Chapter 231: Neighbors
The days passed by like a fleeting wind. It had been two weeks since Peter came to her house to tell Natalia words that she couldn’t get out of her mind.
Sometimes she would return to her home to find him waiting outside her house, and each time she would refuse to talk to him, not that she didn’t want to hear him out, but she was afraid that if she did, her heart would soften and she wouldn’t be able to keep her composure anymore, she knew she still loved him, but she didn’t want to show any weakness.
He was saying that he still loved her as well, but then she knew for a fact that he was still together with Megan, if he truly loved her, why couldn’t he leave Megan before coming back to her, or better yet, why did he leave her for Megan in the first place?
She knew sitting down to talk to him would get her all the answers, but the answers were something she was currently afraid of hearing.
On this certain day, she had returned from work, she was about to head into her own house when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, she silently watched the house close to hers being loaded with things as if someone was moving in.
It had been years since she was living in these parts of the city, but the house next to hers had never been occupied ever since, however, all of a sudden someone was moving in?
Natalia watched the people load all the stuff before she shrugged and went into her own home, maybe someone had bought the house years ago and was now moving in.
As usual, she had dinner while watching a special TV series just like she did every evening, after which she got a call from Celine, who was still on her honeymoon far off the Rowena Islands, after chatting with her best friend for a while, she went up to her room and got into bed wearing a pink pajama set, she was just about to lie down when she saw something from her window, she slowly got out of bed then headed for the window.
In a certain room inside the house across from her own, the lights were fully turned on, she caught sight of a tall shadow, the person seemed to be making a phone call, but she couldn’t make out his face no matter how hard she tried to look because the person kept turning as he was speaking on the phone.
"Wonder who the new neighbor is." She muttered to herself before returning to bed. As she was about to close her eyes to sleep, she couldn’t help but feel like the person’s figure looked quite familiar.
A few days later, it was the weekend, Natalia didn’t have to go to work, however, waking up that morning, she realized that she was out of groceries. Having to work through the weekdays, she would just usually whip up breakfast and she wouldn’t have any meal at home until dinner, sometimes she’d have already had dinner before coming home.
With a sigh, she quickly dressed up and left the house to go shopping at the nearest grocery store. Driving her car through the parking lot, she headed into the store, she went through picking up things she needed.
She picked up some fresh fruits and eggs, she also picked a lot of easy-fix meals like instant noodles and some microwave foods. Since her new job demanded a lot of her time through the day, she usually spent a lot less time at home, and by the time she’d return, she’d be too tired to cook a full meal, most of the time she would just whip up something quick and easy to fill her stomach.
Natalia was about to turn the corner when all of a sudden she bumped harshly against someone.
"I’m so sorry!" She muttered quickly, bending down to pick up the box of chocolates that the person she bumped into was holding, but apparently the person had also bent down at the same time, their heads collided before either of them could even get to pick up the box.
"Ouch!!" Natalia sucked in a painful breath,
"I’m sorry, are you alright?" The person quickly apologized. The voice, deep yet smooth, that she found it familiar for some reason, so she quickly looked up but her breath stopped momentarily.
Deep-set dark eyes, handsome yet looked mysterious, they seemed to suck you right into their depths. Beautiful lips that curled up minutely as he stared at her. It was him, the man she’d danced with at the wedding.
"Are you alright?" He asked again, there was a hint of amusement in his eyes as if he was trying to hold in a smile.
It took a second for Natalia to realize that she had pouted her lips while rubbing at her aching forehead where they had just collided, she quickly changed her expression, holding in the burn she was feeling on her forehead.
"I’m fine." She said quickly.
"Are you sure?" He asked again as if to make certain since he seemed to be seeing through the pain she was trying to hold back.
Unable to hold it in, she sucked in a breath in pain again as she muttered, "What is your head made of, a rock? Hurts so much."
"I’m sorry about that."
With a sigh, she said, "It’s alright, it was my mistake for not looking where I was going." She sized him up discreetly, he really was a heartthrob, girls would probably be tripping over themselves for him, "So what are you doing here, do you live close by?" She asked casually.
"Yeah, closer than you think, in fact." He said, picking something off the shelves and throwing it into his basket. Natalia didn’t put any meaning to his words.
"I’m sorry about the other day at the wedding, we seemed to have met before, but...I really can’t recall."
Hearing her words, his hand that was reaching to the top of the shelf to pick something halted for a few seconds before he finally picked it up and put it in his basket, "You don’t have to think too much if you don’t remember, like I said, it’s not important."
"But couldn’t you remind me at least?" She asked.
He turned to look at her quietly for some time as if searching for something on her face before saying, "Sometimes, a meeting from the past might not matter as much to one person as it does to the other, it’s no surprise you forgot."
"What do you mean by that?" She wasn’t able to understand what he meant by saying that.
He gave her a smile before turning around to leave,
"Wait!" Natalia called, and he stopped then turned to look at her.
Natalia quickly picked up the chocolate box that had fallen earlier and went to hand it to him, "You forgot this."
He looked down at the chocolate in her hands for a few seconds, then back up at her face, he smiled, and in that moment she almost froze, "Thank you."
She wasn’t able to utter the words "You’re welcome" that were just at the tip of her tongue as she stared dazedly at his broad back walking away.
So handsome! How could a man be this handsome?
A moment later, she broke out of her daze and shook her head.
"Yup, good-looking men just have that effect on every woman." She said with a sigh, then went off to complete her shopping before going to pay at the counter.
After which she left the store and headed home, she parked her car and picked up her shopping bags, wanting to go into her house when she saw someone that made her stop, shocked,
"Are you following me?" She asked incredulously, staring at Christopher, who was about to go into the house close to her own, she had asked that question abruptly, also not fully realizing it.
Christopher didn’t mince words as he said, "Yes."
Natalia’s eyes widened, was he really serious? He added,
"Or you could also say I live here." He gestured to the door of the house he was about to go into, that was when realization dawned on Natalia, no wonder she had thought that shadow last night had looked familiar.
She was astonished that she could barely form words as she pointed at the house and back at him, after some time she was finally able to say, "That was you?" Seeing the questioning look he gave her, she quickly rephrased, "I meant to say, you’re the one who just moved here?"
"Yes, guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, neighbor." Saying that, he flashed that killer smile again before opening the door to his house and walking in.
Natalia was a bit dazed for a while before she opened her own door and walked into her house as well.
"So we’re neighbors? What a strange coincidence." She muttered to herself as she walked into the kitchen, dropping the shopping bags on the kitchen island.
"If you don’t remember, then it is of no importance."
Resting against the kitchen island, Natalia couldn’t help but remember Christopher’s words the other day at the wedding reception.
"Where could we have met before, and why don’t I remember at all?" She asked herself, getting intensely curious about him.