In contrast, Oliver aggressively marked the area near Ralph.
"You mentioned that you have loose ends to settle. Is it that there are a lot of forms to fill out?"
I asked Oliver as I made a move to corner him. Seeing the situation, Ralph followed my cue and started advancing towards Oliver.
"There's a ton of forms left. Not only that, but since Andrew has been captured, I don't have a legal guardian currently. Appointing a legal guardian has its own forms to fill, then we have to wait for it to be processed by the admin system. After that there's still some property forms to fill, including Alex's death papers, Andrew's legal papers, property management papers, adoption papers and more."
Sighing, Oliver casually retreated away from our advancing troops and started setting up his counter attack.
"Honestly, I have only finished around half of them. But with my current temporary guardian's help, it should be done by evening tomorrow."
Giving Oliver a sympathetic look, I dodged his counterattack and pushed his troops further into the corner.
"Sounds troublesome."
Reaching over to pat him on the back as Ralph joined me in cornering him, we subtly diverted the conversation into something lighter as the game continued on.
Oliver, having his counterattack against me foiled, shifted his focus to Ralph and successfully escaped from our encirclement. Then, using a set of moves, managed to narrowly beat Ralph before losing at my hands.
Resetting the sand boxes, we started another round. This time Ralph was first.
"Speaking of, just now, your mother brought us to a guy called 'Link'. Who is he?"
As Oliver made his move, I paused and gave him a raised eyebrow.
"She's not only my mother, she's yours too. You should change how you call her. Also, I don't know who Link is. She's never really liked to involve me with the anti-MDVA act faction."
Moving my soldier forward, this time it was Oliver's time to freeze. Ralph, with no hesitation, moved his soldier towards me this time.
"Then...I'll call her Elaine. The word 'mother' is a bit...."
Looking as Oliver made an incredibly uncomfortable expression as he spit out that word, I tried my best to not react too much to his words.
"What you decide to call my mom is up to you. Just as long as it's not 'your mother'."
Showing a weird expression, Oliver then smiled as he made a heartless move to corner me.
"It seems that you're in quite a tough spot."
Hearing Oliver snicker as I racked my brain to find a way to escape from this corner.
"Shut. You better watch your back once I escape from this."
Thinking deeply, I ran through the many formations in my head before choosing what I thought was the best solution. Luckily, I had quite a lot of experience in this game, and was quickly able to turn the tables on the two of them.
The moment when their sure fire victory crumbled in front of their eyes, I saw Oliver turn on Ralph, leaving only the two of us left on the battlefield.
"Ah..."
Pouting as he lost, Ralph reset his sandbox as he peered intensely at our 1-v-1 match.
"How sneaky."
Teasing Oliver, I made my soldier back off and lead Oliver into my trap. Then, once the time was right, I furiously attacked him and won the match.
"Yes!"
"Ah!"
Sighing as he lost, Oliver then chuckled and we reset our sandboxes for another match.
"If I wasn't the most experienced player here, I don't think I could have won that."
Heaving a sigh of relief, I saw Oliver and Ralph smile at the indirect praise.
"Boys! June's here!"
Showing a face deep in thought, as Ralph stretched his hand to make his first move, we heard my mother's voice sound from outside the door.
"Ah."
Ralph retracted his hand and made a sound of disappointment.
"I guess it's time to go home."
Standing up, the three of us returned the sandboxes back to the bottom of the bookshelf. Then, turning the doorknob and swinging open the door, we filed out into the living room to see the three adults talking together in low voices.
Turning their faces towards us as we walked out of my room, June smiled and reached over to give Ralph a hug. And after she released him from her embrace, she patted me on the head with a warm grim.
"Thank you for looking after Ralph.''
Taking her other hand, she placed it on top of Ralph's head as well.
"You too. Thank you to both of you."
Turning around, she bowed to both our parents and then waved goodbye as she left through the front door.
Watching her escaping silhouette, I heard my mother sigh.
"She's still not comfortable enough to trust us."
Glancing at her, I saw my father place his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. Then, he looked at Oliver and smiled.
"It's time for me to bring Oliver back as well. The last time I was there, I saw a mountain of paperwork left to be completed. I'm guessing it's still not done?"
Seeing my father's kind and gentle facade, Oliver nodded his head slowly.
"I see. In that case I'll call one of my friends for a favor tonight. We'll make sure that everything will be completed by tomorrow."
Nodding his head once more at my father, I felt the tension between the two of them spike. However, it didn't last long as my father turned his head to kiss my mother on the cheek, before giving her a genuine smile.
"Then I'll be back soon. The two of you should go to sleep first. I'll pass this back to Daniel."
Gesturing to the newsbook in his hands, we watched as the two of them exited through the front door. Locking it behind them, I heard my mother sigh once more before the both of us headed to the kitchen.
Sitting on the table, I observed my mother make a steaming hot cup of tea for the both of us.
"Did something happen between Dad and Oliver?"
Secretly glancing at her as I asked, I tried to keep my face expressionless as she brought the two cups over.
Passing one over to me, I saw my mother make a face full of thought before she took a sip of her tea.
"Don't tell Oliver, but Dad feels that Oliver might have some ulterior motive for specifically choosing our family. "
Blowing on my cup, I sipped one mouth and sighed as the heat warmed me up from the inside.
"From what Oliver told me, he said that he chose our family because he saw the article from 2 years ago. The one that involved Eren."
Checking my mother's face, she didn't seem very surprised, so I continued.
"He said that if Eren was alive, he might have considered Camellia's family. He said he wants someone close to his age to make friends with and guide him around Middle street."
Relaying what Oliver told me, I saw my mother furrow her brows slightly in thought before she nodded her head.
"Actually, Mom and Dad also reckoned his criteria was something like that. However, what Dad wants to know is for what reason does he want to join an Anti-MDVA act faction family."
Opening my mouth, I was about to state the obvious. If his father was from the Anti-MDVA act faction, then it felt natural for him to join a family that was Anti-MDVA act. Especially because of his sister. However, before I spoke, I was enlightened. It suddenly dawned on me what my mother was trying to say.
If it was just any Anti-MDVA act faction family, then there were definitely much better choices. A great example would be Linel's family, who were not only influential, but also lived in High street and so they had better safety and resources. Comparing our two families, the benefits of one seemed obvious.
Then why did he choose us?
Seeing my confused expression, I saw my mother give a small smile before she drank finish her tea. She then took her cup to the sink to wash.
"Since Dad said to sleep first, he's probably going to stay out for quite a long while. Dad has the day off tomorrow, so he might come home in the morning. We should listen to him and go to sleep first."
Giving me a wave, my eyes followed my mother as she retreated into the room. Then, I waited for the sound of her door locking before gulping down the rest of my drink and bringing it to the sink to wash.
Returning to my room, I looked at the wall of newspaper clippings. Walking to the bookshelf, I took one of the articles from today and pinned it to the board.
'Discussions about the discontinuation of the MDVA prevention act underway for the tenth time. Protesters discouraged about the outcome, but most have said that they will attend the public debates to show their support. The date has yet to be decided."