Chapter 30

10:34 PM

Los Angeles

February

"Sir Cashmere, I'm sorry", Noel apologized as he tried catching to Leon's steady pace.

"It's fine", he replied to him, wiping the blood off of his face, he also had a bruised eye from the punches he took.

"Sir Cashmere, I'm sorry, I really am", Noel continued apologizing.

"It's fine, it's fine", Leon tried to assure him while he looked back at him.

His face was written in unexpected guilt and worry, he probably felt like it was out of pocket to get ordered to not interfere on harm's way.

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry", Noel relentlessly continued apologizing, "I apologize for everything-".

"Hey, listen to me", Leon stopped in his tracks before he turned himself to stand directly in front of him.

"Don't worry about it, okay? I got what I deserved, and if we're being honest, losing a paycheck for protecting someone is not worth it", Leon said to him in a calm tone, "It's not your fault. I should be the one to apologize for not having a great aunt".

"Sir Cashmere, you don't understand. I couldn't help you, it's doesn't feel right", Noel stated in a concerned manner.

"I do understand, you felt useless, I get it. But it's not worth losing your money because of someone like myself", Leon was being sympathetic towards someone for a long time in his life, it felt quite uncomfortable as he was having mercy on a soul like him.

"Don't worry about it, okay? Don't blame yourself, I deserved it", he looked into his emerald dark green eyes,he started to pat him on his shoulder softly.

"Hey, Leon!", Nico yelled out as he ran towards their way, he got close enough to look behind his shoulder as his friend, Parker, also followed.

"What's was that about?", Nico asked him, Leon's faded anger returned all over again.

"Go to hell", Leon insulted him irritatedly, he turned back around before he went towards his car a few steps away from him.

"Hey! Hey!", Nico exclaimed, trying to get his attention.

As he was about to open the car door, Parker was standing behind him.

"Leon, can you listen to what I have to say?", Parker insisted, Leon scoffed before turning his head over to his shoulder to glance at him.

"How about you go fuck yourself?", Leon replied to him before getting inside his car, Noel closed the door shut before he got inside, Alvarez immediately drove off, leaving them both behind.

As they drove off, Leon lowered his head as he continued bleeding heavily from his nose.

"Do you need anything, Sir Cashmere?", Leon shook his head while placing his soaked handkerchief.

They decided to drive all the way to his home, they went inside the garage before Alvarez looked over at Noel.

"You're leaving?", he asked, he looked over at Leon, whom he seemed to be needing a helping hand, but he knew that he could easily take care of his wounds by himself.

"Have a good night, Sir Cashmere", Noel said in a respectful way, Leon looked back at him.

"You too", Leon replied to him before he got off the vehicle, Alvarez reversed the car to get ready to drop off Noel.

Leon slowly walked into the main entrance of his home, where two of his servants quickly opened the door.

"Good- Oh no! Ladies, someone bring an ice pack! Our boss is injured", one of the servants yelled out from across the hallway.

"Do you need a napkin, Sir Cashmere?", another servant intervened by handing him another clean handkerchief.

"Here you go, I'll take care of the other one, Sir Cashmere", Leon's nose bleeding finally stopped, but he still have dried blood stains left on his face.

"Sir Cashmere, here's a wet cloth to clean your face", the other servant offered him, everyone was getting worried as if he was at the brink of death.

"I'll go to my room peacefully, now if you please let me have some space", Leon commanded, Fionna also went towards his direction as she found out about the news.

"Sir Cashmere, are you alright?", she asked, now everyone was getting his way and he has barely made it to the dining room.

"Here's the ice pack, Sir Cashmere", another servant returned with an ice pack.

"Sir Cashmere, who would take care for your wounds?", one of the servants asked, he sighed.

"Fionna, mind lending me a hand?", he asked. "Of course, Sir Cashmere", Fionna smiled slightly, they both walked themselves all the way down to the dining room.

°~11:47 PM~°

"Goddammit!", Leon jolted back as Fionna disinfected the wounds carefully.

