Chapter One.

Victoria took a deep breath, trying to come to her senses. Her head throbbed and a vein throbbed in her forehead, but the woman tried to keep sane, despite being on the verge of insanity, and even more so when the subject was her son, who was capricious and spoiled - here the brains and heart of any mother are out of tune with each other. On the one hand, she wanted to hug the little boy and caress his brown hair like her husband's, on the other hand, angrily, she uttered the phrase:  Hit him with the belt and then leave him grounded – Louis's hand rested on his shoulder.

“Calm down.”

“And do I have reasons? He's been sitting in this car for half an hour and he refuses to get out!”

“If I start yelling at him too, the whole street will hear” — the man was indignant and huffing — “We just moved into this wonderful neighborhood, don't make people call the police. They can take our son!”

“And who needs a lying and unscrupulous son who doesn't obey his parents?!”

Damian meanwhile was sitting in the backseat of the foreign car parked near the big two-story house, and discreetly looking at his parents with a disdainful look, every now and then playing with the red Band-Aid on one knee, pretending pulling and gluing it back, and his eyes stared unblinkingly at the glass that protected him from his mother's angry reaction.

Louis and Victoria have been married for almost twenty years, and it is natural that sooner or later the question of children and such arises. Initially it was difficult for the couple, Victoria had a complicated pregnancy, after five years trying to get pregnant and failing every time, which was strange for her, who came from a family of highly fertile women, her mother for example, had triplets in her second pregnancy. She hoped to succeed on the first try, but after five troubled years and three miscarriages, Victoria managed to hold a pregnancy to term, with the last two months spent in hospital.

Her little boy was born prematurely, he was small and quite thin, having spent some time in the incubator. He had straight brown hair, the strands so fine that it swayed with any breath of wind, his skin was a milky white hue, so smooth and soft, and his eyes were like a watercolor artwork, one of his eyes they were green like her father's, and the other was a lighter shade, close to cyan blue, like her mother's, but with a small green spot near the pupil, her eyes were like a fusion of her parents' eyes, which they both constantly bragged about their strong genes.

His eyes were considered an unsurpassed beauty, whenever people saw him, they praised him, and his parents always told Damian that when he grew up, he would attract attention from many people, and by that they meant, admirers, flirts, flirts, and when it did, he surely should:

"Send them all to hell because your parents are the only ones who can love you! You understood me?!”

"Don't you think you're overreacting?" - Louis took a long drink of coffee and reached out to curl his index finger in his crazy wife's red curls – “You can't match a teenager going through puberty for him.”

“Aah, but last night you turned me into a pubescent teenager.”

“Don't say such vulgar things in front of our son, he's only four years old.”

“He's an adult now.”

“Sometimes I wonder why I put a ring on your finger.”

"Oh-oh-oh, what's up? Do you want it back?” - She lifted her hand where the wedding band rested on her ring finger.

“Give me back.”

"Dreaming! You will never get rid of me again, so take some responsibility in this life!”

"Do you think I'm irresponsible?"

“And who didn't pick up their son from classes and didn't take him home at night?”

“I thought you were going to get him!”

“But I, like an idiot, called you three times during the day to remind you of that!”

"But I still forgot! It's your fault!”

“Aren't you drinking too much coffee? This must be screwing with your head!”

“Do you want to check?”

After that Damian was sent to play on the playground with the other children while his parents engaged in vigorous activities in the bedroom. It was a great escape, which at times resolved many of their conflicts.

Now Damian was older. He was ten years old and already in the fifth grade of elementary school. Damian still didn't have future plans on his list, and he didn't want to think about it too much because right now he was resentful of his parents.

You see, Victoria was promoted, which led to her being transferred to another branch, also providing favorable housing near her new office. And because of that, they had to move from one city to another, and Damian had friends at that school and in that neighborhood, and he didn't plan on leaving them all of a sudden!

The boy threateningly denied, threw a tantrum, refused to eat, stopped doing his homework and slammed the door of his own room, he did what he could, but his pleas were not heard. Early this weekend morning, while he was still asleep, his father wrapped him in a sheet, grabbed his clothes so his son could change in the car, and, at breakneck pace, threw the toddler into the backseat of his car, blocking the doors so Damian couldn't escape them.

