As Joel's mouth closed, a delayed hand hit her mouth in an attempt to shut her up. Beside her, with one hand on her mouth and the other on his own forehead, Jade showed a troubled expression. Reaching out to pull the hand from her mouth, Joel turned her head towards Jade with a confused look. Then, as if she were suddenly enlightened, she slapped her hand on her mouth.
"Ah."
Swerving her head towards us, she gave us an innocent-looking smile. Although the corner of her mouth was twitching.
"Please ignore what I just said."
Avoiding our eyes, she then turned her gaze towards the cup in front of us and lifted it up to 'take a sip'. Jade, clearly knowing that she had already finished her tea, gave a small sigh and took over the conversation. Reaching a hand over towards Joel, he made her put down her empty cup before facing us.
"Please don't tell Elaine that we were the ones who let you know of the Anti-MDVA meeting. She probably has a really good reason why she didn't mention it to you, and I don't want her to know it was us who spilled the beans."
Showing us a gentle and pleading smile, Frank, Oliver, and I looked at each other. Well, it was mainly Oliver and I looking at each other. Frank didn't really interact with my mother that much.
The two of us shared a glance, and Oliver shrugged his shoulders in a gesture that brought all the 'decision-making' into my hands. Squinting my eyes at Oliver to express my dissatisfaction at being thrown this hot potato, I turned back to Joel and Jade and made a zipping motion with my mouth.
"Don't worry. We won't tell."
It's not as if my parent's would take the initiative to tell us such important things in the first place. The two were always incredibly against me getting involved in the Anti-MDVA faction.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Jade retrieved his hand from Joel's side and took an actual sip of his tea. He then faced us and gave a short bow.
"Thank you."
Shooting a glance at Joel, Jade narrowed his eyes, and the two seemed to silently converse with their gazes for a hot second. Then, clearing her throat, Joel took back the reins of the conversation and allowed Jade to enjoy his tea in peace.
"Thank you for agreeing to keep it a secret."
Dropping her facade of drinking tea, Joel pushed the cup away and instead diverted all her attention to us. Looking straight into those eyes, the shade of soot with hints of red, I couldn't' help but feel that although the flames had been smothered, they hadn't necessarily been put out yet.
"When we were young, we were inspired by Elaine when she led one of the protests against the MDVA prevention act."
Eyes glazing over as she remembered that day, she spoke with a dreamy voice.
"That day, when Jade and I were still helpless little children in Bottom street, I remember hearing her voice through a neighbor's television. The streets were cold, but her voice seemed to light a fire of hope within me."
Closing her eyes, she smiled warmly as she recounted.
"If I'm not wrong, it was one of the first protests against the MDVA act. At that time, the Red House massacre was all over the news, and the fear of MDVA was at an all-time high. If it weren't for all of Elaine's efforts, the faction wouldn't be as big as it is today."
Sighing, Joel finally opened her eyes and revealed the complex emotions hidden in them. Then, almost unconsciously, I saw her gaze drift over to Jade.
Sensing her gaze, Jade calmly put down his cup and boldly stared back at her. Realizing she had been caught, she gave him an unreadable smile before turning back to the three of us. Freezing, she saw our curious gazes, and an uneasy expression appeared on her face.
"Don't tell me...Elaine didn't tell you about this either?"
Watching as the corner of her mouth twitched, her pleading gaze shifted to Jade. And, upon seeing that face, Jade sighed and reluctantly put down his cup.
"Since we've already told them about the MDVA faction meetings, it wouldn't hurt to tell them anything else. Commit one crime or commit two; it doesn't matter. You still broke the law."
Standing up from the table, Jade took all our empty cups and returned to the kitchen. Narrowing our eyes, the four of us stared at his back as he disappeared. What he said wasn't wrong. However, listening to it, I didn't feel as if it was right either.
But since it was an opinion that benefited us, I kept quiet.
Tearing her eyes away from Jade, Joel took one second to erase her confused expression before sighing.
"Well, since I've already started from the beginning, I might as well tell you everything."
Taking a deep breath, Joel started right from the beginning.
"Alright. So, in the year that the MDVA prevention act came into being, there was a serious MDVA-related massacre that happened in Bottom street."
Opening her mouth, Joel pointed her hand at her far left. And taking this time to reappear with fresh cups of tea, as well as a blank piece of paper and a pencil, Jade distributed the tea to us and passed the paper and pencil to Joel. Thanking him, Joel drew a long line, cutting across the paper. Then, placing the tip of the pencil at the extreme left of the line, she drew a line perpendicular to the main line and labeled it 'Red House Massascure'.
