Let’s start all over again,shall we?

Chapter 236 Food Snatcher

Maggie’s eyes shimmered with moisture as she gave a weak smile, shifting the conversation.

Leo shared a similar background with Maggie, yet their paths diverged.

His mother, once Joshua’s mistress, was a fleeting figure that disappeared soon in his life.

She had hoped to manipulate Joshua through Leo, using cunning ways to conceive his child.

But when she tried to leverage the child, Joshua had grown indifferent, showing no interest in the child she had schemed to bring into the world.

The woman’s efforts to manipulate Joshua blew up in her face, resulting in threats, bribes, and finally. expulsion with a stern warning.

This descent into madness left Leo to navigate a childhood marred by abuse.

In her rare moments of clarity, she’d shower him with maternal affection, but in her darker times, she’d unleash verbal and physical torment upon him.

Raised without a father and in such tumultuous conditions, Leo forged a resilient and hardened shell,

Yet, he quickly learned that sheer strength wasn’t enough without a solid support network by his side.

Hence, the lad who once frolicked in the mud mastered the art of projecting the image of a model. student, at least on the surface.

He realised that by adopting the persona of a courteous and capable individual, he could earn trust effortlessly, bypassing the necessity for physical confrontation.

Experiencing the dark side of human behaviour from an early age, he cultivated a frostier demeanour, seamlessly merging it with his natural aloofness.

His interactions were always polite, never condescending, yet his true essence remained veiled. He observed others discreetly, responding to provocation with calculated ferocity.

Similar to Maggie, he was thrust into maturity ahead of his time, relegated to the role of a supporting

character.

gesture of

his beer, memories flooded Leo’s mind of the moments when Maggie had

grace that seemed

you keep getting yourself into trouble?” she asked, a touch of exasperation in her tone.

struggled to stand amidst the pool of blood, snapping. “Stay out of it,

as a leopard, he found her naivety and acquiescence

236 Food

surged through him, sending him into a cold

observed. She commented, “Stubborn as a mule. No wonder you

beads of sweat

bright and unflinching, undeterred by the

what kind of kids they prefer in orphanages?” she

of his fractured bones

ones. They won’t even feed bread crusts to children like you,” Maggie declared earnestly.

his eyes shut against the

stood out from the rest, a girl with a darkness that matched his own, a depth

teased, holding out a bag

of the hot, fragrant

he debated if he could grab the buns in his current condition, but the girl caught on with

words, I’ll

even handle a twig, let alone

many she devoured. One, two, three. Her pace

five buns, and

whether a few words of kindness might convince her to

in his pocket came from his hard–earned job. He was accused of stealing

stomach gnawed

he pondered how to plead for help, but in

out. Farewell, she/bid

chuckled softly,