The morning alarm rang in the room and slowly woke up everyone except Gabriel. The teenager still slept like a baby, seemingly undisturbed by the noise. In the eyes of the three girls, Misha also seemed adamant about leaving dreamland. However, he was only pretending to be asleep, regulating his breathing and keeping his eyes shut.
โHn,โ Gabriel eventually muttered after Masha pushed his shoulders. Then he buried his face in the pillow and grunted something akin to: โFive more minutes.โ
Masha responded by letting out a helpless sigh, a little amused by this unexpected side of the teenager. Gabriel maintained a serious and mature image all day long, no matter where he was. But surprisingly, he was not a morning person, acting like a child when the time to wake up came. The contrast made Mashaโs heart soften a little.
Unlike his sister, Misha wasnโt touched by the โmoe gapโ and felt his blood boil instead.ย โDonโt laugh! Seriously, donโt! Waking up that jerk has always been an ordeal, yaโ know?!โ Misha complained in his heart, almost shedding a few tears at the thought.
He was reminded of all those times he had to wake up Gabriel. Occasionally, even screaming directly into his ears did not work out, and jumping on his stomach resulted in the teenager turning around and slapping him off like one would with a fly. Sure, Misha was small, but not that small.
Goodness, waking up someone should be an easy task, not torture!
On the bright side, it had always been an excellent excuse to pour a bucket of cold water on Gabrielโs faceโalthough that little prank had also always earned him a good scolding. Even if the couch was old and made of leather, it wasnโt a reason to drench it! Masha wanted to keep it in an acceptable condition as long as possible since money was scarce, and water wasnโt exactly its best friend. If the little devil felt like pouring water on her boyfriendโs face, he should do it when the guy was sleeping on a wooden chair or the floor, not on the couch!
Thankfully, it seemed like Gabrielโs lousy habit wasnโt too bad for the time being, and the alarm clock was enough to disturb his sleep in the long run. No need for a bucket of cold water.
Discreetly, Misha couldnโt help but smirk. There was now something he was looking forward to, and instead of using cold water, a bucket of icy water seemed more appropriate. If his memories served him well, Gabriel should spend most of his summer with his family, meaning that itโd give Misha a few occasions to snatch him from his dreams. And he planned to do so in the most horrible ways possible.
In the end, his brain wasnโt completely useless, and that idea was practicable at last. Honestly, he couldnโt wait to put it into practice! He could already imagine Gabrielโs shocked face, and anticipation was building up in his stomach. Just you wait! Hehe.
While Mishaโs mind was distracted, his mother walked up to the bed with soundless footsteps. When her cold hand gently touched his forehead, Misha flinched. His heartbeat increased tenfold until he heard her gentle voice and realized whose hand it was. It was just his motherโs, nothing to make a fuss over.
โIt seems like his fever went down.โ
Masha heaved a sigh of relief at these words and murmured, โThank God! He gave me a real scare yesterday.โ
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
โWith the hot temperature from the past few days, itโs not surprising that his body couldnโt hold up,โ Camille commented. โYour little diva not complaining and obediently following us around is a lot more surprising.โ
โQtb jgf sbe mjiilcu j vlnj?!โ
โTbeg ygbatfg, bo mbegrf! Qtb firf?โ
โPโw atf bcis bcf ktb mjc mjii tlw j vlnj, twqt.โ
โTfr, sfr, sbeg tlutcfrr.โ Jjwliif qjerfv rilutais yfobgf jvvlcu, โDea sbe wera jvwla atja sbeg ygbatfg tjrcโa yffc tlwrfio rlcmf sfrafgvjs. Ktfgf kjr cb tlca bo tlr ereji ybrrs jaalaevf; tf vlvcโa jrx obg jcsatlcu, fnfc ktfc kf kfgf lc Jtlcjabkc jcv qjrrfv rb wjcs rabgfr, vlvcโa milcu ab sbe ilxf j iffmt, vlvcโa ags ab rtbb wf jkjs…! P jiwbra wlrabbx tlw obg jc jcufi!โ
On the bed, the not-really-asleep Misha inwardly grunted, โCome on! I wasnโt that bad when I was a brat. Just a bit rowdy and pampered.โ
โโฆโ Masha didnโt immediately answer as if she was reflecting on her childhood friendโs words. โYouโre right. I should have realized sooner that something was wrong with him.โ
Misha sulked, โSisโ, why arenโt you defending your cute little brother?!โ
โHey! Iโm not blaming you. Donโt make that face. No matter what, your brother is undoubtedly cute. Even when he acts like a young master, I just want to pinch his cheeks and ruffle his hair. Anyway, Iโm only a little worried. Iโm not used to such a calm Misha, and Iโm afraid of his next prank. Last time, I found a bunch of worms in my purse, you know?โ
โWhoโs gonna pinch whose cheeks?! Huh?!โ Mishaโs mouth twitched under the blanket, and then he furrowed his brows. โ…Why did I put worms in her purse again?โ He thought hard about it but couldnโt remember. It was more than fifteen years ago for him, and many of his childhood memories were blurry. At any rate, the reason was probably not important, surely something stupid, so he tossed the thought aside.
โWell, youโve seen worse,โ Masha burst out laughing. โBut, oh gosh, Iโd have liked to see your face when you opened your purse, you who loves insects so much!โ
โSometimes, I wonder if that brother of yours didnโt learn that bad habit of tricking and pranking people from you,โ Camille snorted.
