Chapter 21: Andrew, Edward, and Leona.
I look at the woman who is my friend"s sister.
She has pure white hair, bright blue eyes, and a slim body with skin like she"s lacking blood; she"s not pale like me, she"s more like an albino. And, she was born with this physical condition too, she was also tall at 180 cm.
As she has no skin pigmentation her skin is very sensitive to the sun and, because of that, she rarely leaves the store or her house and only goes out at night.
Her name was Leona Elizabeth Lykos.
Normally, I would suspect she would be a vampire, but she isn"t, I know that because I"ve seen her eat regular food and I know vampires can"t eat foods other than blood.
Even though Violet sometimes forgets about it and asks to learn how to cook with my mom, I think she was just excited?
I walk over to my cat and start petting him, and as usual, he starts to purr contentedly, and then he lies down on the counter and spreads his legs as if asking me to stroke his stomach.
Leona approaches me and I also see Andrew walking away and sitting in the chair away from the counter, he seemed to be waiting for me. I think he doesn"t want to talk to Leona?
Well, I don"t judge him, what he did in the past must have hurt Leona, because of that, he"s just being considerate.
"Why is your cat just like that to you? When I try to caress him, he starts growling at me." Leona spoke with a pout as she stopped and looked at me like she was sizing me up, I feel her looking me up and down.
"Well, he is my cat?" I spoke.
"Meow!" Zack meowed in agreement.
"You"ve changed..." Leona spoke as she looked at me...
"Yes, you too," I said honestly. After all, I noticed her skin was better than in the past, I think living in isolation helped her?
"..." Leona remains silent, and I see her continue to stare at me.
I look at her confused; I know I"ve changed, but does she need to stare at me like she"s seeing a rare animal?
"Hmm, how is Zack"s health?"
Suddenly, she stopped staring at me and looked at Zack, "He"s fine."
"Really? But he was meowing a lot earlier." I remember I couldn"t sleep because he kept meowing like he was dying or something.
"...well, he was h.o.r.n.y"
"...Huh?" I looked at Zack, seeing the chubby fluffy cat staring at me with a satisfied look, I found it so cute that I started stroking more. "You mean he was in heat?"
"Meow, Meow!" He purred contentedly.
"Yes. Because of that, he was meowing a lot, wouldn"t you consider neutering him? Since you are my childhood friend, I"ll give you a good price."
Zack suddenly gets up from the counter and looks at Leona with a Glare like he"s looking at his greatest enemy, he"s even growling a little.
"He didn"t like that idea very much." I chuckled as I looked at Leona who was looking at Zack in shock.
"He"s very smart." She praised him.
"Yes," I said nodding my head, then I answer her question, "I won"t castrate him, after all, as a man, I understand Zack; he still wants to have kids, right? Buddy?"
"Meow." Zack meowed as if he was agreeing, then he jumps on my s.h.i.+rt and slowly climbs up my s.h.i.+rt, over my shoulder, then he hangs on my shoulder; this is something he did a lot when he was younger. After all, I"ve raised him since he was very young, and he always liked to be on my shoulder for some reason.
As my shoulder was wider than before, he could easily find a comfortable position.
"Isn"t he acting like a monkey?" Leona spoke a little surprised.
Zack looked at Leona and started growling at her, he really didn"t like her, huh?
"Ugh, I feel offended; all animals like me and, because of this gift, I created this store. But, why doesn"t he like me?! He"s so cute, I wanted to hug him!" She spoke with a pout.
I just laugh a little, and I found Leona"s expression cute, when I was going to say something, I heard:
"Oh? Victor, long time no see." I look at the store entrance.
And soon I see a tall man walking in, he is 195 cm tall, with a toned body, platinum blond hair, and blue eyes like Leona; he was Leona"s brother.
Edward Jonathan Lykos, he was also my former personal trainer. In the past, he worked as a fitness trainer, but he suddenly decided to change jobs and now he owns a bar.
