The Trouble with Birthdays

Chapter 1

One early morning in mid-July, a night of light rain brought rare summer coolness to London.

The golden sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains on the face of a sleepy teenager who was still frowning.

The door to the small bedroom was gently pushed open, a small blonde girl who looked no more than four or five years old tiptoed in.

　　The little girl quietly glanced at the still sleeping teenager, swooped up and let out a string of silver bell-like laughter: "Brother, it's time to get up ~ we agreed to go to the playground today ~"

　　The young man squinted at the antique silver alarm clock on the bed, covered his face with the quilt and said, "Natalie, it's still early, let me sleep a little longer ~"

　　Natalie unrelentingly yanked back the covers and yelled loudly, "Dean, you lazy bastard! Don't forget it's your birthday!"

　　Dean sighed in resignation and sat up reluctantly, gently pinching Natalie's creamy white cheeks affectionately, and asked with a deliberately stern face, "Since you know it's my birthday, where's your birthday present?"

Like a doll-like sly smile, Natalie took out something from her back to take out and give to Dean, carefully handing it like a treasure "I decided to give you my most beloved baby, satisfied with it?"

"This..." Dean looked at the delicate small music box in his hand a feeling a little dumbfounded, he was just joking, did not expect Natalie actually prepared.

If memory serves, this music box is a "great" gift to Natalie; the little girl loves it after getting it.

　　"Natalie, are you sure?" Dean took the music box, carefully examined, the hexagonal silver music box carved with arcane and complex patterns, bringing a mysterious and mysterious feeling.

　　Natalie bit her lips, full of eyes full of reluctance to look at the music box in Dean's hands, half a long time before whispering: "I'm sure."

　　"Hahahahaha, I'm joking with you ~I know what you really feel, keep this music box, I can't take it away from you." Dean smiled and put the music box into Natalie's hands.

　　Looking at the big chocolate colored hand and the small pure cream colored hand intertwined, Dean's heart ached slightly, and the huge difference in skin color reminded him all the time that there was an invisible divide separating him from the others.

　　Natalie and the other twin siblings, Fianna and Daniel, were born to Dean's mother and stepfather, and as for Dean's biological father, almost no one ever spoke of him, he only knew that shortly after he was born, his biological father had abandoned them mercilessly, mother and son.

　　His stepfather was so great to Dean that he could make anyone ignore their very different skin color, but Dean couldn't fool himself, and his dark skin always made him feel a tinge of alienation from the family.

　　Normally, children who grow up in such non-original families grow up with more or less certain psychological distortions, but Dean was not bothered by this at all.

　　On the one hand, his stepfather did treat him as his own, treating all children equally; on the other hand, Dean also has a secret that only he knows, he is a time traveler.

　　Before crossing over Dean was a martial artist from China in the 21st century, and slept during a long flight to Great Britain.

　　When he woke up again, he became Dean as an infant.

　　With the experience of two lives, Dean soon realizes his awkward position in this reconstituted family. Out of his instinct for self-preservation and the education he received in his previous life, Dean chooses what he thinks is the wise way to deal with the world - to keep a low profile.

　　After all, he had traveled to Great Britain in the 1980s and 1990s, and in his previous life as an Easterner, he knew almost nothing about Great Britain at this time.

　　"Dean, if you're up, come on down for breakfast~" came the yell of his mother, Mrs. Thomas, downstairs, waking Dean from his musings.

　　"Coming!" Dean responded haphazardly and

He rushed into the washroom.

　　It was Dean's eleventh birthday, so breakfast was unusually generous.

　　When Dean arrived at the dining room, the others were already seated at the table, but they didn't start, waiting patiently for him, the main character.

　　"Happy birthday!" Fianna and Daniel each shoved the gifts they had prepared into Dean's arms - it was a set of Mark Harding's limited edition paints and a commemorative soccer with West Ham United's crest on it.

　　"Thank you, thank you!" Dean's heart was touched, knowing exactly how long Fianna and Daniel, who were no more than nine years old, had saved up their pocket money to prepare these two gifts.

　　Seeing that Dean was already seated, his stepfather Sean, who had been reading the newspaper, removed it from his eyes, "Happy birthday, Dean!"

　　"Thanks!" Dean's tone was slightly stiff; the two had just had a little disagreement over school choice not long before.

　　Mrs. Thomas looked at her husband, then put a hundred pound bill in front of Dean and smiled: "Dean, Sean and I have discussed, today you have turned 11, you can make your own decisions about some things, what you want for your birthday, how about it?"

　　Dean silently looked at the brand new hundred dollar bill and glanced at the Eton alumni badge pinned to his stepfather's chest, lowered his eyes and asked softly, "... so I can also make my own decision about which school to choose, right?"

　　Mrs. Thomas's smile stiffened for a moment, apprehensively looked at her expressionless husband and said, "Dean, we'll discuss this later, don't forget that today is your birthday. Sean took special leave and is going to take us to the playground."

　　As if not hearing the pleading in his mother's tone, Dean stared at the man sitting in the main seat and stubbornly pursued the question, "Can I choose junior high school the way I want?"

　　Sean Thomas sighed softly, put his knife and fork back in place, looked up into his stepson's eyes, and said seriously, "Dean, I didn't want to spoil your fun today, but if you insist - as I said before, Eton is the dream of everyone in England, It has better facilities, staffs and teachers, It is better than that community high school you want to go to, I don't understand why you are so persistent?"

　　"Dean, your stepfather is right, he has made a lot of connections ..... to get you into Eton," Mrs. Thomas said helpfully from the side.

　　"Eton is great, but I just want to decide my own future." Dean said obstinately.

　　As someone from the future, Dean is more or less a little gifted, learning or whatever is not at all a problem, so he does not want to enter the strict school rules of Eton College to bind his identity and nature.

　　"How about this, some day I will find the opportunity to take you to visit Eton, after seeing the environment there, perhaps you will change your mind." Sean was not prepared to clash with Dean on this particular day, and backed off and suggested.

　　Dean opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he saw the pleading expression on his mother's face, he struggled in his heart and finally closed his mouth.