Chapter 98: CHAPTER 98. Sorry, You’re a Bad Liar

Misha had been acting oddly—even more than usual—for the past few days. He thought he had hidden his inner turmoil pretty well, but his face was still like an open book and his white lies were as bad as ever. Anyone that took the time to observe him would realize something was off.

At first, Gabriel and Masha thought it was due to Mrs. Brown’s first anniversary of death; however, they realized it wasn’t the case after visiting the cemetery. There was something else that was bothering Misha, but what?

They both knew that if they asked what was wrong, the boy wouldn’t answer and instead flee to who knows where, using whatever excuses he had in mind to escape. After all, it was what he had been doing for the past year and a half. Thus, they tacitly decided not to ask and keep an eye on him instead, silently watching over his every move. Unlike Misha, they weren’t obvious about their intentions, and the kid didn’t notice the two pairs of eyes following him everywhere. The day went in this way until evening arrived.

After dinner, it felt like the child couldn’t wait for his family to fall asleep, urging them to go to bed, saying that they appeared drained after visiting the graveyard. It wasn’t false, but it didn’t mean they were dead tired either. Still, they didn’t protest, and everyone went to bed a bit after eleven in the evening. At any rate, an additional couple of hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt them.

However, after lying in his futon, Gabriel didn’t plan to go to sleep immediately, having a hunch Misha was waiting for him to be in deep slumber before doing whatever he had to do.

Gabriel turned his back to the boy and pretended to fall asleep, gradually slowing down his breathing. And just as expected, the child left the room after a dozen minutes or so. Misha tiptoed his way outside the bedroom, trying to be as silent as possible. If Gabriel had indeed been sleeping, he’d never have heard him.

Afterward, Gabriel waited for a few seconds before following the child, his footsteps almost inaudible—Misha wasn’t the only one good at sneaking out.  

Then, when he saw the boy enter the kitchen to make a plate of cookies and a glass of milk, Gabriel hurried downstairs and hid inside the first-floor bathroom, leaving the door half-open to peek inside the living room. He was certain Misha wouldn’t find him; that child vehemently refused to use that bathroom, always going upstairs even when he was on the verge of wetting himself. Gabriel didn’t know why the kid hated that bathroom so much, but it worked in his favor.

After that, he waited, and things took a turn he could never have expected. He was shocked by the man’s sudden appearance, and the conversation that followed left him even more speechless. Yet, it also answered a few questions he had in mind for a long time.

So, Misha was an adult in the body of a child. It was a hard pill to swallow, but that would explain why he acted with so much maturity at times and why his mental disability seemed to have vanished overnight. It was because it did. Misha’s disability caused a delay in cognitive development, but it wouldn’t matter much after reaching adulthood. A two-three-year delay in mental abilities didn’t affect an adult in his twenties, contrary to young children who were in the process of growing up.

Gabriel leaned against the wall and quietly listened to their conversation until Santa Claus told Misha he couldn’t go back in time and couldn’t save his mother. Hearing Misha’s voice break made Gabriel’s heart swell with pain. He didn’t need to weigh the pros and cons for long before opening the door and showing himself, offering to take the boy’s—no, the man’s—place.

A silence fell upon the living room as Gabriel walked to the sofa. Once seated, he looked into Misha’s teary eyes and seemed to freeze. The child’s bewildered face was somewhat adorable, but the tears that had started to roll down his cheeks, reddening his eyes, only made him appear pitiful. Today, the boy seemed frailer and thinner than usual, as if he could break any time.

Gabriel didn’t like that sight. Seeing that strong “kid” breaking down was distressing, just like the day he bawled his eyes out after his mother’s death, burying his head in his stomach while hugging his waist tightly. But Gabriel wasn’t feeling as powerless as that day, knowing he could now do something to alleviate Misha’s sorrow.

“So? How about it?” Gabriel repeated after a short while, cocking an eyebrow. “If he can’t do it because of his age, then I can travel back in time in his stead. It should be feasible, right?”

“…It’s indeed possible,” Santa Claus admitted after clearing his throat, glancing at Misha, who was still out of it. “Though you’ll probably have to deal with headaches and such for a while.”

“That’s fine by me. So? What do you think, Misha?”

