Chapter 3

After a long and stressful night at work, Rayne decided that she would forego eating breakfast and go straight to bed. She was too tired to eat. She trudged towards her bedroom with Bubbles following behind her. She briefly glanced at the cat and let out a brief laugh. "Stalker." She said.

"Meow." Bubbles said.

"I know, but I am sleepy. I will eat later. You're so sweet to accompany me to the bedroom."

Bubbles just stared at her with his wide green eyes. She stopped for a second to pet him and he head butted her palm. Then he stretched himself as if asking to be carried like a toddler. Rayne obliged and she was carrying him to her bedroom humming a lullaby.

Once in the bedroom, she set the cat down on the bed and she joined him a few seconds later. She motioned the cat to come under the blankets, but Bubbles opted to sleep on the pillow near her head. She let out a grunt and closed her eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.

Rayne was woken up by a muffled voice and she frowned. Where did that come from? She wondered as she turned to her left side on her bed. She could ignore the sounds; it was not that loud anyway; she had heard louder sounds than this. She can tune them out.

Or so she thought as she heard high-pitched screams just as she was about to drift to sleep. She opened her eyes and frowned.

"What the hell?!" she muttered. "Is someone getting murdered there?" she added as she closed her eyes again.

The screams persisted throughout the day which had Rayne waking up every two hours until the sounds had finally died down by 5 pm. This was where she finally slept without any interruptions. However, she had to get up three hours later to prepare for work. She was looking at her room with bleary eyes when she finally got up at 8 pm and sluggishly went to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast slash dinner.

Thankfully, coffee was her best friend and she felt much more awake when she managed to make herself a cup of espresso. She would feel even more alive once she takes a shower. Whatever was causing the noise next door, she hoped that would be the last time she heard of it.

Unfortunately, the same thing happened the next day and the screaming and squealing were even louder. Based on the pitch she assumed that it came from a group of overly excited girls. Was the neighbor watching a video compilation of fan girls going gaga over some boyband?

Regardless, it left her in a much worse state where she mentally made a note to herself that she will go online shopping for ear plugs. For now, her pillow would suffice as she placed it on her head. Bubbles let out an annoyed meow as he ended up being displaced from his 'bed'. The cat decided that he would sleep on his human as compensation as he climbed over her side and slept on her legs.

When Rayne actually woke up for her shift, she felt that not even two cups of espresso and a cold shower were going to keep her awake. She ended up doing what she had never done in all the times she had worked from home: she took a nap during her lunch break.

"Good grief, you look haggard. What happened to you?" Russell asked upon seeing his assistant looking like she was electrocuted.

"I'm fine. I just woke up from my nap." Rayne said as she hastily fixed her hair.

Russell looked worried. "I see. Are you sure you're okay? You can go under time if you're not feeling well. I won't hold it against you."

Rayne shook her head vehemently. "No, I'm fine. I've had worse."

Russell relented even if he looked unconvinced. "Alright if you say so. But let me know if you need to log off early."

"I will."

The third and final straw was on Friday morning. Despite the nap last night, it was not enough to keep her awake for the entire shift. After feeding an annoyed Bubbles as he was protesting about being fed so late. She left the cat behind and plopped on the bed, not bothering to change into her nightwear.

Rayne was not sure how long she had fallen asleep, but a screeching sound had woken her up so abruptly that she developed a headache. Grabbing a handful of her hair to pull in order to minimize the pain, she let out a growl. This was getting out of hand. Three straight days of sleep deprivation have made her become so irritable that she wanted to scream.

When she heard another screeching sound, she did scream in frustration. She stomped out of the bedroom and dragged the blanket with her toward the living room.

Rayne laid down on the large gray sofa and sighed in relief. The silence was very welcoming to her ears. She then snuggled against her blankets and closed her eyes. She felt a weight climbing on her, which she knew it was just Bubbles using her as a bed.

Sleep was beginning to overtake her once more when an even louder shriek jarred her awake. It sounded like an entire stadium's worth of screams. To make things worse, Rayne ended up rolling down the sofa to the cool but hard tiled floor as well as feeling sharp claws digging deep into her shoulder and back.

Rayne sat up on the floor feeling disoriented and stunned as she blinked rapidly and ran a hand on her hair. It was only when she saw the coffee table beside her that remembered what had happened to her.

"That's it! I'm going to go after that asshole!" she shouted as she got off the floor startling Bubbles who ran off to the kitchen.

The sound came from next door, she surmised. She stormed out of her unit, ready to raise hell and confront the noisemaker that has been irritating her for the past three days. She then stopped at the door to her left and slammed her fist against the wooden door. Hard.

Rayne was still smacking the door when it opened and her hand nearly connected to a man's face, but he managed to dodge it and she hit empty space instead. It was here where she saw who was on the other side of the door.

The man was more than six feet tall with short wavy dark brown hair and a pair of brown eyes that looked so apologetic she felt her rage drain for a second. He was dressed in a plain gray shirt and jeans which while it would look basic for most people, the way he carried himself and his clothes had her thinking that he must be the spokesmodel for a clothing line. Hell, he looked like a model with his devastatingly handsome and classical features.

However, Rayne did not give a crap about his looks as her rage returned in full force. Before he could open his mouth to say anything she let out a hiss.

"HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT YOU LIVE IN A BUILDING WITH SEVERAL PEOPLE IN EACH UNIT AND SOME OF US LIKE TO SLEEP IN PEACE?!" She snapped. "THREE DAYS! DO YOU HEAR?! I WAS NOT ABLE TO SLEEP PROPERLY FOR THREE BLASTED DAYS BECAUSE OF THE NOISE YOU'RE MAKING! WHAT THE HELL, MAN!?"

By the time Rayne was finished shouting at him, she met his eyes and while he still looked apologetic, he was also shocked at being yelled at. Although it seemed the shock was temporary as he let out a deep sigh and gave her a shy smile.

"I'm sorry for causing such a racket. How about a peace offering?"

"WHAT." Rayne's voice went one octave higher.

"Please, come on in. I'll explain the reason why it's been noisy recently," he said as he gestured for her to come inside his apartment.

Rayne stared at him as if he had gone insane and refused to move. His voice was so soothing, but her cranky self would not be charmed. "Why not explain here?"

"It's going to look awkward for the both of us. Please, I know how angry you are right now but why don't we talk things out first?"

"Fine," Rayne muttered as she entered the man's apartment.