The next morning I was painting in the attic of our house. The attic was very small and my family let me use it as my own. It was my spot. It had a small fireplace, a cozy fluffy carpet, my painting equipment and a small shelf containing my favourite books. Lorenzo would also spend time here with me. Our family is very traditional and stuck in its ways, while the two of us have more modern outlook on life. This makes us close and we tend to spend a lot of time alone.
My mother interrupted me and called me to come down for breakfast. As usual, I found my grandpa at the top of the table, my grandma and Lorenzo sitting next to each-other, and my mum and my aunt bringing the food. I sat opposite of Lorenzo and waited for everyone to settle. My brother was already eating. It's surprising how much boys in puberty can eat. Once everyone was seated we said a short prayer to thank God for our food.
My grandpa was discussing new issues in politics thinking my brother and I were listening, women were gossiping about some recently divorced couple, and Lorenzo and I were just quietly eating.
"Who's the man moving into Ms Hudson's house?" My aunt popped the question I was expecting. Nothing happens in the neighbourhood without my mum and aunt knowing...
"I think he might be her nephew that she used to mention when she was alive." Grandma said.
"But we never saw him come before." My mother added. "Probably he inherited everything because he is the only heir to the family."
I couldn't help but think about the previous day's little incident. I don't know how I could've been so stupid to sneak in like that. And then I say something about my mum and aunt...
"Mary, we should take some pie with us and go introduce ourselves." My aunt spoke to my mum with her eyes wide like she just discovered the cure for cancer. Mum smiled back at her, clearly liking the idea. They just loved putting their nose into other people's lives...
Then she looked at me and Lorenzo. "You two are coming with us." She said as the horror spread all over my face.
"I have things to do, Lorenzo can come." He looked at me in disbelief
"Hell no! It's boring and embarrassing!" Grandma remained silent. She wasn't very inquisitive like mum and aunt, but she liked knowing things too.
"Embarrassing!" My aunt repeated in surprise. "How can welcoming someone into our neighbourhood be embarrassing?!" She continued. Lorenzo rolled his eyes not bothering to engage into any further arguments. I remained silent.
"Both of you are coming. Period." Mum's word was final.
After the breakfast I went back into the attic. I continued painting and thinking about the man next door. I could imagine my mother's reaction once he told her about the previous day. She would probably stay complaining once we got home. She was always obsessed with giving a nice impression. Not that I blamed her, it was the mentality in which she was brought up. I personally didn't care much. The only reason I kept on thinking about it was because I felt something when he looked me in the eye. The moment stunned me.
Since it was the weekend, I had no school. I was waiting for someone to call me to come down and go to the neighbour's house when I received a message from Stefan. Stefan was the cool guy at school. I always found him handsome but I never expected him to approach me. During the previous two weeks he had been talking to me constantly and we were spending a lot of time together. 'Up for a party tomorrow night?' I was super excited when I read this message. I knew something would happen between us. The only problem was that my parents never let me stay out till very late and Stefan is an outgoing type of guy, he wouldn't understand. So that meant that I needed to sneak out. I helped Lorenzo do this countless of times, it was about time he helped me. 'Sure. When and where?' I texted back a few minutes later not to seem too eager. It was kind of my tactic.
"Violet, come on, we're going." I heard my brother call me from the stairs. I sighed and got up, I just wanted to get done with it. However, even though I felt embarrassed to see that man again, a tiny bit of me was looking forward.
The three of them were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, near the entrance door. Lorenzo rolled his eyes, showing me how annoyed he was with this. I could relate. My aunt and mother were the biggest gossips I ever met and knowing that they didn't really go there to welcome the neighbour but to find out about him, was very irritating. As we were walking towards his house, Lorenzo and I made sure we walked behind. We went through the unlocked gate, up the marble stairs and my aunt rang the doorbell. I started looking at my phone. I felt really uncomfortable. Before I could even begin hoping that he wasn't at home, the door opened.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The man stared blankly at my mother and aunt, clearly bothered. He wore a dark blue house robe made out of satin. He still didn't notice Lorenzo and me as we were standing on the side.
"Good afternoon, I'm Mary. We are your first door neighbours." My mother smiled but the man didn't seem very interested.
"I'm Susanne." My aunt smiled.
"Sage, nice meeting you." He said his name and then stepped back. He was about to close the door but he stopped short once he saw me. I immediately regretted not looking down at my phone in that moment. His cold eyes stunned me once again. I lowered my gaze to the floor.
"Please, come in." He smiled all of a sudden and moved to the side so we could enter. I knew Lorenzo didn't feel like this as much as I, but I hadn't told him what had happened the day before.
We entered the room with the piano and Sage led us to that sitting area I saw before. He sat into the armchair, my brother and I shared the smaller sofa, and my aunt and mother sat on the larger one. I could notice that the pictures were now hanging on the walls and all the white covers were gone.
"Would you like a cup of tea?" He asked.
"No, it's fine. We won't stay long." Aunt Susanne replied. At least that was decent...
"These are my children, Lorenzo and Violet." Mum said looking at as. Sage nodded our way and gave us a tiny smile. "Maybe you've seen them around already." She added. I was starting to tense as she was about to find out what happened the day before.
"No, I haven't." He said while looking at me. I looked him back in the eye feeling relieved. I was thankful that he spared me the argument when I got home. Still, I felt a little embarrassed. Auntie gave him a piece of pie and said to keep it in the fridge. In the meantime I was texting Stefan.
"So where were you living before moving to London?" Mum asked.
"Italy, Rome." He replied.
"Oh really? My father was Italian, my son was after him." Then she went on talking about how her father moved to London, met her mother and what not, but Sage didn't appear to be listening. He had his eyes fixed on me. Lorenzo took my phone and started reading my messages with Stefan, he knew about it, while my aunt listened to the conversation. I felt his eyes on me so I just kept on staring at the floor.
"Are you married?" Mum asked.
"Divorced." He replied shortly, his gaze still fixed on me.
"It's a big house to leave in by yourself." Aunt added. "Do you have any maids or help?"
He nodded. "I have a maid who will be coming to clean twice a week."
I looked up at him. Our eyes met but then he looked at my mother who was about to speak. I felt frozen...
"Did you move all your things already?" She asked.
"Mostly. The rest of my stuff will be here by Monday."
My brother gave me my phone back. "You'll help me?" I asked him quietly. "I need to sneak out."
"I'll help you, just check your phone regularly." He whispered. All the excitement I felt about going out with Stefan was now completely overpowered with the shivers Sage's gaze was giving me.
"You should come over for lunch tomorrow!" Mum suggested and I immediately looked at her in disbelief.
"Oh I'm not sure as I might be..."
My aunt cut him in half. "Oh come on! We'll be offended if you don't."
He sighed. "Okay, I'll be there at one if that's good." He accepted and they both smiled at him while I felt a tingling sensation in my stomach which I couldn't explain...
The second chapter is here! Let me know if you like it. Xo