I closed the door and leaned my back against the door, trying to wrap my mind around the conversation I just had with a certain person. What on earth just happened to me? What on earth just happened?

Choi Rae Ah stays next door. She stays in the apartment next door to me. She stays in the same building as me. She stays next door!

She’s not stalking me right?

As if! She rejected the great Cho Kyuhyun for dinner. Stalking me seems impossible. But she lives next door, she’s too close for comfort, it’s so risky being here with my double identity. How if she finds out? She will definitely! Sooner or later, she’ll discover my secret. And that is not good at all. What if she finds out that Hyun lives here too? She might think that we’re brothers or something.

Surprisingly and strangely enough, she hasn’t say anything about our- my singing yet. I didn’t change the way I sing when I sang to her on both occasions. Won’t she notice a similarity between the way I sang and the voice in the album that I gave her? Surely, anyone could note a similarity, so why didn’t she?

I guess she’s quite a blur-block too.

I furrowed my brows when I thought back about our conversation on how she knew about my existence as her neighbor; my mother. My own mother.  My mother and her talkative personality.

Why? Why does mother have to bump into Rae Ah at our lobby today of all days and times? Why! Gosh, I can totally imagine the conversation that they had when they saw each other. My mother would be so thrilled to see her since she really likes her as a potential daughter-in-law and my mother would end up telling Rae Ah that I lived here. Rae Ah would be shocked to know that I stay in the same building as her and my mother had to pass her a set of keys that she coincidentally forgot to pass to me just so Rae Ah could pass the keys to me personally.

I stared at the bunch of keys that were in my grasp. I have absolutely no clue what those keys were for; my mother and her wonderful bright ideas. I sighed as I dumped them into the key bowl I had on a small side table.

My mother clearly wanted us to meet, the bunch of keys, shessh, she could have come up with a better excuse. But she’s my mother and I know her standards; this forgot the key strategy is quite a high level already.

I wonder how Rae Ah is taking this; she looked really shocked to see me just now. And if I’m not wrong, I could sense a tiny expression of unhappiness that was on her face when she was talking to me. Was it a bad thing that she found out I was staying next to her? That Cho Kyuhyun was staying next to her? Maybe because she rejected my invitation and she felt bad? But she wasn’t interested. She was such a difficult book to read.

Now I understand the scented smell of candles and the zen music and atmosphere that exudes from the apartment next door. It was Rae Ah’s apartment. Yoga must be a great part of her life. She seems so attached to it.

What am I going to do now? What should I actually do? This is getting too frustrating, why must she live next door to me? Will I be able to hide my double identity well?

I sighed as I switched off the living room lights before making my way to my bedroom. Slumping my body on to my bed as I buried my face in my pillow, a headache was starting and it wasn’t the kind that would fade quickly.

Weirdly, I’ve never seen Rae Ah before. I always speculated who was the person or persons living next door to me. Were they nice people? Were they locals or foreigners? The English family of four living opposite were extremely hospitable; sometimes during Christmas, they would send over a few of their dishes for me as they knew I lived alone. They don’t actually know that I was a singer but they could somehow guess that I was someone famous.

The elderly Korean lady that lived next door to them was nice too but she had a small temper. And then came the apartment next door to me, the wind chimes that hung at her door should have been a first sign to me that she was into yoga, in addition to the light music that could be heard through our balconies, with the smell of the scented candles that floasts into my living room.

That is also why she had the yoga mat spread out on her balcony all the time; so she could just do her yoga anytime.

That reminds me.

I remembered there was a time when I was sitting by the balcony, reading a book, I heard my neighbor, on the phone. Back then I didn’t knew who my neighbor was.  I know eavesdropping was bad but I was in my own balcony and she was kind of talking loudly, I couldn't help but listened to her conversation.

“No, I won’t move back home. That isn’t my home anymore, remember? You kicked me out. You thought I was a disgrace to the family.  You were embarrassed by me. How could you do that? Am I your daughter? Do you even treat me like your own daughter? Do you? I know what you did. You hired someone.”  A female’s voice could be heard from the next door balcony. I looked up and shrugged as I went back to reading my book but the voice got louder.

“You do not understand me. In what way do you even understand me?  You do not understand what I went through. Do you even bother? Do you even care? If you did, you wouldn’t have taken so long to make this phone call to me. You’re nothing but a stranger to me now. I had enough.” The voice said bitterly as she slammed her receiver down.

Woah, that was harsh. My neighbor seriously has issues with her family. I placed my book down on the wooden table on my balcony as I walked over to the edge of the balcony. I know I was being nosey but I was just curious.

I tried looking in from my balcony to my neighbor’s balcony but I couldn’t see anyone from where I stood. I only saw her neat balcony and a little of her living room. Her apartment looked quite gloomy as I gazed around. I never peeked at my neighbor before, this was the first time. I felt a little bad so I turned around and walked back.

As I did, I could hear faint cries from my neighbor’s apartment. She must have a terrible relationship with her family. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.

So that person on the phone was Rae Ah? I wonder what happened to her previously, what happened to her that made her so angry that she made such comments to the person on the other side of the phone.

 “You do not understand me. In what way do you even understand me?  You do not understand what I went through. Do you even bother? Do you even care? If you did, you wouldn’t have taken so long to make this phone call to me. You’re nothing but a stranger to me now. I had enough.”

I tossed and my bed as I faced the ceiling. She sounded like she went through a tough time back then.

Could that be a reason why she said it wasn’t a good idea to go out with her?

Did something happen in her past that affected her emotionally? Something definitely did. Because whenever it comes to asking her out for dinner, she seemed so reluctant to go.

My thoughts got interrupted when I heard my message tone go off from my phone as my phone screen lit up. A message from my mother?

I literally rolled my eyes when I saw her message. She was asking me if I had met Rae Ah and how was she like.

I shook my head as I was about to delete the message when I saw the bottom of the message, my mother had given me Rae Ah’s number. I don’t know whether to thank her or to be annoyed by her.

I look at the digits as I lay against my headboard.

Choi Rae Ah’s POV

After bathing, I checked my phone and Mrs Cho send me a message with her son’s number; basically she just gave me Cho Kyuhyun, the famous ballad singer’s phone number.

I felt a little burdened now, knowing that he was staying next to me. I didn’t mean to reject his offer for dinner; I’m just… not enough. 

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Hey readers *waves*

Typed this chapter out when I was staying over at my cousin's house! Hehe. Hoped you enjoyed it! ^^

Xoxo.