CHAPTER 4 "STUDY"

He observed the white wooden door a simple entrance in the eyes of any spectator since it did not have reliefs or outstanding engravings it could be confused with any other curious room the entrance to the "forbidden" study was only a natural wood door; when you enter you notice the desk in the middle of the room with five bookshelves around each one had 6 shelves full of books each bookshelf with different themes: history, mathematics, stories, medieval and modern; Dio said that modern ones are deadly dramatic but they had their charm, The young woman gently ran her hand over the mahogany desk the wood that Dio loved the most, each piece of furniture in the room is made with mahogany, she always thought her father had an obsession for the material. now he realizes that the material is beautiful and resistant.

The ravenette looked up at the dark mahogany trunk, the corner of the room was glimpsed so far away at that time especially because of the curious black color now she considered it as the representation of her father's dirty secrets, she averted her eyes she did not want Seeing something that could bring him pain at that moment even though his grandmother told him that he had to open that trunk, he preferred to leave that problem to his future self; Mia proceeded to take a seat at the desk, entering the study brought her a sob that she tried to contain but the memories came to her without being able to stop before even she could enter this room like her grandmother, she contained a sob when she was the first time I enter the studio. Mia wiped the small tears leaked from her eyes. She remembers when she passed even though she tries to deny it, the memories of her are as present as if they had happened yesterday; Everything changed when her grandfather had her birthday. She wanted to give him a gift but she had just turned 7 and she was still learning.

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"Grandmother, what does grandfather like?" A little Mia asked the older woman who was serving breakfast that day.

-What do you like ... - Maria inclined her head thoughtfully -... the jokes- her husband has a strange fondness for making fun of others an attitude with which she does not agree they have even come to fight about it, Maria sighed as ended up married to the joker still wondering.

-Jokes-

-Yes, why do you ask? - Maria passed the breakfast plate to the ravenette girl

-I want to give her a birthday present-said Mia whispering, she looked away from her in shyness Maria noticed that gesture she smiled with tenderness her granddaughter is ashamed even her little chubby cheeks flushed a light pink color, so beautiful.

-Well, if you need help, don't hesitate to ask me-

Mia nodded silently, she thought she could give Dio regarding her pranks.

Maria placed the breakfast in front of Mia, the girl did not say anything she only she began to eat in silence the older woman supposed that her granddaughter was deeply into her thoughts; the little ravenette thought about it for a moment remembering what she saw in the comedy show that her grandparents occasionally watch she remembers especially the man on television who always makes grandpa laugh Mia hummed the idea of the television man a bag with white powder inside that usually pour out on other people; Dio laughed every time she was on television so she decided she would give her that white powder to kick people out even though she doesn't know what the TV powder is, she sighed, maybe one more substitute at her disposal is the best .

-Grandma?-

-Tell me daughter-

-Can you give me flour? -Mia asked excitedly she had to make her grandfather's gift

-Flour?-

Maria after hearing Mia's rather strange request you accepted but with doubts, she offered him a cup of flour, Mia smiled and said goodbye to her to prepare her gift.

The youngest granddaughter went straight to her room, she had a plastic bag stored, she usually used it to store the sweets that she hides in her room, but the subject on television always has his strange powder in an inflated bag, Mia assumed that it is plastic because it is transparent, so would do the same gift for Dio he could play a joke on whoever he wanted; The ravenette proceeded to empty the flour, leaving a small hole to inflate, she wondered how much air she should put in it ... perhaps it would be best to leave it as inflated as the joker, When she stopped blowing Mia noticed that she could barely hold the bag she stopped her action by giving herself She realizes that it would be a problem but she smiled determinedly and she will hold the bag until she reaches her grandfather's room.

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Mia smiled to herself she remembers that occasion well after inflating the bag she went to the room to hide that gift attempt but found it closed, the young woman delicately ran her hand over the surface of the desk noticing the small details of the mahogany until reaching the drawer contained a notebook, pens, emergency phone, a flashlight and most importantly for her her father's pocket watch, she loved the story of the immortal who forgot to live and she told the story with that specific watch she was fascinated now who thinks about it after that gift he told that story for the first time and it was the first time he looked at the clock; remember When she noticed that she could not access the bedroom she decided to look for other options she even thought about leaving it in the bathroom, Mia laughed slightly at the memory, she walked around the house looking for a good place to hide it although she could also give it to her grandfather but In the eyes of a girl that subtracted the surprise emotion from the gift, the ravenette sighed deeply at that time she should not enter the studio without permission but by chance of fate, Dio left the door ajar and when she saw it, she found the perfect hiding place, even the first Once he entered he thought that the study is beautiful although a little exaggerated in wood, he searched the entire room until he found a good hiding place, he observed the shelves, realizing that it did not reach the highest ones, he verified the trunk, he even pulled it, he tries to open it, of course, it is useless enough sealed until he reached the desk, he smiled with all the innocence his infallible could hide it in one of the drawers as there was not too much The things in the inflated bag fit perfectly but at the time of closing it was another story, the drawer could barely close and the air in the bag could escape so Mia decided to take the stapler from the desk and position it on the little that protruded from the drawer so upon arrival Dio would notice the stapler out of place and discover the gift that could go wrong.

