"Boys! It's dinner time."
Groggily opening my eyes, I turned my head towards the room door and saw my mother holding the knob, taking in this peaceful scene with a smile.
When she noticed I was awake, she gave me a grin and brought two plates over.
"Only for today, the two of you can eat in the room."
As she placed the plates down next to the fort, I heard rustling coming from beside me and saw Oliver stretching his hand to take the plates into the small fort. Looking at him, I saw one of his hands push the research paper he was reading under one of the pillows.
I then twisted my head back to face the dishes and reached out a hand to take one of them from Oliver's hands. Thanking him, the two of us stared at the food on the plates as my mother watched.
The plate was rather small, just slightly larger than two of my palms. However, it was packed full of food. In the middle was a whole pink fruit, the fuzzy skin still glistening from being washed. Wrapped around the fruit was the long noodle that we had before. Except in this version of the noodle, it was slightly thicker, with green vegetables scattered among it. There was no visible sauce in the dish, and it smelled sweet yet slightly spicy.
Taking the chopsticks stuck between the noodles, I first pierced the fruit and brought it up to my mouth to take a bite.
As my teeth sank into the juicy flesh of the fruit, I couldn't help but close my eyes at the burst of sweetness. Past its fuzzy skin, the white flesh seemed to ooze with sweet juice. Tasting sweet yet refreshing. If I had to describe the taste, I would say that it was akin to liquid happiness.
Watching some of that sweet juice fall into the noodle, I almost couldn't hold back the drool overflowing from my mouth as I extracted my chopsticks from the fruit to swirl up some noodles.
Mixing them together with the peach juice, I then brought the noodles up to my mouth and funneled the whole thing through my teeth. Chewing with a large smile, I swallowed with closed eyes and gave a satisfied sigh at the end.
"Is it that good?"
Chuckling, my mother asked from the side as she retreated to the door. Then, after seeing me nod my head vigorously, she gave a bout of happy laughter as she closed the door.
Swirling more noodles with my chopsticks, I shoveled them into my mouth as I watched Oliver take out his research paper as soon as the click from the lock sounded.
"How many research papers have you read?"
I asked as I watched Oliver flip to another page. With most of his attention spent on the paper, he lightly answered my question as he turned the page.
"I'm about to be almost done. This is the last one."
Flipping the page again, Oliver's eyes scanned through the paper at a terrifying speed. Then, once he reached the bottom, he proceeded to the next page.
"I'll probably finish this paper by today. So tomorrow, Raven says that he will send someone to pickup the old research papers and exchange them for some new ones."
Reaching the last page of the paper, Oliver flipped the paper to the front before standing up and shelving it behind the books. He then returned to stare at the dish in front of him.
Taking up the chopsticks, I saw him hesitate between trying out the fruit first or the noodles. Biting his lip, his hand wavered between the two before finally deciding for the fruit. Stabbing one chopstick into it, he brought the big fruit in front of his face and took a small bite. At the taste of the fruit, his eyes lit up, and I could see a smile creep onto his face.
With a pleasant expression on his face, Oliver took another bite as his eyes focused on the dish. Swirling up some more noodles, I adjusted the pillow behind me and then laid on it with the plate in my hand.
"Why are you reading so many research papers?"
Taking a bite out of the fruit, I scrunched up my face as the sweetness overpowered the taste of the noodles. However, as the sweetness faded, the taste of the noodles came back with a vengeance, creating a mix of two delicious flavors that alternated between each other.
Sitting with a straight back beside me, Oliver used the free chopstick to free the one in the fruit. He then brought some of the noodles to his mouth and slurped them up. While chewing, his eyes drifted to the bookshelf, and he answered me.
"It's to be on the same level as Raven."
Lowering the plate, he turned to face me.
"I may understand the basics; however, I'm still far from being able to stand on the same level as Raven. If I want to be able to work with him on the MDVA team, I still have a lot of reading to do."
He tore his eyes from the bookshelf and returned his sight to his plate.
"It's not enough."
Oliver's gaze turned hazy as he seemed to remember something complicated. His face scrunched up a little, his eyebrows narrowed, and a look of inferiority appeared in his eyes. Then, at the drop of a hat, all these expressions disappeared, as if they were tucked under a mask. His eyes cleared, and he returned his attention to me.
