Gabriel was slightly taken aback, and it took a moment for his brain to process Misha's words. His younger brother calling him was genuinely unexpected, even more so on the landline; he couldn't help but take a second to try to understand what was going on.
How did Tristan get his hands on the Lesskov family's phone number?
Also, why didn't he directly call him on his cell phone?
To start with, why did he even call?
Once the surprise passed, questions flooded his mind. Pushing them aside, Gabriel stretched a hand and took the phone, not forgetting to thank Misha in passing. However, his polite "thank you" didn't alleviate the sour expression on the child's face. Instead, Misha seemed to have swallowed another fly upon hearing it.
In a well-practiced manner, Gabriel pretended he hadn't noticed the boy's dark eyes and pursed lips, bringing the phone closer to his ear.
"Hello, Tristan? It's Gabriel," he said softly.
"Gab!!! Is it really you?"
Sure enough, a familiar voice soon resounded in his ear, making Gabriel smile unconsciously. It had been a long time since he had last heard it, and hearing it again strangely put him at ease, lifting a weight he didn't even know was weighing on his shoulders.
Over the past few weeks, the two siblings hadn't spoken to each other, not even once.
After Gabriel moved out to live with Masha's family, it was now impossible for him to call that house, much less ask to talk with Tristan. No matter who answered the phone, be it Angela or Jake, they would hang up on him the moment they heard his voice; he could only communicate with his stepmother concerning Masha's medical expenses through e-mails.
That woman categorically refused to talk to him, saying that hearing his voice hurt her ears so badly that it felt like her eardrums were about to burst. Her words were harsh, dripping with scorn and contempt, making it crystal clear that she wouldn't accept his calls.
Once Angela learned that he had "recovered" his memory, she dropped off the act of a loving mother and reverted to that vicious stepmother Gabriel knew so well. It was something he had expected, and he quickly adapted to her nonsense. As long as she paid for Masha's needs, he couldn't care less about how they communicated.
At any rate, not hearing her voice was also what he wanted.
But as a result, he couldn't contact Tristan anymore, which was a small thorn in his heart.
"Yes, it's really me. How have you been lately?"
"Not too bad, and you?" the boy answered, his voice so faint that it was barely audible.
"I'm fine. Tristan, why are you whispering?"
"…"
"Tristan?"
"…Mom doesn't want me to call you. She said you are a very, very bad person, and Jake started to say mean things about you again."
"..."
Considering his stepmother's nasty temper, such a reaction was relatively mild, or maybe Tristan was too young to relate everything she had told him adequately. She probably had portrayed him as a monster to her younger son so that he would stay away from him, and all that Tristan had understood in the end was that Gabriel was a bad person.
As for Jake, it was already a miracle he didn't straight out badmouth him during the months he pretended to suffer from amnesia. Although he always made a funny face whenever they saw each other, he kept his mouth shut and didn't say a thing, only acting distant. In all probability, Angela had told him to restrain himself so that Gabriel wouldn't suspect their intentions.
Unfortunately, Gabriel knew his step-brother wasn't that well behaved, so he still must have cursed him out whenever he was alone with his mother, just not in front of Tristan or him.
Now that Jake didn't have to watch his tongue, it was to be expected that he'd gladly mock and belittle Gabriel whenever he felt like it, not caring about his surroundings anymore. He had always been the kind to say whatever he wanted whenever he wanted—having to keep his mouth shut for so long must have put him in a terrible mood, making him irritable and impatient.
Let's say that, now, he was venting his pent-up frustration by slandering Gabriel all day long. That was what Gabriel had deduced.
Besides, who cared if his little brother heard him? It wasn't like he could report his words to Gabriel, and even if he did, the loving family façade had crumbled the moment Gabriel regained his memory, so they all knew they didn't get along, and there was no need to keep up the pretense. Jake's bad mouth wasn't anything new, after all.
"Knowing this, why are you calling me? Won't you get in trouble if your mom learns it?" Gabriel gently asked as he tried to keep his voice even.
But it was hard to do.
