Chapter 2

"Do I really have to move?" I asked once again, trying to change their minds.

It was just a day after that I heard the news about me moving to an unknown place and staying with someone who I had no idea was. I was done packing my luggage and took all those that I thought I would need with me. I was outside our house by then. Although our house wasn't that big but once you step inside, you'll feel a sense of comfiness. My parents had even planted flowers and trees outside the house that usually made people take a look at our yard whenever they passed by while driving or having a walk.

I was really going to miss living here, especially living with mom and dad. Even though what they were doing to me was really inconsiderate at some point, they're still my parents. We'd been living together for all my years of existence and now I'm moving to some other neighbourhood. Well, to be honest, it wasn't like I can't come and see them anytime I want. I guess it wasn't that bad anyway.

If you're wondering why I didn't rebel against my parents and ran away like what normal teenagers would do when they were told that they were to marry some stranger out of nowhere, it was because I didn't really care since it wasn't a must for me say yes to this so-called arranged marriage. Was it even called an arranged-marriage though? They somehow gave me a choice, in a year, that is. All it needed was for me to say, "No, I don't want this marriage nor I want to be with Aunt Sally's son" in a year and everything would be back to normal. I had to agree that I was starting to regret that I agreed to the deal though. It only got their hopes up.

Boy, were they going to get themselves a big disappointment in a year.

"Yes, dear, for the umpteenth time," my father said. He was standing in front of me and my mother was beside him, with his arm around her shoulders. "But don't worry. Your mom and I are going to drop you there so we still have at least.." he glanced at his watch, "..thirty minutes left 'till you finally leave our side, physically." I couldn't help but notice that the both of them were smiling.

Why? Why were they still smiling when my life was going to be in ruins? Was I really their biological daughter?

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you and mom sending me away just so you both can have some alone time?" I asked, feigning betrayal and giving them a shocked look. "You guys do know that I'm in my room most of the time, don't you?"

"Honey, how can you say that?" My mother asked, with her hand on her chest, her turn to feign hurt. "We're just really happy that you're going that you agreed to it," she confessed as her face lightened up.

I scowled. "I haven't agreed yet, Mom, so don't get your hopes up too high."

I walked towards the back of my father's BMW to put my luggage in the trunk when I heard my mother mumbled, "I'm sure you'll change your mind, he's a nice guy."

"What?" I shouted. I think I saw her jumped.

"Nothing, dear, go put your luggage in the trunk," my father replied, before whispering something to her.

I let out a deep sigh and did what my father said. Soon we were all in the car on our way to Aunt Sally's. I had to say, the journey was long. My parents were telling me that I should behave myself when I'm there and that I shouldn't go home unless something serious happens. It was then I realised that I'll be living so far away from my parents. I didn't know if I can keep up with the loneliness.

***

"We're here." I heard my father announce after the car halted for a stop. I looked out the window to see how the house was like.

"Woah, that is one high building," I thought.

Oh, so I was going to live in an apartment.

I got out of the car, followed by my father and my mother, and walked to the trunk of the car to get my luggage. I asked, "Which floor is the apartment on?"

I looked at my mother. "On the twentieth floor." She responded, smiling. My jaw dropped.

Twentieth floor? That would have made someone with no phobia of heights have one. Seriously. How rich was Aunt Sally to even live in an apartment with around ... more than 35 floors? That's what I estimated from where I stood. Other than that, what if there was an emergency? or -- a fire? Then I would need to run down twenty flight of stairs! Oh my gosh. I would have already died by running.

I grabbed my luggage by the handle and took one last look at my parents. "Well, it seems like this is goodbye." I gave them the sincerest smile I ever had and gave them a hug.

"Take good care, dear," my father said.

"Yes, honey, enjoy yourself," my mother said as she released me from the hug.

I muttered, "I'll miss you both." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes and they got blurry. I decided to just blinked the tears away and smile. It wasn't like I was going to stay here forever, I could even visit them.