Mia took the watch, notes and a pen is all she needs so she slammed the drawer that day Sadly everything went wrong.

the ravenette snorted -What chances were there that that thing would explode in the drawer-

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He returned from home shopping in the afternoon, sad he missed breakfast with his daughter but with what he brought from the supermarket they can cook as a family, he smiled at the image Maria, Mia and him together preparing the birthday dinner also his children called to notify that they would come tomorrow and not today it will really be an excellent celebration just the three of them as a family. The older man entered the study looking for his watch as he remembers left it in the desk drawer stopped in front of the object noticing the drawer slightly open, Dio bowed his head and left it open but he was never so careless as to leave things unlocked then why? even the stapler is in another place he fell with the air, he denied, it impossible the room has no windows, Dio grunted someone entered his study did not secure the door Maria entered without permission although he said they should not enter if he was not the man The oldest person removed the stapler, whoever entered the drawer, opened the drawer, wait and they did not take anything, when he opened it suddenly the stapler fell back on the open drawer and on the bag inside it, the contents exploded, filling the man completely his shirt, face, hair and part of his pants white from the flour.

-What the hell ..- whisper without words they had made a joke on her it was Maria it is not impossible that woman hates jokes so Mia there was no other person in the house but her adorable daughter entered her study even though it was forbidden that is not impossible.

Dio left the study and went down the stairs looking for his wife and his daughter, he went through the house until he found them in the back garden watering the plants.

-Maria, did you enter the study? - The woman was on her back, as was Mia both watering the tangerine tree in the garden.

-No honey, I know how you get if ... -the woman turned around stopping her words when she saw her husband covered in flour where so much came from, she glanced at Mia surprised to see the man in those conditions.

"May I ask what happened?" Although the woman had an idea she didn't think Mia could play a joke on her own grandfather.

Dio blinked perplexed -That's my question in my study there was a bag of flour ..- pointing to himself he continued- .. it was in the drawer I opened it and it exploded-

"Explode?" Mia's voice caught the attention of both adults.

-Yes, I explode, you know something about it Mia- Dio leaned down to the level of his daughter, he did not want to think that she made up this whole situation.

-Gift, it was your gift to joke with someone- the girl inclined her head and her gift went wrong spilled completely.

-My gift? - Dio asked

-If your birthday-

Dio nodded silently, his gift was a joke, Mía made a joke to him his father never had any child he had ever done such a thing to him they never confronted him although he used to tease them often, perhaps this is the part of his genetics that come back to bite him now he should be angry right? but it is wrong to be a little happy about it, a daughter with whom she can share her ideas and future plans, she smiled enormously, what better birthday gift a daughter with whom she could ally against her grandmother when she played against them would be two against one guaranteed victory .

-It's a good gift Mia, thank you- Dio said stirring the girl's black hair, the man was so happy that he carried her daughter without caring about the flour stains.

-From now on you and I will come up with a lot of jokes together-

"Honey, I don't want to interrupt your moment but you don't think you should go clean yourself, you're dirtying Mia with flour." The man looked at his clothes and Mia's, both now white with flour.

-Sorry I completely forgot the flour-

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Mia who held her laughter for so long finally let it out of her, her father used to be very distracted, especially when he got emotional, situations like that happened a lot while being together one of the two forgot something and the other remembered it although the grandmother ended up scolding them for it, she said not to take everything as a joke, Happy sigh, these are good memories he has in this study-office but now he has to investigate Dio's code as necessary:

Earth, Jupiter, Mercury, Neptune.

Mia wrote the words in the notes staring at them her father said in the letter that they had an order, the order of the solar system Mercury, Earth, Jupiter and Neptune but Dio has nothing related to the solar system in the study nor did the house decide to stop and meditating watched the whole room turning in the chair, Maria told her not to turn in the chair but she is not here to scold her, she stopped when the chair hit the desk right in front of the bookcase of story books.

She thought of Maria scolding them and the storybooks.

-Grandma scolded us when we made plans so we began to hide them- the ravenette suddenly got up hiding the plans in their favorite books and then the codes.

-Alchemical symbols- he whispered the planets also have symbols in alchemy, he quickly ran to the story shelf one of his favorite books and the first book that his father bought him "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" began to leaf through it in a hurry and in the back cover the one drawn with a ballpoint pen a complete circle with a cross at the bottom and a half circle at the top confirmed by the alchemical symbol of mercury, he turned to the other shelves his shared favorite books:

"In the mountains of madness H.P Lovecraft" with the symbol of a circle and a cross in the middle, the earth.

"Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson" the symbol of the neptune trident and finally with a four per jupiter symbol the book of "Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe", the four books with the alchemical symbols of the planets began to review the content of each book but none had a note or other symbol, until he noticed that A color was sticking out of the back of page 38 of Tom Sawyer's book, I turn the page observing how subtly the number 37 is highlighted with green text mark.

-Pages-

Mia smiled apparently her favorites books still had secrets to tell her.