He is also the man who trained me in martial arts in the past, although I couldn"t learn much because of my physical limitation, I just learned how to defend myself. Techniques like kicking a man"s most precious organ, using a stun gun... Come to think of it, this was training for frail women, huh?
"Sup, Ed, do you still s.h.i.+ne in the sun when you walk down the street?"
"Ugh. Can you forget about this boring joke? Because of that vampire movie, every Edward on the planet is now suffering from that joke." He spoke in annoyance.
I laughed a little and said, "I"m kidding, how are things going?"
"It"s ok, I"ve finished building my bar"s leisure area, you can go there if you want, remember I only open at night." He spoke as he closed the door and walked towards the counter.
"I see, I will visit sometime."
"Brother, did you finish the order I requested?" Leona asked.
"Yes, that was an easy thing."
"Good," Leona nods satisfied, and goes to meet a customer who has entered the store.
I see Andrew approaching, and then he says, "Yo, Ed. How are you doing?"
"I"m fine," Edward looks at Andrew, "Is my sister still mad at you?"
"Yes...Honestly, I didn"t know that woman was her only friend, if I knew I wouldn"t have approached her." Andrew spoke with an apologetic face.
In the past, Leona was bullied because of her looks and as she always hung around with Andrew, who was a cute boy, and my other friend Fred, she ended up earning free hate from the girls at school.
She also hung around with me in the past, but I was pretty much a non-existent being to the girls at school. After all, I was thin and I looked really sick, I think I got along with Leona because of these similarities.
Fortunately, her brother never let the bullying escalate, since he was a veteran at the time, and he protected his sister tooth and nail. He even beat up a student who hurt his sister... How can I say, I respect him a lot; he doesn"t care if they"re a woman or a man, his fists have true gender equality...
Although this incident was a big problem in the past, he almost got arrested, luckily he had the support of my mother who was a renowned lawyer; if not for my mother, and his father who was a teacher at the school in the past, he would be behind bars now.
A good side of this story is that bullying stopped happening, after all, the girls were afraid of Edward.
But it"s not all flowers, because of this incident, Leona couldn"t make friends near the area where she lived, and the only friend she had used to date Andrew.
And Andrew cheated on Leona"s friend with an older woman...
Because of that, Leona is angry with Andrew.
"You don"t need to worry too much, one day she will forgive you, you are good friends after all," Edward spoke with a gentle smile.
"Ugh, stop lying, I know her as well as you do, I know she"s spiteful," Andrew said.
"Indeed." Edward nodded his head in agreement.
"Meow." Zack meowed in agreement as well.
Edward looks at Zack for a while, then he looks at me. "Hmm, have you grown up?"
"You just now that noticed, brother?" Leona who finished serving the customer said, now that there were no customers in the store, she could partic.i.p.ate in the conversation more actively.
"Ugh, how am I going to figure that out? He was always the shortest of the group."
"Oof," I made a gesture like I was being pierced by an arrow through the heart.
"Brother, you don"t have to be rude!"
"It"s okay, I also know that I was short, I was even shorter than Leona..." I commented a little depressed.
"Hmm, your muscles are defined too, how did you get that muscle?" He asked curiously.
"Well, I followed the training you went through and some videos on the internet." The lies are getting more absurd as time goes by, it"s pretty obvious they"re suspicious, they just don"t ask too much because they respect my privacy.
"Oh, you"re not on steroids, are you?"
"Of course not, I know what it does to the body," I replied.
I take Zack off my shoulder and place him on the counter, then stop stroking him. Zack meowed at me annoyed, but I ignored him, he seemed to snort for a few seconds and then started walking around the establishment.
"Hmm" Suddenly, Edward puts his hand on his chin and looks at me:
"Are you still being bullied?" He asked in a neutral tone.
Leona and Andrew look at me, Leona looked worried, and Andrew looked angry.
