As I was about to curse my uncle, I turned a corner and saw his back.
"UNCLE"
He turned around and smiled.
"If it isn't my cute nephew. What brings you here? Are you…"
*cough*
I punched him in the stomach as soon as he was in reach. Who asked him to be all happy after screwing my life?
"You don't look very well, uncle. We should get you home."
"What are you saying, Ivan? Obviously, it was…"
*cough*
Was I too nice the first time? I punched just a little harder.
"Look at that cough. I'm afraid you'll start coughing blood, uncle Igor."
I lightly patted his shoulder and started leading him back to the city centre. This was a side street, but there were still a few people around. I shouldn't keep punching him here.
"Right, right. We should go back home then."
Uncle quickly gave up with an arm around his stomach.
"Where's the carriage?"
That's what uncle asked as we reached the main street. If there weren't so many witnesses, I would punch him again. I turned to him with a smile that wasn't really a smile.
"No carriage would go to those side streets, uncle. You can lean on me if you're afraid to fall."
A sweat drop run on uncle Igor's forehead. Everyone around us only saw a normal exchange of words. But uncle knew what I actually meant, "you can walk with me, or lay flat on the street."
"…"
Uncle Igor put his free arm around my shoulders and slightly lowered his head in defeat.
We walked all the way back to the mansion like this. We walked in silence for almost two hours. Usually, it would be a lot faster. But uncle kept walking slower and slower. He knows I'm furious with him.
"If you skip school you should pick up flowers, not men."
We returned through the side gate. Ron was the first one to greet us.
"Students should go to school, idiot" Jay reprimanded Ron and hit him the back of his head. Those two really were the comedians of the house.
"Can you walk from here, uncle?"
*sigh*
Uncle Jay finally took his arm off my shoulder.
"Let's go inside."
Someone must have informed Tom of our arrival. As we enter the mansion, he is already waiting for us and takes my hat and jacket.
"Welcome back, Young Master Ivan. I see you have brought Young Master Igor with you."
"We have some matters to discuss. Bring tea to the family room, Tom."
"Certainly" Tom bowed his head and silently disappeared.
In the family room, uncle Igor and I sat at opposing chairs. Uncle sat relaxed, leaning back with his crossed legs and an arm resting on the armchair and the hand supporting his chin. His face now looked more serious than he did outside the estate.
"So, what matter made my cute nephew go and head towards the back streets?"
Uncle always had a way to make any situation sound different from the truth without lying. I was clearly looking for him.
"Oh, I was looking for a lost child", it's true uncle is like a child even if he's over 30 years old now.
"…"
I guess that could hurt a little, coming from your 17 years old nephew.
"Anyway, we need to talk uncle. About what happened the first time today. This evening."
Hearing this, uncle Igor sat straight and looked right at me.
"Always going straight to the point, Ivan. Children your age shouldn't be so uptight, you know."
*knock knock*
"I have brought the tea, young Master" Tom entered with the tea set. Feeling the atmosphere, he swiftly set down the tea on the table and left the room.
"Children my age should not have to be forced to carry such a thing! How could you just pass this cursed power to me without a warning? Can you even consider yourself an adult?"
I leaned forward as I spoke, even banging on the table between us as I uttered the last word.
"So, it really was you I passed the family's power on to."
"Yes, it was me! Why didn't you give it to anyone else? I understand if you don't give it to the old geezers. But there are still uncle Cyrill, cousins Anna and Anton! At least those three would be better choices than me!"
"You have always been my first choice. But I never thought this would happen so soon."
"And I always refused."
"I know you think of this family power as a curse. I really hoped to change your mind before gifting this power to you. Alas, looks like that was impossible."
Uncle Igor sighed. He always tried to convince me that this cursed power was actually a gift from God. He received it from grandfather before his death. Grandfather also liked to talk about how it was an honour for our Lucero family to have this power, and often told stories, his favourite was about how the founder got this power directly from God as a reward.
But I never thought of it that way. You are forced to live every single day twice. Everyday. No matter if the day was perfect or crap. And what can you do? You cannot go back a week or a month to prevent a war or dismantle some sinister plan from a shadow power. You cannot change major decisions after actually knowing their effects. And it's not like you can go back just five minutes in the past to just stop yourself from tripping and falling down in public, or something! You have to repeat the whole day!
"And why was that impossible, uncle?" I tried to calm myself down. "What happened?"
"You know that I don't remember. I passed this power to you. Only you remember what happened the last today."
Yes, that was another stupid rule of this power. After you give the special power to the next holder, the day resets and only the new power holder will remember the last version of the day.
"But you should have some idea?"