The Ace of Spades

Chapter 17

When Mea and Victor has wordlessly established that they were going to get to the bottom of the so-called fishy situation, Mea hadn't anticipated it would begin the next day. Really, having known Victor the albeit short length of time she's known him, she should know by now that everything happens quickly. One day you're meeting each other, the next day you're hiking up volcanoes together. Of course, they never actually hiked up volcanoes together, and in fact, Mea's never seen a real volcano in her life before. In the proverbial sense, however, they have hiked up more volcanoes than Mea's sure exist on Earth.

Victor is a fast-paced person. He is all about living in the moment, seizing the day and the hour and the minute and the second. Mea's known Victor less than two months but she knows that he'd never let an opportunity pass him by.

Mea, on the other hand, is not the same. She has let plenty of chances slip by, feeling zero sense of remorse or regret. Mea doesn't prance around seizing or living in measurements of time. Mea's always preferred whatever way passes time most numbly. Can she take a nap during this situation? Will she be pressured to speak to anyone? Can Mea stare into space, thinking about absolutely nothing for the entire duration of the entire event, whatever it may be? Ultimately, Mea's never cared about things like making memories or adding occurrences to an imaginary memory bank. This could be why it's exhausting for Mea to be with Victor: because he's the complete opposite.

It's almost as if Victor truly believes in some sort of memory bank. The more memories you put in your bank, the richer you are. Mea chuckles to herself, she's poor in every aspect of her life. Victor has wealth, despite any desire to show it off. It's respectable, at least, that he's not going to brag about it. Nevertheless, bragging or not, Mea knows it's there, knows that it exists. The thirst for thrill and adventure that swims through Victor's veins.

All this considered, Mea is wholly unsurprised to hear a knock on the front door at 8 o'clock exactly. Mea's sitting at the dining room table with her siblings and Viv, munching on a slice of toast. There's a buffet of fruits, toast, and scrambled eggs in the centre of the dining table. Viv is a wonderful chef, she puts amazing effort into everything she prepares. There's so much food, though. It's like she thinks everyone - not just Jojo - is suddenly eating for two.

Everyone startles at the knock. Everyone except Mea. She continues to fix her stare at a blank spot on the wall. She continues to masticate her toast slice. She doesn't spin around in her seat to face the doorway. Mea's not deaf, she can hear perfectly fine, the voices in the hallway are loud enough that she knows exactly who has arrived so early without batting an eyelash.

"Come join us for breakfast, then. We have lots," Viv says. Mea's inner voice chuckles a little. Yes, they do have lots. And lots and lots and lots.

Viv and their guest make their way into the dining room, Toto's face lights up, and Jojo smiles a polite greeting. Mea stays silent. Viv pulls up another seat, donating hers to the charity that is their guest.

"Hey, Ace. Good to see you," Victor says.

Mea swivels her head in the same fashion of an owl, smooth and precise. She stares at Victor.

"Hello."

Victor looks taken aback, averting his eyes to his hand, which is currently grasping an orange slice from the middle of the table. Mea's not entirely sure why she's being stony. It's a fun act to play, though. Inner Mea cackles a wild, evil laugh. She's going to play a little trick on Victor, really run with this poker face visage she's playing up, making Victor drag along behind to keep up. Evil. Genius. Mea's an evil genius.

Jojo's eyes flick back and forth between Victor and Mea, clearly trying to observe their dynamic. Toto just looks positively elated to see Victor.

"How are you today, Victor?" Viv asks. It's an obvious ploy to make Victor feel less put-out by Mea's feigned annoyance.