After pretending to wake up, Misha obediently waited for his mother to tell him about their decision to go to the clinic—which she did after asking how he felt this morning. Even if her boy said he was in top shape, she couldn’t help but worry.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry, baby,” Gulnas said in a gentle tone. “If you want, you can sleep a little longer.”

“No! I don’t want to!”

Stomping on his pride, Misha went ahead and threw a tantrum. As an adult, he was still stubborn, but his way of showing it involved his fists and some colorful swearing. After working in various bars for many years, the number of curses Misha knew was by no means small. But a child shouldn’t have such a dirty mouth, so he told himself to watch his tongue in front of his family. He just had to act like a spoiled, unreasonable brat.

“You said we would go to the amusement park today!”

Misha stared straight into his mother’s eyes, pursing his lips into a thin line. The corner of his eyes was still a little bit red and puffy, even though he had woken up almost an hour ago. It gave off the feeling that he was about to cry, making his mother flinch instantly. But that wasn’t enough to change her mind; it was because she was worried about her son that she wanted to visit the clinic. So even if he couldn’t understand and even hated her for it, she wouldn’t let the matter go. 

Misha silently tsked. The pitiful stance and teary eyes failed.

Not discouraged, he quickly turned to plan B and repeatedly screamed that he was fine, hitting the mattress with his feet and fists. He made a fuss, saying that he was overflowing with energy and could even bounce and run about all day long. Moreover, he didn’t have a headache anymore, and he also didn’t feel dizzy!

“Why don’t you believe me!? I’m not tired at all!” Misha whined, puffing out his tender cheeks. “I wanna go! I wanna go! I wanna go!”

Of course, he was lying through his teeth; his muscles were still sore, and his fingers and toes felt numb. But walking shouldn’t be a problem. Even if the several mild pains irritated the hell out of him, they didn’t hinder him, and they certainly wouldn’t prevent him from accompanying his sister to the amusement park.

Anyway, a nine-year-old kid with a short height like him couldn’t ride most of the rollercoasters. He wasn’t tall enough to reach the minimum height required to do them. Thus, today shouldn’t be too hard on his body. He just had to sit in the corner and pout.

“But—” Gulnas said, still unconvinced.

“I want to go!” Misha interrupted, loudly sniffling.

“Now I recognize your brother,” Camille whispered into Masha’s ear, chuckling discreetly.

Masha responded with a shrug. What could she say? They spoiled their family’s baby. And unfortunately, they weren’t planning on correcting this bad habit anytime soon.

After a few dozen minutes, Gulnas ultimately gave in to her son. However, she made him promise to tell them immediately if his body felt uncomfortable, to which Misha agreed with a beaming smile. Then, he jumped out of bed to hug his mother before darting to the bathroom to take a quick shower. He had sweated so much yesterday, and his clothes were sticking to him like a second skin. He also stank—a lot. 

Hopefully, Gabriel’s nose suffered all night, hehe!

Stunned, Gulnas took a few seconds before reacting and running after her son to bring him his clothes, grabbing the door just in time. Misha was about to lock it.

With great reluctance, Misha took the clothes before glancing at them. On the bright side, the new outfit didn’t let anyone question his gender, although it could still be categorized as “cute”. It looked somewhat like a sailor uniform in a more adorable version, with navy blue shorts and a white t-shirt. There was even a small hat to complete the set of clothes.

Glaring at the outfit, Misha pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘At least, it’s the boy’s uniform, not the girl’s,’ he comforted himself, thinking that he wouldn’t stay young forever. He could entertain his mother for the time being—though throwing another tantrum about those clothes was still very tempting.

Outside the bathroom, Gabriel was finally getting out of bed and starting to get ready, wandering around the room like a zombie. The teenage girls couldn’t help but laugh, and even Misha, when he saw the scene, almost couldn’t restrain himself from bursting out laughing.

