Chapter 306 They Looked Quite Similar
As Courtney was coming down from her office, she saw Leon surrounded by a group of female receptionists who were asking for autographs.
She stood there with her bag in her hand, feeling absolutely annoyed inside. It didn’t seem right to keep walking or go back up.
At that moment, she was almost certain that the Facebook post on his official page wasn’t even written by himself; it was probably scripted by his company. How could he show up at my office when the issue had just been resolved? What’s he up to?
“Hey, Miss!” Leon looked up and spotted Courtney through the gaps between the women in front of him. He waved his hand and made his way through the crowd to get to her. “Why didn’t you tell me you’re here?”
“With so many of your crazed fans around, I’m afraid I’ll go viral again if I interrupt you.”
“Nah, that won’t happen. I’ve already cleared it up with them,” Leon replied innocently.
He was wearing a white puffer jacket, and the fur around its hood was big and fluffy. The light color made his skin look even fairer, and his face was as small and delicate as a woman’s.
“I found a place we can eat at. It’s just gonna be the two of us, so don’t worry. We’ll definitely not get caught on camera this time.”
Courtney was a little regretful for coming down from her office. She should’ve just told him that she wasn’t in.
However, it was difficult to reject him face-to-face like this.
“You see, Leon… I still have something to do tonight, and I’m sure you’re busy too. Why don’t we have a meal together next time? I…”
“I’ve already made a booking, though. That Japanese restaurant is pretty good—my assistant told me so.”
“Japanese restaurant?” Courtney jolted when she heard that. She couldn’t help but swallow at the thought of the food.
Half an hour later, Courtney sat in a private room of a Japanese restaurant in East Melrose City. She couldn’t stop singing praises of the plate of fresh sea urchin in front of her.
“This is really not bad. It’s very fresh indeed.”
“It was my assistant who’d strongly recommended this place. Look, I’m really sorry about the commotion earlier.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.”
Courtney drank a sip of water before she continued, “Aren’t you already treating me to dinner? Besides, it wasn’t your fault anyway. You celebrities have it quite hard; every little thing you do is bound to be exaggerated by the public.”
“It’s not so bad,” Leon said with a chuckle. “I’ve gotten used to things like that. I would’ve starved to death a long time ago if I hadn’t entered the entertainment field.”
“Really? You can’t be serious.”
“Yeah, I’ve been running around on my own since I was 10 and I’ve worked every job you can think of. If I hadn’t been scouted by chance and became an idol trainee at 13, I probably would’ve frozen to death in that very winter.”
Courtney jolted momentarily. She’d always assumed that Leon grew up in a well-off family without experiencing any hardships in life. She thought that he’d become a celebrity purely for the fun of it, but she didn’t expect his past to be something as depressing as this.
When he noticed the doubt on her face, Leon rubbed his nose awkwardly. “Everything you see online is fake. According to my management company, people don’t like celebrities with a miserable past anymore. They prefer the persona of a rich young master, so they made up a nice family background for me. In truth, I don’t even know who my parents are.”
“I’m so sorry.” Courtney frowned apologetically. “Let’s not talk about unhappy times.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. It’s all in the past anyway.”
Leon took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The young and naive face of his was extremely pitiful to look at. “Honestly, I’m not too sad that I’ve never seen my parents. I was adopted from the welfare center at 5 years old, and back then, I thought I was finally going to have a mom and dad. Not too long after, though, my adopted mother died in a car crash, and my adopted father started to rely excessively on alcohol since then. He’d beat me up when he had too much to drink, so I ran away when I was 10—I just couldn’t take it anymore. Then, I started working at various places, doing all sorts of odd jobs.” He paused and sniffed before carrying on, “I heard that you took in a little brother who’s about my age. Is it Shay?”
Courtney nodded without denying it.
Quite a number of people knew about this, and it was even reported on the news before.
“It’d be great if I met someone like you back then.” Leon pursed his lips; he seemed to be a little sad. His eyes were fixed on Courtney for a few moments before he picked up the cup of sake and gulped it all down. He immediately choked from the burn. “Cough… It tastes so bad…”
Courtney quickly passed him the glass of water in front of him. “Here, have some water.”
It was pitiful to watch Leon act this way. He almost reminded her of how Shay was back then.
Years ago when she saw Shay in the underground boxing ring, he was only 12 or 13 years old. Boys usually reached puberty at a later age, so he was tiny and skinny. Even though she was only 15 at the time, she was a lot taller than him.
It wasn’t an overstatement to say that Shay’s life had changed completely after Courtney brought him home. They weren’t exactly living and eating the best, but it was definitely a lot better than what he went through in the underground boxing ring.
“Though you didn’t meet me, you’re not all that bad now, are you?”
“I actually met someone who’s quite like you back then, you know.” Leon let out a bitter chuckle. “But I feel like anyone who showed me kindness was destined to suffer.” As he spoke, he retrieved his phone from his pocket, and his slender fingers swiped on the screen for a bit before he passed it to Courtney to show her a photo. “Look at her. Isn’t she pretty?”
The screen showed a young lady in her late teens and a boy around 15 or 16 years of age. It was obvious that the boy was Leon who hadn’t fully grown into his features. Courtney didn’t need to ask to know that this was an old photo of Leon.
As for the young lady, she was innocent and sweet, and Courtney even felt like she looked a little familiar. Surprisingly, Leon was right—the girl in the photo looked quite similar to herself.
Something instantly clicked in Courtney. It was no wonder Leon acted so enthusiastic the first time they met. No doubt, this was why he was willing to wait for her in the freezing cold just so he could have dinner with her.
“I do see the resemblance.” Courtney nodded and asked, “Is she your girlfriend?”
“Yeah, her name’s Kirsten Ivanov. She’s Otharian, and she’s from a wealthy family,” Leon admitted. His eyes no longer looked pure and naive like a boy’s. Instead, they were now filled with deep emotions and nostalgia.
“Something came up two years after I became a trainee in my management company. I left the company, but I was saddled with a huge debt for violating the contract. She cleared my entire debt and helped me out a lot in those two years. She’s the only reason I was able to enter the modeling industry later as well. We were planning to get married once I reached the legal age.”
“What happened after that?” Courtney knew that she wouldn’t be hearing a happy ending the moment she asked the question.
As expected, Leon chuckled self-deprecatingly.
“Anyone who treats me kindly tends to be quite unlucky. She had congenital leukemia; she didn’t survive and passed away two years ago. She left me all her assets that she’d inherited from her father, and her family background became mine that everyone publicly celebrates. It seems like this is the only way for me to feel like she’s still alive and has never left.”
Leon downed both flasks of sake as he told Courtney about him and Kirsten in incoherent words.
Courtney was overcome with mixed feelings at once. This young man who she assumed to have always lived a carefree life in a perfectly harmonious family turned out to have such a troubling past. It was truly a sad story that could put tears in one’s eyes.
