CHAPTER ONE  | AMARA POV

"Amara."

With slight resistance, I open my eyes to meet a warm honey gaze.

I don't recognize these eyes but at the same time- it feels like I've always known them.

"Yes?" I reply.

My eyes trail down to examine his face, a square jaw- prominent nose. Ash brown locks, that flop just at his forehead.

His hand cups my face and instinctively, I fall into his touch.

"Finally." He mutters under his breath and leans into me.

The cab jerks to a halt, jolting me out of the dream and back into reality. Irritably, I rub the sleep from my eyes. These dreams are getting out of hand. This dream, in particular always crawls it's way back into my head.

All I want is rest.

Groggily, I follow the driver out of the car as he begins to unload my luggage. 

I could practically feel the sleep washing over me like a cool wave that I am 1000% willing to drown in. The midday heat burned at the back of my neck, reminding me of my poor choice of clothing. A thin Cotton long sleeve, paired with gray sweatpants and dirty converse shoes.

Do I look like a hobo?

There's a 99% chance that I do, but at the time that I was getting ready, it didn't make sense for me to dress any way outside of comfortable. Who was I impressing anyway?

I know no one in this new chapter of my life.

I gazed at the sign that loomed overhead of the entrance of my newfound home.

Mountain View Estates

"Ma'am?"

I turn back to face the driver who looks at me expectingly.

Sheepishly, I pull my wallet out of my pocket.

"Thank you," I say as I hand him the money.

I adjusted the strap of my aged duffel bag and tightened my grip on my single luggage. With both hands full I headed into the lobby.

A middle-aged woman sat at the front desk, eyeing me and my without-a-doubt haggard state.

I don't know anyone who could come out of twelve hours' worth of travel and look like a breath of fresh air.

"Can I help you?" She asks, moving her gaze from me to her computer screen.

"Yes, I'm Amara Valencia. I leased a studio here, and scheduled today for move-in?" I huffed in what seemed like one sentence. I blew a rebel strand of long brown hair from my line of view.

"I see, 304. The third floor and it should be the fourth door to your left." She instructs handing me my keycard.

"Thank you." I sigh in relief as I took it from her. One step closer to sweet rest.

I followed her instructions until I finally reached my apartment. Once the door opened, I nearly tumbled inside in exhaustion.

I looked around the barren room of my small but quaint studio. I saved as much as I could from my part-time job throughout high school for this goal. Of course, my ate (uh-teh | tagalog for older sister), Aura fought me as hard as she could about moving out. We're Filipino, and in my culture, it's rare to move out before marriage. I've gotten enough earfuls from her that I could almost recite it on cue.

Look at your cousins, they're being smart and are attending college from our city. First- you're not going to college, Now you're moving out?

Needless to say, Aura nearly had a heart attack when weeks before graduation I announced my plans.

My family knows that when I have a plan I ensure it falls through. I shook my head as if I could waft away the memories. 

I take another glance around and set my bags onto the floor.

Although it's small, it's mine and that's all that I need.

A light breeze wisps through my hair. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion but turn my gaze towards the source. A large single hung window. My favorite characteristic of the studio because it made the room feel bigger than it is. Right below it is a built-in bench, that I knew would be the perfect spot for reading and planning on my laptop. Speaking of which -- Rewinding with a book sounds amazing right now.

I have time before the moving company arrives.

I bring my baggage away from the doorway so they lay beside the bench in a heap. I rummage through my duffel bag for the book.

"C'mon," I mumble to myself.  With a sigh, I brought the duffel up to the bench and sat crisscrossed. Three books were stuffed into my duffel somewhere amongst the miscellaneous necessities. I cheer internally when my hand grasps a smooth paper cover. My face immediately falters when I realize it isn't the book I wanted. Thoughtlessly, I placed it onto the windowsill and continued my search. I grasp another cover only to be met with disappointment once again. I lay it atop the prior book.

If only I hadn't filled this damn bag to the brim.

Finally, my hand meets the final book and I attempt to pull it out of the duffel. It's layered under the mountain of clothes and necessities, and with a final jerk I finally pull it out. I feel a sharp jab on my elbow but ignore it.

I grin in triumph, eyeing the book in my hand.

Rich dad, poor dad

Now I can finally rewi—

"Fuck!"

I nearly jump at the loud exclamation and immediately turn my head to the source towards my window when I notice that the books I placed earlier on the window sill are missing.

Realization dawns on me. That was the sharp jabbing pain, I  elbowed it out the window while I was pulling the last book out.

With a quick prayer that the loud curse had no correlation to my books- I pop my head out the window to see where it landed.

To my horror-

on someone who looks painfully angry.

From this view, I see a midnight black mop of short wavy hair. An inked arm is raised as he rubbed his head. My two novels lay in disarray at his feet. Almost on cue, he raises his head and our eyes meet.

Even from this view, I can see his narrowed eyes, with a slight scowl directed towards me.

My breath catches in my throat, and I struggle to find the words to say but before I could say anything he breaks our eye contact.

I got here, less than thirty minutes ago and already I am on my way to making an enemy.

Great.

Internally I say my prayers.

Please god let him just be visiting, please don't let him live here.

I quickly, hop off of the bench and briskly leave my apartment. The hallway feels longer than I remember.

Finally, I stand before the elevator and press the down button anxiously.

I hope that he has the mercy to at least leave my books where it fell. At this moment his expression revisits my mind, making that hope less likely.

Amid my internal crisis, the elevator door dings.

Mindlessly, I rushed in and immediately collide into a wall.

My luck today is ridiculously horrible- it's almost comedic.

I'm face to face with a broad chest wrapped in a fitted plain black tee. As I raise my gaze slightly, I notice a thin pale scar that lined diagonally from below his jaw down past his collarbone. An inked arm holds my books securely at his side, while the other still clutches my upper arm. His lips are pressed together into a tight line paired with a raised eyebrow. The same dark eyes that were narrowed at me earlier held my gaze.

I would say that he's handsome if it weren't for the scowl and the radiating anger towards me.

"I've only had two encounters with you- and you are already by far the clumsiest person I know."

I step out of his grip, and he promptly hands me my two books.

Although slightly mortified, I take it. "It's been a long day," I reason, holding the books closer to my chest. "I'm sorry that you had to come up here, you didn't have to."

He ruffles a hand through his midnight black hair, "It wasn't out of my way, I was on my way up here anyway."

I tip my head to the side, my puzzled look must've urged him to go on. "I live on this floor- and from the looks of it you're my neighbor."

My eyes widen at this.

Why does God hate me?

I try to find a response when he speaks up again.

"But if you're really sorry—,"

I raise an eyebrow at this but stay silent as I waited for him to continue.

"You can buy me dinner," He shrugs, with arms folded across his chest.

My eyes widen at this, "It was just a paperback book."

He gives me an incredulous look, "It was two paperback books, you might as well have launched a hardcover dictionary instead."

I almost rolled my eyes at this but stopped myself. His hostility towards me earlier- that's reasonable. But now he's just pushing it.

I weighed the options in my head. I could say no, buy yourself dinner- you survived didn't you?

But do I want to make an enemy out of my next-door neighbor already? He could make this lease year miserable.
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I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm really setting up for the plot and we're about to get into it!

Let me know what you guys think so far <3