The crystal blue eyes swept around the childish room. A second passed, then two, and three, and four. It took a moment before Misha stepped in. Once inside, he carefully closed the door behind him as if it was made of glass.
Misha previously slept in this bedroom for a few days, but at the time, his fever was acting up, and his vision was blurry. He never really took the time to observe the room, much less appreciate it. Until now, he hadn't felt like this bedroom was his.
The childish decor clashed with his grown-up mindset, making his mouth twitch a little. But Misha had to admit that it was still a hundred times better than the hospital room. At the very least, he didn't have any roommates who would mistake his bed for theirs and pee in it. The pungent stench of disinfectant also didn't fill the room. Instead, it had a familiar, warm smell that put him at ease.
After observing the bedroom for a while, Misha finally walked to the shelf near the window. Standing on his tip-toes, he stretched his arm to take a dinosaur toy in the upper part. It was a T-rex with a rough texture. The awful brownish-red color was peeling, revealing the beige plastic underneath the paint. At first glance, Misha could tell that the plastic was of low quality. Nevertheless, that cheap toy had been his treasure when he was young, and he couldn't help but smile while looking at the old-fashioned T-rex, stroking its head with his thumb.
A short while later, Misha turned around and whispered to himself, "It feels good to be home."
Toy in hand, Misha went to his bed before tossing the T-rex on the mattress. Now, if someone were to enter his room, he'd pretend to be playing with it. Misha had no idea what a kid of his age should be doing when left alone, but since dinosaur toys were scattered all over his bedroom, he guessed that he often played with them as a child. They must have been his favorite toys.
Misha sprawled onto the mattress, then anxiously crawled to the head of the bed. Tossing aside the pillows, he slid his hand between the wall and the bed base. Because there was a narrow space between the mattress and the head, it created a crack where things could fall to the floor and roll under the bed.
Just after transmigrating, his mother suddenly erupted into his room, and he had pushed the golden watch under the pillows to hide it. As they slept, the wristwatch fell into the crack. Because it was relatively big, it was stuck between the bed base and the wall. It didn't fall on the floor and didn't make a sound. Thus, it didn't disturb their sleep.
When Misha woke up the next day, he had forgotten about it, too happy to meet his sister again. After that, he had a fever for a long time, and he wasn't in the mood to think about the device and the mysteries it held.
The space was narrow, but Misha's hands were just small enough to pass. When his finger touched the cold metal, he heaved a sigh of relief. His mother hadn't noticed the watch when she made his bed and didn't take it; the mattress and the blanket hid the crack well. If Misha hadn't known there was something there, he wouldn't have found the watch.
Misha rapidly excavated the golden watch and sat on the bed, the time-travel device on his lap. He then proceeded to examine it from all angles, fiddling with the buttons and so on. But no matter what he did, nothing happened. As Santa Claus had said, Misha couldn't change its settings.
After a while, Misha couldn't help but let out a grunt, glaring at the uncooperative golden watch. However, he didn't sulk for long and soon regained his smile. He was delighted enough about his present situation and was only curious about the mysterious device, nothing more. Even if he couldn't figure out how to use it at will, it didn't matter.
But perhaps he could try to catch Santa Claus on Christmas and bombard him with questions. He had never been good at quelling his curiosity, after all. Until then, he had no other choice but to hide the watch and wait.
Because the crack between the bed and the wall wasn't completely safe, Misha decided to put it somewhere else. Only, his mother was the one who cleaned his room and folded his clothes. She had access to everything, and thus nothing was truly safe.
So, where to hide it?
After rummaging through his room, Misha concluded that hiding the watch under the mattress was the best he could do. That hiding spot was a bit of a cliché, but everything else was too dangerous.
However, Misha had to battle with his bed for a good while before succeeding in sliding the device under the mattress, which seemed to be abnormally heavy for his thin arms. When the mattress fell back into place, the boy was panting loudly, and beads of sweat covered his forehead. Soon, he collapsed, his knees hitting the floor while his upper body rested against the bed.