Who wouldn't be offended by such an attitude? But Damian was determined that even if his parents had treated him so cruelly, severing all connections to his past life and alienating him from friends and classmates, he would not tolerate the situation so easily either.

Did they decide to move? Excellent! Now try to get him out of the car! After all, when Victoria and Louis started to leave to unload their bags, Damian remained seated inside. The adults simply decided that he was still in a bad mood, and if he stayed there alone, after a while he would give up and decide to leave. He would want to eat or go to the bathroom, but what they really didn't expect was that, having gone back and pulled the handles to pull the child out, the car and doors would be locked from the inside. And the safety key turned on his son's finger.

“Louis! What do we do? What if he suffocates? It's very hot today, I don't want our son to die so young!”

"Oh, so now you care?"

“Louis!”

Louis received a nice slap on the back of the head and didn't dare to fight back. What should they do was a good question. The man rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as Victoria went to the back door and tapped the window with her finger.

“My baby, don't be stupid and don't piss off your parents, if you leave now, we won't do anything to you, and we can even buy ice cream” — the woman smiled. – “What do you think?”

Damian blinked and looked at his mother from his seat, and then calmly raised his hand and poked it towards her ear several times, implying that he couldn't hear anything from inside. Victoria cursed herself, but still, trying to be a good mother and not get carried away by anger, she again knocked on the window and asked with gestures to roll it down. The boy reluctantly complied, opening the glass a small crack.

"Are you going to sit there for the rest of your life?" he asked trying to keep his voice calm.

“You tricked me.”

Victoria sighed bitterly and closed her eyes. Their son was right, but did they have any other choice? The woman leaned against the car, folded her hands on the roof and spoke softly so that only her son could hear all this.

“Listen, I understand… Your dad and I don't act very wisely, but you might as well try to think like an adult now, right? I got a promotion, and how could I turn it down? To live in this world, we all need money. How were your dad and I going to pay for these stupid bills and food and all your whims? And the promotion means they'll give me more money. So how could I refuse?

"I didn't tell you to quit your job, Mom," the boy muttered sullenly. "I said I didn't want to move!"

“But such a fancy house and such a nice area! The chance comes only once in a lifetime! Here the school is close to home and it is much better than the one you were at before.

“I don’t care! the child screamed, slamming his hand on the upholstery of the car. - I want to go back! There are my friends! There's my girlfriend! I want to go back to my girlfriend!

“What the fuck are you saying?”

Victoria leaned in sharply and looked intently through the glass into her son's eyes.

“All this time you never told me you had a girlfriend or anything there. You only knew how to talk about your friends and classes. You never mentioned a girlfriend, why are you making up this nonsense?”

"Maybe I didn't say that on purpose!"

“Louis, come here” — Victoria smiled and waved her hand at her husband. — “That shameless pest assures me that he had a girlfriend back at school, from which we separated him.”

The man settled down next to his wife and raised an eyebrow in surprise, so utterly incredulous at such an excuse.

"Girlfriend, huh? And what was she like?”

“She has beautiful dark hair and blue eyes!”

“Sure, sure. Is she a foreigner?” Louis nodded as he listened intently.

“Not. That girl is my classmate! You don't know her, but I know her well and she is my girlfriend. I need to go back home!”

“And what's her name? Is her last name Ahmed by any chance? One day in a meeting I was sitting next to a woman who had similar characteristics. Her hair was also dark and her eyes were blue. Maybe she was her mother.”

Damian pursed his lips and pulled away from his parents, mumbling under his breath.

“Yes, it's her.”

"Then I'm sorry to disappoint you." Louis straightened his back and smiled.

“Why?”

“I just made up that name and the whole story. And you still can't remember the names of all your classmates, so why all this comedy?”

Damian got even angrier.

“I WANT TO GO HOME! I DO NOT WANT TO STAY HERE! I DO NOT WANT! I DO NOT WANT! I DO NOT WANT!”