"I"m not being bullied anymore, I resolved that situation yesterday," I spoke with a big smile on my face.
I saw Leona"s body shake a little, and Andrew just kept looking at me.
"I heard, you dealt with him using a basketball game," Edward said.
"I heard you jumped from the middle of the court and made a dunk." He continued as he looked at me with suspicious eyes.
"..." I remained silent, after all, I wasn"t making an effort to hide the changes in my body, I didn"t want to hide them either.
"Well, no need to feel pressured, we all have secrets we want to hide, I"m just upset you didn"t want us to get involved in this situation," Edward spoke with a gentle smile.
"Yes! I wanted to hit that b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Andrew spoke.
"Yes, bullying is unforgivable," Leona said.
I look at Andrew, "I appreciate you guys caring about me, but you know me, right?"
I looked at my friends with a big smile on my face: "Luan is mine! Just mine! I will not allow anyone to get involved in this, he is someone who hurt me and insulted my mother; this grudge can only be washed away by me, this is my pride!" Only I"m allowed to step on and break Luan, I won"t be satisfied otherwise.
My friends may call me a fool, or an idiot, but I don"t care; I will not allow my enemies to be destroyed by anyone other than me!
"Sigh, I understand you, you have your pride as a man and I respect that but don"t go overboard, okay? I don"t want to see you arrested," Edward said and advised me.
"Indeed, if you are arrested, please know that I have a plan for you to flee to Brazil, although that plan is still in progress," Andrew spoke.
"You are fools! Why don"t you just help him!?" Leona practically screamed out loud.
Andrew and Edward looked at Leona.
Edward said, "He didn"t ask for help, and I respect his pride, as a man, I can understand his feelings."
Andrew said, "Victor is my friend, and he knows his limits, if he needs help, he knows he can count on us; if he didn"t ask for help, I won"t interfere."
"...You guys are just idiots!" Leona snorted.
"You wouldn"t understand," Edward said and Andrew nodded.
"Yes, Yes. I don"t understand because I"m a woman, right?" Leona spoke irritably.
"Wrong, you don"t understand why because you never tried to fight people who bullied you," Edward spoke in a hard tone.
"I was weaker, and they-" Leona tried to say something, but Edward cut her off:
"You know I"m not talking about that... There is a big difference between accepting bullying and fighting it. The att.i.tude of how you deal with bullying is what matters, you never decided to ask for help, and you never talked about it! You just put up with everything silently!" Edward spoke raising his voice a little.
"..." Leona looked shocked at her brother.
He sighs and says, "Unlike you, Victor never accepted bullying and warned us what was happening to him, and he told us that he was going to solve it somehow."
"Indeed," Andrew continues ignoring Leona"s gaze: "Although we trusted Victor, we were always on the lookout for something to get out of hand, we respected Victor"s pride and decision, but that doesn"t mean we stood still while our friend was beaten," He said smiling, it seems they did something I didn"t know.
I really have good friends... I thought with a happy smile on my face, seeing Leona"s sad look I say, "Don"t think about it too much, Leona."
"Huh?"
"Everyone handles a situation differently, I"m different from you, and you"re different from your brother. You don"t need to push yourself so hard."
I approach Leona and patted her head a little: "You just need to do things your way, okay? And if you need help with something, you can count on me, your brother, Andrew, and Fred."
"Mm," Leona lowers her head, and I see her face turn a little red. As her skin was very white, her embarra.s.sment became quite noticeable... f.u.c.k, I wasn"t supposed to do this, I need to control this hand of mine; I have become very used to stroking women"s heads.
I look at Edward and see his bloodthirsty look, he was warning me of the code! I quickly pull away from Leona, for a moment I see her pouting as she glares at her brother in annoyance.
"Hahaha, Victor was always good with words," Andrew chuckled, then he continued, "Oh I hear he"s married."
"...Huh?" Leona and Edward looked at me in shock.
.......
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