"What caused you to get beat up by Adrik?", she asked as she finished to start patching him up.

"Fuck, that hurts...", Leon complained as he could feel the alcohol stinging deeply, she simply giggled softly.

"I know", she started to place a few small bandages on his face, he held the ice pack to his swollen eye.

"Now tell me", she wanted to know why his grandfather would do such a thing.

"He's an old man with a bad temper", Leon replied to her, bothered.

"Right...", Fionna decided not to ask any further questions, they have known each other for quite some years, so for them to have conversations like this weren't uncommon.

"How's Zoey?", he asked curiously as he continued holding the ice pack in his hand.

"She's sleeping, she was outside for a long time. She also visited the garden. She hated the flowers that were dead from the cold", she recalled, she finished continuing cleaning his face. "I bet she did", he responded while gazing at her. 

"Okay, you're done", Fionna said joyfully, she started to place everything back to the first aid kit.

"Well you also have bruises on your neck. But they'll go away eventually", she remarked, she got up before leaving out the door.

She finally told him 'goodnight' before taking off to go to bed.

He looked back towards the door silently before sighing deeply. In this world, he might have a lot of people whom he keeps really close, but at the end of the day, they'll end up turning their back on him.

He was simply hurt by all of the things he had to endure, people kept pointing fingers at him, blaming him and shaming him for his mistakes.

But he hasn't done any mistakes, they only use him to frame him for their sins.

It's nothing new. It's always the same thing over, and over, and over again.

He felt drained inside, he couldn't keep living like this. He wanted to be left alone, be alone. Yet somehow certain people knew how to get under his skin, so they can point his disadvantages of his real self against him.

He didn't even eat dinner, nor he had the appetite for dinner.

He slowly got up before he walked his way to his bedroom. He decided to go straight to sleep, as to wanting all of his unwavering emotions to stop.

°~9:47 AM~°

"Sir Cashmere!", someone called out from the other side of the door while knocking relentlessly.

He slowly lifted his head to look to the door, he got up to his feet before steadily walking to open the door.

"What is it?", he asked in a tired voice.

"Umm- Mr. Klein is here", Leon frowned in disbelief.

"Well tell him he needs to go", he demanded angrily before slamming the door shut in front of the servant's face.

He hadn't even changed himself into a new change of clothes last night, so he decided to take his daily morning routine.

After he got out of the bathroom, he changed himself neatly to a new change of clean clothes.

He got out of his bedroom to surprisingly see Parker standing outside of his bedroom door.

"Hey, can we talk?", he asked genuinely.

"I told you to leave", Leon closed the door behind him before passing by his friend.

"Come on, Leon! I want to talk it out", Parker turned around as he followed him around, his friend wasn't having it.

"I want you to go", Leon said again furiously.

"Well let me talk to you first", Parker followed right behind him, begging him to let him listen to what he had to say.

"Can you tell that I don't want to talk to you?! Don't you ever come around me again", Leon snapped as he turned around to look at him.

"I get it, I know you're hurt! Leon, I'm sorry", Parker began apologizing, he knew he had messed up, he did.

"No, you're not!", Leon screamed back at him, his trust towards his friend had been torn, he felt as if he couldn't trust him again.

"Leon, I know you have the worst trust issues out there, but just believe me when I say I regret what I said earlier", Leon frowned, he was doubtful, he was definitely lying in his eyes.

"Leon, please trust me", he continued pleading desperately, but his friend continued being really skeptical.

"Stop fucking lying and go", Leon wouldn't refrain from being persistent that his friend was lying to his face.

"When do you want me to talk it out then?", Parker asked, Leon sighed in frustration.

"Not now", Leon responded to him briefly, afterwards he left to go towards the dining room as always.

Parker decided to stop trailing him and walk the other way to distract himself, luckily he didn't say anything worse. He wanted to walk around Leon's home that felt like his home. He loved coming to his huge house where it had 3 floors, plenty of guest rooms, a huge ballroom, a garden and pool area.