Misha couldn't help but wince, discouraged by this weak body of his. Since he had thrown his brain in the trash bin a long time ago, his only strong point had always been his stamina. Now that he had lost his sturdy body and had to use his peabrain, he felt sorry for himself.
Alright. Misha still had that devilishly cute face of his, and he knew it was the perfect weapon against aunties and the like. But Misha was very, very reluctant to use it to curry favors. For as long as he could remember, he had always wanted to grow into a manly man, not a sweet-looking thing! Every time he had to rely on his face, it made his heart bleed.
Brooding thoughts swirled in his head for a while, but Misha eventually chased them away and stood up, dusting his pants. He took a deep breath and glanced at the toy on his bed, feeling crestfallen.
'How am I supposed to kill time until supper…?' he thought, scratching his head.
Playing with dinosaur toys wasn't very entertaining for a twenty-five-year-old man. And Misha didn't even know how to play with them. Was he supposed to make the dinosaurs roar at each other? To begin with, did T-Rexes roar?
If only Misha had access to the internet, he wouldn't have to think of such things.
'Things sure did change in fifteen years,' he laughed wryly, reflecting on his cell phone dependency. But he soon stopped thinking about it, fearing he'd end up crying otherwise. He sure was missing his cell phone dearly.
Not sure what to do, Misha stood beside his bed without moving an inch. He stayed still like a statue until he had a stroke of genius.
A wicked smile bloomed on his lips as he dashed out of his room, running down the stairs. Once he reached the first floor, he suddenly remembered that his current physical constitution was pitiful enough to make people want to bawl their eyes out. Goddammit! He merely rushed downstairs, and he was already running out of breath!
With a heavy heart, Misha trotted to the kitchen. He then fell upon his mother instructing her two helpers, Masha and Gabriel, on what to do. She had planned to make a feast to celebrate the return of her son and her husband, but she hadn't expected the two teenagers to be kitchen killers.
Misha was suddenly filled with pity for his mother. Teaching Gabriel how to cook was one hell of an ordeal, and he wouldn't be surprised if she ended up pulling her hair out.
It took a long time before Gabriel managed to cook edible dishes in their past life. It was a dark period of his life that Misha would rather forget; he had to eat unidentified food morning and evening for months. At one point, his taste buds even became numb, unable to taste the weird flavor. It was hard to believe that Gabriel would become an outstanding cook in the future, though he'd need years of training for that to happen.
Whether consciously or not, Misha looked at the messy kitchen with a discreet smile on his lips. It was a funny sight, and the frowning expression of both Masha and Gabriel was hilarious. It seemed as if they were experiencing the greatest ordeal of their lives. They squinted their eyes until they were flat lines, glaring at the stack of potatoes they had to peel. Honestly, their knife skills were terrible, if not nonexistent, and they always cut a big chunk of the potatoes instead of only peeling its skin.
On the side, Gulnas looked at the two teenagers with a helpless expression, not knowing what to do. There were many vegetables to cut and prepare, but her aides weren't that much of a help. But she had to take care of the meat and the stove, and she couldn't do everything by herself in a short amount of time.
While Gulnas was still thinking about what to do, she noticed her son standing in the doorframe. The moment she saw him, a sweet smile appeared on her face, and her frown disappeared. "Are you hungry? Do you want a snack?"
Misha shook his head. "Can I go over to Dereck's? And play a little before dinner?"
A hint of worry crossed his mother's face, but she quickly hid it. "Of course you can! But you have to come back in two hours."
"Thank you!" Misha giggled as he lunged forward to hug his mother's waist.
"You're welcome," Gulnas chuckled, patting her son's shoulders. "Go ask your father to come with you."
Misha's mouth twitched. Dereck's house was only two blocks away! There was no need to escort him, and he also didn't want to be escorted, much less by his father! He was a big man! Well, alright. Considering this small body, not really, but still! It wasn't like he'd accept candies from strangers and follow them to their vehicles or another place.
Although unhappy, Misha didn't voice his complaint. Instead, he said, "Ok. I'll go ask!"
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Chapter revised on 2022-05-02
Edited by Clozed! ♥
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