Jonathan and Madilyn had a long conversation that lasted for two whole hours. It never crossed her mind that he had lived a life like that.
When Jonathan was little, probably when he was still in kindergarten, he fell behind in his speech and language abilities. That led him to be considered intellectually disabled at one point. From then on, he had to deal with gossip and people questioning his abilities.
If not for his parents’ persistence, he would have been sent to a psychiatric hospital for treatment. To some extent, the birth of Frieda took some of the adults’ attention off him. His sister was a ball of energy, which made her well-loved by many.
Hence, as a child, he gradually grew averse to communicating his thoughts with others. Jonathan slowly grew older, and during that time, he met Lucian and they became best friends.
That was probably the time when he was happiest. He had less attention from the adults in his life, but that allowed him more opportunities to do whatever he wanted.
It was also then that his trust in Lucian was solidified. Even now, he still believed that whatever Lucian decided had to be the right decision. There was no need to doubt it, and he only had to do as he was told. Never once did he pause to consider his own wishes.
Eventually, he realized that even if he did not express his thoughts or feelings, that did not seem to affect anything. In middle school, his grades started slipping. Lucian and Elektra would always quietly help him, and later on, he even got to know the whiz- kid, James.
Jonathan envied James as the latter was a veritable genius who could learn anything very quickly. During those days, Jonathan felt dejected and refused to go home because everyone at home, with the exception of his parents, was disappointed with his academic performance.
They accused him of disrupting their plans, and his uncle even questioned his abilities to his face, saying he was unqualified to inherit the Queen family’s businesses in the future.
That period was when he was the most vulnerable yet also the strongest. After taking the high school entrance exams, he encountered the most painful experience in his life.
Due to his bad grades, he had to separate from Lucian and Elektra because they could not continue attending the same school. Instead, they enrolled in two different high schools catering to different academic abilities.
Jonathan’s parents wanted to spend a little money to make a few connections and get him into a better private high school, but he refused.
He became a loner once he was in high school and rarely spoke with others. Although Lucian would call and invite him out during the weekends, he slowly discovered that he seemed to be withdrawing further into his shell.
Finally, on one random night, he suddenly snapped. He decided that if he could not remember a word after one try, he would memorize it a hundred times. If he could not understand a formula, he would force himself to commit it to memory. And when all else failed, he pricked his arm with a needle.
Every time Jonathan did that, he found he could remember whatever he needed to memorize. In the end, he came to realize that the feeling of pain could help spark his potential.
Fortunately, Lucian discovered his harsh study method. Lucian forced him to give up on it and do push-ups instead. Hence, Jonathan started exercising while memorizing.
Thanks to Lucian’s guidance, Jonathan found he was physically quite fit and good at sports. He dreamed of perhaps becoming an athlete, participating in national competitions or even at an international level.
Alas, that dream ultimately fell through. That was because after Jonathan’s academic performance improved rapidly, he secured at spot at the top business university.
Ecstatic, his parents kept encouraging him to study hard so he could one day inherit all of the Queen family’s businesses.
He should have been happy since he had finally realized his parents’ hopes. However, he slowly. changed into someone who was emotionally detached and only memorized things mechanically. Not only did he remember facts on numerous successful business case studies, but also various plots and schemes. He was not trying to understand what he was learning at all, and his limited comprehensive skills were the result of all those years of forcing himself to memorize.
