Did you ever remember a time in your life, when you realise that people aren't what you think they really are?
All my life, I believed that this particular manwould never change for the better. He was an arrogant, cocky, self centred, jerk of an asshole.
His name? Leon Scott Kennedy.
You know him? Oh great! That means I don't have to- what?
You don't agree with me?
What do you mean you don't agree with me?
Oh. So you think he would never be like that and is the ultimate gentle man, huh?
Well... you haven't actually knownhim since childhood, now have you?
Well, I have. And you know what? He was the bully of all bullies. That's right. A bully.
Leon and I... we never got on the same boat, mostly because he would push me out of the boat. Yes I know what you're gonna tell me now... getting in the same boat means we are going through the same thing... we kinda were anyway... He hated me, and I hated him. That was the closest, no, the onlything we could have possible agreed on in our lifetime.
Let me tell you a little story...
My parents, Elizabeth and Richard (l/n), were good friends of Leah and Scott Kennedy. They were never apart, even in their childhood, to High School, to University, even until their parenting days. They realised that they wanted to combine the two families into one... and how do you do that?
Well, aside from imagining things and ridiculously adopting one another... they could make it legally feasible by arranging a marriage for their children... aka Leon and I.
The day I was born, and don't ask me how I know this, Leon came to visit my family when he was 3- just so he could meet his future bride. When my parents left me in the crib alone with Leon... you do not know the amount of suffering I have been through...
When I was old enough to understand ABC; 2 and a half years old, Leon stole all of the sweets my parents made for me when he was in my house.
When I was thirteen, he used to give me his homework. And when I told him that I was too young to understand the level of his academics, he gave me an 'incentive'- I believe the exact words were, "Do it or else."
That was the only incentive I needed to get started.
The only thing that benefitted me from that was, I became smarter than anybody in my batch and was accelerated to Leon's level, which made the bullying even worse.
I hated him... with every fibre of my being. I hated everything about him... especially when he used me to do his homework and projects, he always beat me on the exams. He usually got a hundred percent or more... how? Sometimes our teachers throw in bonus questions. The highest one I got was a ninety five.
So I wondered to myself, if he was so smart why would he let me do all his work? Unless he cheated, you say? I doubt that. He may have been a bully but despite the fact that I don't want to admit it to others, Leon was a very smart person... no... he was a genius.
The only thing that I could think about for him to keep hating me was the arranged marriage. I guess that was the sole reason why we fight all the time even though the topic of the argument was never about our arranged wedding. I guess you could call it the root of all our problems.
I didn't understand, can't our parents see that we hate each other despite the struggle to keep it veiled within their presence?
Sigh.
So we continued the way we were, he cheated on me with other girls, not that I really cared. I was free to do the same thing with guys of course, except he only became meaner when I did. Why was it that he could cheat on me and I don't give a damn, while I do the same thing, but he gives a damn? Oh... we do it behind our parents' back by the way.
It just didn't make sense! So I came to a conclusion that he was selfish. He wanted the happiness for himself.
We never did try to become friends, except when our parents were around. You see... his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when he was fifteen. I guess it was the only reason why he couldn't disappoint them, or even better or worse- depends on how you look at it, he couldn't say no to their plans.
That was when I realised, there was more to Leon than I thought. But he would forever be damned on my 'bad peoples list' until he could repay everything he had done. Kind of like the show 'My Name Is Earl'. And the compensation was if he could save my life- in which I doubt he would and would rather have sex with a zombie than do so.
So every single day was exactly the same thing... I hated him and he hated me.
The only time when we stopped hating each other was the day his family moved out of Canada and to the United States. That was the day before my fifteenth birthday and the day after our graduation from our Senior year.
I guess you could call it my best birthday present ever!
Mister and Missus Kennedy promised my parents that we would wed someday, if they still agree to it. Great... he and I still don't get a choice?
But you know what? Three years later, we never heard from them again. It was weird when you consider the fact that our family were inseparable since childhood.
When I turned eighteen I graduated from my bachelor degree of business law and accounting. That was when I decided to move out and kick start my career. I was offered a job in Heathers Empire as their Legal Consultant. Then I was transferred to their Headquarters in New York the same year, and that was when I started to seldom see my parents because of my busy schedule.
Because their legal problems usually start in their News Agency section, the CEO- Jackson Heathers asked me to move my services to that particular section of his industry. After a few months of looking over news articles that could damage the legal reputation of the company, I became quite intrigued. Because of all the modifications I have done on most of the articles I went through, Jack noticed my work. And so I was once again asked to change my position in the company- into a highly paid and ranked journalist.
To be honest, I loved being a journalist even though I didn't receive a degree on that. So, I went back to university and added Journalism as my minor. I didn't have to make it my major since I was already living it. Besides... I wanted to write my own article.
And that, my dear friends and readers, was the start of a new life with an impossible to understand epiphany.
Because that was what started the day my destiny would be interwoven with Leon Scott Kennedy's once again. And you know the juiciest bit of this epiphany?
I would be permanently stuck with him and in the end... I didn't give a damn.