Victoria groaned in pain, and the couple backed away from the car. As they talked and decided what to do next, Damian's screams from the car behind the open window drew attention. The neighbor's door opened slightly and a large figure appeared on the porch. The man listened carefully looking for where that annoying noise was coming from and, noticing people he had never seen before, he decided to approach and find out what was going on.

Victoria was still shaking her head, biting her lower lip.

“This sounds like a nightmare.”

"What else are we going to do?"

“If we call a burglar, we'll have to change the locks on the car. You know how they do their job. And it will cost me a pretty penny.”

"So how do you propose to get him out of there? I'm not sure anymore that he will leave if he wants to eat.”

“I have no idea, aren't you the genius in this family?”

"Oh, I'm afraid I-"

“What's going on here?”

Their new neighbor, who managed to get close, was now very close to the couple and therefore involved in the conversation.

"Uh... hi?"

"Are you the new neighbors?" the man asked, his voice rumbling into a bass. Louis took a step forward, protecting Victoria, which made her even angrier than before.

The woman immediately smacked her husband on the back and stepped out from behind him, out of his protective wall.

"Who are you protecting me from, idiot? Don't you remember that I can fend for myself? I'm a jiu-jitsu black belt, I don't need to be protected.”

“I'm also a black belt, and yet you and I are in a marriage that should be annulled!”

“Dreaming is not bad.”

The man cleared his throat, drawing the couple's attention. Louis and Victoria looked up from their bickering and bowed, spreading into friendly apologetic smiles.

“Forgive me, my husband suffers from a lot of possessiveness. I'm Victoria, nice to meet you.”

“Chayson,” the man replied.

“Louis. So, we're neighbors now?”

"So, you two are…married?"

“Yeah, yeah.”

“For much longer than needed to be necessary. It seems that now is the fifteenth year or the eighteenth?”

“Do you remember our wedding date? Are you kidding me today!? First Mimi, now you...”

"DON'T CALL ME MIMI! I'M NOT A CHILD!”

The three adults abruptly stopped any dialogue they had begun and turned towards the car, where an angry, pouting little boy was looking at them through the window.

“Oh… so who's making all that noise is your son?”

"Yes, it is." Victoria sighed and shouted again, "Get out of this car and say hello to Uncle in a normal way!"

"He's not my uncle and I'm not leaving!" Damian stuck out his tongue and hid.

"Oh, you demo-"

“It's not worth it, he's just a kid.” Chayson held up a hand and nodded calmly. “I think he's… five years old, right?

Louis clutched his stomach and covered his lips with his hands so as not to laugh, and Victoria blessed all who live in heaven, because of all, Damian hated when he was compared to a child, and such a clause about his age could not make the boy offended and irritated even more. Furthermore, Chayson didn't stop there and added:

“It must be difficult for you two to raise a child.”

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

“I'm not a child! I'm an adult! I already have ten! I'll be eleven this year! I'm not a child!”

Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. Damian, unable to bear such insults against him, rushed to defend his honor and dignity. Naturally, for this he had to open the car door and get out. He could barely reach Chayson's thighs, so now his little fists were slamming into the man's legs and knees. Victoria pulled the enraged boy to her and gently stroked her head several times. Although the boy was offended by his parents, he did not refuse their affection, so now he clung to his mother's body and hugged her around the waist.

“Hope this helps. Those screams were really annoying.”

Damian's eyes widened in surprise, lifting his head and looking into the man's eyes.

"You... You tricked me!?"

“Be polite to your elders, son. Louis scolded him for his familiarity. "What did your mother and I tell you?"

“He lied to me!”

The couple sighed as they were ignored. Chayson chuckled softly, ignoring the tantrum and the fiasco and showing he wasn't offended.

“I lied because I have a book to write, and you're distracting me. Shouldn't an adult like you understand that it's rude to bother your parents?”

“But I-

"Even if they did something you didn't like," Chayson cut him off and crouched down. “No matter how they limit your desires and interests, you must understand that they are doing everything for you and your well-being. You are their child. Are you stupid enough not to understand this?”

Damian immediately pursed his lips and blushed with resentment.

