Chapter 60 - Can't Get Used To This

Although Angela had plastered a polite and gentle smile on her face, it didn't reach her eyes, making her gaze appear a little bleak. Still, when she opened her mouth, her tone of voice was soft and clear, very pleasing to the ears–it didn't carry a hint of her inner turmoil.

She said to the child:

"Happy birthday."

In response, Misha pursed his lips before reluctantly thanking her. As the words left his mouth, he glued himself to Gabriel, afraid that once she had said her piece, she would take the teenager away and lock him up again.

Of course, the urge of relentlessly beating her up hadn't disappeared, on the contrary. It was boiling hot in his stomach, but Misha knew that he could not succ.u.mb to the temptation, not now at least. If he were to, all he would be able to do was to scratch her face like a wild cat, leaving only a few bloody cuts in his wake before she restrained him.

There was no way in hell his weak body would allow him to beat her up until she begged for forgiveness.

Therefore, Misha decided to become a leech and attach himself to Gabriel, burying his face in his stomach. From the corner of his eyes, he glared at the woman as if she was his worst enemy. The child seemed hell-bent on keeping her far away from Gabriel. It also felt like he wanted to keep the teenager all for himself.

Anyway, it was his birthday, so let him be a little selfish for today.

Upon seeing this, Angela's mouth twitched, but ultimately, she kept up the pretense, and her smile didn't fade. Instead, she looked up and met the gaze of the boy's parents who were standing behind him. She politely reminded them:

"As we have discussed on the phone, I will leave them in your care for the afternoon and pick them up in four hours."

With a small frown, Misha glanced back and forth between the woman and his mother, trying to figure out what was going on. As he did so, Angela gently pushed her youngest son toward Gabriel, telling him to be a good boy and not to cause problems while she was away.

As such, Gabriel was caught in the middle of their staring contest. He didn't dare to move for fear of hurting one of them, and thus, he could only look at the two with a somewhat helpless smile, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Angela stared at the trio for a second before turning on her heels and heading toward her car. The moment she was out of their sight, a disdainful sneer distorted her beautiful face.

If she had known allowing Gabriel to call his girlfriend would lead to this, she would never have given him her number, which she had found in the teenager's mobile phone.

A few weeks ago, Gabriel had started to talk about wanting to contact the girl he had met at the hospital, saying that it was impolite not to give her any news for so long. Technically, they were still a couple.

Moreover, the teenage girl he had met at the hospital didn't appear very evil, and although he believed in his stepmother's words, he needed to make things clear with Masha. Of course, he would take into consideration Angela's warnings and keep his guard up.

Not facing Masha himself was cowardly, and although her little brother's reckless actions lead to him falling off a slope, the boy was only a child. He probably didn't know what kind of consequences his tantrums could lead to.

After that came a long list of well-thought arguments, but it was only after a few days of negotiation that Angela finally allowed the teenager to call his girlfriend, inwardly cursing at how unlucky she was. If only those two hadn't met at the hospital, things would be much simpler.

Many times, she told herself that she shouldn't have allowed others to visit Gabriel when he was in a coma, but how could she knew that he would wake up with amnesia? It wasn't a common occurrence, after all.

Whether she liked it or not, that brat knew he had a girlfriend, and she couldn't hide that fact, no matter how much she wanted to. It was too late.

Still, Angela didn't expect him to bring up his girlfriend's little brother's birthday soon afterward. When he did so, he had seemed ill at ease, yet following her negative answer, he shamelessly begged her every day until she accepted to consider it.

Then, the teenager had loudly kissed her cheek before running to the living room and calling Masha without delay.

It had left her speechless.

Before losing his memories, although Gabriel was kind and polite, he wasn't affectionate, keeping a safe distance between him, her, and his half-brothers. Now that he didn't remember their lousy relationship, and because she had told him that she was like a mother to him, the teenager wasn't as distant as before, on the contrary.

Of course, in the beginning, the teenage boy was a little awkward and didn't seem to know how to behave when she was around, but as time went by, he started to act more selfishly, imitating his half-brothers. He became less reserved and more demanding.

And since Angela wanted to let him believe they had a close relationship, she couldn't tell the teenager to get lost. She had to be a loving mother in front of him. God knew how hard it was.

When Gabriel called her out to take the phone, it finally snapped her out of her stupor, and she cautiously walked to the living room before taking the phone. She reluctantly brought it close to her ear and started to discuss with Mrs. Brown, who was very polite in her speech.

They negotiated for a long time, and eventually, Gabriel was allowed to go. However, he had to bring Tristan with him. The reason being that Angela had given the excuse that she had to go out for work, and someone needed to watch over her youngest son, which was Gabriel's job. Thus, he sadly couldn't come to Misha's birthday party.

To this, Mrs. Brown replied that Tristan was welcome to come along. He was a lot younger, true, but all in all, he still could play with the other children.

Twisting the phone's cord around her fingers, Angela took a deep breath, suppressing a grunt. Her lie didn't go through. If she absolutely needed a babysitter, she could have asked her oldest son to keep an eye on his little brother, but she wanted to find a reason to keep Gabriel at home.

In the end, under Gabriel's hopeful gaze, she accepted Mrs. Brown's proposal. At least, she could send someone to monitor Gabriel. Although Tristan wouldn't be able to give her a detailed report, she could easily extract the information she needed from him. She just had to ask the right questions.

When all was said and done, Gabriel had smiled brightly, before hugging her and thanking her profusely. With a lump in her throat, she had reminded him to be careful and take good care of his little brother. She told him not to forget whose fault it was that he had ended up in the hospital, between life and death.

As she was sitting in the car, thinking back to that tight hug, Angela couldn't help but shiver, goosebumps spreading all over her skin. No matter how long it had been, she still couldn't get used to Gabriel's show of affection. It was entirely different from the kind and polite yet distant relation they had beforehand, and she found it difficult to adjust to their new dynamic.

Whenever the teenager hugged her, it made her felt sick to the stomach. From the bottom of her heart, she didn't want that dirty woman's son to touch her.