Sitting on the sofa next to Masha, Gabriel was sipping on a glass of water, quietly listening to the teenage girl rant her heart out, and she sure had a lot to say. But overall, she mostly complained about how boring it was at school without him and how it made her days long and dull.
Tell her, who was she supposed to tease if he wasn't around?
To this, Gabriel kindly reminded her that even if she excluded him, there were still over thirty students left in their class. And how many classes were there in their school again? Well, quite a few. Besides, she had many friends scattered all over the place. So wouldn't it do her good to bother other people once in a while? Like Camille, for instance.
But no matter what Gabriel said, it appeared that no one was as fun to harass as him. This… was it a compliment, or was it an insult? It was hard to tell.
"Anyway, I was surprised to hear that you would come today," Masha changed the topic. "I was only joking when I told you to bring your ass over."
"Oh? Were you now?"
"Well, I was half-joking. But honestly, I didn't think you would risk arousing your stepmother's suspicion just to come to my brother's birthday party. Misha was missing you, true, but he would have survived even if you hadn't come."
"He would, but maybe I wouldn't. I'm afraid I'd never have heard the end of it if I missed his birthday, knowing how petty he can get," Gabriel chuckled, throwing a 'you know what I mean' kind of gaze at the teenage girl.
"That's… a valid point," Masha solemnly nodded.
As that little devil's sister, she had long learned to never underestimate Misha's pettiness, and it seemed like Gabriel had also learned his lesson—after suffering from the child's nasty pranks, who wouldn't?
A profound silence fell between them as they both tacitly lifted their eyes, glancing at the subject of their conversation, who was in the middle of explaining the rules of the Wood Block game to Tristan.
In the middle of the living room, the two children were directly sitting on the floor, facing each other. A happy smile curled up the corners of Tristan's mouth, while on the other hand, Misha wore a disgruntled expression on his face. But despite his apparent unhappiness, he still diligently played with the little boy.
Under the child's watchful eyes, Misha carefully pulled out a wooden block from the precarious tower. Once it was in his hands, Tristan loudly clapped, seemingly impressed by Misha's skills, before asking to try. With a smug expression, Misha generously invited him to do so with a gesture of his hand. It was then Tristan's turn to pull out a block, and so the boy furrowed his brow in concentration as his fingers slowly approached the tower.
Sadly, he wasn't as skilled as Misha, and the little tower crumbled, making Tristan pout. Realizing the kid was about to burst out crying, Misha comforted him and started to rebuild the tower.
The two teenagers watched the children's antics for a while before Gabriel opened his mouth again to say, "I have to admit I was afraid your brother would throw a tantrum after meeting Tristan, saying he didn't want an unknown little kid to spoil his birthday. But in the end, it went strangely well."
"Didn't I tell you that he is sensible? As long as you're not in the equation, that's it."
Gabriel sneered as an answer before taking a sip of his drink, silently wondering why this pair of siblings loved to make trouble for him so much.
The joyous background music covered their conversation, so the teenagers weren't careful with their words or the tone of their voices. However, the teenage boy didn't get rid of his amiable mask as the children could see his face by simply turning their heads. But because they couldn't hear him even if they perked up their ears, Gabriel's voice wasn't like usual, soft and gentle; instead, it sounded cold and detached.
"There's one thing I don't understand, though," Masha said thoroughly, squinting her eyes as she pondered over her next words. "Didn't you tell me that Angela implied that Misha had tried to murder you and that we wanted to cover it up? Yet not only did she allow you to come, but she also entrusted us with her youngest son... What's wrong with her brain?"
"Everything," Gabriel scoffed. "Don't forget, I'm an idiot and a goody-two-shoes in her mind. Because of these two prejudices, she doesn't put much thought into her lies, thinking that I won't notice the discrepancy between her words and actions. She's as cunning as she's conceited, and that's going to be her downfall."
The teenager paused before smirking slightly and adding, "Well, I was also very wary of my wording when I asked her to give me your phone number, same when I asked to come to your brother's birthday party. It's easy to mislead someone when they think of you as nothing more than a dumb child."
"…" Masha's shoulders slumped forward, and she grunted, "If you're dumb, then what am I? A dog? No, wait. In Angela's eyes, they're probably a whole lot smarter than me."
"Do you have something against dogs?"
"No? I find them quite cute, actually."
"Well, they sure are cuter than Jake and Angela."
"What are you saying? Shit is cuter than those two," Masha snorted. "You're insulting dogs, dude."
Gabriel didn't answer aloud, but the mocking glint that flashed in his eyes was enough to convey his inner thoughts. Then, ignoring the teenage girl's last words, he stood up and stretched, tilting his head toward the children.
"We better join in the fun soon, or your brother will complain that I only came to see you and don't care about him."
"Yeah, you're right. Let's not ignore the birthday boy. I'm afraid we can't afford the consequences," Masha laughed before leaping to her feet and walking to the boys.
Gabriel followed along, and they tacitly decided to sit between the two children to make it easier to pacify them if a problem were to arise later. Knowing Misha's bad temper, it wouldn't be surprising if he were to get grumpy and scold Tristan for no apparent reason. Although he was making an effort, they could tell the boy was displeased by the extra luggage Gabriel had brought with him.
When the teenagers sat beside the children, Misha's gloomy mood seemed to disappear into smoke, as if it had never existed in the first place. It was so obvious that Masha and Gabriel were at a loss for words. They couldn't help themselves and let out a light chuckle, feeling their heart soften at the blatant show of affection. But because of this, Misha became distracted and made an error, pulling out the wrong block.
And so, the small wooden block tower crumbled, and the blocks ended up scattered everywhere on the floor. Some even fell on the boy's knees.
Misha seemed to freeze for a second before pursing his lips and frowning. Finally, he lifted his head, looking back and forth between the two teenagers, a wronged expression plastered on his face. There was no mistaking it: his bright blue eyes blamed them for his own blunder, seemingly stating that they had committed a terrible crime. No, wait, a sin against humanity!
After snapping out of their stupor, the teenagers felt the urge to cry, but they had no tears to shed. For God's sake, it wasn't their fault!
__________________________
Chapter revised on 2022-05-20
Edited by Clozed! ♥
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/rs_vaesen
Discord: https://discord.gg/ZsEYr5eh6h