Sweet Devil [BL]

Chapter 19. Discussion

A teenage boy sat cross-legged at the foot of a birch tree, resting against its pale trunk. The silvery shadow of the leaves gently swayed on his face, appearing as if it was dancing. He seemed to have fallen asleep while reading; his hands loosely held a thin book, and his eyes were closed, his glasses still perched on his nose.

It was a very serene sight. And yet, Gabriel didn't appear peaceful in Masha's eyes; instead, he seemed utterly exhausted. It made her hesitate, but she eventually decided to wake him up—she could always let him rest after their discussion.

Putting down her backpack, she crouched in front of Gabriel and gently shook his shoulder. The teenager opened his eyelids the moment her fingertips brushed him, staring at her with a blank face and dull eyes. Masha jumped in fright, pressing a hand against her chest. She had thought it'd be a struggle to wake up this Sleeping Beauty, but no. A slight touch had been enough, meaning that Gabriel was probably only resting his eyes and hadn't fallen into a deep slumber.

Masha couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief. It was lunchtime, and they had an exam in less than an hour. Therefore, they didn't have much time to talk, and wasting several minutes just to wake Gabriel up would have been quite a pain, especially since they had postponed their discussion a few times already.

Honestly, Masha couldn't wait any longer. Gabriel wanted to talk about her cute little brother, which made her unreasonably anxious. Every time she bumped into him in the corridors, all she wanted to do was corner the teenager and question him to her heart's content.

Her anxiety and impatience weren't unfounded, however. Masha knew Gabriel well, and he'd never ask to talk in private if it wasn't for an important matter. Considering how observant he could get, she couldn't help but wonder if he had noticed something about Misha that she hadn't.

And deep down, she knew something was off with her little brother lately. However, she could only tell that he seemed to have something on his mind. At first, she thought it was due to his nightmare, but that was already a few days ago, and her brother was still looking at her with deep sorrow whenever he thought she wasn't paying attention.

Then, on Monday, when she went to his bed to verify if his fever had gone down, his face was suddenly filled with panic, his breath visibly caught in his throat. Although he rapidly hid it beneath a bright smile, she still had seen the fear lurking in the depths of his eyes. Only, his reaction made her unable to ask what he was so afraid of.

This boy had his pride, and she didn't want to probe too much and anger him. Sulking was his strongest weapon, and Masha felt like dying every time he pouted for days. So, she preferred to avoid rubbing salt into the wound as much as possible. If Misha didn't want to confide in her, she wouldn't force him. All she could do was ask the expert his opinion, although this expert had a wicked tongue and a bad personality.

"The pest is not here today?" Gabriel sneered, stretching his neck to look over Masha's shoulder to make sure Camille wasn't merely lagging behind. After confirming that there was indeed no one else in the track field, Gabriel lowered his head, satisfied.

"No, she's with her friends today," Masha rolled her eyes as she sat beside the teenager. "I'm not the only person in her life, you know?"

"Sometimes, I wonder."

Masha tactically decided to ignore Gabriel's mocking words and switched to the topic that interested her. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Gabriel glanced at her, silent for a second. "Well, first off, did you notice that your brother doesn't like me? I'd even go as far as to say he hates my guts and wishes me dead."

"What? No way! He seems to like you quite a lot."

"Trust me, your brother wants to bury me six feet under. He kept up the pretense in front of you and your mother, but the moment you were out of his sight, his true feelings tended to show up. You know, his death glare is pretty obvious."