"You say it's not enough, but I think you've done your best."
Seeing those familiar emotions in his eyes, I couldn't help but reach out my hand to enclose his. Ever since he let go of the last research paper, Oliver's hands have been clenched, as if they were anxious when not holding onto a research paper.
Feeling my hand, Oliver tilted his head towards me and gave me a grateful smile.
"Thanks."
Immersing ourselves in this peaceful silence, the two of us allowed the fragile peace and tranquility to just exist in this small room before we retrieved our hands and picked up the pillows. Without talking, we split up the task between us. Oliver grabbed the pillows and stuffed them into his arms, while I dismantled the fort and rolled up the blanket. The plates were temporarily placed on the table.
With the blanket bundled under one arm, I helped Oliver open the door. The living room was dark. In the corner of my eye, I could see moonlight spilling into the house from the slits in the window as well as the space underneath the door. Taking a breath, I could feel the chilly night air rush into my lungs, sucking out all the warmth inside of me.
Heading right, I smacked the light switch for the kitchen and watched as the lights flickered on. Walking across the kitchen, we dumped the pillows and blankets into the laundry basket before heading back to the room to pick up the plates.
Taking my own plate, I quickly stuffed the rest of the food into my mouth. Beside me, Oliver was doing the same. Once the two of us had polished off the plate, we placed them in the sink, and I turned off the kitchen lights.
Finally, once everything was taken care of, we headed back to the room and locked the door.
It was currently too late to bathe. And compared to the adults, we didn't do much, so we weren't that dirty either. Thus, the two of us just went straight to bed.
Laying my head down on the pillow, I stared at the white ceiling above us.
"Can't sleep?"
From my right, I heard rustling sounds, and Oliver's eyes appeared from within his blanket.
"A little."
Maybe it was because I had taken a long nap earlier in the day, but I wasn't tired enough to sleep yet.
Rolling over to face him, the two of us talked in hushed voices as we stared at each other from our beds.
"Have you heard any updates about the MDVA project from Raven?'
Snuggling closer to Oliver, I laid on my side as I asked him.
"Hmm."
I heard rustling sounds coming from his direction, and a pair of near obsidian eyes suddenly appeared in my view.
"After the rumors spread, some good and bad things are happening to the research center."
Oliver's voice was low, a barely audible whisper, and yet his words were like alarm bells ringing in my ears.
"Most of the research centers are currently undergoing an emergency staff evaluation. Raven suspects that they're trying to root out those who appear to be Anti-MDVA. The good thing is, apart from a couple of unfortunate souls, most of the faction people inside the centers have managed to remain under the radar. For those who got caught, they are currently trying their best not to implicate any of the others. Unfortunately, this means that the MDVA project is currently on hold. Since it's an unofficial project, they can't let the head of the center find out."
After finishing that sentence, Oliver's tone turned lighter, and I could almost hear a smile in his voice.
"Well, not everything has been bad in the research center though. Thanks to the rumors, a lot of researchers who were recently neutral have switched over to our side. We even had some Pro-MDVA supporters convert, so manpower is no longer an issue once the project resumes."
Giving a sigh of relief at the news, I snaked my hand into Oliver's bed and groped around for his arm. Touching warm skin, I followed the path of his arm down until I reached his hands. Enclosing those warm hands with mine, I wiggled a little closer to him as I whispered back.
"That's great. But are you and Raven going to be safe? He contacted you today right? Then wouldn't they find out the connection between the two of you?"
Squeezing his hand in concern, I suddenly heard a chuckle and felt a squeeze back.
"You don't have to worry about that. Raven and I have a secret communication method that no one will be able to find out. In fact, if the absolute worst case comes to be, we can still use it to pass on information between the center and the faction."
Feeling Oliver move, I suddenly felt a hand pat my head.
"Now go to sleep. You still have school tomorrow."
I nodded my head and closed my eyes. Listening to the heartbeat and feeling the warmth of the person next to me, I couldn't help but feel a smile on my face. My eyelids started feeling heavy, and I could feel a yawn bubbling up from my chest. Before entering into dreamland, I gave Oliver's hand one more squeeze.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."