La Ronde

For whatever reason, the amusement park wasn't as crowded as usual and felt somewhat empty. On the bright side, there was almost no waiting line, and Misha calculated that they could ride every roller coaster at least once—instead of only five to seven for the whole day. Additionally, despite the cloudless sky and the bright sun, the temperature was cooler than the previous day, and a refreshing breeze steadily blew throughout the place.

In short, it was the perfect day for going to La Ronde.

There was one problem, though: Misha was too short and couldn't ride most of the roller coasters. Making him wait every time the group rode one was too unreasonable, and they also couldn't let him wander alone in the park. That was too irresponsible. After talking for a while, Gulnas proposed to split up. She would go with her son to the amusement park area specially made for kids or the smaller roller coasters that didn't require being too tall, whereas the teenagers could go wherever they wanted to.

But the words had barely left her mouth when Gabriel raised his hand and proposed something else. "To be frank, I'm not very good with heights. So, I can stay with Misha, and you can go with the girls."

Everyone blinked once, slightly taken aback. It was even more so for Misha, who had never heard of such a fear despite knowing Gabriel for years.

In his past life, they were separated for the whole day. That being said, Misha never actually saw him riding a roller coaster. Afterward, they never had the chance to go back to the amusement park. His sister worked too much and rarely took leave from work, even on holidays, and Misha didn't want to go out to have fun without her.

Now that Misha thought about it, even when they did go out, they never did any activities that implied heights; hiking, cinema, haunted house—it was always the kind of activity in which their feet were firmly grounded.

Really? Gabriel was afraid of heights?! The thought made Misha feel strangely uncomfortable, and he couldn't help but stare at the tall teenager in disbelief. In his mind, Gabriel feared nothing and could overcome everything. The guy was a big, bad wolf in sheep's clothing and thus wasn't allowed to feel fear! He wasn't allowed to have human emotions! Or else, how was Misha supposed to see him as a monster…?

'Don't go around acting like a human! You aren't!'

Misha refused to accept it. Yeah, Gabriel afraid of heights? It couldn't be possible. That guy was spouting nonsense and scheming about who knew what!

"Why didn't you say so before we came here?" Masha asked. If Gabriel didn't like amusement parks, she'd have chosen something else.

"Because it's your birthday," Gabriel winked. "And you were looking forward to visiting La Ronde so much."

Camille chimed in, "Oh, you were that excited?"

"Oh, shut up!" Masha whined, hiding her face in her hands in embarrassment. Wasn't it normal to be excited when it was your birthday and you were out celebrating it with your loved ones? No? Was it only her?

Misha saw his sister's bright red ears from the corner of his eyes and felt conflicted. It seemed like Gabriel had already snatched an important place in her heart, for she reacted too strongly to his every word and action.

'I already don't know how to get rid of the man as it is, so please don't make things more difficult for me! I'm begging you, Sis'!' Misha inwardly winced, just about to pull his hair out.

"Thank you, Gabriel," Gulnas interrupted the teenagers' prattle and Misha's silent lamentations, "but I think I will feel more reassured if I stay with my son."

"Yes, I understand," Gabriel politely replied with a pleasant smile. They met for the first time yesterday, and he couldn't expect a mother to trust him wholeheartedly with her treasured son so soon. "But I also have a cell phone. So, we can contact each other at any time if something happens."

Gabriel took the said cell phone out of his pocket and showed it to Gulnas to let her know his good faith. She responded by raising an eyebrow in surprise, while Misha frowned his. At the moment, it was the beginning of the 2000s, and cell phones were still quite pricey. They were also not as versatile as they were in 2019.

In Gabriel's hands, the old fashionable device appeared to be newly purchased, and the teenage girls by his side couldn't help but look at it with envy.

Before Misha traveled back in time, almost everyone owned a cell phone, even the kids. But fifteen years ago, the situation was different. Not everyone could afford it, and most still used a wired phone. As for Misha's parents, they shared one cell phone, and since his father was currently away on a business trip, his mother was using it.

This fact slowly made his way into Misha's brain, making the frown between his eyebrows crease.

Now, Misha wasn't a clueless kid, and he knew what this meant. As the realization struck, snippets of memories popped into his mind, giving him a headache in passing. Many things that he hadn't paid attention to when he was a child surfaced. For instance, the car Gabriel owned at the age of seventeen or the computer and other technologies he often brought home.

'Are his parents freaking rich or something…?' Misha thought, squinting his eyes as he dug into his memory.

If that guy was indeed loaded, how come he never helped when their financial situation was so dire his sister had to work her ass off?! It wouldn't have killed him to lend some pocket money!

But whatever he complained about, Misha knew things weren't as simple as this. Still, he refused to acknowledge it as it was easier to blame Gabriel, thinking that he could have lessened his sister's monetary burden but didn't. Misha also deliberately pushed aside the thought that this pampered young master was at their home every day, cooking and doing the housework. What if he helped out at home? He almost burnt down the house a couple of times!

