The Oak Tree

Leo slept at my house again.

Although I'm used to it, I still think it would be better if he stayed with his parents.

"Aren't your parents worried about you?" I asked, feeling concerned.

"Nah. I told them I'll be at your place." Leo replied.

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I mean."

Leo smirked, "Although my mom is quite worried, my dad always allow me to your house. Sometimes I think he treats you more like his son than myself."

"That's not true and you know it! You shouldn't berate your father like that!" I scolded.

Leo looked sad, he lowered his head and entered my room. I immediately followed him inside. "Your father treats you very well, you just don't know it." I muttered.

Leo suddenly turned around and hugged me. I did not resist, hoping this hug would resolve his negative emotions.

"Hunter, can you sleep with me?" He tilted his head up and stared at me hopefully.

I stared back for awhile before reluctantly nodding. Leo instantly became more cheerful. He laid on the bed, egging on me to come in. I rolled my eyes.

I laid on the bed, placing my arms around Leo. Leo's face was placed against my chest.

Leo took a deep sniff of me and said, "I know my father loves me. I was just playing you." He smirked.

I instantly wanted to leave.

"He allowed me to sleep in your house since he wants me to become more independent. More importantly, he trusts you." Although he might not trust me as much, Leo thought.

My eyes soften. "Sleep." I whispered.

"Mhm..." Leo easily drifted off to sleep. It took me much longer to fall asleep. I awoke a few times during the night, but went back to sleep again.

***************

The next morning, I found an energized Leo poking on my abs while I laid on the bed. "Good morning, daddy." He exclaimed.

"Don't call me that." I furrowed my brows. "Good morning, Leo."

I headed down to the kitchen to make breakfast. Leo just lazed around in bed and waited for me.

After breakfast, we headed out.

"Hey," Leo asked, "Do you know about Peter Alexson?"

I nodded. "A bit. He's the current governor, right?"

"Yes." Leo replied. "And Mike is his son."

"That explains why he's running for Student Council President." I said.

"Mhm... We can use this fact to our advantage."

"How?" I asked.

"I found a few articles on his father that are less than pleasant." Leo smirked.

****************

When I arrived at the classroom for first period, I found something sitting on my assigned chair. It was an envelop. The envelope was pink it color. I could smell a sweet fragrance coming from the envelope. A combination of peach and apricot. There were words written on the envelope in cursive writing.

The writing style of the person was elegant, while the words were very neat and meticulous. The spaces between the words were exactly the same. It was written in a high-caliber blue ink. It read,

"To: Hunter Lee"

I flipped the envelope and found the opening was stickered with a red-colored heart.

"Ooh! Did you get a love letter?" Leo asked curiously.

"Apparently." I furrowed my brows.

"Did you seduce another innocent maiden again?" Leo teased.

"I did not seduce anyone." I replied.

Leo leaned towards my ear. "You seduced me."

A shiver was directly sent down my spine. "Stop playing around." I growled. I handed the love letter to Leo. "Take a look." I said dismissively.

"If the maiden knew how you immediately threw her love letter to another boy, she would be devastated." Leo said mischeviously.

I stared at him for a while. "Aren't you jealous?" I asked.

Every year from primary school to middle school to high school, I would receive many love letters. They were absolutely annoying. It's not that I do not feel appreciative, but I feel that the girls who send love letters were too vain. After all, they most likely have only seen my face but have never interacted with me. Why are they so shameless and always ask me to date them? Just because they "like" me? They just like my body, not my soul.

Leo, who was beside me every time I received the letter, would originally rip it up to pieces. Later, however, he grew more mischevious. He would read aloud the contents of the letter in front of the entire class, go to the confession location and prank the girl who wanted to confess to me, one time he even printed copies of a love letter and plastered it all over the school. I have no idea where his imagination comes from to be able to do all these things. Now that I think about it, I kind of feel sorry for those girls.

"Why would I be jealous?" Leo replied. "I know you're only into me."

I rolled my eyes. "This guy is beyond saving." I thought.

"So? What are you going to do with the love letter?"

Leo thought for a while, "Don't you think it's kind of suspicious that you get a love letter now?"

"Why?" I asked.

"I mean, you haven't gotten any love letters these past few weeks right?"

"That's because all the girls know I have no interest in them." I snorted.

"Except for me." Leo added. Before I could say anything, he continued, "But the girls in Grade 9 shouldn't know this, right? They might think you're just a cold on the outside, fuzzy on the inside school idol."

"I'm not fuzzy on the inside." I retorted.

Leo ignored me. "But this school year, the freshmen girls have never sent a love letter to you. Until now when elections are almost here."

"Are you saying?"

"Yes. This is a trap." Leo smirked.

"Or it could be a girl that finally worked up her courage to send this love letter to me after a few weeks." I gave an alternative explanation.

"That still doesn't explain the lack of love letters these past few weeks." Leo reasoned.

"Maybe girls just don't want to use such an archaic form of confession anymore." I replied. "After all, not all girls watch anime."

Leo shrugged. "Are you taking the love letter back then?" He dangled the love letter in front of me.

I rolled my eyes. "Just keep it."

Leo nodded. He opened the envelope and took a look inside. There was a piece of delicately folded lined paper inside the envelope. Leo held out the letter and read it out loud.

"Since the day I saw you from afar, I have fell in love with you. I cannot have these feelings bottled up inside me anymore. Please come to the oak tree behind the school building at 5pm today."

"That's awfully short." I commented as if it had nothing to do with me.

"Right." Leo agreed. He headed out of the classroom.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to post this on the school board." Leo replied.

*******************

After school and basketball practice, Leo dragged me back into the school building and up to a classroom on the third floor.

"What are we doing here, Leo?" I asked. "I need to train Adrian today."

He leaned his body close to me. "I want you to do it with me in this classroom." He said softly.

"I'm leaving." I turned around and headed out.

"Wait! I'm joking!" Leo hurried, "We're here for the love letter."

"?"

Come take a look outside the window.

We walked towards the window. There was a large oak tree outside, making the surroundings serene and beautiful.

Leo looked at his watch. "It's 4:55pm."

There were quite a number of people on the ground near the oak tree trying to watch the spectacle. After all, most of them have never seen someone so blatant as to post their entire love letter on the school board for everyone to see.

"You stay here while I'll go check on the school board." Leo said.

I nodded, staying behind.

I looked down from my place, leaning against the blackboard. "It seems like the girl in question isn't going to show up." I thought.

I opened the window to take a smell of the fresh air. However, once I took a sniff, I frowned.

"Why does it smell so much like oil?" I thought.

Suddenly, I saw a fire allow flew across the fence from outside the school and landed on the oak tree. The oak tree instantly caught on fire, catching the surprise of many people.

"Ah! Fire! Someone call 911!" People started screaming and crying, running away from the fire. I also rushed out of the classroom.

"I need to find Leo!" I thought to myself.