Capítulo 27: Break In
"Welcome back!"
Feeling a smile blossom on my face, my father leaned down with outstretched arms and gave me a warm hug. Then, after we parted, I saw him do the same to my mother.
"Sorry we took so long. Something unexpected happened."
Rubbing the black circles under his eyes, he yawned as he slung his arm over my mother's shoulder.
"I think I'm going to take a nap for now. Can you help show Oliver around Middle street for me?"
Leaning onto my mother, my father smiled at me before the two of them slowly entered the bedroom.
Hearing the door lock behind them, I finally turned around to see Oliver, his eyebrows raised as those pitch black eyes gazed at my parent's door.
Noticing my gaze, he tore his gaze from the door and gave me a tired smile.
I looked at the deep dark eye bags under his eyes and forced myself to not stare.
"Welcome back."
Gesturing for him to enter, I closed the door behind him.
"Vicky, Sky and Jasper came this morning to move all the furniture in. You can go put your things in our room."
Looking down, I was about to offer to help him when I saw that he only had a small bang in his hands. Closing my mouth, I looked away and started heading to the kitchen..
"Oh, and Mom cooked some soup for us so we can eat breakfast before we go out."
Pausing to inform him as I remembered, I turned my back on him and entered the kitchen. Hearing the sound of the door opening, I took two bowls and headed to the pot. Scooping out some of the hot soup, I filled the bowls and brought them to the table.
Hearing Oliver's voice coming from the entryway of the kitchen, i lifted my head to see something shiny being held in his fist.
"I think the movers left something."
Unclenching his fist, I watched curiously as a golden locket lay on his palm.
Looking away from it, I gestured to Oliver to join me on the table and we both sat down. Then, as I picked up a spoon, he put the locket down on the table nearer to me. Glancing up at him, I saw that he had already moved on to sipping the hot soup with his spoon, and took a large mouthful of mine.
Gulping down half the bowl, I then put the spoon down to pick up the locket.
Although it was quite sparkly, the locket seemed to be made of wood that was painted over with a gold colored coat. Touching it, I didn't feel the cool burn of metal, but the slimy slick of the wood staining chemical.
Taking the whole thing into my palm, I lifted it up to my eye to observe it. The locket was extremely light, and was either made with very light and cheap wood, or was hollow. Or both. But although it felt cheap, and probably was, the person who painted it genuinely cared for their craft as evident by the small and intricate details on the painted wood.
With small curls and lines weaving by each other, never touching but taking advantage of the natural waves in the wood to draw out a magical labyrinth where there was no start and end, it was painfully obvious that this locket was not some inexpensive thoughtless gift. It was most probably a handmade item.
Grasping it carefully, I dug my nail into a small groove at the side of the locket to open it up. Although I had a vague suspicion of who it belonged to, I wasn't entirely sure. And if we wanted to return this memento to its owner, we first had to know who they were.
Opening the cover of the locket with care, I stared at the slightly crumpled picture kept safe within. The picture showed a family of two, a mother and a son. The son was smiling at his mother with eyes reflecting his love. Those green eyes sparkled like weeds under the water, swaying happily and seemingly carefree, if it weren't for the scar running down one eye. Like a dirty river, that scare led to another, and another, and it seemed as if the last visibly one dripped down his neck and into his clothes. However, just like the morning dew dripping from the leaves, the boy's smile was pure and untainted. It was as if he was the happiest person on earth.
Next to the boy, her arms dripped around his shoulders as he held him like he was sa precious treasure, was a familiar face. Although the face was familiar, the expression wasn't. With a gentle smile brimming with love, the woman's pupils were looking at her son. The corner of one eye was a pulsating purple, and there was a nasty bruise near her mouth. But even that couldn't stop the happiness that was radiating from them.
Behind the two stood an old and run down house. Although the house was covered in a layer of dark brown dirt, it was not the worst house in the picture. In the far background, you could see a house that looked like it was on the verge of falling. The proportions were wrong, even to a child like me, and the building was tilting to one side.
Putting the locket down, I was about to finish my soup when I heard a voice.
"I recognize the building behind them. It's from Bottom street."
Glancing up in surprise, I saw Oliver swallow a mouthful of soup and put down his spoon. He peered into it, seemingly gazing at some unpleasant past. The corner of his mouth pulled down to form a scornful sneer. But in the blink of an eye, his face returned back to normal.
"Although it was demolished 2 years ago after the kidnapping incident that happened there."
Shrugging his shoulders, Oliver held the spoon down with one finger as he drained the bowl. Watching him do so, I copied him and the both of us stood up to place them in the sink for my mother to wash when she came out later. Walking past the table, I carefully pocketed the locket for safekeeping.
"The incident 2 years ago, do you know what happened? The inside scoop, that is, not the stuff that is already in the news."
Trying my best to act nonchalant, I strolled to the door and put on my shoes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oliver wait patiently behind me.
