Sweet Devil [BL]

Chapter 56. Unqualified Teacher

Misha lazily sprawled on his desk as the bell rang, staring at the blackboard with empty eyes. Soon, his mind wandered elsewhere, and the teacher's words went in one ear and out the other, becoming background noise.

The conversation between his sister and Gabriel was the only thing he could think of; he couldn't get it out of his head. Last night, he even lost sleep over it, resulting in dark circles under his eyes.

Ah, man, having a good night's sleep was becoming harder by the day. Although Misha often slept like the dead, it wasn't a restorative sleep, and he didn't feel refreshed in the morning. Every night, his mind was preoccupied with this or that, not letting him rest, and stress slowly piled up.

After traveling back in time, Misha discovered events and details he had never known or never paid any heed to in his past life. With his grown-up mind, he now could discern some pieces of information that he hadn't figured out as a child, and the more he learned, the more it weighed him down.

And Misha knew very well that he wasn't a genius. Like always, he was only following his gut, and thus many things remained shrouded in mystery. Still, anyone with a brain could tell that Gabriel's family situation was as complicated as it was twisted. But unlike him, his sister seemed to be in the know and helped her boyfriend handle his stepmother's nasty temper, even at the cost of her own happiness.

When that thought crossed his mind, Misha unconsciously narrowed his eyes, his facial expression growing gloomier.

How much did his sister know? Had she always been aware of Gabriel's real personality? In their past life, was he the only one left in the dark, clueless about Gabriel's ordeals and problems?

Why...? Why didn't they tell him anything?!

Misha bit his lips, frowning. The same thoughts were coming back to haunt him again. In a way, ignorance was bliss; what he had learned lately had shaken him up to the core, more than he wanted to admit.

Like it or not, Misha had hated Gabriel for many years, blaming him for everything, for his misery and lonely days. Now that he realized that reality wasn't what he had always thought it to be, his entire world shattered to pieces, and a new one slowly started to form.

But was it for the better? Who knows.

At the moment, however, he couldn't accept a new reality so easily. Because if everything he knew was inaccurate, what was the point of his past life? Why did he hold onto his hatred and anger for so long? It called into question all of his beliefs—and previous actions.

Misha was still self-reflecting, his forehead pressed against his desk, when his teacher's shrill voice resonated throughout the classroom. It had the merit of snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Misha! If my teaching is so boring that it makes you sleepy enough to drool on your desk, you may as well leave the class and go home. I'm sure your parents will be more than happy to tuck you up in bed."

Standing in front of the blackboard, the woman in her late forties appeared aggravated to death by Misha's behavior. She was his teacher last year, and she more or less knew what to expect from that kid. In her eyes, Misha was the kind of child who was always spacing out, staring at who knows what. Or, to put it bluntly, a brainless fool that didn't understand anything, even the most basic problem. It was infuriating to grade that kid's papers tests, which were filled with mistakes when they weren't straight out left blank.

She had long thought that this kid would grow into a good-for-nothing, becoming a burden to society. Consequently, teaching him was a waste of her time, and she would rather focus her efforts on the children who were dutifully listening to her lessons and whose grades were excellent. But, of course, she couldn't do that and still had to take care of the problem child.