Chapter 329: Against the World
Caius crept into the room slowly to observe the man whom his mother had called a friend. The man lay sprawled on the couch in their living room, snoring softly. His mother had warned him in the morning to not startle or wake up the man while she’d gone to buy groceries. He was supposed to be in his room.
But he’d already finished all his homework and even studied some more. And he was bored. He knew his mother wanted to protect him but if she’d allowed to let the man stay here, then he couldn’t be very dangerous, right.
Curiosity written all over his face, he walked to the man and peered over the man’s sleeping form. And frowned. This man looked familiar. Was he some movie star? He was pretty sure he had seen him on television. Also, he looked so huge. He wasn’t even able to fit on their couch.
As he stared down at the man, he eyes suddenly snapped open. Startled, Caius yelped, jerked back so vigorously that he lost his balance, and comically tumbled backward like a clumsy acrobat.
Erasmi, who’d just woken up, blinked in confusion, wondering what had just unfolded as he saw the little bow sprawled on the floor.
Erasmi’s initial confusion, however, turned into a bemused smile as he gazed at the disheveled Caius on the floor. "Well, well! Looks like I’ve got myself a little ninja intruder," he chuckled, his deep voice resonating through the room.
Caius, still on the floor but now grinning sheepishly, quickly scrambled back to his feet. "I-I’m sorry, sir. My mom told me not to wake you up, but I got bored," he confessed.
The mixture of innocence, mischief and curiosity in his eyes made Erasmi smile and he patted the little guy’s head," It’s alright. It was time to wake up anyways."
As Erasmi stood up, he loomed over the little boy and tousled his hair," And don’t call me Sir. Makes me think of an old grey professor. You can call me Erasmi."
"Erasmi?" Caius asked with a cute little frown.
"What? You don’t like my name?"