Please Let Me Live a Lazy Life!

Chapter 10: I Just Want to Sleep (1)

Both he and Katherine were uncomfortable with this unusual treatment, uncomfortable with how their mother seemed to quickly take advantage of it to curry some favor with her husband, but they all went along with it-- Edward couldn't remember the reason why. Maybe it was because they were too young to not follow along with their parent's wishes. Maybe it was out of spite towards the hellion that transformed their home into another stage for them to pretend upon. They had been like this for more than half of his life that he had forgotten.

At first, their father wouldn't scold Thomas in the same sitting and just concentrated on portraying a loving family to the youngest, but maybe he saw how much of a hard time his eldest had when dealing with his illegitimate child and started to crudely redirect his energy towards his youngest's school work.

This farce continued until Thomas stopped joining them for meals several weeks ago. They all thought he was probably planning something nasty or crying wolf, so Father summoned his youngest to warn him off from doing anything stupid, and maybe Thomas got the message and maybe he did not. It wasn't until recently, after weeks of eating breakfast in silence, did Edward figured out that his father had no clue what to do with his youngest son. It was like being back in the past when the older man was still quiet and reserved-- only now, the atmosphere around him seemed despondent.

His mother once again blamed Thomas, as if the stage they had been acting on was the real thing. Katherine, on the other hand, was the most relieved out of all of them. She was free spirited by nature and being forced to play out this happy scene for their father made her feel like a bird in a cage-- stifled and trapped. More often than not, she took her frustration out of their younger brother but never felt good about it afterward. It was like they were poisoned by his malice and she had hoped that the evil child would keep away until they could finally breathe once again.

But despite Thomas' absent, no one believed, or even considered, that he had a change of heart. Much less Edward, who was the main target for all of his little brother's childish schemes.

Then weeks after not even seeing a single strand of his hair, their paths crossed in the most surprising way, and looking at this slovenly-dressed, curly-haired, sleepy-eyed child in front of him, despite that fact he was obviously Thomas, all Edward could think during their brief interaction, 'This is not Thomas'.

Thomas wouldn't stand being treated as a child. He wouldn't stand looking so messy either. He wouldn't skip classes or sleep in the middle of them. He wouldn't climb trees to sleep on, spend time in the library trying to avoid anyone else, or arrive late and leave school early if only to socialize with other young masters and misses.

In the nine years they had known each other, Thomas had never smiled at him.

Maybe the entire personality change was part of his little brother's elaborate scheme and he had fallen for it stupidly... but the Thomas he knew would never sacrifice his own reputation and greed even for the chance to trap Edward. At this point, he rather believed that the youngest was possessed by another soul, as idiotic as that seemed.

As cruel as it may sound, maybe it was for the best. If Thomas had actually calmed down, they don't need to play 'happy family' anymore. Their father didn't need to strain himself whenever he was in the same room as his youngest. His mother might be less dramatic. His sister's temperament would be better, and he wouldn't have to peer over his shoulders trying to avoid his little brother's next great big scheme.

Yet, Edward still felt uneasy. It was as if his life would change once again as it did when Thomas first came into the household. He didn't know how he should feel about it.

But he didn't want to be passive as he once was when he was seven years old and let some unknown factor twist his feelings and his life around, especially when it would hit somewhere close to home. So he took the initiative to study this 'new' Thomas a bit more, gathering reports from his confidants around the academy about the boy's movements and interactions.