With that, both of them went back into the car and I watched as the sight of the car slowly faded. I turned around and took a deep breath. It seemed like the climax of my life was about to begin.

***

I was stuck in the elevator with who knew how many people. I'd been on the elevator for at least five minutes now 'cause it had to stop every minute for the people to get out and in. I was slowly growing impatient and kept tapping my foot. I stared at the floor indicator, I was only a few floors away from the apartment. Soon I finally reached the twentieth floor and slowly walked out to the empty, lovely looking hallway. I scanned through it and saw that there were two doors on the corners of the hallway.

It was then that I realised something. Oh no, this was bad. I forgot to ask my parents what the apartment number was! I closed my eyes and growled in frustration. I immediately pulled out my mobile phone from the side pocket of my jeans and dialed my mother's number.

"Have you reached the apartment already?" questioned my mother when she answered the call.

"Mom, you didn't even tell me the apartment number." I walked to the wall across the elevator in the middle of the hallway and leaned on it.

"Oh, my bad," she chuckled. "Wait a moment, hon."

"John, what is the apartment number again?" I heard her asked. I heard some murmurs in the background.

"It's number forty," she said when she was back on the line. "Oh and honey, I have to hang up now. I think your father just ran over some living thing. Take care!" Before I could ask what it was that he ran over, the other end of the line was already dead.

I'm sure she said my father ran over some living thing and not something, right? I sighed and shook my head. I didn't think it was the time for me to worry about that. I had to find Aunt Sally.

I turned my head to the left and then right to take a look at the number plate beside the door of the apartments and number forty was on the right from where I was standing. I grabbed my luggage by the handle and started walking towards the apartment. I took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. It lasted a minute when the door opened slowly and I couldn't believe who I saw.

I didn't know how I looked like at that moment but I knew I had a blank expression on my face and my eyes were wide. I stood there, motionless, staring at the person who opened the door. I couldn't believe it.

There, standing in front of me, was the only guy that I had never really liked as a person and especially a guy.

Tyler Evans.

When I had realised that it was indeed him, I pointed at him and practically shouted, "What are you doing here?"

I saw him cringed at the loudness of my voice. "I should be the one asking you that," I could tell that he wasn't really fond of my presence. "I live here."

What? -- Hold on a minute, what? No, it can't be. He can't be Aunt Sally's son, can he? This must be a pure coincidence. Yes, that must be it.

Then, what was he doing here?

Oh, I get it. It totally make sense now. I can't believe I almost felt like mentally slapping myself for agreeing to come here in the first place. The only reason why he was here in this apartment could only be ..

"Oops. My bad." I gave him a fake smile. "My mother must have given me the wrong apartment number." The smile on my face turned into a frown as I quickly turned around. Do I always had to bump into him? I walked towards the other side of the hallway fast, pulling the luggage along with me. "Bye, jerk," I whispered.

"Wait." I heard him said. "Are you Claire Hayes?"

I froze midway. How did he know my name? I slowly turned around. "Yeah? How do you know?" I asked him, giving him a curious look. He was looking at me with his same old cold eyes.

"Come in." With that said, he went back into the apartment and left the door open, leaving me with questions. I got an idea of who he was already but still, I followed after him hesitantly.

As I stepped into the apartment, the cleanliness was what I first noticed. It was indescribable. I know Aunt Sally was a woman and of course she would keep the apartment clean but what was seen actually made her look like a neat and clean-freak. I wouldn't mind living here forever, but all those thoughts were thrown away when I realised who else was staying here.

In front of the entrance of the apartment was a flat-screen television and it was surrounded by long furniture made from leather. In the middle was a wooden rectangle table. Just beside the 'living room' was the kitchen and between them was a short hallway to the rooms, I guessed.

"If there are flies here," I heard a voice coming from the kitchen, "they would have flew into your mouth."

