A teenage boy sat cross-legged at the foot of a birch tree, resting against its pale trunk. The silvery shadow of the leaves gently swayed on his face, appearing as if it was dancing. He seemed to have fallen asleep while reading; his hands loosely held a thin book, and his eyes were closed, his glasses still perched on his nose.

It was a very serene sight. And yet, Gabriel didn’t appear peaceful in Masha’s eyes; instead, he seemed utterly exhausted. It made her hesitate, but she eventually decided to wake him up—she could always let him rest after their discussion.

Putting down her backpack, she crouched in front of Gabriel and gently shook his shoulder. The teenager opened his eyelids the moment her fingertips brushed him, staring at her with a blank face and dull eyes. Masha jumped in fright, pressing a hand against her chest. She had thought it’d be a struggle to wake up this Sleeping Beauty, but no. A slight touch had been enough, meaning that Gabriel was probably only resting his eyes and hadn’t fallen into a deep slumber.

Masha couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief. It was lunchtime, and they had an exam in less than an hour. Therefore, they didn’t have much time to talk, and wasting several minutes just to wake Gabriel up would have been quite a pain, especially since they had postponed their discussion a few times already.

Honestly, Masha couldn’t wait any longer. Gabriel wanted to talk about her cute little brother, which made her unreasonably anxious. Every time she bumped into him in the corridors, all she wanted to do was corner the teenager and question him to her heart’s content.

Her anxiety and impatience weren’t unfounded, however. Masha knew Gabriel well, and he’d never ask to talk in private if it wasn’t for an important matter. Considering how observant he could get, she couldn’t help but wonder if he had noticed something about Misha that she hadn’t.

And deep down, she knew something was off with her little brother lately. However, she could only tell that he seemed to have something on his mind. At first, she thought it was due to his nightmare, but that was already a few days ago, and her brother was still looking at her with deep sorrow whenever he thought she wasn’t paying attention.

Then, on Monday, when she went to his bed to verify if his fever had gone down, his face was suddenly filled with panic, his breath visibly caught in his throat. Although he rapidly hid it beneath a bright smile, she still had seen the fear lurking in the depths of his eyes. Only, his reaction made her unable to ask what he was so afraid of.

This boy had his pride, and she didn’t want to probe too much and anger him. Sulking was his strongest weapon, and Masha felt like dying every time he pouted for days. So, she preferred to avoid rubbing salt into the wound as much as possible. If Misha didn’t want to confide in her, she wouldn’t force him. All she could do was ask the expert his opinion, although this expert had a wicked tongue and a bad personality.

“The pest is not here today?” Gabriel sneered, stretching his neck to look over Masha’s shoulder to make sure Camille wasn’t merely lagging behind. After confirming that there was indeed no one else in the track field, Gabriel lowered his head, satisfied.

“No, she’s with her friends today,” Masha rolled her eyes as she sat beside the teenager. “I’m not the only person in her life, you know?”

“Sometimes, I wonder.”

Masha tactically decided to ignore Gabriel’s mocking words and switched to the topic that interested her. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

Gabriel glanced at her, silent for a second. “Well, first off, did you notice that your brother doesn’t like me? I’d even go as far as to say he hates my guts and wishes me dead.”

“What? No way! He seems to like you quite a lot.”

“Trust me, your brother wants to bury me six feet under. He kept up the pretense in front of you and your mother, but the moment you were out of his sight, his true feelings tended to show up. You know, his death glare is pretty obvious.”

Masha blinked; Gabriel shrugged. He was telling the truth. Although Misha thought his acting was good, the reality was that it was pitiful enough to make the teenager want to cry. In the end, the boy was still an open book for anyone with a keen eye. Many times, Gabriel sensed his desire to slice open his throat and dump his body in the river. The child’s smile was always a bit too stiff, and whenever he said kind words to him, they seemed to scratch and burn his throat.

Gabriel didn’t expose the boy, knowing it wouldn’t do them any good. For now, he preferred to wait and observe him a while longer. Thus he played along, pretending he hadn’t noticed his hatred and false courtesy.

“Also, he asked if I liked you, then asked if I loved you.”

“Oh? And what did you answer?” Masha grinned, her voice carrying a bit of mischief.

“What do you think? Of course I said yes both times,” Gabriel scoffed. “But your brother didn’t seem satisfied with my answer. On the contrary, it seemed to anger him. For a moment, I even thought he’d pounce on me and tear me to shreds.”

