Chapter 13

New Digs and Unexpected Visitors

The next day, "brrrrm," Samantha pulled her motorcycle over to the curb in front of a big, unfenced house in a suburban neighborhood. "Click," she got off her bike and took off her helmet, then flipped her hair and looked back at the house. It was about 15 meters wide, two stories tall, with two large windows on the second floor (right and left) and two more directly below them on the first. It had asphalt shingle roofing, a clean white paint job, and a spacious front yard.

Samantha looked over and saw a detached garage connected to the house by a door leading inside. In front of the garage was a carport big enough for three SUVs.

"Wow... this is my house?" Samantha thought to herself.

[That's right, sir. Please go on in and have a look.]

Samantha walked in. She unlocked the front door and "click," she stepped inside. Samantha was visibly impressed by how spacious the inside of the house seemed. To her left, she saw a partition wall for the kitchen. Walking into the kitchen, she saw a beautiful kitchen with wooden cabinets, a spot for the fridge and microwave, a stove, oven, and a range hood above it, all made of wood and seamlessly connected, wrapping around the kitchen. In the middle was a granite counter top that felt cool to the touch. The floor was covered in parquet wood, matching the cabinets.

After checking out the kitchen, she went into the dining room behind it and saw a dining table for four in a spacious, elegant room. Then, she went into the living room and found a comfy sofa, a double-sided fireplace behind it, and a media console for the TV, gaming, and watching movies. She also found a cable TV decoder and a Wi-Fi router hanging nearby. Next to the media console was a door leading to the garage, and inside the garage, there was a bathroom near the service area. Beside the garage door was a bathroom door, and next to that, a guest room door.

Samantha ran upstairs and saw a hallway with three doors on the right and one on the left. At the end of the hall was a big door leading to the master bedroom. She opened the doors one by one, seeing spacious rooms, fully furnished. She opened a bathroom door that had a bathtub, a shower stall, and a toilet. Then she went into the master bedroom, and her eyes immediately widened. The master bedroom looked incredibly spacious with a king-sized bed and a TV stand directly opposite it.

There was a dedicated wardrobe room and a secret door leading into its own private bathroom with a large bathtub and a big one-way mirror in front of it.

"Wow... this room is so luxurious," she mumbled.

[Enjoy, sir.]

"But it's too big for me if I'm alone, right?" Samantha replied.

[It won't be too big when you get married later.]

"Huh... married? Oh man, I've never thought about romance this whole time. I've only been thinking about getting well," Samantha replied.

[Sir, you won't be sick forever. This house is prepared for your future.]

"Enough, let's not talk about that. I'm scared of women because of my allergy, and I hate men because of what happened in that warehouse, so please don't bring that up with me for now," Samantha said, annoyed.

[Okay, I understand.]

Samantha walked to the closet and opened it. All her clothes from the boarding house had already been moved into the closet in front of her, which surprised her a bit. She opened her drawers, seeing rows of neatly folded bras and underwear inside.

"Wait, how did all my clothes get here already?" Samantha asked, confused.

[Everything has been moved here, sir. So from now on, you'll be living in this house.]

"What? That's so sudden! I just wanted to look around," Samantha protested.

[Sooner or later, it's all the same, sir.]

"Grrrrrr... next time, if you're going to do something, talk to me first! Don't just go ahead and do it!" Samantha fumed.

[You're too fussy, sir, but okay, I'll comply.]

"Cool, good that you understand," Samantha replied in her head.

Samantha walked to her bed and sat on the edge. She picked up her smartphone and saw two new messages. The first was from Sophia, saying she'd move in next week after sorting everything out at the apartment. The second was from Oscar, giving her Samuel's training schedule.

"Huh... I still remember my schedule anyway, but it's fine. Oscar thinks I'm someone else and not Samuel," Samantha replied with a smile.

She replied to Sophia and thanked Oscar via message. As she was about to close the messaging app, she saw Melissa's message from last night again.

"Oh right, I haven't replied to Melissa," she mumbled.

But before her finger could type a reply, "ding... dong," the doorbell rang. Samantha put down her smartphone and ran out of her room, then went downstairs. She opened the door and saw a middle-aged woman in a house dress, standing with a man about 35 years old behind her.

"Hello... can I help you?" Samantha greeted them.

"Oh, I'm sorry to just show up. I'm your neighbor across the street, my name is Christina. Here are some cinnamon rolls for you. I just wanted to say hello to our new neighbor," Christina said, offering a pan of cinnamon rolls to Samantha.

"Oh, thank you. Please, come in," Samantha invited, taking the pan.

"Oh no, thank you, I just wanted to say hello. Finally, this house is occupied, and I'm happy to see a new neighbor in our community," Christina said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Christina," Samantha said (turning to the man behind her), "And who is he?"

"Hello, I'm Maxwell, just call me Max. I'm her son. I saw you arrived on a motorcycle, are you a motorcycle enthusiast?" Max asked.

Samantha observed Max, who had a handsome face, a neat haircut, dressed casually but looked expensive, and had a smile that could melt a woman's heart and, well, open her legs. But what really annoyed Samantha was that Max was subtly checking her out from head to toe, then back up again. Samantha immediately put her guard up because she didn't like the look of the man in front of her.

"Oh... not really," Samantha replied curtly with a faint smile.

"Are you living here alone?" Maxwell asked.

"No, someone else will be moving in with me later. Why do you ask?" Samantha asked, actually not liking Maxwell's question.

"No reason, it just seems like we could be good friends," Max said with a smile, extending his hand.

"We'll see," Samantha replied, smiling and shaking Max's hand.

"Come on, Max, let's go home. Don't bother her... Oh, what's your name?" Christina asked.

"Oh right, my name is Samantha, just call me Sam," Samantha replied.

"Oh, Samantha, okay then," Max replied.

"Alright, Sam, we'll be going now, from now on just call me auntie, we're neighbor. Welcome to our neighborhood, and please enjoy the cinnamon rolls," Christina said.

"Okay, Auntie, thank you for going to the trouble of bringing food to my house. I'll return the pan later," Samantha replied.

"No rush, take your time, sweetie." Christina said (turning to Max). "Come on, Max, let's go home."

"Okay, Mom," Max said (turning to Samantha). "Excuse me, Sam."

"Yeah," Samantha replied curtly with a faint smile on her face.

After they both left across the street, Samantha closed the door. She looked at the pan of cinnamon rolls in her hand and smiled.

"The people here seem nice, except for that guy. He's probably in his mid 30s, still living with his parents? Creepy," Samantha mumbled to herself.

She took a piece of cinnamon roll and walked into the living room, then placed the pan on the table and opened the curtains to see the back porch and a small but cozy garden. Then she jumped onto the couch, turned on the TV, and started watching while eating. Meanwhile, "ding," a message from Melissa popped up on Samantha's smartphone, which was still on her bed upstairs in her room.

"How are you, Big Sis Samantha? When can we meet? I really need to talk to you. Everything's a mess right now, Samuel's body is missing and hasn't been found. I want to talk about who you and Samuel really are. Please reply, Sis."