“I am not stupid! You're stupid! You write books, but no one will read them because you're stupid!”

“Damian! You do not have shame?! Apologize immediately!”

“I will not! You are all stupid! I don't want to live here!”

Pushing Victoria's leg sharply, he ran to the door of the house, and as soon as his little legs ran across the porch and opened the door, it immediately closed with another loud and irritating sound for the ears. Chayson rose and stood to her full height. Louis and Victoria burned with embarrassment, and Victoria's face was as red as her hair with rage. Their son was a huge disappointment. In appearance, a cute child, but in his heart, as soon as something does not go according to his scenario, he begins to hate and blame the whole world. And thus dishonor them in front of their new neighbors! Victoria had already internally prepared for him the most severe punishment that this brat had ever received.

“I beg you, excuse us. He didn't mean it,” Victoria said.

“He's very upset, we took him out of his habitat — Louis sighed and patted his wife on the shoulder. “He's mad at us, but he just got into a fight with you. We will definitely punish you, don't worry.”

“Ordinary childhood psychosis, I've been there, no need to apologize.”

"Oh, so you have a son too?"

“Son? I am at the dawn of my strength and for at least another twenty years I will not start a family”

Victoria blinked in surprise, seeing the confident smile on her neighbor's face.

“Twenty? And how old are you?”

“Me? I'm only thirty-two.”

Louis and Victoria decided to remain silent.

{…}

When a young child is upset, it is obvious that he acts as if the whole world has turned its back on him, and it is his sacred duty to protect himself from this. So, Damian locked himself in his room, which was on the second floor of his new house. Some of the things his parents brought in the car were taken to his room earlier. The main furniture should arrive by truck sometime around dinner. Either way, Damian didn't care. If he had the forwarding agent's number, he would have quickly called him and canceled the entire furniture shipment.

He wanted to go home. He didn't consider this new house his home. Do not. His hometown and where he felt comfortable was his old apartment. In the metropolis, a large skyscraper, the sixth floor, the third door to the left of the main entrance. If you go up the stairs then the sixth door on the right. Next to it was a kind of artificial palm tree, and a little further down on the ground you could see a bicycle and a big teddy bear. It was all the neighbors' stuff, and even though Damian thought it was just garbage to throw away, now he thought that garbage was a lot more expensive than this polished house.

What could be good to live here? He and his friends played war, and then searched for the lost treasure. And then they would run around the area and follow people passing by, pretending to be detectives. And now all of that has been taken away from him. There weren't even children there! Damian looked carefully around each of the houses they passed, and there were no children playing on any lawns, which means that the child in the entire neighborhood is just himself. And who would like that? There is still more than a month to go before classes start. He will definitely die of boredom, and even his phone with the Internet will not save him. Victoria must have already cut off his access to everything so that he would soon stop throwing tantrums.

Damian wrapped his arms tightly around his knees and pulled his legs closer to his chest. He sat in the room on the threshold, leaning against the door with his back, and meekly waited for him to die of hunger. Just as the boy's eyes were starting to slowly close, there was a knock on the door behind him.

Louis, biting his lip, leaned against the wall and spoke softly:

“Son, stop it. I'm sure you'll like it here. We just arrived.”

Damian pouted even more.

“I want to go home.”

“But you're already home.”

"This is not my house! I want to go to our real home. Let's go back.”

Louis sighed heavily and ran a hand over his face. What to do, he had no idea. Most likely, their child will calm down - it could not be otherwise. But he had never thrown tantrums this long before. His reluctance to move came as a big surprise to the couple. They didn't even know how attached he was to that house. But this new two-story house and the place itself were so much better than the apartment they'd lived in all these years.

He and Victoria bought that apartment with their hard-earned money and also with the help of Louis's parents. They were young at the time, barely married, and naturally, while cleaning the new apartment, they both promised themselves that when they have a complete family, they will certainly do everything for their children to live in more suitable conditions. And now, when such a wonderful opportunity presented itself, and when both of them were sure how happy their son would be with such a big new room and such a spacious new house, they didn't expect their son to throw a tantrum and refuse everything.

“Well, what kind of kid are you, huh?”

