After gently poking the puppy’s nose, Misha watched it shake its head and blink its big, round eyes. It then sneezed three times in a row before trying to chew on the naughty finger, but it failed as Misha swiftly withdrew his hand, safely escaping the dog’s wrath. All it could do was spin around, yapping and shaking its curly tail. And once it realized that it couldn’t retaliate, it turned its back on the boy, seemingly pouting.
At long last, the dog’s antics managed to make Misha smile faintly, thinking that it was a little cute.
In the past timeline, that little pug was still alive; however, it was old, very, very old. Misha had grown accustomed to its white muzzle, having forgotten that it was once black, and seeing it so small and young again was somewhat perturbing. Before his transmigration, that old thing only knew how to sleep and poop, but now, it was running around everywhere, rolling on the ground when it wasn’t playfully biting people’s ankles.
‘Well, some things do not change no matter the timeline. Dereck’s parents still bought him a pug puppy for Christmas, still calling it Lady,’ Misha inwardly chuckled, petting the squishy dog before pulling on its fat cheeks. ‘It’s as plump as ever, huh.’
“Why are you teasing my dog so much? If you keep agitating her, she won’t sleep this afternoon. She will take a nap this evening instead and stay up all night, causing trouble left and right,” Dereck sighed as he entered his bedroom, holding a glass of water in each hand. “So? What did you want to ask me?”
Misha took the glass of water his friend handed him, then lifted his eyes to glance at Dereck’s confused face. Honestly, he wasn’t very proud to ask a kid for advice, but bad habits were hard to break. Whenever he was stuck on something in his past life, he would always run to Dereck, slamming the door open to ask for his help. Since childhood, his friend had always been more mature and composed, giving great advice that made Misha’s life a lot easier. It helped him not do too many stupid things.
“I’d like your advice on something, actually.”
“Well, on what?”
“You see, I kind of have something to say to my sister, but I really don’t know how to bring it up. It’s something hard to accept and I’m afraid she won’t believe me. And I know it’ll also hurt her a lot, like a lot, and it makes me hesitate.”
“Is it about Gabriel again?” Dereck wondered, tilting his head. “Do you still think he’s a demon? Do you want her to break up and cut ties with him? If it’s that, I think you should give up. I mean, Gabriel didn’t get angry, not even once, despite all the nasty pranks we did….”
Misha choked on the water he was about to swallow, his cheeks flushing slightly in shame. He truly had given Gabriel hell, hadn’t he…?
Hitting his chest, he answered between two fits of coughing, “No, no! I don’t want that anymore, trust me.” He inwardly added, ‘To start with, they’re not even dating for real!’
Unlike what Misha had first thought, Gabriel wasn’t a two-faced demon; on the contrary, he was his family’s guardian angel. And yet, he had been so vicious to him, provoking and taunting him at every opportunity. It was a wonder how Gabriel hadn’t lost his patience and stayed gentle and calm. Misha knew he would have blown up more than once if he had been in his shoes.
‘I should apologize for everything I did one of these days….’ he thought before pushing the matter aside. He had other things to worry about for now.
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.
“What with the face? It really has nothing to do with Gabriel. Well, it somewhat does, but not the way that you think. Anyway, I’m just not able to muster the courage to tell her. Every time I try to, I’ve got this lump in my throat that makes talking difficult, and I end up saying nothing. Pathetic, right?”
“P vbc’a atlcx la’r qjatfalm. Coafg jii, sbe’gf atf Vlr-Jbc Blcu, rb bo mbegrf, sbe vbc’a kjca ab vb jcsatlcu atja kbeiv tega sbeg rlrafg,” Gfgfmx afjrfv. Lf rja yfrlvf tlr oglfcv yfobgf ajxlcu atf qeqqs lc tlr jgwr, kjcalcu ab gbmx la ab riffq. “Dea lo atfgf’r cb kjs bea, atfc wjsyf sbe mbeiv afii tfg fnfgsatlcu klat rbwfbcf firf ys sbeg rlvf, rbwfbcf atja kbeiv tfiq sbe tjcvif atf ragfrr jcv fcmbegjuf sbe ab mbcalcef ajixlcu? Tbe xcbk, rbwfbcf ilxf Xjyglfi.”
