Faking Robin

Chapter 18 - Lion's Heart

Chapter 18 - Lion’s Heart

“You look great!” praised Lily. Leo rubbed his neck as an act of shyness. He was all suited up for the party he was invited to. Lily hugged Leo tightly before she ran toward the other kids, telling them how Leo looked like the prince in her picture book.

“Aunt Anne, don’t you think this is too much?” Leo asked as he observed the suit he had worn, especially bought for this party. Aunt Anne walked in with two ties of different colours, approaching Leo. 

“No, I don’t think so. Which colour looks better, blue or black?” Aunt Anne asked, her eyes lightening up with excitement. Leo picked the blue tie and was then helped by Aunt Anne to wear it.“I can’t believe you’ve grown up so much, dear,” said Aunt Anne. Leo stayed quiet as she put on the tie to perfection. He could feel it in her tone, she was happy and sad at the same time. He couldn’t help but walk down memory lane, and remember his own childhood. 

A car’s honk surprised the two and soon enough the door bell rang. “Seems like your boss is here,” Aunt Anne said. She hurriedly opened the door and welcomed a middle-aged man Leo had known as his boss and another guy who gave him the invitation. That fishy guy. Leo decided from now on he would call him Fishy.

“Thank you for letting Leo attend this party, Madam. I know someone who would be more than thrilled to meet this boy there,” said Fishy to Aunt Anne. He looked at me with that same mischievous smile that I didn’t like. 

“No worries, Sir. I am very happy that someone recognised his talent,” Aunt Anne replied. Leo was sure that he was invited not because of his cooking or his job. It was something else, he could tell. After all, the guy who invited him was fishy.

The three went inside the black shiny car which was for sure, not his boss’. He sat at the back with Fishy while his boss sat beside the driver. Oh, c’mon boss, I don’t want to sit with him!thought Leo.

But, out of politeness, he hid his dislike toward this man, knowing Fishy was his boss’ important person. “How are you, Leo?” Fishy asked. 

“Good,” Leo answered shortly, showing no intention for further interest in talking.

“How long have you been living with your current family?” Fishy asked, ignoring Leo’s previous tone. Leo looked at this man beside him, he had a bad gut feeling about him.

“Since I was born,” Leo once again answered shortly. He really didn’t remember from when exactly he had started live with Aunt Anne. He assumed Fishy knew his family condition from his boss and he didn’t like to refer his family as “current family”, he only had one family, and that was Aunt Anne with the kids. 

“I think I had forgotten to introduce myself, young boy. My name is Hale Leighton.” Fishy stretched his hand toward Leo, who hardly cared about him at all – let alone learning about his name. Leo could only silently wish that Fishy wouldn’t start talking more about himself, because then he would need to pretend he was interested.

Fishy  – yes, Leo decided to keep calling him that – seemed to catch the forced look on Leo’s face that Leo had tried to hide. Or maybe he didn’t, but nothing further came out from Fishy’s mouth. Leo was relieved, he let his eyes focus on the road outside, looking at the fading view of buildings and some empty plots of land. 

Leo felt something in his chest. Like something was stuck in the middle of his lungs. I have a bad feeling about this. He tried to shove it off but couldn’t ignore it as well. His chest felt tighter as the view changed into that of a metropolitan city. Skyscrapers rising high, he could barely see anything else there, as if the sky was covered. People walked down the street, entering buildings, going out of public transportations, everything he rarely saw in his old little town. Not that his town was all that bad. It was pretty similar minus the whole lot of people in one small area like this.