Chapter 37: Research Center
Walking up to Oliver and Richard, our hands entwined, I saw Richard squint his eyes at the two of us.
"I wasn't aware we had an extra guest."
Eyes flicking to Oliver, he muttered. And in response, Oliver held out his palm, face up, towards Frank and introduced him.
"He's Frank. Will's brother."
With what looked like a slightly smug smile, Oliver shot a look at the man's face. Hearing Frank's introduction, the man widened his eyes, raising an eyebrow, as he slowly planned his gaze over to us.
"Will's brother?"
Then, breaking out into a smile, he leaned down to offer his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Frank. I'm Richard from the research center on High street. I know a colleague who used to be sworn brothers with Will."
Shaking hands, Frank's eyes lit up as his brother's name was mentioned, and even after Richard straightened his back and started walking, he couldn't tear his eyes away from him.
"My brother..."
Muttering under his breath, a heartbreaking expression flashed across his face. Beside him, I tightened my grip on his hand to bring him back to the present. Then, once everyone was both mentally and physically present, we followed Richard.
Walking through the crossroads between High street and Middle street, we entered one of the more abandoned roads in High street.
On our right were various out of style mansions. All their windows were facing the street, their window borders reinforced with thick layers of metal, and even though layers of rust had covered the borders with avantgarde patterns, you could still see the leftover traces of the great war that had happened many years ago. Between the few narrow slits between the buildings were flashes of green. Beyond this safe wall of mansions was the endless forest.
Taking a left past the local shop, we continued walking along the road separating High street from Middle street. Then, after turning right, we continued walking until a tall and straight building overshadowed us. In front of it was a sign that read 'Hope Research Center' in black blocky font.
Passing the sign, we walked around the building to the back door, where there was an inconspicuous metal door with a small black rectangle next to it. Herading up to the door, Richard dug out a card from his pocket and swiped it casually on the rectangle. Then, when a small light on the rectangle flashed red, he reached out to the handle of the door and turned it.
"This is the employee's area of the research center. Make sure you stick close to me and don't run. Most of the doors here are key locked, so you might get trapped somewhere if you're not careful."
Warning us, Frank and I nodded our heads as the three of us followed his inside. Upon entering the research center, Richard closed the door behind us before heading down the short corridor. At the end of that was another door, and beyond that door was a small elevator.
Swiping his card on a small rectangle next to the elevator, we heard a sharp beep violate the air before the doors opened.
"Erand running again?"
Exiting the elevator, a researcher joked. Flicking his eyes down to the three of us, he smiled politely at us before patting Richard on the back.
"Well then, good luck. Raven's having lunch in the level 2 break room. As for me, I'm going home."
Chuckling, with a dismissive wave of his hand, the researcher left.
"Don't mind him. He's always like that."
Richard sighed as he stepped into the elevator. Then, after he ensured we were all squeezed inside, he pressed the button for level 2, and we watched the elevator doors close.
"This is the Hope Research Center, the lowest-ranking research Center among the three. It's the second closest to Middle Street, and primarily deals with acute medical complications and illnesses plagued by the poor-"
Pausing, Richard suddenly whipped his gaze over to us. Then, closing his mouth, he cleared his throat and restarted the introduction of the research center.
"In other words, this research center is called the Hope Research Center. We research a lot of diseases that appear in Middle street and Bottom street. The team in charge of MDVA research are mostly volunteers, but we get funding from several Anti-MDVA Act politicians in High street, so there isn't really a worry for money for that team. The politicians are pretty generous, and they know that it will take a lot of research to find a treatment for MDVA."
Reaching our floor, the elevator door opened, and we walked out into another white corridor. Walking forward, we turned the corner and headed towards another door. Then, opening the door swiftly but silently, the four of us entered the break room.
