Free Web NovelChapter 11: Nurturing Gaze
Brows furrowed.
’He was right there!’
Right. A few seconds ago...
Oh, this kid...
Lucien stood up immediately.
"Michael?" He called out, voice a bit raspy. "Where are you? Michael?"
Taking advantage of the dynamic moment, Lucien bent down, picked up the piles of plastic plates and bags left of their devoured meal, and began to pace around the room.
Where could the kid have gone?
In the first place, there wasn’t even much space to hide in this room.
Heading toward the trash can, Lucien swept his gaze across the entire room, searching every nook and cranny. If there were any nooks or crannies. Damn small house.
As Lucien trashed the refuse, he frowned.
’Okay, this isn’t funny anymore.’
He paced toward the white plastic door that led to Michael’s room. And just as he placed his palm on the doorknob, about to open, he paused, affixing his gaze toward his bed.
There was something... small under Lucien’s bed.
He squinted his eyes to get a better look.
And as he did get a better look, he sighed, shaking his head.
’Cute kid.’
Immediately, an invisible load that Lucien hadn’t even realized he carried evaporated from his chest, leaving behind satisfaction and a faint sense of amusement.
Luci was gazing at Mikky’s leg.
Wasting no further time, he immediately paced toward the kid who soundlessly hid under his bed.
And as Lucien got closer to Mikky, he heard his childish giggles. Gosh, for how mute he tried to be, the cute kid was still very audible.
Luci crouched.
"Oh, Mikky~"
The faintest smile divided Lucien’s lips.
It seemed Michael had lured him into a trap. A trap to play hide and seek.
Cute kid.
Michael went silent, his soft giggles dying immediately. Did the boy really not know that this leg was visible?
"Mikky~"
Finally, after a few seconds of silence, the young boy spoke up:
"Mikky isn’t here!"
Lucien raised his brows and then grinned.
"Oh, yeah? Then who am I speaking with?"
"Um... uh, you’re speaking with... Mordret!"
Lucien pursed his lips, regarding the boy’s words.
’The King of Nothing?’
Eventually, he chuckled.
"Pfft... Right. Mordret. Then, let me ask you," Lucien wiggled his fingers, "Are you ticklish, Mordret?"
"No! I’m an adult. Adults aren’t ticklish!"
For a boy with a voice as tiny as his, Mikky sure was keen on the idea that he was an adult. And Mikky was wrong... Adults were ticklish. Well, some, if not most of them. Jacob hadn’t been ticklish in his past life. He wondered if this new body of Lucien’s was...
Silly thoughts.
"Let’s see if you aren’t~"
Lucien immediately lowered his fingers towards Michael’s leg, finding the boy’s toe, and he began his work, tickling.
"N–no... no pfft," Michael tried to protest, leg quivering. "Hahahahaha! Stop it!"
Lucien paused, grin still plastered.
"Are you Michael or Mordret?"
"I’m Mordret!"
He continued his tickling.
"Okay, okay. I’m Michael! I’m Michael!"
Lucien finally stopped, a warm laughter booming out of his lips.
"Alright, kiddo, come on," he beckoned with his hand, "come out of there. You have to get some rest."
Silence.
"Don’t tell me what to do."
Lucien’s grin melted, and he frowned.
"Huh?"
"I’m Sunless. Nobody orders a Supreme. Most especially not the Shadow Sla–"
Lucien resumed his tickling.
"Okay, okay!"
***
A little while after the whole childish drama with Mikky, Lucien finally had his peace.
He breathed out a sigh of relief as he stood next to his bed, staring down at the kid curled into a comfortable position, eyes closed, chest slowly rising and falling as he snored peacefully.
Lucien smiled warmly.
How sweet.
Now Mikky looked more like a peaceful child, and less like the mini-hazard who’d spent fifteen whole minutes dragging Lucien to play with him and do his bidding until he finally got exhausted.
Walking closer to Mikky, Lucien outstretched an arm, tenderly resting his palm on the kid’s face. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
His cheek was warm. And real. Lucien had to constantly remind himself of that last fact.
All of it still felt a bit bizarre to him, but he was adjusting. And he was adjusting well, if he said so himself.
Still, seeing Michael like this reminded Lucien of his own younger self.
Of those days he’d spent in the streets as a scrawny kid, questioning his existence, his worth, wondering if living was even worth it.
Those dark days, those thoughts... those actions... they’d eventually shaped a terribly flawed, imperfect Jacob, leading him down a lonely road, resulting in a pathetic life.
And Lucien didn’t want to blame anyone for the way he turned out — he didn’t really have anyone to blame, except maybe the entire world — but he believed his lack of any sole form of viable parenthood... or love, had been what steered him toward that downtrodden direction.
Or maybe it was just the fact that he was abandoned... Always abandoned...
He closed his eyes, leaning closer to Michael, pushing those dark memories away. They didn’t matter now. That life was over, those days were long gone.
Now... now all that mattered was this kid. These kids. All five of them.
He opened his eyes. Although Lucien couldn’t change the past, couldn’t alter his life as Jacob to make himself better than he was, he could still change a life. He could stop the same thing that’d created five worse versions of himself.
He could change five lives. And perhaps, he could guide those lives toward a better path, different from his own.
Still holding Michael’s cheek, Lucien thought:
’I won’t let you go out that way.’
He blinked.
Lucien could still feel the impact of the words he’d read in that novel.
The saddening, dark path that had led to a gruesome death at the end of Michael’s journey...
Shit. Thinking about it now, Lucien still felt an unkindly urge to just find the author and punch him in the face. But he swallowed that urge. Killed it.
There was no finding the author now that they were worlds and realities away.
He had to bring his focus to where he was now. And to what he needed to do to divert from the path that the author oh so carefully wrote.
And so, right there, with his eyes shut, hand brushing a sleeping Mikky’s hair, and his mind as clear as the bright blue skies, Lucien began to draft out a plan.
And, as he opened his clear emerald eyes, he smiled, whispering:
"Nurturing Gaze."
[Ding–!]
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