A Painter's Mystery

6. Not Alike

Ignore any typos, or better yet, tell me about it.

Picture above- The house.

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No way. His name is Leo. I mentally gave myself a forehead smack; of course it was Leo, that's why Beth wanted to talk to me, about him. Now that I realise what his name is, I realise why everyone thought Leo was one of the bad boys. Right down to his toes, he was clothed in the typical 'bad boy' way with the black leather jacket, black ripped jean and white shirt with a band's name I was yet to read.

Even his perfectly tousled hair said that I did not want to be put down in the norm. One of his ears were pierced but they held no earrings. I was shaken out from my thoughts by a small cough. "If you are done studying me like one of your pets, can we move? I'm going to melt right about now." I nodded and opened the door to let myself out of the car.

Maybe I should've looked at my surroundings instead of the guy beside me. Leo was THE rich guy. The one that everyone talked about, the one who had a castle for home and like a bajillion cars parked outside. He told me to wait beside the car while he backtracked towards the black doors and went to the guards standing beside them. He gave them a smile, said something as the guards nodded and smiled and rushed back to me. I gave him a confused look. Before speaking, he motioned me to walk and we walked together to his house.

"The guards saluted me. I hate that. I mean, first of all, none of this is mine; it's my dad's. I wouldn't even be here if he wasn't so hardworking and second of all, if they work for us, they shouldn't salute. They aren't our slaves. Mutual respect is acceptable but saluting someone is a bit too much. People find it satisfying for their egos, apparently." He rolled his eyes. I smiled at him, just smiled. I thought being rich derivatively made you mean. Looks like my prejudices were getting thwarted. And I wasn't exactly mad about it.

"Aren't you full of surprises?" He smirked, went ahead and opened the door. The huge brown doors swung, literally swung open giving definitive character to how rich they were. To say that I was enchanted with his house was like saying that I saw a dog and didn't go to pet the little cutie; no, I petted it, played fetch with it and cuddled till apocalypse. It was lavish. That was the first adjective that came to my mind. It wasn't warm, eccentric or homely; no it was absolutely lavish because even though the house was equipped with top of the class furniture and electronics, no warmth emitted from any space. Harsh and cold.

For some reason, I shuddered already aware how out of place I felt at this house. I turned towards Leo. "Can we, like, start studying?" I asked. He nodded and started walking towards the living room. I shuddered again. I thought that maybe we would go someplace else than the living or dining area but turns out that I had to still survive the harshness. Leo swung his bag on the couch, which landed half on top and half down, went around the centre table and sat down on the carpet. Before I could sit, though, a booming voice resonated throughout the house. "Young man."

I quickly jumped before I could sit down and Leo stood just as fast before both of us turned around. Standing before me was a man in collared t-shirt and shorts but that was where the chill part of that man ended. The person was looking at Leo menacingly, almost as if he was nauseated by his presence. He pointed towards his bag. "How many times," he spoke through clenched teeth. "Do I have to tell you that this is not a frat house? The bag has a certain place to go and so does your bottom and that place isn't on the carpet." If that man didn't look lethal, as if he would tell you to rip your own throat, I would've laughed at his last sentence. But no, I almost choked at how he was treating his own son.

Yes, I had guessed that he was Leo's father. Same brown hair and stature, but that was where the similarities ended. His hair was slicked back, as if he had scared even his hair to stay motionless and he had no liveliness within him, something that I'd always seen Leo erupt with. Leo silently nodded his head and went over to take his bag. Before he or I could introduce myself, his father gave Leo a look and walked away, completely ignoring my existence. Leo put his bag over his shoulder, took my hand and started walking towards the set of stairs beside the entrance.