Find Me a Cure

Chapter 23: Leonado Sterling Part 1

Dawn painted the sky a mixture of lavender, pink, and soft yellow, as the hands on my watch touched quarter past seven. I was standing near the same field, my arms crossed with my shoulder leaning against a lamppost. Where was that arrogant tyrant? Jared seemed like a pretty reliable source, he wouldn't have let me down, would he?

The wait was yawn worthy; standing at a place doing absolutely nothing, except stare at your watch every half minute, really makes time go tortuously slow, and just as I was about to let out my ninth yawn, a figure, dressed in a burgundy suit, approached.

I narrowed my eyes. Sterling?

No. No, it wasn't Sterling, it was Jared. Alone. What? I needed Sterling!

I stormed towards him. "You said you'd bring him here!"

"I did," he replied, cooly, his hands coated in his trouser pockets.

"Well?" I demanded. What was with the outfit?

Another figure approached rapidly. It was a woman wearing a tight bun, in formal attire.

"The file, Mr Sterling."

I choked on the air.

"Thank you, Melanie." He glanced at me, as the woman walked away. "Are you alright, Miss Reese?"

I didn't reply. I was busy, trying to reeducate myself on the subtle art of breathing.

A moment went by.

Another.

And then, another.

He smiled, brown eyes glittering.

Oh.

After the forth moment, I found the capacity in my brain, to speak. "You're... you're..."

"Leonardo Sterling, at your service," He responded, with a bow.

Oh, he's good!

And I'm an idiot.

"You're—no, wait... you're Leonardo Sterling?" I spluttered.

"You need everything to be repeated twice, do yo—"

"Shut up!" I hissed, still trying to comprehend what the hell was happening. "You're him?"

"In the flesh." He grinned.

"Th-then... where the heck did you get Jared from?!"

"It's my middle name."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to explain the little charade you put on, earlier?"

"Oh, I did that because I was bored," he casually stated. Still smiling, he brushed his curly locks out of his forehead and opened the file in his hand, as though I weren't there. I saw a picture of me, which somewhat resembled a mugshot (but no, it was just a passport picture), on the first page. Then, he looked up and without a warning, held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Emerald."

I swatted it away. "I want an honest response. You didn't have to speak to me. You didn't even have to listen to what I had to say, in the first place. Heck, you could have thrown me out, the moment you saw me." I frowned. "But, you didn't. Why?"

"That could be arranged if you really want it, Miss Reese." A smug look plastered his face, one that I was tempted to slap off any second now.

I crossed my arms all business-like. "I'm waiting."

He titled his head, as if trying to put thought into words. "I'd already been told that you'd come looking for me. I was also told about how "malicious" and "devious" Emerald Reece was – on the courtesy of Gemma Reynolds," he stated, making air speech marks. "And the way you went on about 'Mr Sterling' – it didn't seem you were very fond of me, either. So, when I realised that you didn't know who I was, I didn't tell you, because I wanted to meet 202 without any false impressions, clouding neither of our presumed impressions on each other. Now tell me, Em. Am I really as bad as you thought I was?" He batted his eyelashes.