He was fascinated by what power his friend holds, he's really lucky to have a giant place that felt as if it was a hotel.

He wandered around the place freely.

Meanwhile, Leon finally reached down towards the dining room, he opened the door carefully to see his precious daughter and his bodyguard waiting for him.

"Good morning, dad!", she said happily as she got off her seat before running towards him.

My little dove, did you sleep well last night?", he asked her while he crouched down to give her a small hug, he couldn't resist the warm smile creating on his face.

"I did sleep well- um...", Zoey stopped as her joyful expression faded away as she noticed the marks and little bandages on his father's face.

"Are you okay?", her eyes got moist as her heart ached to see him in such a state, she hated to see when his father got hurt or went to the hospital to get treated for something bad.

"I'm fine, my love", Leon replied to her gleefully, trying to convince her he was alright.

"No you're not. What happened?", she asked as she started sulking, she was so worried about him, it also ached his heart to see her crying because she's concerned of his well-being.

Leon didn't respond since he knew he couldn't lie to her in this situation, he decided to bring her in for a hug, she sobbed tremendously.

Noel simply stared his way towards them, he felt guilty since he knew why she was crying.

"It's okay, sweetie, don't cry. Don't worry, I'm fine, I promise", Leon consoled her as he placed his hand on her head gently.

"Why are you always hurt?", she whined as she laid her head on his shoulder, those words stabbed him deeper than a fine, sharp blade, he felt as he has failed his duty as a parent to always have their children feeling safe.

"I'm not hurt, it's just a little bruise. They'll go away, okay? How about we eat our breakfast together and not worry about everything, okay?", she lifted her head before slowly nodding, she decided to go back to her seat before she finally calmed down a little.

After their breakfast, Leon decided to console for a bit more until he had to go towards his home office.

°~12:35 PM~°

"Sir Cashmere, how is everything lately?", Noel asked from across the doorway as he had the door wide open.

"Get in, just lock the door and sit down if you want", Leon offered, he wondered how his bodyguard had to stay on his feet the entire day and follow him absolutely everywhere.

"Thank you, Sir Cashmere", he thanked him, he got inside before doing what he had ordered, shutting and locking the door.

He took a seat in one of the chairs in front of his desk, Leon looked up before he rolled a black office chair next to him.

"Sit here if you like, make yourself relaxed for a bit", he continued being generous, he's really not as compassionate with anyone, but he had to give it up to Noel who has stayed with him through hell and back.

Noel hesitated at first, but he decided to sit down in the office chair he had placed next to him, he glanced towards his boss whom seemed to be working on part of Anya's company.

"How are you feeling, Sir Cashmere?", his bodyguard questioned once more.

"I'm fine", Leon replied to him briefly, continuing to type something down on his keyboard.

"How are you doing?", Leon decided to ask the same question, they knew there were both caught up to their emotions last night.

"I'm doing great, Sir Cashmere. Thank you for asking", Noel said politely as he smiled slightly.

"I hope she gives you the paycheck, if she doesn't, I'll pay you either way. It's the best I can do", Leon told him, Noel shook his head in disbelief that his aunt was able to pull such a stunt like that.

"It's fine, Sir Cashmere. Don't worry about it", Noel replied to him sincerely, he was fine if he wasn't getting paid for the month, he'll have to pay his bills one way or another.

"Right", Leon said as he finally finished his work, he sighed in relief before turning his head to face him.

"I have noticed you have distanced yourself from me, why is that?", he asked him as his hand reached out to play with his curly hair delicately, twirling his hair around his fingertips.

"Sir Cashmere, I have told you it was simply due to keeping ourselves connected with business, not let our personal lives intervene", his bodyguard responded briefly, Leon knew he was hiding something he didn't know, there was more than that.

He wanted to know what was he keeping hidden inside of his conscience, he couldn't simply stay curious.

"You're correct, Noel, but it seems perhaps there's more to what you said", he remarked, awaiting for an answer.