Gabriel slightly shook his head as he remembered Misha’s expression at the time. There was only dissatisfaction and animosity left on his doll-like face. He couldn’t help but sigh, “You were right. Your brother’s possessiveness is indeed like a bottomless pit. Winning him over will be a real pain in the neck.”

Masha’s clear laugh resonated throughout the empty track field. Well. She had been surprised when Misha showed goodwill toward Gabriel, so sure he’d bare his teeth the moment they met. Thus, Misha acting coy had left her at a loss for words.

Now, she had a pretty accurate idea of what her brother was planning to do. He played the model child only to lower their guard, thinking of backstabbing Gabriel at the first opportunity. It’d also explain why he seemed lost in thought lately. He was probably thinking of a way to get rid of the boyfriend the same way he tried to push away the childhood friend. Goodness, that boy wanted to keep his sister all to himself!

“But that’s not what I wanted to talk about,” Gabriel’s tone grew solemn as he related what happened when he tried to verify Misha’s temperature at the amusement park. The deep fear hidden in the child’s blue eyes was still fresh in his memory. “His reaction was similar to my grandmother, and you know what she went through.”

Yes, they both knew that Gabriel’s grandmother suffered from domestic violence, and it left her with a few psychological shadows, even after her husband was long gone. One sudden movement was enough to scare her into obedience.

“Are you sure?” Masha asked through gritted teeth.

“I would rather be wrong, believe me, but I could never mistake these types of signs. You should find the time to discuss this with your brother and verify if anything happened at school.”

Masha responded with a nod. She didn’t question his words, knowing Gabriel would never lie to her unless it were for her own good. She had absolute faith in him.

The words sank, and anger welled up in her chest at the thought of someone hurting her precious little brother. If someone indeed had done something to him, Masha didn’t know what she would do, but she had the feeling it could lead to jail time.

Gabriel averted his eyes, gazing over the empty track field. He didn’t say anything more. Even though something else bothered him, he decided to keep his suspicions to himself.

Before bringing Gabriel home, Masha had explained a few things about her family situation so that he wouldn’t make a blunder. The crucial point concerned her brother; the kid suffered from slight developmental disabilities.

As a child and a teenager, Misha’s mental development was too slow. Because of this, he encountered many difficulties at school since his actual mental age wasn’t at the same level as the other children. His social interactions were limited, often awkward, and the teachers’ explanations and the school manuals were obscure to him. It took him twice the effort to keep up in class, tiring him out.

At first, Mrs. Brown wanted to send him to a special school, but her husband refused to admit that his boy was mentally disabled. Thus, Misha was enrolled in a regular school, and his mother took time every evening to tutor him and help him with his homework.

Thankfully, a development delay of two-three years wouldn’t become a handicap once Misha reached adulthood, but in the meantime, it was still a cause for concern. Hence, Masha had told Gabriel to be careful when interacting with her little brother. Similarly, she made sure Gabriel would never raise the issue in front of her father. It was taboo.

At the time, she also took the opportunity to share some of her worries about her brother’s future. She and her mother still hadn’t told Misha that he was mentally disabled. They were afraid it would hurt him and affect his self-esteem. Moreover, they weren’t sure he could fully understand what it meant. Maybe, he would only remember that he wasn’t like the other children, which would erect another barrier between him and the other kids of his age.

To top it all, Misha was also smaller and thinner than other boys of his age; this was already a cause of mockery that deeply troubled the child. Thus, they thought of waiting for a few years before explaining his conditions. But in the end, they never had the chance to do so in their past life. One died too soon, and the other was too busy with work, so much so that she forgot about it. Well, she also didn’t live long enough.

Because of this, Misha wasn’t aware of his peculiarity and still hadn’t realized that his acting was full of holes. And, of course, the discrepancy inevitably drew Gabriel’s attention, arousing his curiosity.

Mini theater

MC: ... Is my acting that poor?

ML: Yes.

Author: How about taking lessons from Gabriel?

MC: Well, who cares if my acting is bad?

Author: I care! You’re a pain in the neck, and there are so many things I can’t write because your intellect and capabilities aren’t good enough (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

MC: Shut up! It’s your fault, you’re the one who created me! Take your responsibilities! (╬⁽⁽ ⁰ ⁾⁾ Д ⁽⁽ ⁰ ⁾⁾)

Author: Do you really want to argue with the one who holds your fate?!

MC: I hate you!

Author: Good! You will hate me even more later on!

ML: …