“How is he?”

Louis winced when he saw his wife coming up the stairs with a plate of food, and just shook his head sadly. The door was closed from the inside and no one was going to let the parents in.

"Mimi, please, you haven't eaten since this morning," Victoria spoke slowly and pressed her fingers to the edges of her plates. "Come on, I cooked your favorite meat, you always eat at least two servings, so-"

“I will not eat! Let's go home!”

"But we already-"

"THIS IS NOT MY HOUSE! I WANT TO GO HOME! I DON'T WANT TO LIVE HERE!

“IT'S? Cite at least one intelligible reason why you organize this whole circus! What's so terrible about this place!?”

“Victoria...”

“EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE HERE!”

“This is not an answer! - the woman growled softly. - If you don't get out of there before dark, I swear to God, I'm going to take this door off its hinges, tie you to a chair with rope, and force-feed you!”

There was silence behind the door. Louis patted his wife on the shoulder, already seeing her furious state, and whispered softly:

“I think you scared him.”

"That was the intention! Cheeky! Everything we do is thinking about him, everything is for him, and he responds with ingratitude and a tantrum!”

The woman abruptly lowered her plate to the floor and walked away, starting down the stairs to the first floor. Louis followed her.

“I don't understand, if he's going to go on a hunger strike, he's going to lose. Does he really think we're always going to comply with his whims and talk to him kindly and not use force?”

“After all, he is a complete copy of you, it must be admitted.”

“Of me? Are you saying that I behave like a tantrum and rude child with my elders in the same way?”

Louis laughed and rolled his eyes.

“No, but you always acted like that with me when you wanted everything to go your way.”

“I'm not as stubborn as he is.”

“We're both stubborn, and since he's our son, I think he has a higher dose of stubbornness.”

“What a nightmare.” Victoria shook her head and sighed.

Louis patted his wife on the shoulder again and put his arms around her, pulling her to him.

“We can take you to a shelter any time. Problems solved.”

“You're disgusting!”

“I'm not, I'm just showing you that no matter how capricious he is, you still love him and wouldn't leave him, and even if he continues to get you shows, you'll scream and scare him, but as soon as he leaves the room, you look into his innocent eyes full of sadness and immediately forgive everything.”

“What a horror... Am I that weak?”

“I have to admit, we're both weak against him...”

Victoria shook her head, then turned to her husband and buried her nose between his shoulder and neck, starting to rub her cheek against the area of ​​skin. They stayed like that for several minutes, calming down and thinking about how they should act in this situation. The phone rang in the woman's pocket, and when Victoria saw the flashing number for the delivery service, she immediately picked up the phone and pointed her finger at her son's bedroom door.

“Yes” she answered the call. “On the way? Yes, everything is correct. On the left side. The package number is on the mailbox. Eighteenth. Yes, we will be waiting.”

Louis followed to the exit.

“They'll be here soon. Get ready to load boxes.”

“Remind me why we don't pay for unloading?”

“One person was saying he was a strong, stout man and he didn't need helpers, he'd be fine without them.”

Louis mentally stopped bragging and remembered that he wasn't twenty anymore and he was a very old and weak person.

{…}

When Damian heard the sound of a truck approaching his house, he quickly got up off the ground and ran to the window to see if it was getting to them. The truck was parked right next to his house. The boy just pursed his lips dejectedly and slammed his fist on the windowsill. His parents appeared on the lawn, which meant that all his hopes were gradually crumbling before his eyes. Nobody would listen to him, and it looks like this time his parents really won't follow his example and won't allow him to come home. There was only one option left.

Damian knew firsthand that these houses always had two ways out. The first is the main and front door, which was in the main part of the house on the porch, but the second is a reserve at the back of the house. The boy turned the knob silently and there was a click. His bedroom door opened. He carefully got out and walked around the plate of food his mother had left in case he was too hungry and wanted to eat. Damian walked away and quickly closed the door and, unnoticed, while his parents were out on the lawn, ran down the stairs to the first floor. There was a back door, and it was behind the kitchen and into the backyard of the house. Tall grass grew there, the garden was unkempt and neglected, but that didn't matter now.