"Let's keep it that way", Noel avoided his statement, he didn't want him to know...how strange.

"Why is that? I thought you never keep confidential information", Leon  persuaded him to open up, this was a mystery he wanted to unfold since he was simply intrigued by him, he knowingly had been having an unusual satisfaction to know the man who seemed dedicated to his position by protecting from most harm that could get in his way.

Leon did consider that he was able to trust him, but not as much as much to the point he could really let him hold his burdens and help him through them. 

"This is more personal", Noel gave him a clue, personal...that is interesting.

"You can tell me on a personal note", Leon offered him to get his thoughts out, he got closer to him as he continued petting his hair.

"Sir Cashmere, I'll rather not say, so let's leave it that way", Leon nodded in affirmation, he knew he was going too far. He'll have to keep wondering, which made him lose curiousity fast.

"And that's fine", Leon intently looked at his curls, which he kept playing with his hair, twirling it carefully.

"Alright, that's enough...", Noel laughed softly as he grabbed his boss' hand, he noticed he kept doing this so much it may have became a daily habit.

Leon started to hold his hand when it was raised away, Noel felt quite shocked by this sudden gesture.

"You can't keep your hands to yourself, huh?", he questioned him as he chuckled lightly.

Leon fell silent as he asked him that, he didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"But like I said, Sir Cashmere, let us keep our distance for now", Noel said, if he was bothering someone, it'll be best to stay away.

"Alright", he obliged with his boundaries, Noel smiled at him brightly.

"Thank you", he appreciated the respect he had gained from someone who's deemed to be merciless.

Out of the blue, they were hearing loud knocking, both turned to look towards the door.

Noel stood up to unlock the door, his boss hurriedly pushed the chair back to its previous position.

"Mr.Klein, good afternoon", he greeted Parker politely, he looked up at him.

"Noel, is Leon with you?", Parker glanced towards inside of the office to find his friend staring at him deeply.

"Let him in", Leon commanded while keeping an eye on him, watching every move delicately. "Go ahead, Mr.Klein, I'll leave now, Sir Cashmere", Leon nodded his head, Parker went inside while fixing his suit.

His bodyguard went back outside, his friend sat down before sighing deeply.

"I know you're still mad at me, I know. I'm sorry, I just wanted you to listen to me since I care about you, but my anger got the best of me", Parker explained to him sincerely, Leon's mind went blank, he gazed at him without missing a move.

"I know I'm lucky enough to be close to you, it's just...I don't know. I was fucking mad at you because it's obvious that you literally risked all of us into trouble. But hey, it wasn't your fault", Parker stated as he was focused on trying to get the right words out.

"Someone told me it could be a traitor, now thinking about it, it does seem like it", Leon paused as his eyes widen in shock, a...a traitor?!

He despised traitors with a burning passion in his heart, he had been betrayed so many times before by people all around him, it was terrifying to have a close person know everything about you, just to stab you in the back by navigating out to expose and mess with your weaknesses and insecurities.

"It's not your fault, it isn't. But I was still mad, like what the fuck do you mean they're definitely coming for you?", Parker furrowed his brows slightly in concern, Leon knew Parker cares about him, but he would never say it to his face.

"You think too much, Parker. I'm going to get them off my back, one way or another. Our plan is to kill W.I.N, and once we do his reign of evil is gone", Leon replied to him, quite stunned about the news of a traitor, but also since his friend really did care about him after all.

"I think too much? Right...", Parker doubted himself to be such an overthinker.

He saw his bruised eye from last night, it was somehow a miracle that he survived that night.

"I should've stepped in, but I knew the consequences if I did", Parker told him, Leon sighed.

"Don't get into trouble because of me, or  use a serious situation as an insult again", Leon advised him carefully, his friend obediently nodded his head.

"Yes, sir", he grinned happily, positioning his arms to the chair.

"Now that we have that out of the way, I need to tell you something", he had a lot to explain to him, and it was going to quite entertaining...