Just then, Gabriel knocked his toes against the bedside table. Yet, he didn’t react immediately and seemed to be dazed instead. It took a moment before he let out a muffled groan as if he had just realized the existence of the throbbing pain in his little toe.

At last, Gabriel completely woke up.

***

Built on a smaller island beside Montreal, La Ronde overlooked half of the said island, whereas a forest occupied the other half. From a few bridges crossing the Saint-Laurent river, which connected Montreal to the land, it was possible to spot the tall roller coasters from far away.

Masha and Camille almost kissed the bus window as they stared at the colorful roller coasters. The bridge they were on was high and close to La Ronde and thus offered a beautiful view of the small island. Gulnas also glanced at the amusement park once in a while, a smile lingering on her lips.

Sitting beside his mother, Misha didn’t bother looking through the window, resting his chin on his hand. There would be so many more roller coasters in the future, and they would also be more impressive and thrilling. The present ones weren’t exciting in his eyes as they almost looked like a joke to him. And it wasn’t like he could ride them, anyway.

However, when his mother looked at him from the corner of her eyes, Misha made sure to appear excited. He slightly bounced on his seat, tilting his head to the left, then to the right, as if he couldn’t wait to get out of the bus. Misha did insist on coming over and over again in the morning, and it’d be weird if he grew more uninterested as they got closer to La Ronde.

Now and then, Misha had to tell himself to keep his acting logical and consistent. He had to be careful not to let any of his thoughts show on his face, which was easier said than done when you were an open book. For him, acting was mentally draining, and he needed to use all of his brainpower on it. In the end, he was so focused on everything he said and did that he didn’t have the time to think.

The moment Misha let his attention slip and his mind started to wander, he didn’t seem to be “himself”, as Camille had said. Too calm, too silent, too mature.

‘I’m never going to become an actor in this life or the next one,’ Misha inwardly grumped as the bus stopped in front of La Ronde. He glanced at the big gates and the stone wall that enclosed the amusement park, a hint of displeasure glinting in his eyes.

As soon as the door opened, Masha and Camille dashed out, followed by Gabriel, Gulnas, and Misha, whose hand was held by his mother. They bought their tickets, put their bags in a locker, and went in.

Masha was so excited that her cheeks were flushed red, standing near a fountain. She didn’t know where to start. Her sparkling eyes were locked on the amusement park map in her hands, weighing the pros and cons of every attraction.

Seeing her like this, Misha couldn’t help but smile sadly. In his past life, he was still in a foul mood when they arrived and thus refused to part with his sister. Instead, he clung to her like a leech, snarling at Gabriel or anyone else that tried to separate them.

Ultimately, Masha accompanied her little brother and Gulnas, riding the roller coasters made for the kids, while Camille and Gabriel went to do the bigger ones. Masha had to convince them to go without her, and with Misha glaring at them, they awkwardly parted only to meet again at noon for lunch and at the end of the day to leave together.

In the end, his sister couldn’t do any of the big roller coasters that made her eyes shine.

Even though Masha didn’t complain and smiled and coaxed her little brother for the whole day, she must have been utterly dejected inside. While seeing her so excited right now, Misha could easily imagine how she felt when she had no other choice but to accompany him in his past life. Yet, she never blamed him, only showering him with love.

Mixed feelings rampaged inside Misha. Such a perfect older sister who loved him from the bottom of her heart, how could he have been such an insensible, stupid jerk in his past life? How could he not see that things had become too hard on her and that she was slowly dying inside?

‘Really, you only realize how lucky you are once you lose everything.’

Mini theater (From when I was uploading one chapter every week/two weeks)

ML: Dear author, the pace of the story is too slow, the chapters are too short, and the updates are even slower. Won’t it take ten years before we get to the part where Misha doesn’t feel like killing me every time he sees my face?

Author: No, no, it won’t take ten years.

ML: It will take more time, won’t it?

Author: Ha, ha.