In front of my eyes, a large venue with many chairs squeezed next to each other lay in long rows in front of a 'stage'. The 'stage', if it could be called that, was a platform made of industrial boxes stacked on top of each other in a way that made them look stable. Leading up to the stage was a clear path marked out by slightly visible gray tape.
Walking on the path, we craned our heads in search of a place to sit in this busy warehouse. As I turned my head left and right to search for empty seats, I noticed that there were some people who were trying their hardest not to stare at us from their seats. In particular, there was one guy whose eyes had clearly turned into stars, the veins of his neck and eyes bulging as he stared at us from the corner of his eye.
"Oh dear. It seems that we were too late. There's no more seats for the four of us."
Putting a hand on her face, my mother muttered in concern as she gave the venue a quick glance. In an instant, I could see several people preparing to jump to their feat 'naturally' and offer us some space. However, unfortunately for them, before any action could be taken, an energetic voice called out to us.
"Elaine! Van! I saved some seats for you!"
Standing up and waving at us from the front, Ivan smiled as he gestured at the four empty seats next to him.
"Thank you, Ivan."
Smiling, my mother thanked him and hooked her arm around my father's arm as the four of us left the obviously disappointed crowd behind and walked to where Ivan was.
"Elaine?"
Beside the leftmost of the four empty seats was a familiar face. It was the doctor named Link from Middle Middle Market.
"Good evening, Link."
Giving him a face-splitting grin, my mother comfortably sat right next to him. Raising his eyebrows, Link sighed as my mother immediately leaned over at him and whispered something in his ear.
At my father's gesture, I sat beside my mother, while Oliver sat beside me. The two of us sat in the middle seats, while the 'ends' were taken up by the adults.
Sitting next to my mother, I could hear her enthusiastically asking Link about Cale and Jasmine, the boy who suffered from MDVA that we found in the market, as well as his precious person.
Sighing, Link glanced around to make sure no one was blatantly eavesdropping before whispering back to her.
"As someone who took the Oath, I can't tell you the specifics. However, rest assured, they'll be fine for now. If you really want to know the details, ask them yourself."
Showing an annoyed face, Link then straightened his back and closed his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't want to continue this topic.
"But you said yourself, you're not a doctor anymore."
My mother teased him with a childish tone. To which Link responded by opening one of his eyes and giving her a glare.
"Fine, fine. I'll ask Hank the next time I see him."
Chuckling, my mother moved on to another topic with Link, and the two settled into a light banter while catching up with each other.
Turning my attention away from the pair, from the corner of my eye, I saw my father and Ivan speaking to each other. Although I couldn't hear a single word of their conversation, it was clear from my father's excessively polite smile and Ivan's mischievous grin that a game of cat and mouse had started.
"It seems that she has given up for now."
Whipping my eyes towards Oliver, I saw him lean towards me and whisper those words. His head was slightly tilted to the back, and following his gaze, I saw the woman stalking us sitting herself comfortably on a chair several rows back. Her attention was no longer solely on the four of us, and she was talking with some person sitting next to her.
"I wonder what she wants from us."
Adjusting myself into a more comfortable position and facing the front, I lightly commented as I saw a man walk down the middle towards the stage.
"I don't know. But she shouldn't be able to get her way. If the two of us had noticed, I'm sure Elaine and Van should have noticed her too. They must have something planned for her, so let's leave it to the two of them."
Narrowing my eyes at Oliver's sudden shift in attitude, I observed him from the corner of my eye. Shifting in his seat, Oliver's shoulders relaxed as he turned his attention to the man who was currently standing on the platform. None of his actions seemed particularly suspicious, so I returned my attention to the front.
"Attention. Attention."
The man's voice projected loudly in the warehouse, and the slightly noisy crowd immediately went silent. Scanning the room, he waited for everyone's eyes to be on him before he cleared his throat to speak.
"Thank you to all of you who are able to attend this emergency meeting at such short notice. I'd like to think that all of you understand the reason why such a meeting has been called for."
Panning his sight over the crowd, the man then closed his eyes and spoke in a solemn tone.
"The execution of Andrew Amor."
At his words, a harsh silence fell over the crowd. The air was tense and thick enough to cut, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the speaker. Opening his eyes, I could see a cold and firm core of ice form within the man's pupils.
"It is no secret that his execution is meant to be a warning. Those cowardly foxes sitting arrogantly on their high chairs had never, and will never, change their ways. 10 years ago, they executed the first leader of our faction, Jack. And then a year after that, it was Justin who took over Jack's role as the leader of the faction and who was the original owner of this very warehouse. And after that, we lost Kaitlyn, Presley, Isaac, Vincent, and many others to their schemes."
