CHAPTER 5

We take the elevator and head towards the top floor to my penthouse.I take Brandon to his room and we unpack the few belongings that we brought and the head downstairs.

“What do you want us to do right now,” I ask Brandon

“Can we order pepperoni pizza,” he says

“Okay, but what do you want us to do before the pizza arrive?” I ask.

“Can we play some video games,” I hear Brandon ask from besides me.

“Alright, let’s get down to business little man,” I tell him and he heads to the game room.

We spend quite some time playing some video games and we only stop when there is a ringing at the door. I leave Brandon at the game room and head downstairs to check who is at the door. I open the door revealing the most unexpected surprise.

I did not expect to see him ever again in my life. My mouth hangs open and my eyes remain wide as I look at him not believing that he is here. I’m brought out of my thoughts by the sound of his voice saying something to me.

“What..?” I ask him.

“I said that I did not expect to see you here…. Umh …I… I’m your new neighbor and I’m happy to see you. It’s been so long since I last saw you,” he says a bit breathless.

Is he that surprised to see me after such a long time or is it the fact that I’m living in such a ravishing place? I wasn’t quite rich back in my high school days.  I brought back from my thoughts again by small hands holding my waist. I turn around and look at Brandon but find him staring at the stranger at the door.

“Is this the pizza guy,” he asks with a confused expression.

“No baby, he is our new neighbor and he came by to say hello,” I explain to him.

“Ooh… do you play video games,” I hear Brandon asking the man standing at our front.

He looks quite surprised by Brandon’s question but also has a lot of expressions crossing his face including confliction.

“Umh  ...Ye…yeah I’m quite good at it,” he answers.

“Great then you will come with me tomorrow, right,” Brandon squeals excitedly.

“Brandon baby why are you inviting a stranger into the house,” I scold him.

He looks down on the floor and murmurs a quiet sorry. I look up at Josh questioningly wondering what he is still doing there.

“Did you need anything else?” I ask Josh. Yes you heard right …many might be wondering who this Josh is. Josh was my high school crush who turned out to become my bully together with his girlfriend Melisa. I have to admit that he had changed a lot since our high school days. He was still as handsome as ever if not more and he was quite bulkier than before which showed on high dress shirt that hung tightly on his muscular body.

I was pleased with the sight in front of me but then remembered who it was and pushed those thoughts at the back of my mind.

“You have a baby?” I hear him asking. I’m confused by the question and then remember that Brandon is still holding my waist besides me and decide to play a mind game with him.

“Yes…. Is there a problem with that Josh?” I ask him confidently.

“No, I just didn’t think it was likely of you to have a baby at such a young age” he says trying to sound polite.

“He’s mine and I had him when I was twenty” I tell him.

“Anyways it was nice chatting with you Josh but it’s getting late, you should head back to your place”

“Yeah …any who it was nice seeing you again Kira,” he says turning around and walks towards the direction of his penthouse which is across mine.

I hold Brandon’s hand and we head back to the living room quietly. It doesn’t take long after that when the pizza is delivered. I head to the kitchen and take town plates from the kitchen cabinet. I serve us slices of pizza and we dive in eating quietly.

After we are done eating I notice brad dozing off and I help him get to his room upstairs. I don’t bother reading him a bedtime story since he was already sleepy and it doesn’t take him long to sleep. I cover him and tack him and kiss him on the forehead whispering a goodnight. I switch off the lights in his room and leave the door slightly open the way he loves it and head back to my room.

I remove my clothes and dip myself in the Jacuzzi to help relax my tired body. I slid in and close my eyes and just replay what happened a while in my head. It reminded me of the painful times in high school when I used to have a huge crush on Josh. My hope got crumbled when he went ahead and dated my biggest enemy and bully Melisa. I admit it was quite foolish of me to think a handsome and popular guy like him would fall for a person like me.

I was the definition of a nerd and I had no friends. I couldn’t help but wonder if he would find me the least bit attractive now that I was almost as rich as he was. I could tell he was rich from his dress code and I also assumed that he would take over his family business after school.

I also wondered whether he and Melisa were still together. Back then, it always brought so much stabbing pain to my heart watching my ex-friend who turned into and my worst nightmare and my crush. I always thought that the reason why Melisa decided to date Josh was partly for popularity and partly to hurt my feelings because she knew I had a crush on him. I decided to put those thoughts at the back of my sub-conscious mind. It did not take long before I fell asleep.

The next morning, I was woken up by the sound of someone calling my name very close to my ears. I groaned and opened my eyes and was met by the blues eyes. Brandon giggled when he saw that I was having a hard time waking up.

“Wake up aunt Kira. You promised that today we were going to go out,” he says happily.

“I know baby, let’s first have breakfast then we can plan a schedule on where to go.” I tell him.

“Can Josh come?” I hear him ask

“I don’t know about that babe. What about this, we go out today since it’s our day out then we can invite him another time,” I tell him.