Chapter 1

I was very excited to read the new book that I had bought online. As soon as the package arrived at my house, I got comfortable in my room on the desk and started reading. My window was open and it offered me a very nice view of the landscape outside. It was a sunny afternoon in Puerto Cabezas and I could hear the birds singing in the distance. It seemed like the perfect time to immerse myself in my reading.

I wasn't a romantic woman so the novels that revolved around a love story seemed very boring to me. The book I was reading was suspenseful and I was very intrigued, I was so immersed in the story that I was really scared when my alarm went off. I grabbed my phone and read the reminder. It was time to study. I turned the page I was reading and put the book on my desk.

There was an unusual movement in the house next door because a new family was moving. Before leaving for college in the morning, I caught a glimpse of a moving truck that had brought their furniture, but apparently they had already finished moving their things. I was curious to know who my new neighbors were, but I assumed that in due course I would meet them. I closed the front door of my house and went to a cafeteria that was around the corner.

The girl that was attending was named Ana and she had already become very familiar with me, she even knew my favorite order. When she saw me enter she smiled at me and I waved at her before sitting at my favorite table by the window. I turn on my computer and started studying. That place was perfect for me because it had air conditioning. It used to be quiet, it had plenty of space to accommodate me and most important of all, they made good coffee.

"Here you are Kim, Bonn appetite,"¬ Ana said with a smile as she put a black coffee and a slice of cake on my table.

"Thank you very much," I replied with a smile and she winked at me. Always so flirty.

I grabbed my black hair and tied it in a ponytail. I didn't have a lot of trouble with my hair because it was smooth and shoulder length.

I started drinking my exquisite coffee at the same time that I was reading my notes, but I couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, I didn't want to think about Fernando because I didn't deserve to worry about him, but I couldn't help it. When did he plan to go back to college? It was very irresponsible of him to disappear for three days without saying anything to me. I had been his girlfriend for three months and deserved a little more respect. I checked my phone, but I still didn't hear from Fernando, I wanted to kill him for playing with me like that.

While looking at my phone, a man came and sat at the table in front of me, Ana wrote his order and went to look for it. I did not give it much importance, but that son of the devil took out his computer and played music at full volume. I couldn't keep concentrating and started staring at him. I could only see his back, but if glances could kill, he would have already gone on to a better life.

I waited for him to turn off his music, but he started reading as if nothing had happened. Just kidding? How could anyone concentrate with that outrageous music? It wasn't until that moment when I looked at the guy's physical features, he was a tall, white and muscular man with black hair, but I couldn't see his face.

I took a deep breath and counted from one 10 hoping I could calm down, but it didn't work. Would it be wrong for me to say something? A little voice inside me, said: "Shut up, Kim, and don't be stupid." The best thing was to listen to the voice of reason...

"Excuse me," I said to get his attention, he turned around and saw me. His face was oval. His eyes were blue. He had thick eyebrows and his nose was thin and pointed.

"I'm trying to study and I can't concentrate, right? Do you have headphones?" I asked with a perfect friendly smile.

His expression was one of amazement.

"I forgot my headphones, sorry for the inconvenience," saying that, he quickly turned off his music.

"I can lend you my headphones," Saying that I extended my headphones. He grabbed them and smiled at me. His smile was very cute.

"Thanks, you're very kind."

I tried to focus again, but he spoke to me again.

"You are my new neighbor, right?"

Was he saying it to me? He must have noticed my confusion because he began to explain himself.

"I saw you pass by when I was moving my furniture," he added.

He was standing on the road the whole time and I was unable to record his face. How could I be so blind?

"Oh yes it is!! I couldn't recognize you," I admitted.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Ezra," saying that, he got up and shook my hand. It immediately struck me as a nice name.

"My name is Kim."

Ezra sat back in his seat, but without turning his back on me.

"What are you reading Kim? A romance novel?"

I frowned. Not in a thousand years.

"Not at all, I'm just studying. And you?"

"I'm reading a little about human anatomy. I never tire of rereading my favorite books."