I quickly closed my mouth. I must have been so astonished by the apartment that I didn't realise my mouth was opened. Why did he just have to speak and ruin my mood? I rolled my eyes and just went straight to the couch, rolling the luggage after me. I sat down with a flop. I left the luggage on the floor, crossed my arms and just stared straight at the blank television in front me. I could sense Tyler walking towards where I was and I sighed. I didn't even want to look at him. He sat down on the other couch on the right and settled a cup of tea on the table. I felt a little better since he would at least serve me some drink. But that feeling was short-lived when I saw him picking it up and drinking the tea himself.

"Dude, I'm a guest! Can't you even be a little, just a little, friendly and offer me a cup of tea or something?" was what I wanted to shout at him but what came out of my mouth was something else. "Where's Aunt Sally?" I saw him raising his eyebrows. He put the cup down on the table again and looked at me.

"Didn't your parents tell you?" he asked, looking at me with his cold eyes.

"Tell me what?" I gave him an incredulous look. His face turned into a more of a how-troublesome look rather than a just-go-away look at that moment. At least he showed some emotion. "What? Tell me what?" I asked again. I was feeling kind of nervous now. It felt as if I was going to get some bad news.

"What exactly are they up to?" I heard him mumbling to himself, rubbing his temples. He looked up at me once again. "She doesn't live here."

"Huh? Who? Aunt Sally?" I asked. It was evident that my voice was a little more high pitched."Yeah, your Aunt Sally," he uttered.

...........What?

"What are you talking about? Isn't she your mother?" I asked, feeling a little frustrated now. "Wait, am I wrong?" I reached into my pocket and took out my phone once again, tapping my mother's number.

"Yes and no," Tyler replied. I stopped my fingers and glared at him. If he really was Aunt Sally's son then why wasn't she living here? He started scowling and asked, "What kind of girl are you? You just came here all by yourself and live with a guy without making sure of what's going to happen?" Uh oh, he sounded angry. He stood up while taking the cup with him and walked back to the kitchen.

I didn't know what to say. I was just staring at him as he walked away. "I -- Well -- Well, I was in shock!" I bolted up, following after him. "The only thing I know is that my parents had promised your parents that I would be getting married to whom I had no idea it was, which I found out just a few minutes ago that it was you. Don't you know how I was feeling? It just had to be you, huh? Why can't it be some guy that I don't know? Why can't it maybe be a decent guy that I would actually like? But no.. it just had to be you, Tyler Evans! You!" I stopped on my track when he suddenly turned around with his rage in his eyes. He looked scary!

"What. Do you think that I want this? To live with someone that I don't know? To live with girls like you?" His voice was stern. "The reason I agreed to this was only because she would let me live independently, but do you think I'll feel comfortable living with someone that I don't know? I was planning to not even care about the person who would be coming and live my life ignoring that person! But to think that you came here without knowing anything." His hazel eyes were growing intense and I could literally sense danger. "What exactly are you planning?" His eyes still staring at mine. He seriously looked like he was going to murder someone. I was starting to think that him being emotionless was even better.

"I'm not planning anything at all! What could I be planning?" I replied, feeling misunderstood and accused. "Other than that, I didn't agree to this for my own selfish reasons, okay? I just thought that I'll live here for a year and -"

"Don't try to feign innocence. Girls like you annoy me as hell. I'm thinking that you actually know what was happening and you're just faking it," he said, crossing his arm.

This guy was seriously.. Argh! I felt like strangling him to death! "What the heck? How arrogant can you be? Do you think that every girl likes you? I'm sorry to burst your bubble but not every girl would fall for you, okay? I'm not one of them!" I was starting to lose my voice. My throat hurt from all the shouting. I couldn't stay there any longer. I wanted to run home and tell my parents how this guy was like.

Before he could say anything again, I went back to the couch and dragged my luggage with me. In a few seconds, I had reached the door and quickly got out of the apartment, slamming the door shut.