For the rest of the day, Gabriel wasn't able to swallow anything, except a glass of milk. The earthworm muffin was trauma-inducing. It also spoiled his appetite. The disgusting sight, the strange taste, and the particular texture of the worms were something he certainly wouldn't forget any time soon, not even in his dreams.

After throwing up for half a day, his stomach still felt upset, and his complexion was ghostly pale. Although the teenager wasn't a neat freak, he was raised in a grand mansion since birth. In all rooms, there wasn't so much as a speck of dust. The floors were sparkling, and people could almost see their reflection on it, while the bookshelves were overly tidy.

To top it all, as a child, Gabriel never played with dirt or insects, much less eat them. He was brought up inside four walls, rarely allowed to play outside. When he was young, his mother always told him that insects were dirty, and some could kill, and so on. It instilled fear and disgust into the child that he was. Even if it was less bad now that he was older, his upbringing still had an impact on him, and the teenager viewed insects as his mortal enemy, in particular spiders.

In short, Gabriel had a low tolerance when it came down to bugs. Hence, this experience affected him more than he wanted to let people know.

Most people would feel disgusted after taking a bite of such a muffin, even more so in his case.

Luckily, Mrs. Brown was an understanding person. She didn't take it to heart when the dinner came, and the teenage boy didn't touch his meal, only poking the vegetables a few times with his fork.

She told him, "It's alright if you're not hungry. Don't force yourself to eat."

Smiling awkwardly, Gabriel replied, "I'm very sorry. My stomach still feels uncomfortable. But I assure you, it looks and smells delicious."

On the side, the culprit was happily eating and even had the nerve to say, "Gaby, you shouldn't waste food. It's what bad a.d.u.l.ts do!"

The teenager felt his mouth twitching. Why did this little devil love to add salt to the wound? Still, his gentle smile didn't dwindle, but before he could utter anything in response, Masha had already opened her mouth, saying, "Gaby? That's a new surname!"

The boy froze for a second, then shrugged his shoulders, "It's shorter and easier to say. It's also cuter than Gab."

In his heart, Misha called himself a brainless fool. For the past two months, he had been careful not to use that familiar surname as everyone called the teenager Gabriel or Gab, but bad habits were hard to break. In their past life, Misha had called him this way for many years, after all.

Well, it wasn't a big blunter, so he didn't think much of it.

"Indeed, it's pretty cute," laughed Masha, glancing at the teenage boy with some mischief in her eyes. "I like it very much."

At that particular dinner, Gabriel's surname became Gaby, and no one asked for his opinion. He could only brood in silence.

After eating, they started to pack the car. Misha tried to help, but with his weak arms, he couldn't do much. He could only bring one small bag at a time, heavily huffing while doing so. His white cheeks turned red under the effort, and soon, his face beaded with sweat.

When his mother saw his exhausted appearance, she sent her son to his room, ordering him to drink water and rest. She ignored his protestations and pushed him inside the house, where the air was cool and fresh.

Even if it was the evening and the sun was about to set, it was still hot. In Ontario, the end of July and the beginning of August were the days with the hottest temperature in the year.

Anyway, tonight, everyone had to sleep early to wake up in the early hours of the next morning. Thus, in Mrs. Brown's opinion, Misha might as well go to bed first.

Moreover, since his fever a month ago, her son seemed less energetic and more taciturn. He would even take naps in the afternoon when he already slept quite a lot at night. It was worrisome, but the doctor didn't find anything wrong with her child when she went back to do a check-up.

For a while, she even thought of canceling their camping trip. However, her children had been impatiently waiting for half a year for this trip. It was the same for her husband, although the man didn't show it. They were all excited about it, which made her unable to voice out her concerns. All she could do was make sure her son wouldn't push himself and keep an eye on him.

In the end, Misha couldn't win against his mother and went upstairs, putting on his pajamas before climbing into his bed. His movements were clumsy, almost awkward, making him realize that he was indeed dead tired.

Since early in the morning, the little boy had been busy preparing his luggage (he had insisted on doing it himself) and then his prank. He also skipped nap time, which he now regretted a little. He felt like he hadn't slept for three days in a row.

A few days after coming back from the hospital, Misha had realized that he tended to be tired in the afternoon. Unwillingly, he started to take a nap after lunch, making him feel much better afterward.

In the beginning, sleeping for so many hours a day irritated him, but Misha ultimately had to accept it. Perhaps, sleeping helped his body recuperate from the damage his older mind caused to his brain when he transmigrated or something along those lines, so he stopped to complain. Still, losing so much time sleeping made him unhappy. As an a.d.u.l.t, he only needed to sleep around five hours per night, which gave him ample time to do many things in his day. Hence, his present condition was frustrating to no end.

Lying on his back, Misha stared at the ceiling covered with plastic stars. He thought back on the day, and a vicious smile stretched his lips.

All in all, Gabriel's reaction went beyond his expectations. Not being able to immortalize his face with a cellphone was his only regret. He would have loved to put it as his wallpaper.

Although his mother reprimanded him a little afterward, telling him that from now on, some pranks needed her approbation before he could put them into motion, Misha knew she wasn't really outraged. After all, she did worse than him. Sometimes, when he thought over what went through his father, even he had to admit that Alexey was quite pitiful. Under that aloof appearance of his, he probably had a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic side.

Rapidly, Misha pushed aside his father, not wanting to think about him too much. As the day passed by, he felt more and more conflicted about him. Even if Alexey seemed to suffer from facial paralysis and rarely showed his emotions, Misha still could feel his fatherly love every day. His eyes were a bit more tender every time his gaze landed on his children.

Frowning, Misha turned over, pulling the blanket over his head. 'Let's not think about it. Tomorrow, I've got a busy day, so I better sleep.'

Author's note

Author: We learned a bit about Gabriel! Yay!

MC: It was about time. Even I didn't know he doesn't like bugs!

ML: ... Then why did you put earthworms in the muffin?

MC: Why not? It worked well in the end!

ML: *mumbles* You got a child's mentality...

MC: What did you say?

ML: Nothing!