Pursing his lips, Misha made a slight pout. Didn’t he depend on the man too much lately? Just a little while ago, he had been bawling his eyes out in his arms. Simply thinking about it made him embarrassed as hell. What was he? A little kid?!
….But, on the other hand, it was true that if Gabriel were to be present in the same room as him when he revealed everything to his sister, it’d reassure Misha and give him confidence. Moreover, if he couldn’t find the right words to explain something concerning time traveling or the golden watch, which would surely be the case knowing his pea-brain, or if his sister had questions, Gabriel would know what to say.
“I wonder if I’m being a bother to him,” Misha mumbled, propping his chin on his knees. Somehow, he felt like a burden.
“Since when do you care about being a bother or not?” Dereck laughed, patting his back. “Don’t worry, you can’t ever be as bothersome as you were when you were pranking him days and nights. How can you do worse than that?”
“Pfft. Touché,” Misha grinned from ear to ear, telling himself that he at least hadn’t beaten Gabriel to a pulp in this timeline, unlike his previous life. One good thing out of everything, he guessed.
At any rate, it had never been his style to worry about that kind of thing. So what if he was a bother? If Gabriel didn’t want to help, he should just say no. It wasn’t like he was taking advantage of him. Well, maybe he was. But just a little. And for the right cause.
Oh gosh, why did it seem like he was making excuses…?
***
After negotiating with Angela for days, Gabriel managed to secure a “day off” every month; that is to say, he could go out and visit his “girlfriend” once a month. It wasn’t the best outcome, but it was always better than nothing. He knew he shouldn’t push his luck, for the time being at least, so he didn’t insist and thanked his stepmother with a bright smile instead.
Inwardly, he thought that he would negotiate with her again later. As soon as she started to perceive him as harmless, that was when he would be able to obtain more. Until then, he would bide his time.
Today was precisely his “day off”. Thus, he left in the early morning to take the bus, running away to the Lesskov’s. Because he was pretending to have amnesia, Angela didn’t let him use his car, saying it was too dangerous. Therefore, Gabriel had to do with public transport.
As soon as he arrived, Misha grabbed his wrist and dragged him upstairs to his bedroom, where Masha was waiting. The teenage girl was sitting cross-legged on the child’s bed with a puzzled look on her face, seemingly wondering why her brother was acting so mysterious all of a sudden.
“What’s going on, Mish’? You’re acting a little weird,” Masha chuckled, glancing back and forth between her brother and Gabriel, who didn’t even have the chance to take off his coat. She then continued in a teasing tone, “Why do you want to have a “secret reunion” in your room? Are you planning to do something bad, hm?”
“No, well, maybe a bit, but essentially, no?” Misha stuttered, closing the door behind him before walking up to his sister, still holding Gabriel’s wrist. “It’s just that I’ve got something to tell you.”
“You have…?” Misha frowned. She instinctively peeked at Gabriel, inquiring with her eyes if what her brother had to say was what she thought it was.
As an answer, Gabriel nodded, letting Masha know that Misha indeed wanted to talk about what had been bothering her for ages. A few days ago, Misha had told him on the phone that he would reveal everything the next time he came to visit, though Gabriel hadn’t expected that Misha wouldn’t even let him take off his coat before pulling him upstairs, getting right to business. It gave him the feeling that Misha would lose the courage to speak up if he were to wait any longer, which probably was the case.
“So, what do you think of time travel?” Misha started awkwardly, his grip on Gabriel’s wrist tightening.
“Time travel? Well, it’s an interesting concept, though you only see it in books and movies. Why?”
“Because… because, well, what would you do if it was real?” Misha mumbled, averting his eyes. “If, for example, I wasn’t really a kid? Like, I’m from another timeline? I mean, if the adult me came back to the past? Something like that….”