Gabriel glanced at the “boy”, whose face was a mosaic of emotions. Seeing this, he barely managed to maintain a serious expression. That open book was so easy to read…. Gabriel didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at what he saw. There was embarrassment at being seen crying; there was confusion as he tried to understand how Gabriel could have popped out of thin air; there was also a deep-rooted fear as if he was afraid of Gabriel turning his back on him. Many more emotions appeared on his face, but those three were the main ones.

“How… Why? Why are you here?!”

Finally, that was the only thing Misha could ask, seemingly not having heard the words Gabriel had just said. He needed to understand what was going on first, and he’d think about the rest later. Did Gabriel hear everything or just a few bits? And why wasn’t he frozen in time? There were too many questions swirling about in his head, so much so that Misha felt somewhat dizzy. His heartbeat also didn’t want to calm down, furiously beating against his rib cage.

“Well, do you want an honest answer or a lie?” Gabriel smiled, looking at Misha with a bit of helplessness.

“How about the truth?”

You are reading story Sweet Devil at novel35.com

“From the first day we met, I noticed something was off with you, and so did your sister after a while. We only pretended not to know, though we did try to pry. However, you always avoided the subject, so that was without much success. I’m sorry to say this, but you’re not a very good liar. And for these past few days, you’ve been acting very oddly, especially so today. It put me on alert, and I decided to keep an eye on you and pretend to fall asleep to see what you’ll do. I noticed right away when you left the room. Anyway, while you were in the kitchen, I took the opportunity to hide in the bathroom. Although I have to admit I never expected you were hiding such a huge secret.”

“…”

As Gabriel spoke, a blush spread on Misha’s cheeks, and he pinched his lips in embarrassment, slouching his shoulders as if to make himself appear smaller. This was awkward, so very damn awkward. He had thought he had managed to fool everyone, but it turned out that they had only been humoring him all this time! That was quite a significant blow to his ego. At least, earlier, he hadn’t talked about the feelings he held toward Gabriel with Santa Claus, or else the situation would be even more embarrassing. It was the only saving grace that could somewhat comfort him right now.

“…And why isn’t he frozen in time?” Misha grumped, glaring at Santa Claus from the corner of his eyes while rudely pointing at Gabriel.

After recovering from the shock, he ultimately decided to blame the old man. It was all his fault if Gabriel overheard everything! Gabriel would never have figured out he was an adult in the body of a child if he hadn’t eavesdropped on them, even if he knew he was hiding something. Time travel wasn’t the first thing that would have come to his mind, you know!

“The device doesn’t allow you to unfreeze a single person but an area, and to unfreeze you, I had to unfreeze the whole first floor of your house, which includes the bathroom. I didn’t expect someone would be hiding in it!” Santa Claus said helplessly.

“In any case, what’s done is done,” Gabriel chimed in. “Now, let’s talk about what to do. If Misha can’t go back in time to save his mother, I can do it in his stead.”

“…Why do you seem to have taken the news so well? You look like a fish in water,” Misha mumbled. “Shouldn’t you be shocked? Or, I don’t know, be at least surprised! How can you talk about time traveling so easily?!”

“Being shocked or refusing to accept reality won’t be of any help,” Gabriel pointed out with a shrug of his shoulders. “If there’s a possibility to save your mother and your sister, I won’t hesitate to take it, no matter how absurd it appears at first.”

“You’re weird.”

“You’re one to talk.”

“Ahem,” Santa Claus coughed, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. “So, as I said, I can send Gabriel back in time.”

“Really?! But wait! If you do that, won’t I forget everything about this past year?” Misha cried out as the realization struck him. If he weren’t the one to travel back in time, then the timeline he existed in would disappear, and no memories of it would be left.

“Yes,” Santa Claus nodded, not beating around the bush.

“But I! I!”

I don’t want to forget! Misha didn’t want to forget this past year, no matter how painful it had been. Because if he did, it wouldn’t only be the bad memories that would be forgotten. He would forget how his sister and Yuki fell in love, how much Gabriel did for them, how his father didn’t turn into a monster, and most of all, he would forget his feelings for Gabriel. Misha had started to open up a year ago, but he was still holding a grudge, not knowing the truth about Masha and Gabriel’s relationship.

…Did he really have to forget all those precious memories to save his loved ones?

---

Edited by Clozed! ♥

•

You can find story with these keywords: Sweet Devil, Read Sweet Devil, Sweet Devil novel, Sweet Devil book, Sweet Devil story, Sweet Devil full, Sweet Devil Latest Chapter