The boy quickly opened the door, which was locked from the inside, and ran out into the street. From there, he could only enter the neighbor's yard so as not to attract the attention of his family and others. And so he did. Running quickly through the dense undergrowth, the boy climbed the picket fence and a second later landed on Chayson's clipped lawn. From the outside, his house was no different from the house his parents had bought. All the facades of this large plot were of the same structure and type. This was quite common, and similar homes sold at a high price. Such areas were considered close to the elite part of the city, so for Damian to call this dwelling uninhabitable was already absurd, but not for Damian himself.

What is the meaning of this beauty? There are no friends for him, and there is no one with whom he can communicate and have fun. He had never run away from home before, but he had seen a lot of different movies where sometimes, in order for parents to side with their children, they would run away. That's why Damian came up with this plan. If he runs away, his parents will be worried and when he comes back they will be very happy. They will understand that they did something wrong, as they led the child to such an attitude, and therefore they will quickly collect all their things and leave for home.

With such bright ideas, Damian walked quickly to the back door of the neighbor's house and opened it, entering the kitchen.

The interior was in very dull gray tones. Not only cabinets, but also the walls were not filled with some kind of sophistication and colors. Damian looked carefully around the room, but this made the child so strangely depressed that he hurriedly left and went to another part of the house. As he walked, he noticed that it was quite dusty everywhere. Although he was not dirty on the tables and things were not scattered on the floor, wet cleaning would clearly not be superfluous. Once a week, his mother would lament that he lived in a pigsty, and then she would take a rag in her hands and, under her own grunts, go to clean the whole apartment. After that, her father joined her, and Damian at those times sat on the couch and watched them, so... Yes. The child was not used to seeing so much dust in a house. Even when he entered the living room, dust covered every surface of objects. Coffee table, TV, curtains, vases of flowers and picture frames on the shelves.

There was a feeling that a person still lived in this house, however, he clearly didn't care about cleanliness.

The man stretched in the chair. He was sitting at his desk in his office. The window was open, another unlit cigarette was sticking out in the ashtray, and his glasses had slipped down to the bridge of his nose, he quickly took them off and rubbed his eyes as he put them back on. This chapter took all the energy out of him. He had to write a typical story, melodramas, characters confessing their love for each other with those sappy sweet lines! Do not. No, no, no. Chayson can no longer force his head so hard to think of sweet and fluffy things, he didn't become a writer for that to write cliche novels, otherwise he will go blind because his eyes are in the danger zone not only for twitching but for flying completely out of their sockets he turns them so much.

He reached out again and closed the lid of the laptop, first pressing the floppy disk in the top left corner to save the document.

As soon as he did that, Damian's face appeared in his eyes, standing and looking at him from the opposite side of the table this whole time.

“AAAAAAHHHH! WHERE ARE YOU FROM?! HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY HOUSE?!”

Chayson jumped up and grabbed her heart, feeling like she was about to have a heart attack over that little bastard. Damian didn't scream or startle. He just shrugged and wrinkled his nose as he ran his finger across the table and caught another handful of dust on his fingerprint.

"Have you tried hiring a cleaning lady?"

“What?”

"It's dirty here, everything is dusty, you could get sick," replied the boy. “Dad says we have to clean the house.”

Chayson blinked in astonishment, then pinched his arm weakly to see if he'd fallen asleep for an hour while writing this disgrace. But not. A slight jolt of pain shot through his arm, and the tiny child in front of his eyes was absolutely real and wasn't going to go away. The man took a deep breath and took his glasses off his nose, massaging the spot between his eyebrows with the palm of his hand.

“What are you doing here?”

“I ran away from home.”

“Yeah, great,” Chayson huffed, dragging her chair away from the table and leaning more heavily in the back. "And that's why you've decided to move in with me now?"

"Your house was the closest and you're the only person I know here," replied the child. “If I showed up on someone else's doorstep, they'd hand me over to the police.”

"Smart," the man chuckled. — “Your parents, when they miss you, the first place they go is to my house. I'll hand it over to you right away. It would be more logical to stay on the street and hide under some bridge.”