Ana returned with Ezra's request and began to talk to him in a very subtle way. She had a very outgoing personality and made friends very easily, just the opposite of me. I focused on my computer and pretended I wasn't listening to anything.

"By the way, where do you live?" Ana asked while she was playing with her black hair.

"I just moved near here."

She could not hide her emotion and I felt sorry for her. I wish she could be aware of how she looked from the outside. It was too obvious.

"Really? It would be a pleasure to have you in the neighborhood!" She exclaimed with a smile.

"Thank you very much Ana, you are very kind," Ezra replied.

It took me a moment to realize that he didn't seem very interested. If he were interested in her, he would ask for her phone number.

Ana grabbed a napkin and a pencil. Would she be capable of?

"Can I have your phone number?" She asked.

I could not believe what I was witnessing. I felt too uncomfortable and wished I had my headphones, but unfortunately I had loaned them to him. Ezra behaved like a gentleman, although I could see a slight expression of surprise on his face.

"Of course," he replied with a smile

Ezra grabbed the napkin and wrote his number. Just then other clients began to arrive so Ana walked away and began to attend to them. I tried to focus, but I could not. I felt that someone was watching me. I turned to see and discovered that several girls were watching Ezra askance from their tables. A small group of friends began to whisper things to each other, then they laughed scandalously. If it was to attract attention they did not succeed because Ezra seemed not to notice what was happening around him? Did this new boy have super special power? How did he get the attention of all women?

Ezra looked out the window and watched the sunset.

"It is a beautiful sunset," he commented.

Who was he talking to? He turned to see me and I understood that he was saying it to me.

"Yes, that's right," I admitted.

Wait a minute, sunset?

I looked at the time and was surprised to see that it was too late. My parents would be at home soon from work.

"It's almost dark now, I think I came too late," Ezra commented.

"Yes, it's too late. I must go," I said as I grabbed my things.

"Let me accompany you."

Saying that, Ezra began to do the same and did not realize that I frowned, it was an almost automatic expression that I sometimes do inadvertently. It was just my antisocial side afloat.

He opened the door for me and we both left the cafeteria and started walking towards our houses. There was something about him that I didn't like, he was very calm, open and outgoing. Maybe I disliked him because he was the complete opposite of me.

"Do you have siblings or are you and only child?" Ezra asked suddenly.

"I am and only daughter, and you?"

"I have a younger sister. One of these days I will introduce her to you."

"I agree."

The wind began to move the dry leaves that were on the road. I would not have been surprised if it started to rain out of nowhere because the weather, was always very unpredictable in Nicaragua and not to mention Puerto Cabezas.

"It must have been very pleasant for you to be and only daughter," he stated.

Nothing is further from reality.

"Not really. I always wanted to have siblings, but life only wanted to give me a cousin. My parents wanted to have a large family, but after I was born they could no longer have any more children."

It felt strange to tell so many things about me to a person I had just met, I preferred not to give more details and changed the subject.

"Where did you live before moving here?"

"We lived downtown, but we were surrounded by many bars and we could never be at peace. It was not fair for my parents so we decided to move to a quieter neighborhood."

Ezra inhaled deeply and smiled at me.

"I love this area, it is everything I always wanted."

"In that case you will not regret your decision, I think it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in the city."

"I hope so," we could see our houses in the distance, we were getting closer little by little "I had not realized how similar our houses are."

"He is another blind man, just like me."

"Yes, indeed. Both houses have two levels and have more or less the same style. The only thing different is the part of your roof that divides the top floor from the one below. And of course, the other very obvious difference is your garden. I tried to plant flowers in front of my house, but they all died," I replied.

The flowers actually died because I never watered them, but he had no way of knowing.

Ezra laughed.

"I really like the garden because of the variety of flowers I see, I suppose your neighbor spent a lot of time taking care of them. I hope they do not have a better life with us."

"They wouldn't last a day with me."

"I guess flowers convinced my sister to buy the house. I was not very involved in the negotiations and therefore I don't even know who the previous owner was," he added.

