OPPORTUNITY 2

The morning came faster than Moon had wished for as she is sleep deprived partly due to work and then her neighbour, who refused to leave after eating, as he insisted on keeping her company. After locking her apartment, she entered her car in haste and tossed her handbag into the passenger's seat with the hope of not seeing her neighbour this morning. She quickly put on her seat belt and turned the ignition key to start the car, but before she could change the gear, the person she was running away from knocked on the window, making her jump in her seat. Where did he come from? She asked herself before turning off the car.

She contemplated whether to run him over with the car or just ignore him and drive out. No, that would be rude, she reasoned with herself. He is becoming a pain in my ass, she complained again, and slowly lowered her window only for Ocean to poke his head into the car, their faces too close to each other. She instinctively jerked her head back to create space between them, but Ocean, who was lost in her sweet feminine scent, moved closer to her. She stared right back into his eyes as her poor heart wanted to explode in her chest due to their closeness.

"Mr neighbour, don't you know what they call personal space?" She asked softly while moving her head back again

"I can't help it. You smell so good. Hope you slept well?" He smiled at the way her eyes squinted at his question. He continued,

"Which shampoo do you use for your hair?" He stretched his hand to touch her long, smooth and shiny black hair. He combed his fingers through the curly tips and smiled, partly because of the feeling of her hair against his hand and knowing very well her heart was threatening to jump out of her chest because of his action.

"Normal shampoo, I think. Does it smell bad?" she took a little sniff of her hair.

"Nothing bad can ever come out of you, my dearest rabbit-teeth neighbour. Hope you don't mind sharing it with me?"

"Oh," she cleared her throat and continued,

"I can tell you the name so you would buy one for yourself if you like it,"

"Don't be stingy. I want to use yours."

"Okay, you can have it when I return from work." She immediately agreed, hoping he would leave.

"Is that your romantic way of asking me to come over?"

"What? In case you haven't noticed, I am trying to get rid of you."

"Another way of trying to tell me to stay longer? You really have a way with words."

"You are sick. Please, I am running late to work. I need to get going."

"You look tired. Why don't you take a rest?"

"What are you now? My boss?"

Ocean smirked at her, "Who knows?"

"Ha ha, very funny."

"But I didn't crack any joke,"

She rolled her eyes, "That was sarcasm."

"I see. By the way, I like the way you packed your hair today,"

"What way? This is just a normal ponytail,"

"I know. It shows how perfect your beauty is,"

"Mr neighbour, are you flirting with me?"

"I wouldn't dare." He replied with an innocent look. She tried to glare at him but couldn't hold back the little smile that formed on her lips. She didn't understand how one person could rile her up and at the same time, make her laugh or smile.

"Good. I need to start going. See you later." I hope not, she said in her mind, and Ocean laughed, making her brows furrow.

"You are really something, always telling me the opposite of what is on your mind but don't worry. I will definitely see you soon."

She flashed him a fake smile while his eyes lingered on her face, especially her small glossed lips. "Mr neighbour, I just started working in this company. I don't think it is going to make a good impression if I should come late to work." She tried to talk sense into the man stuck on her window.

"Okay... Bye."

She groaned at his response, "Mr neighbour, am I supposed to drive to work with you stuck on my window like this?" She waved her hand at him.

"I don't mind,"

"Mr neighbour, you are getting on my nerves." Moon gritted her teeth.

"Am I?"

Stone, who had been watching and listening, knew it would only take divine intervention to get the smitten man[Ocean] out of that car. With a smile, he left their apartment and walked across the street.

"Good morning!" Stone chimed and watched how Ocean's jaw ticked.

"Stone!" Moon chimed, happy that Stone had come to her rescue.

"Hey beautiful, how—"

"Stone, what are you doing here?" Ocean interrupted him,

With a knowing smirk, Stone said, "Came to see how our neighbour is doing, of course,"

"She is fine. Besides, she is already late for work. Right?" Moon was yet to open her mouth when Ocean gently patted her head, "You should get going. We don't want you getting into trouble now, do we?" he stretched his hand towards the ignition key and started the car. "See you soon." As confused as Moon was, she complied and hit the pedal.

Once the car was out of sight, Stone looked at Ocean and broke into a fit of laughter, which slightly startled his brother. Ocean looked at him with his mouth set in a thin line as he waited for an explanation. After a few minutes, Stone managed to control his laughter before looking at an upset Ocean.

"Stone, make sure you have a good reason for that laughter of yours,"

"Have you seen your face? You look like a lost puppy. I am sure if I should ask you if you love her, you would say I am crazy for assuming things."

"What are you talking about?"

"Of course, you don't know when you were the one stuck on the poor girl's window."

"Okay, fine, I probably like her, I am not sure. It is a weird feeling."

"A weird feeling? I think you are in love, bro...deeply in love."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"But I told her the feelings will go away,"

"We all know it is not going anywhere. You are done for good. Why would she make you say that?"

"She is in a situation, I guess." Ocean's brows furrowed while Stone frowned

"What situation? Is she in trouble?"

"I guess so. She is scared that they would hurt me or something like that,"

"Do you have any idea what the problem is about?"

Ocean nodded, "But you have to promise not to ever mention it to her."

"Of course,"

"I was going to discuss it with you anyways, as I want you to find something."

'I would be glad to help."

"You seem to like her a lot," Ocean gave him a suspicious look making him chuckle.

"Yes, I like her a lot,"

Stone watched Ocean's brows furrow, and he grinned. "Not that way, but I feel a kind of connection towards her...like I have known her before," Ocean's expression softened as he nodded his head in understanding

"I see. We will talk about it later, but first, we need to find out the trouble she is in. All I know is she mistakenly slept with her elder sister's husband. According to her, she was drunk when it happened. She doesn't seem to remember anything that happened that night, and being the naive girl she is, she believed everything that was told and all she saw. I have seen the man in question. He is obsessed with her and wants more. What I need to find out is if they shared any sort of relationship in the past. The most infuriating part for me is that nobody wants to listen to the girl's part of the story, which I am sure must have broken her to the point she had to run away. Now, they are coming after her one by one. I don't even think anybody is blaming the man because he is rich and 'dangerous' according to them. She is keeping everything to herself, and it is not healthy. She gets sensitive every time I bring up the topic. There is more to the story, I want to get to the bottom line."

"Well, that is a big story. Do you think she did it?"

"I don't know. Drunk people are known to do the most stupid things,"

"So, you don't trust her?"

"I don't."