“You are silly. How do you think I can live on the street? I'm ten years old, where can I get food and a roof over my head when it rains? Also, it's cold at night, and I'm used to sleeping in bed under the covers rather than on the damp floor.”

Damian lifted his head and, after looking around the room one more time, walked over to Chayson and stood on tiptoe to open the lid of the laptop the man had recently downloaded. As soon as the screen lit up again, a small icon with the image of a tree appeared and, below it, a line in which it was necessary to enter the password. Damian turned and pointed at the computer screen.

“Unlock for me”

“You're quite arrogant, you know that?”

“I'm bored, what were you doing?”

Chayson sighed and moved back in her chair, leaving a small space in front of him. The child understood his intentions, so without further questions he immediately jumped into the chair with the man and leaned back against his chest, comfortably positioned between his legs. The two went to the table, and Chayson quickly snapped her fingers on the keyboard, typing in the password. The screen flashed, a slider in the middle of it, which folded into a small loading wheel, after which a page with a Word document and text appeared before the eyes of both men.

Damian looked at the text and began to read it slowly, constantly frowning.

“What word is this?” The boy's hand pointed to the second line of text on the computer. Chayson leaned closer to see what he was pointing at.

“'Novel',” the man read. “You know how to read? You are almost done with elementary school.”

“And? We don't have an in-depth character study, it will be in high school,” muttered Damian, offended.

“In that case, you have to admit that at least I'm not an idiot for writing all those words you have no idea how to read.”

"Then read to me."

Chayson blinked. Maybe he just heard it, but then the boy added it again and even poked him in the chest with his finger.

“Read me what is written here.”

“You really are the most arrogant child I've ever met.”

“I'm not a child! And… how many children have you met in your life? The boy frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. – There was a boy in my last school, his name was Samuel, he constantly refused to study all the lessons, and because of that, the teachers had to kick him out of the room. He threw pencils at girls and said they were all ugly. And one time he took our class teacher's binder and put it in the toilet in the men's room. The teachers and all the students were always very angry with him. So I'm not cocky, I'm just bored

Chayson laughed. This child is really something. In a way, he even started to impress Chayson a little, the man couldn't resist and put his hand on top of his head, ruffling the boy's hair in different directions. Damian didn't even react to that, turning back to the computer.

"What else are you doing in it?" - He referred to the notebook.

“Well… I write books, I hang out on the internet, I play games…”

“Are you addicted to internet. And on which sites? Are you looking for a girlfriend?”

“I don't use dating sites, and you shouldn't know about these things.

“My dad and I watched a movie once,” Damian said. – There was a woman who couldn't get close to her crush. They were of the same class, but she considered herself ugly. She was too shy to talk to him, but he didn't notice her. Dad then said that she just needed to take off her glasses and put them on, but she went to a dating site and met him through the account he had made on the site too, and they started talking.

“How did the movie end? Did they stay together?”

“No” Damian smiled. “The man turned out to be very narcissistic and, thanks to that, she ended up falling in love with her friend and, in the end, they kissed. You already kissed?”

“How old are you?”

“How old are you?”

“What you...! Get out of my chair!”

“That means you didn't kiss,” the boy grunted and lay down on his hands, leaning across the table with them. “My parents already kissed. You can envy them.”

Chayson chuckled as she cleared her throat on her hand.

“You can rest easy with me, I'm a grown man, do you really think I never did that?

“If you did, then where's your girlfriend?”

“I have no girlfriend.”

“Why not?”

“Kissing someone doesn't mean you have to date them. And I don't have time for a relationship, I'm a busy person.

“Busy with what? You're sitting with me and you're not doing anything, you're completely free” Damian chided him.

“That's not how it works, little one.”

Damian pouted and went back to the computer. He looked at the lines a little longer, and then he raised his hand and pointed at one of the hieroglyphs with his finger.

“If you only read the first half, I'll tell you my name.”

Chayson leaned over and looked, nodding.

“Yea. Right. And you don't give up.”

“Teach me to read all of this.”

"Do you think I have extra time?" And even if I did, why should I waste it on you? You're not even my son.