"For quite a number of years before the act, MDVA had been the largest public safety issue. And the last straw that broke the camel's back would be the Red House Massacure that occurred in Biottom street. The incident involved a mere boy, five years old at the time, who had his little sister kidnapped and killed in a small house in Bottom street. The house wasn't an official hideout of the gang, so innocent bystanders were caught in the crossfire. It is rumored that when police finally arrived at the scene, the floor was dyed red with blood, and more than 20 corpses were strewn about the house. In the middle of the house was the culprit of it all. Holding his beloved sister's body, his knife pierced straight through his chest as he joined his sister in the afterlife. In the news, this incident was named the Red House Massacre."
"It is believed that this massacre was the main factor that led to the finalization of the MDVA prevention act. Until that point, the act was merely a scandalous rumor that nobody believed would actually pass through."
Joel moved the pencil a little right and marked that spot as 'The creation of the MDVA Prevention Act'.
"When the act was passed, many people gathered in protest near High street. The leader of the juvenile portion of the protesters was Elaine."
Marking down '1st Juvenile Protest' on the timeline a slight distance away from the previous point, she then naked down several more 'Juvenile Protest' up until the 5th Juvenile Protest.
"She led a total of five protests against the MDVA act before getting married to Van."
Joel wrote down my parent's marriage right next to the fifth Juvenile Protest. Glancing curiously at it, I reached out my hand to point at it.
Tilting my head up, I was about to ask why my parent's marriage needed to be mentioned when I spotted Joel's happy smile. She used the back of the pencil to lightly circle the words and sighed dreamily.
"After the second protest, it was clear that those old croaks in the government would never listen to the cries of the common folk. Not only that, many well-known protest leaders were captured and jailed; some were even executed. Moral was quickly falling as heads started dropping, and it seemed as if the Juvenile Protest Group was on the brink of breaking apart. It was during that time that Van reached out to them."
She tapped the back of her pencil on my father's name, leaving small black marks next to it.
"Most of the juveniles in the Juvenile Protest Group were from Middle street or even High street only. There was no alternative for Bottom street. However, we did have Van, who, through his own strength, managed to rally a couple kids like us to support the Juvenile Protest Group."
Moving to my mother's name, she hesitated. Hovering above the words, she then lifted the pencil high above the paper, as if she were afraid of dirtying them.
"Van's father was someone influential who got demoted to Top Bottom street due to his protests, so we were able to use his connections and power to strengthen the Juvenile Protest Group from within. Although since we rarely left Bottom street, we could only view her shining silhouette from afar. Then, after the fifth protest, which could be considered one of her strongest ones, she passed down the leadership and married Van. This was when morale was at its highest."
Joel then dropped her smile and moved on to the next event. Lowering her pencil, she wrote, 'Death of Justin.'.
"After the couple's marriage, everything seemed peaceful for a while before disaster struck. Elaine, your mother, used to be from Top Middle street. However, after she married Van, she cut off relations with her family. And not too long after that, Van's father, Justin, was sentenced to be publicly executed as an example to the protesters."
Stealing a glance at Oliver, I saw his lip tighten as he narrowed his eyes at the words. In the corner of my eye, I could also see Joel's eyes locking onto Oliver. However, after a short silence, they returned to the paper, and she continued speaking.
"After Justin's death, the two of them became less active in the Anti-MDVA act faction. Then, as if they were protecting something precious, Elaine slowly stopped coming to the Anti-MDVA act faction meetings. And since two years ago, only Van has been participating in the meetings. Although participating would be an overstatement since he barely talks there.
Drawing a line on the timeline to mark when Elaine stopped coming to the meetings, Joel finally put down the pencil.
"That's the rough summary of the relationship between Elaine and the Anti-MDVA act faction."
She passed the paper to me, and I glanced at the scrawled words scrawled onto it before folding it and keeping it safe in my pocket.
"You still haven't stated what Elaine did to help the faction."
Placing his empty cup down, Jade cooly said as he turned himself towards Joel. Peeking into her cup, he noticed it was empty and reched his hand towards it. Seeing his action, Joel bumped the cup closer to Jade's fingers. She then turned to face us.
"During Elaine's time as the leader of the Juvenile Protest Group, she helped to organize and coordinate many peaceful protests against the government. Just like the speech that filtered through my neighbor's door, Elaine was a shining bright light, and we were her moths. She resonated with many people and is seen as a role model in the faction. In fact, even though she has been essentially missing for several years, when she appeared in the last meeting, everyone's eyes couldn't help but deviate towards her. Not only Jade and myself, but I know of many people who have been brought into this faction because of her."
With a smile on her face, Joel praised my mother. However, that smile didn't last long, because as soon as Jade bumped her elbow and brought her back to reality, that warm happiness disappeared and was replaced with a block of ice. Clearing her throat, Joel not-so-subtly looked in the direction of the windows and commented on the time.
"Oh, look at the time! It's already so late! The three of you should probably start heading home."
Putting on her mask of a smile, she stood up from the table and came over to our side. Then, as the three of us followed suit and stood up, she blatantly but gently chased us out of Jade's home. Giving a wave, before we had a chance to say anything, the large and heavy wood doors closed in front of our faces.