The break room was a large, brightly lit room with huge windows that overlooked several nearby mansions. Tables and chairs were scattered about the room, with several researchers gathering and discussing various topics ranging from their current research projects to everyday worries like taxes and children. Sitting alone in this room was a teenage boy, peacefully munching on his packed lunch.
"Raven! I brought Oliver and his friends."
Approaching the teenage boy, Richard gestured at us to sit. Then he himself sat beside the boy and casually took one of the sweets piled on the table. Popping the sweet into his mouth, he smiled at Raven's glare before gesturing to us.
Clearing his throat, the boy named Raven put down his utensils and gave us a harmless smile.
"Hello, Oliver, Dan and ..."
Pausing at Frank, he narrowed his eyes slightly as his elbow naturally shot out towards Richard. Dodging the hit, Richard then introduced Frank to him.
"This is Frank, Will's younger brother."
Pushing the elbow back to it's owner, he stared at Raven with his eyes as he chewed his sweet.
"Will's brother...."
Gaze suddenly turned misty, Raven seemed to be plunged into a deep and complicated past the moment Will was mentioned. However, with a start, his eyes suddenly turned clear again, and he gave Frank a slightly sad smile.
"I see. I'm sorry for your loss."
Tearing his gaze from Frank, Raven turned back to Oliver, and those eyes of his turned serious. He then reached down under the table and pulled out a paper. Passing it to Oliver, he gestured for him to read it before moving on to me.
"Hello Dan, I've heard many things about your mother."
Smiling, he reached out his hand, and I took it and gave it a firm shake.
"My mother?"
Titling my head in confusion, I saw Raven make a face of confusion similar to my own before enlightenment shone in his eyes, and he plastered his smile back on.
"Nothing. I was just saying that your mother is such a brave and powerful figure. Nothing else."
Avoiding my eyes, Raven reached out and took some of the candy piled on his table. Then he distributed them to Frank and me to eat up this awkward tension that was setting in.
Sighing from the side, Richard turned to me and asked.
"How have Elaine and Van been recently? I haven't been keeping up with them at all since the incident two years ago."
Squinting my eyebrows, I hesitated for a while before speaking.
"Mom and Dad have been doing decently alright-"
Thinking back to yesterday, I paused and changed my sentence. Noticing my pause, Raven raised an eyebrow but tactfully remained silent, while Richard was obviously pretending to not notice anything.
"Anyway, could I ask which incident you are referring to? There were many incidents two years ago."
Shooting back a polite smile of my own, Richard seemed unsurprised by the question and casually answered.
"The kidnapping one. Back then, Camellia and Elaine both sought us out as 'experts on MDVA' in order to find any solution to prevent the formation of MDVA in the children caught up in that incident. However, we weren't of much help."
Richard shook his head, and I couldn't help but squint my eyes at his answer. It sounded reasonable, but I felt that there was more to it than he was telling me. However, seeing the unreadable smile on his face, I sighed and decided to ignore the elephant in the room for now and move on to another topic.
"The MDVA research project that you two are in—could I ask what sort of research do you do?"
Leaning forward, I placed my whole forearm on the table. Beside me, I could see Frank's attention peak at the question, and he too laid his fervent eyes on the pair. Chuckling, Richard gently elbowed Raven, and our attention shifted to him.
Shocked that he was suddenly thrown into the hot seat, he was obviously unprepared for so much attention as he felt our two burning gazes close in. Avoiding our eyes, Raven sent a pleading look to Richard, which he ignored in favor of munching on another piece of sweet.
Forced to face us, we saw Raven take a deep breath, calming himself as he turned towards us.
Opening his mouth, he was clearly preparing to speak when a large action caught all of our attention.
Swerving my head in Oliver's direction, I could see a never-before-seen expression of disbelief and shock reflected in his face. Biting his lip, Oliver's hands clenched around the research paper that was laid on his lap, and he was clearly too caught up in his tornado of feelings to notice our gazes.
Carefully, I reached out a hand and laid it on his arm, pulling him away from the storm.
"Are you alright?"
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