Sweet Devil [BL]

Chapter 133. Diaries

"Jake's bedroom is...." Stephan paused, seemingly searching for the right word, then clicked his tongue and scoffed, "surprisingly bare."

To this, Gabriel could only nod. The room was impersonal, the walls pale gray, and the simple furniture, dark gray. There was not a speck of dust or any decoration whatsoever. If anything, it looked like a hotel room.

"It's almost creepy," Stephan sneered as he walked to the cabinet, pulling open a drawer at random. "Frankly, this isn't what I was expecting. I thought he would flaunt his wealth and display pricey things right and left. But there's absolutely nothing to see here."

Though Stephan wasn't wrong, Gabriel decided not to comment and get on with the task at hand instead. He listened with one ear to his friend's monologue, busy searching through the closet. Again, it was overly neat: all clothes were folded and nicely tidied up. He had to be careful not to displace anything, lest his brother noticed someone searched through his things. It surely wouldn't end well if he did.

A minute later, maybe even less, Stephan let out a sound of exclamation, drawing Gabriel's attention.

"I found something," he giggled, beckoning Gabriel to come closer. "There's a false bottom in the underwear drawer."

"..." Gabriel's mouth twitched. Still, he didn't comment on Stephan's choice to check out Jake's underwear drawer first thing first. As long as he found something, he would turn a blind eye to the rest.

Closing the closet, Gabriel walked to Stephan, who had already tossed aside the folded underwear, revealing the false bottom. However, when Gabriel took a look at it, all he saw was a standard drawer. There seemed to be nothing wrong with it.

A slight frown creased his brow as he peered at Stephan, his stern gaze seemingly asking for an explanation.

"What's with the face? It appears normal, but the space in the drawer isn't right: it's a bit less than the other drawers, which are about the same width. So, logically speaking, something doesn't add up."

There was a short second of silence.

"Sometimes, I forget that you're not just an idiot but also have surprisingly keen senses."

"That's rude!"

Gabriel brushed aside Stephan's fake indignation and started to fiddle with the false bottom. It took a while before he managed to find the trick to unlock it, but once he did, he unceremoniously pried it out. Its content was laid bare, and after seeing it, Gabriel could not help but cock an eyebrow.

These books looked like diaries...?

Gabriel and Stephan shared a look before tacitly picking them up and replacing everything. Then, they combed through the rest of the room and left after not finding anything else. It was better not to linger in Jake's bedroom for too long, just in case Angela or Matthew passed by and caught them. Of course, they had a few excuses prepared, but they would rather not use them. The less they appeared suspicious, the better.

Thus, they quickly returned to Gabriel's bedroom and each took a corner to read the diaries. Neither thought much about invading Jake's privacy; Stephan even felt a little eager at the idea. He knew the situation was dire, yet he could not help but feel a little excited, mischief glinting in the depths of his eyes.

It wasn't anyone's diaries, but Jake's! It promised to be entertaining if anything.

But he was wrong, oh so wrong.

The faint smile lingering on his lips didn't last long. It slowly vanished as Stephan flipped through the diaries, replaced by a clenched jaw. Different kinds of emotions flashed across his face, but none were of glee.