As the man on the stage stated name after name, the tension in the warehouse grew and grew, until it was a blazing flame of rage and anger. The warehouse was hot, and yet as I listened to the list of names grow, I could feel a bone-deep chill start to form within my chest.
"Still, we will never give in."
Raising a fist into the air, the man's brows furrowed as he faced the large crowd in front of him. They were those who shared his views. They were his friends, his teammates, and his partners in this almost impossible fight. They understood his pain, and he understood theirs.
"No matter how many of us perish, no matter how many years it takes, we will abolish that cursed law that robs our children of the lives they could have lived. We will show those cunning old fools that we are not blind and that no matter how many of us fall before their blade, our voices will never be silenced. We will never give up! We will never bow our heads! And we will never stop marching towards our goal!"
He pumped his fist in the air, his passionate speech echoing throughout the warehouse. And yet, despite his words spreading like fire across the air, they were silent enough that those outside the warehouse would barely make them out.
Following his action, one after another, supporters of the Anti-MDVA act faction pumped their fists in the air. They made no noise, but seeing fist after fist punching the air, pushing it out of the way, I could almost hear the fervent cry and screams echo throughout the space.
Listening to the man's words and seeing waves and waves of fists rise up into the air, I could feel a fire burn away the cold, hard ice that had formed inside my chest, near my heart. Melting away the ice, I could feel a wave of warm liquid slosh around inside me, rising in temperature, and then turning into a gas that stretched my ribcage, threatening to burst out of me.
I sucked in a breath of the cold warehouse air and raised my fists, my eyes staring straight at the man. From the corner of my eye, I saw my mother and Oliver doing the same. And after a while, as my arm started to shake from holding my fist above my head for so long, the man in front put down his fist, and I copied him.
Pausing, he waited for everyone to put down his hands before he continued speaking.
"Andrew was a wise man. And although he walked down a forbidden path at the end, his goal had never changed. And that was to bring us a step closer to abolishing the MDVA prevention law."
Starting with this sentence, the man then slightly tilted his head in our direction. Or should I say Oliver's direction.
Observing them with the corner of my eye, I saw the man tilt his head forward in a small nod. His lips were straight, and his eyes were closed. He looked very much like he was apologizing for speaking poorly of Andrew when Oliver was listening.
In response to this, Oliver gently shook his head and waved off the speaker's apologies. Then he gestured for the man to continue speaking.
Nodding his head once more, the man tore his eyes away from us to face the rest of the crowd. As I turned my head slightly in his direction, I saw Oliver's near obsidian eyes shimmer in the light. They reflected the small lights overhead that were lighting up the warehouse, giving the illusion that those pair of eyes were sparkling jewels underwater.
Seeing those eyes, I could feel something in me move. The thing was small, almost unnoticeable. But at this moment, it made me instinctively place my hand softly over Oliver's as he finished his silent conversation with the man.
Noticing my touch, I saw those eyes turn to me for a second before that shimmer turned into a thin layer of water over his eyes. He smiled at me, the water collecting at the corner of his eyes before sliding down his cheek, sparkling under the light, where it then hit the collar of his shirt and disappeared.
Mouthing a thank you, Oliver naturally wiped the tear streak off his face. As if it had never happened.
Then, with a gesture towards me, the two of us refocused our attention back to the front of the stage, where the man had opened his mouth to continue speaking.
"Many of us here may agree with his actions, and many of us here may not. However, regardless of whether you find his actions forgivable or not, it does not diminish the role he has played. Andrew is a crucial figure in the Hope Research Center's MDVA research team. He has been awarded many prizes for the research he has done, and although he never managed to find a cure for MDVA, the data and people that he has exhausted his life collecting will definitely give birth to the cure that we are searching for. Andrew was a scientist, a protester, and a criminal. But above all, he is a father. He is the father of Alex, and he is a father to Oliver. Let us never forget that."
Scanning his gaze across the warehouse again, the man then stepped off the platform and bowed deeply to the crowd.
"Thank you."
Straightening his back, the man then fully stepped down from the platform amidst the silence of the crowd. Under my hand, I could feel Oliver's hand flexing, and I calmly patted it with my own.
Eyes following the man as he retreated to a seat a short distance from us, I saw him speak with the next speaker, the two of them exhcnaging handshakes and pats on the back, before the new speaker took to the platform.
The new speaker, a slightly younger man with a small scar on his chin, cleared his throat as he faced the large audience.
"Good evening, fellow protesters. As said by my friend, thank you for coming on such short notice. I am Mark, the current acting leader of the Adult Protest group. And my friend who gave the opening speech is James. He is the Vice leader. Today, the main objective of this meeting is to discuss the actions the faction will be taking after Alex's execution."