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.

and every gesture of affection

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

those days, she possessed a grace that seemed distant yet luminous,

she asked, a touch of exasperation in her

her interference, pushing her away as he struggled to stand amidst the pool of blood, snapping. “Stay out of it, just leave

cautious as a leopard, he found her naivety and acquiescence irksome.

236 Food Snatcher

him, sending him into a cold

an eyebrow as she observed. She commented, “Stubborn as a mule. No wonder you keep landing

deepened, beads of sweat trickling down his face.

bright and

of kids they prefer

torment of his fractured bones engulfing

well–behaved, sensible ones. They won’t even feed bread crusts to children

his eyes shut

darkness that matched his own, a depth

out a bag of warm buns.

hot, fragrant buns, even though he didn’t meet her gaze.

in his current condition, but the girl caught on with just one look. “Thinking

thief. But with a few nice words, I’ll gladly hand them over.

even handle a twig, let alone a blade or

the bun. Leo quietly tallied how many she devoured. One, two, three. Her pace slowed

five buns, and two

few words of kindness might convince her

vanished for five days, and every cent in his pocket came from his hard–earned job. He was accused of stealing another’s work and

gnawed

help, but in the

out. Farewell, she/bid politely,

past actions, Leo chuckled softly, marveling at