"In short, my neighbor was a very nice 40-year-old lady, who was a lover of desserts, she also used to give me homemade cookies. She lived alone because her children were living abroad, they bought her a house so that she could live next to them, so she decided to sell everything and leave. We gave her a little farewell from everyone and she promised to keep in touch with us. The property was unoccupied for less than a month, it is a nice house, don't you think?"

"Of course, I find it very welcoming, it's just what I expected. Can I ask how old are you?" He asked suddenly.

"Twenty-one. And you?"

"27," he replied naturally.

I couldn't hide my surprise. He didn't appear to be that old.

"I'm a little old, I know that," he said, smiling at my expression.

I regained my composure and changed the subject.

"Are you out of college?" I asked curiously.

"So is, I studied medicine and I work at the hospital."

Am I front of a doctor? Definitely, this man was a box of surprises. Ezra suddenly frowned.

"We have never met before, have we?" He asked doubtfully.

"I don't think so, I don't like hospitals. I can count on this hand the times I have been to the hospital," I recognized as I raised my right hand.

"How interesting you are, Kim," he said with a smile "what are you studying?"

"Business Administration."

"At URACCAN?"

"Yes it is."

We both stopped for a moment in front of his house. Ezra stared at me with his blue eyes and I started to feel uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked

"I love your eyes, they look like my mother."

Hearing that made me feel weird. I was not able to hold his gaze and a strong desire invaded me because I thank heaven I was already one step away from my lair.

"It's too late, I have to go home. Good evening Ezra. It was nice a meeting you."

"Good evening Kim."

I walked home without looking back and unlocked the front door with my key. My new neighbor turned out to be very interesting. He was the type of man who could not go unnoticed anywhere. However, from my experience at the university I knew perfectly well that in most cases a handsome man was not to be trusted. Isaac was the only one handsome man for whom I would be able to put my hand to the fire. He was my best friend and I had known him for years, so I knew he was not a vile womanizer. However, so far it was the only case I had seen.

It didn't take a long time for my parents to get home, and we immediately started talking to catch up on the most important news.

I always wanted to be like my mom, she was short, white skinned, with fine features and a round face. Her curly, brown hair. My dad has always been very tall, his hands are big, he has fair skin, his face is serious and his hair is smooth and black.

I ended up being a rare mix of both, my weight is normal, but I inherited my dad's height so I was always taller than many of my classmates. My skin is a light shade, but not as light as my mom's skin, my hair turned out to be black and smooth like my father. My face has a round shape, my eyebrows are sparsely populated, my nose is round in the tip and my lips are small. My characteristic feature has always been my brown eyes, my front teeth stick out a bit and it's something I never liked, comparing myself to other girls doesn't bring anything positive to my life so I learned to accept myself as I am. In general, my appearance is a bit strange, but I do not care, the world would be very boring if we were all an identical copy.

When I finished dinner I went to my room and decided to swallow my pride and anger to call Fernando, but he did not deign to answer me. It was typical of him to stay cold and distant, but this time he had gone too far. I felt stupid to keep waiting for him to change, it was obvious that I never would. I took a deep breath and decided to arm myself with courage. I couldn't change Fernando, but I could make a decision about our relationship. The best thing for both of us was to take separate paths, I tried to make it work, but my good wishes were not enough to save our relationship.

A tear escaped from my eyes, but I wiped it away immediately. Life goes on with him or without him.

I opened my closet and placed my favorite pajamas on the bed, but when I took off my blouse I felt a wind on my back. I looked back and saw with surprise and horror that my curtain was off to the side. My glass window showed my whole room, but that was not all, the worst thing was that one of my neighbors' windows was also open and Ezra was sitting in that room. He was checking his cell phone but to my disgrace he raised his head and saw me. I ran like a deer and slid my curtain, but it was too late. He had seen me in brassiere! Curse!

I hit my head with the flat of my hand. How could I be so distracted? One more oversight and he would have seen everything. Damn! I promised in the midst of my shame that I would never open that window again even if I was dying of heat.

After wanting to cut my veins, I finally put on my nightwear and curled up in my bed. What was Ezra thinking? I wouldn't be able to see him in the face for long, so I would certainly go out of my way to avoid him.