“I'm going to move in with you until my parents come to their senses and understand that we need to go home, and you still have nothing to do. So teach me to read.

“Keep dreaming.”

Chayson snorted and grabbed the toddler under the arms, pulling him out of the chair and placing him next to him. As soon as the boy's feet hit the ground, the man pushed him from behind and pointed towards the door.

“Go home and don't piss off your parents.”

“I am not going!”

“I'll still hand you over to them if you don't leave,” the man replied calmly, opening a new document on the computer. – “We exchange phone numbers so I can call them.”

Damian didn't even flinch at that statement. Besides, the boy didn't have to worry about what his neighbor was talking about right now. Damian raised his right hand and twirled the smartphone in front of the man's face.

"Is this the number you were going to call them?"

{…}

Chayson's eyes widened in surprise and he quickly looked to the left side of the table where he had placed his cell phone earlier. He did not even notice how the child shamelessly stole from him.

"Give it back immediately!"

"If I give it back, you'll call my parents!"

Damian ran a few steps away from the outstretched hand that wanted to take the phone by force. Chayson sat back in her chair and then sank back in, sighing and shaking her head.

“You're acting like a fool,” he said. “Even if you took my phone away from me, I can still get up and walk two steps to your house. It's just a few meters from mine.”

“You won't or I'll flush your phone down the toilet.”

"You... How did they raise you?! No respect for elders!”

“Of course I will have no respect for elders when they want to hand me over. Think about it, why would I respect these people then?”

“From the start, you've spoken to me as if I were your friend, not an unknown adult.”

Damian sighed softly and muttered to himself as he walked across the office and climbed onto one of the chairs that stood against the opposite wall.

"You're the only one I know here, of course I'll talk to you like that," the boy replied calmly. – “I don't have friends here, they are in another city. I'm just looking for a quick replacement so I don't get so lonely.”

Chayson, such a sad tone and look, even felt sorry for the boy. But as soon as Damian opened his mouth again, all the pity and sympathy the man felt instantly evaporated:

“I want to eat. Prepare food for me.”

{…}

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

There were three loud knocks on the front door. Victoria, who had been trying to assemble the wardrobe all this time, wiped the sweat from her forehead and rolled up the shirt sleeve that had slipped down her forearm. Louis leaned out of the kitchen and quickly ran to open it.

“Who is it?” – the wife followed him, simultaneously looking at the stairs to the second floor, from where there were still no signs of the son's life. – “Do you think he's already asleep?”

“I have no idea, but as soon as we're done, we'll unlock the door with the spare key and see if he's all right.” – said Louis, opening the front door. – “Hello…”

“Chayson! What a surprise...”

Chayson stood in the doorway of his house, brows furrowed, tucking the sturdy Damian he'd brought with him under his arm. Victoria and Louis looked at each other and then looked at the second floor together, after which they looked back at the neighbor.

“Dami? How did he…”

"When did he leave?"

The two were shocked by what was happening. After all, all this time, both of them were sure that their beloved son was now pouting to the whole world and was sitting locked in his room. They didn't expect Chayson to bring them a child who, by some miracle, managed to escape.

Victoria quickly grabbed Damian, who was still struggling to escape, and threw him over her shoulder.

"Chayson, I'm sorry!" Did he bother you a lot? How did he get to you?”

“He snuck out the back door and entered my house through the same back door.”

“Traitor! – Damian shouted. – How dare you betray me!? I thought we were friends!”

Chayson snorted. He had to buy a new phone, because while trying to catch this arrogant brat, the boy managed to drop his cell phone and break the screen, stepping on it with his foot along the way when he tried to escape the man.

Louis reached for Damian's ass and slapped him lightly, saying sternly:

“Come on, don't yell. Now you are waiting not only for punishment, but also for a three-hour lecture on how impolite it is to upset your neighbors!”

“Chayson, again, I'm sorry. Did he do anything? Victoria asked worriedly.

Damian was handed over to his father, and as Louis carried him into the house towards the kitchen, the man just nodded with a feeling of accomplishment.

“Not. Everything is good. He was just kidding.”