He felt as if someone had grabbed his neck, squeezing it tightly. Gabriel couldn't help it; he was afraid for Tristan's safety. If his mother ever were to find out about the phone call, he wouldn't be able to escape unscathed from her anger. She had told him to stay away from him, and yet, here he was, talking to him over the phone, directly disobeying her.
Although Gabriel knew that woman doted on her youngest son, he also knew she couldn't stand it when he disobeyed. Whenever she snapped, her punishments were overly harsh, lacking motherly love, and could very well leave psychological shadows. Gabriel was well aware of this, and he sure as hell didn't want Tristan to go through such things.
"If mom doesn't know it, I won't get in trouble!" Tristan proudly replied back, making Gabriel's mouth twitch.
Wasn't that something Misha had said at his birthday party? When he ate some sweets behind his mother's back and Dereck asked if doing that wouldn't get him in trouble? How come Tristan still remembered those words, even accurately using them…? They only had met once, yet Misha was already a bad influence on him!
Why?!
"…" Gabriel thought for a second but still decided not to contradict his brother for now. So instead, he asked, "How did you know how to call this number?"
Although Tristan was very bright for his age, he was still only a young child who wasn't even five years old, unable to read or write. So, how did he manage to call him? Did someone help him? But who in that damned house would do such a thing?
"That… Stephan came with his father to see ours. And I asked him how to contact you when my family wasn't paying attention to us. You're good friends, so I thought he'd know."
Well, Gabriel had his answer now.
"Is he by your side right now?"
"No, he promised me that he'd distract my mom and Jake so they wouldn't come near me. He said he'd let me know if they approached my bedroom by talking louder. You know, he has a loud voice, so I'm sure to hear him."
"Wait. Your bedroom?"
"I didn't tell you? He lent me his cell phone and told me to hide in my bedroom while talking to you! But he said it was still better to whisper, just in case someone passed near my room and heard me talk."
Gabriel's tense shoulders finally relaxed. Now, he could heave a sigh of relief, knowing that Angela and Jake would never find out that Tristan had disobeyed and called him, not when Stephan had planned everything. His friend appeared to be an airhead who only knew how to spout nonsense and act shamelessly, but Gabriel knew it wasn't the case.
The gears in that weird guy's brain moved faster than most people, and even Gabriel sometimes had difficulty following his train of thought. But right now, he could more or less guess what his friend had in mind. He didn't let Tristan call from the house phone not only because he couldn't move around due to the telephone wire, but also and mostly because the phone call would show up in the call history.
Angela was still as paranoid as ever and often verified the landline phone call history, making sure her husband hadn't contacted another woman behind her back. She had once been a mistress herself, so she knew he wasn't the most faithful man on earth. Still, there was no way she would allow another woman to approach her husband. Strangely enough, his father was very tolerant of her outbursts of jealousy, and he didn't mind Angela going through both the house and his mobile phone call records.
It was something Gabriel had never understood. Not that he wanted to understand their twisted relationship, but it was still something that had always left him a little dumbfounded.
Stephan had also instructed Tristan to contact him through the landline instead of his cell phone because the probability of someone answering the phone was higher on the landline. More people had access to it as it was in the living room, and after dialing the number for Tristan, Stephan couldn't wait for the call to connect and try another number if no one answered. He had to immediately leave and distract Angela and Jake, ensuring they wouldn't have the time to ponder why Tristan had suddenly disappeared.
Thus, Stephan chose the safest number, resulting in Misha answering Tristan's phone call on the landline.
However, one little detail still left Gabriel perplexed; what exactly was Stephan doing at his father's place? The snowstorm outside had weakened a lot compared to this morning, but it wasn't completely gone. It was still snowing, and the roads weren't entirely plowed, meaning that they were slippery and hard to navigate. It was dangerous, if not outright foolish, to climb in a car and drive in such weather.
What was so important for Stephan and his father to discard their own safety and brave the bad weather to visit Gabriel's father? Why couldn't they wait until tomorrow or simply talk through the phone?
As these questions flooded his mind, a foreboding feeling slowly rose inside his heart. Something didn't feel quite right.
__________________________
Chapter revised on 2022-05-28
Edited by Clozed! ♥
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