"I don't know the details. Around that time, although Andrew was filling out our adoption papers, we still stayed in his house at High street. The only reason I knew about the incident was because it involved the Anti-MDVA act faction, so Andrew was receiving some updates about it."
Turning around at his sentence, I could feel my brows furrow in confusion.
"The Anti-MDVA act faction was involved? Wasn't it a large-scale kidnapping scheme by one of the gangs in Bottom street?"
Seeing my confused face, Oliver slipped his feet into his shoes and took the lead in exiting the house.
"That was what was said in the news? I didn't read the news then since I was too busy, but from what I remember, the Anti-MDVA act faction got dragged in in the middle because one of their members had their child kidnapped. If I'm not wrong, that was the only reason why the incident turned out as big as it was. Before that, that whole side of Bottom street was unknown to most people. And those who knew didn't have the means to do anything about it."
Following Oliver's footsteps, the two of us walked down the steps and stopped in front of the apartment building. Oliver then gestured to the locket in my pocket, and I took over and led him to Middle Middle Market. We were going to pay Vicky and Sky's furniture shop a visit.
"When you said that someone from the Anti-MDVA act faction had their child kidnapped. Could that person be...?"
Shifting my eyes to look at him, Oliver sighed and shook his head. His eyes were like deep pools of still water. There were no feelings of empathy, no anger at the injustice that occurred, only a distant sense of pity. It was as if he was reading from a book.
"Eren. Camellia's son. Although from what I know, Camellia wasn't in the Anti-MDVA act faction yet. So the person from the faction should be Daniel."
At the mention of Daniel's name, Oliver's eyes froze over. They became hard, solid, and unforgiving. The tension in the air dropped and I found myself breathing lighter and increasing the distance between us ever so slightly.
Noticing that he had startled me with his expression. Oliver forced a smile on his face and the tension rose to a lukewarm temperature. Although you could still feel a little of his anger, like a thin wire stretched taut in the air. A little touch and it would snap.
Reining in my curiosity about why Oliver seemed to despise Daniel so much, I shifted the topic away as we walked into the straight street of the Market.
"By the way, do you happen to know why Dad was late? Did something happen?"
Making a turn into the semicircle street of the Market, the two of us walked past all the shops in favor of returning the locket first. With how well crafted it was, the owner was certainly going to be running around like he was stepping on hot coals once they realized it was missing. There was still plenty of time in the day afterwards to loiter around and explore.
"Your Dad - I mean Van - stayed at the adoption center to help us out with some unexpected issues."
Shaking his head again, Oliver sighed as he seemed to recall the issues that suddenly popped out of nowhere last night.
"While we were walking to the adoption center, we passed by Daniel. That part was alright. But after the two of them talked for a while, Daniel decided to join us. Then, once we arrived at the adoption center, we discovered something was off. The place was dark, even though the head knew I would be returning to fill in all those adoption papers. Worst of all, the door was not locked."
I frowned at Oliver's words. Especially that last sentence. It reminded me of not too fond memories. Oliver, too absorbed with his recollection, didn't seem to notice my expression and continued.
"When Daniel noticed that, both he and Van immediately rushed into the center with pale faces. And when we entered, we saw the head lying down on the floor, unconscious. Daniel ran up to them, and after checking them for a couple seconds, immediately said that they were alright but someone had hit them on the head and knocked them out. After that, while Van ran to the police station, Daniel had told me to stay near the head and shout if I saw someone. He then disappeared into the building."
Listening intently to the story, I noticed Oliver stop talking and paused in his tracks. Turning my head to the front, I saw the furniture shop sign and also stopped walking. Glancing at it, then at Oliver, I slipped my hand into his and pulled him over to the side of the road, in an alleyway between two buildings. Although the locket was urgent, I wanted to listen to the whole story first.
I gestured for Oliver to continue.
Oliver, lifting his brows in a slightly amused expression, closed his eyes and opened his mouth to proceed with his recount.
"Thankfully for us, the assailant was long gone, and the policeman was inside the police station when Van ran there. It didn't take long for everyone to return and tend to the head's injuries. They said it was not serious, so they'll be fine. The only thing was, Daniel said that the office where all the paperwork was was totally destroyed. Someone had splashed liquid all over the papers in the office and ruined all the documents. Fortunately, not all of my adoption documents were affected. A majority of them were safe since they had already been handed in for safe-keeping. But there were three whole stacks of papers ruined so Van and Daniel stayed back to help finish it all by today."
Giving a thoughtful look, it seemed that the assailant's goal was pretty obvious.
Glancing at Oliver, I saw the sad and slightly frustrated expression on his face and knew he had also guessed why someone broke into an adoption center just to ruin some papers.
Reaching out a hand, I gave him a soft pat on the shoulder before the two of us stepped out of the alleyway and headed towards the furniture shop.
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