“What are you talking about? It doesn’t make sense!”
“Misha,” Gabriel intervened, his voice soft and gentle, “I think you should show her the video. It’d be more effective and a bit more convincing than your babbling. I know there are some things you would rather she doesn’t know, but we agreed that you wouldn’t hide anything from her, didn’t we?”
Misha bit his lower lip, peering at his confused sister through a few strands of hair. “Fine… Let’s do that. I’m bad at explaining things, anyway.”
With Misha’s permission, Gabriel gently broke away from his grip and went to fetch the golden wristwatch, which they had hidden beside Misha’s own wristwatch in the crack between the wall and the head of the bed. While taking off his coat, he pressed the button, and the holographic image appeared in the room, reciting Misha’s message. And as it played, Masha’s eyes grew wider until they seemed about to pop out of their sockets. At one point, her jaw dropped, and a foolish look distorted her pretty face. She looked just like a lost kid.
When the message neared its end, Misha tucked on Gabriel’s sleeve. “You can stop it now, right? She heard enough, I think….”
“Hm? But I don’t know how to,” Gabriel hummed with a teasing smile that made Misha’s cheeks burn up.
“You! You!”
The boy jumped, trying to snatch the watch from Gabriel, but the man swiftly lifted it above his head, making it impossible for little Misha to reach it. Before he could even kick his tibias, Misha heard himself confess for the second time, and once more, he buried his beet-red face into his hands, wanting to crawl into a hole and never come out. His other self should just go and die, seriously.
While he felt like killing himself, he heard his sister say in a small, trembling voice, “…Should I call you big brother from now on?”
That was the first thing that came to Masha after watching the video, and so she blurted it out, staring at Misha and Gabriel with the expression of a lost child. It took her a second to realize that she had said aloud what was on her mind, making her a little embarrassed. She cleared her throat and then tried to find something else to say and ease the atmosphere, but her mind was blank and nothing came out of her mouth.
“No need. In my eyes, you’ll always be my big sister,” Misha responded with a laugh, lifting his head and lowering his hands so that his sister could see his facial expression clearly. A bright smile bloomed on his face, so warm that it seemed to melt Masha’s heart. It was the first time she had ever seen such a beautiful yet melancholic smile, giving rise to an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach.
Before she could realize what she was doing, Masha had already stretched her hands and grabbed Misha’s shoulders, dragging him into her arms. “Yeah, you’re right. You’ll always be my cute li’l bro no matter what.”
Masha sniffled, tightening her embrace around the boy. So many thoughts and questions swirled about in her head, but for the time being, they didn’t matter. All she wanted to do was hug Misha, so she did just that, pushing back the bothersome stuff they had to talk about. For now, just let her be there for her little brother. That was all she wanted.
____________
Mini theater
Author: SEEEEE! I told you it would be this chapter!
ML: You did, right. Here, here, I’m proud of you.
Author: What am I?! A dog?!
ML/MC: Well…
Author: ….My characters have no respect for me. RIP.
__________________________
Chapter revised on 2022-06-02
Edited by Clozed! ♥
Thanks for the chapter ♥️♥️
Thanks for reading! ♥♥
Thak you for the chapter. Masha and Misha are so cute together
Hehe, they do have a cute sibling relationship.
Thanks for reading! ♥
Damn damn damn, the truth is finally out there!!!!
Yeah! It was about time x’D
Thanks for reading! ♥
Anybody planning to invention Mtls for brains?? Cuz I sure need one right now.. Maoorrrrrrr :3 !!!!
Wouldn’t you need chapters to Mtls first? x’D
Thanks for reading! :3
Yay! They told her. Now she needs to believe everything they say and break up with Camille
Thanks for the chapter <3
Yup. It’s a lot of things to swallow in one go X’D
Thanks for reading! ♥
She finally knows 😭
I think Misha’s confession takes some weight off the rest of the message. Maybe that’s why Gabriel so playfully refused to skip it – or maybe he just likes hearing it 😉.