In Misha's family, they were all born stupidly stubborn. As long as his sister could move by herself, he knew she would never accept depending on her lover to pull her through tough times. Although Misha was the same, it didn't mean he would approve of his sister's stubbornness. He was allowed to, but she wasn't!

"Misha, are you okay?"

Gabriel's voice was like a cold shower, harshly pulling back Misha's mind into the present. How long has he been staring at Gabriel? Misha didn't know, but at the very least, it was long enough to draw Gabriel's attention to him.

Instinctively, Misha nodded, then pointed to the cell phone with his tidy index and said, "I was wondering how to use that? Can you really call people with it? It doesn't even have a cable!"

Following the boy's inquiry, Gabriel opened the cell phone and explained everything. With a look of awe plastered on his face, Misha seemed to listen attentively, but inwardly, he was dissing the old thing. In his eyes, it couldn't be called a phone; it couldn't connect to the internet, and there was no game on it! It was a dinosaur kind of thing, something he hadn't seen in ages!

After Gabriel was done explaining, he casually lent the cell phone to the child so that he could play with it, then went to discuss the current issue with Gulnas. He never thought that the boy could make a mess of the cell phone's system and its contact list, renaming and mixing up everything.

Looking at his work of art, Misha felt quite pleased with himself. He felt even more satisfied after seeing Gabriel's troubled face as he tried to understand what had happened to his phone. But that wasn't important right now! He had to convince his mother to let him go with the teenager, and being straightforward about it seemed like the best course of action.

"I want to go with Gabriel!" Misha shouted, cutting short the discussion. "Can I…?"

Everyone was stunned at these words, and Misha had to repeat himself. He knew it wasn't in line with his bratty personality; he'd most likely prefer to stay with Masha. But he didn't want his sister or his mother to spend too much time with Gabriel. If Misha could keep them separate, they wouldn't be able to get close—so he thought.

Also, Misha wanted to know what was hidden in that devil's head. Why did Gabriel want to spend the day with him, doing boring things and taking care of an unknown kid? Was it to put him on his side or for something else? He had absolutely no idea, and it was driving him crazy!

"Please, I really want to go with him!"

"Are you sure?" Gulnas asked, a bit doubtful. That son of hers was picky when it came down to people. At his age, he still only had one friend, after all. Yet, he seemed pretty fond of Gabriel, and she wasn't sure whether to be happy or suspicious.

"Yeah! You can get some girl time, and we can have boy time!" Misha nodded as if he was all-knowing. "Dereck said it was a good thing!"

Amused smiles slipped on their lips at the childish excuse, but none knew how to answer. Well, it wasn't like Misha was waiting for their reply anyway. Before they could even open their mouths, Misha had already grabbed Gabriel's wrist and dragged the teenager in the opposite direction. Camille chuckled a little, and Masha mouthed a silent "sorry" to the teenage boy. Misha acted as if he didn't notice the girl's antics, almost skipping while pulling his human trophy behind him.

Surprisingly, the touch of Gabriel's skin didn't disgust Misha as much as he thought it would. On the contrary, it felt strangely "normal", a feeling he hadn't experienced in a very long time.

His mother's touch felt soft and comforting, whereas his sister's felt warm like the sun. However, they were his family, not strangers. He thought they were the only ones he could accept, yet Gabriel's touch surprisingly didn't induce any disgust and fear in him; it brought about nothing.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Gabriel said. "I need to give my phone number to your mother first. Okay?"

Upon hearing the words, Misha finally stopped. He glanced at the teenager over his shoulder, and a hint of maturity that shouldn't be present in his eyes glinted. But he quickly hid it, nodding and smiling. He let go of his wrist, and Gabriel walked back to Gulnas a few feet away.

Misha lowered his eyes, staring at his open hand. It was so small, so smooth. It was a hand that still hadn't experienced any hardship. As he looked at it, Misha wondered why he could touch the teenager without feeling disgusted. And soon enough, a vicious voice whispered inside of his head, "Because he was the one who saved you from your father—the one who protected you even if it meant losing everything."

Misha bit his lower lip and shook his head. Now, it didn't mean anything to him.

________________

Mini theater

ML: *Looks at his phone, then looks at the small, smiling kid in front of him* Misha... What did you do to my phone?

MC: Of course, I played with it! (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

ML: You know, I didn't mean this kind of "playing."

MC: You didn't specify anything when you lent it to me ~

ML: I know... But still, how I'm supposed to find out who exactly is the contact behind the surname you put in? You renamed them all! Who is Mister Lama? Melon seed? Pig head? Lovely Princess?

MC: *shrugs* Dunno... ♪～(´ε｀ )

ML: *sighs* Great... (╥﹏╥)

Chapter revised on 2022-04-21

Edited by Clozed! ♥

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