Even though Misha couldnโt see Camilleโs expression, he was fairly sure she glared at his sister, for Masha was indeed an expert at pulling pranks. Although she was much more well-behaved now, her best friend often suffered from his sisterโs weird hobby in the past. On the bright side, her pranks were slightly more refined than Mishaโs and didnโt involve dirty things like mud, bugs, and old chewing gums.
Now that Misha thought about it from a grown-upโs point of view, Camilleโs patience with his sister was somewhat awe-inspiring. If he had been in her shoes, heโd have long retailed using the nastier tricks he knew.
โIf you really want to find a guilty party for our bad habit,โ Masha laughed, โI can give you one. You see, we inherited it fromโโ
Someone coughed, interrupting Masha from saying more, and Gulnas soon said afterward, โIโm still worried about Mishaโฆ Iโm sorry, Masha, but Iโd like to go to the clinic today. Do you mind if we postpone the amusement park?โ
โNot at all. I was going to say the same thing. We have all summer anyway. We can always find the time to go another day, right?โ
โHm, sure,โ Camille agreed.
Misha listened to their conversation while feeling conflicted. On the one hand, he felt happy about their worries; save for Dereck, and later his boss and Vanessa, no one paid attention to him for many years, leaving him alone in a dark, filthy, and lonesome world. All his other friends were bad acquaintances who only knew how to party and get into trouble. They wanted to have โfunโ and not think about serious stuff.
Now, Misha felt loved again, and a warm feeling spread in his chest.
On the other hand, he guessed that even if they were to bring him to the doctor, they wouldnโt find anything wrong with his body. Heat-stroke was probably the only logical answer they could come up with to explain his sudden fainting or something along those lines. It was surprising his mother hadnโt rushed to the hospital immediately, but he was grateful she hadnโt.
Misha had never been the brightest person in a group, but that didnโt mean he was utterly stupid. He had an idea as to why his body was suddenly so frail. Although the words of Santa Claus were a bit unclear in his mind since Misha wasnโt completely sober when they talked, and he also received a lot of information in one go, he still remembered some parts of their discussion. The main things that came to mind were the several drawbacks of going back into his younger body. Sure enough, the fatigue and the fever didnโt take their sweet time before plaguing him.
How could the doctor understand his present state? Itโd never occur to him that his sudden bad health resulted from a fully grown manโs mind slipping into a kidโs brain.
Headache, tiredness, aching muscles; Misha could deal with it. The pain was nothing if it meant a second chance to be with his family. It was even well worth it.
But because it was useless to visit the clinic, Misha had to convince them that he felt fine. If what Camille said earlier was true, his brat self was worse than a diva. So, throwing a tantrum because he wanted to go to the amusement park shouldnโt surprise anyone, and maybe it would make them forget yesterdayโs โcalmโ attitude.
Although Misha had long forgotten how to throw a temper like a kid, it shouldnโt be that difficult to mimic. Rightโฆ?
Just before he traveled back in time, Vanessa had told him how her daughter had been unreasonable lately. Whenever her temper flared up, her little girl would refuse to listen and take a firm stand, even puffing out her cheeks. Vanessa could only coax her with sweet words and chocolates until she calmed down, which could take up to a few hours.ย ย
Thus, Misha had an example that he could follow.ย Even if it was from a three-year-old child, it didnโt matter. โAll kids are the same when they throw a tantrum, anyway.โ Misha comforted himself, mentally preparing to step on his ego.
In addition to a smart partner in crime, Misha also knew he needed to learn to act like a little rascal. Too many things to do and not enough time. He had a feeling itโd drive him crazy one of these days.
โBut for now, letโs concentrate on the task at hand.โ
And so, it was time to become unreasonable.
Mini theater
MC: Ah! I could pour boiling water on Gabrielโs face instead of icy water! (๏พ*0*)๏พ
Author: If you do that, youโre going to disfigure him, you know? His handsome face is one of his rare good points.
MC: Ohโฆ Yeah, youโre right.
ML: โฆWhy do I feel like both the author and the MC despised me? Itโs a little depressing. (โฅ๏นโฅ)
Chapter revised on 2022-04-19
Edited by Clozed! โฅ
I wonder how the ML becomes the ML since there is a pretty decent age gap between them and they met when the MC is only 9. o-o
Misha acting like a little kid while he’s grown is strangely cute lol
Thanks for the chapter <3
That’s why this is a very slow romance, since the MC has to grow up first. Gabriel is not and won’t be interested in a kid body. I can say too much because I don’t want to spoil, but yeah. Their relationship takes forever to develop, haha.
Thank you for reading! ๐
Ah ok! That makes a lot of sense. I know he’s not interested in him now, I was just wondering how the big age gap comes into play!
Thanks for replying and all your hard work <3
Thx for the chapter ๐
That’s interesting that Misha had side effects from going back into his child body, I haven’t seen that before….
How old is adult Misha supposed to be by the way?
I wanted to have side effects! I always wondered how the hell a kid’s brain could keep up with an adult’s knowledge/memories. And Misha he’s 25! โฅ
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Diva lol I keep cracking up when Misha thinks of the different ways he could be trying to eliminate Gabriel, since they would all just be a nuisance from a 9 year old in a small body ๐