Mr. HOT & Ms. COOL

CHAPTER 3: When They Become Neighbors

It was already around 10 PM when Kian arrived at his three-bedroom condominium residence with a provision for a study room and a storage room. While he was away on his sabbatical leave, his best friend, Jeffrey Lacson, and his chief-of-staff as well as Jeffrey's cousin, Faith Marzo, took turns at looking after his van seal point bicolor ragdoll cat, Jack, and paying for his utility bills. The first thing he did upon his arrival was to change the pass code to the main door of his residence. He valued his privacy even from his best friend and most trusted employees.

Then he heard some movements in the unit next door. It used to be unoccupied before he left for his sabbatical leave.

He was thinking – Who could possibly be the owner of the unit next door? Could it be a man, a woman, a couple, or family? Well, for as long as they won't be loud, it would be fine by me. I need peace and quiet whenever I am here. This has been my sanctuary for years. I don't want it to change.

Then all of a sudden, he heard a female voice singing so melodiously on of his favorite song, Keane's Everybody's Changing ...

You say you wander your own land

But when I think about it

I don't see how you can

You're aching, you're breaking

And I can see the pain in your eyes

Says everybody's changing and I don't know why

So little time

Try to understand that I'm

Trying to make a move just to stay in the game

I try to stay awake and remember my name

But everybody's changing and I don't feel the same

You're gone from here, soon you will disappear

Fading into beautiful light

'Cause everybody's changing and I don't feel right

Then the singing stopped.

In his mind – She had a very lovely voice. She seemed to be on the balcony. Could she be a recording artist? Well, I don’t mind hearing her singing voice. I just hope that she doesn’t have a complicated life like the previous leaseholder of the owner.

He had just taken a quick shower and was already wearing gray fleece joggers and a white cotton t-shirt. He was not sleepy yet, so he tried to go out on his balcony. But just as he came out, his neighbor came in and seemed to have locked the sliding door already. So, he just watched the city lights for a while because it somehow relaxed him. He reclined on his Le Corbusier chaise lounge chair while drinking a bottle of sparkling water. Later on, he checked on his 12-inch tablet for all the soft copies of the curriculum vitae and interview videos of the aspiring members of their production crew that Faith and their staff had initially screened.

Reina still could not sleep, so she decided to return to the balcony and take some photos of the city lights and night sky using her long lens camera. As she set up the camera on top of the tripod, she noticed the occupant in the next unit.

It was also at the exact time that Kian noticed the occupant in the next unit.

Their eyes locked, they smiled and at the same time said, "You live next door?!"

He then asked, "When did you move in?"

Her answer was, "The unit was gifted to me last December by my Dad, but I just started furnishing and moving my stuff before my two-week trip to London and then New York. I just started living here tonight," and then asked, "What about you?"

He said, "I have been living here for ten years already. This was my first investment in being a pilot. But I was on sabbatical leave for a few months, so my best friend and my chief-of-staff just took turns checking on it while I was away," and then asked, "Will you be taking photos of the city lights?"

She agreed, "Yeah, as well as the night sky. I still could not sleep. So when I came out a while ago to look at the view and find it amazing, I could not help but get my camera and take some snaps."

He said casually, "Then shoot away. Don't let me stop you."

She smiled and then took photos to her heart's content. She already had one concept in mind to pitch for her exhibit – HORIZONS. Through the years, in all her travels around the world, she had taken photos of horizons during sunrise, sunsets, storms, daytime, night time. She needed more concepts.

After taking some photos, another concept popped into her mind as she looked back at Kian, who was busy with his tablet while drinking water. The concept was – WORKAHOLIC.

She suddenly found the urge to take a snap of him, just one to capture such a perfect moment.

And then he suddenly stopped what he was doing and asked her, "Did you just take a photo of me?"

She apologized, "I am really sorry," and then explained, "I simply just cannot resist. A flash bulb just suddenly lit up as I saw your image working on your tablet while drinking with the city lights as a backdrop. I am currently thinking of concepts for my photo exhibit in December."

Surprisingly, he was not mad, "So what was the concept that popped up into your mind?"

She said, "Workaholic."

He smiled and then asked, "Can I see the image you took?"

She affirmed, "Sure. Shall I go there? Or will you come here?"

His answer was, "I will go there if you don't mind."

She responded, "I don't mind."

He went inside his residence, closing the sliding door and then after a few minutes, he heard the sound of doorbell.

Reina left her camera at the balcony, came into her house, and headed to the door to open it. Then she was surprised to see Robin Estrada on the security monitor.

On her mind – Why is he here? Did Dad give him my address? It is very late already.

She did not open the door. But she stayed by the door and saw at the monitor as Robin walked away.

Kian was also surprised when he saw his half-brother ringing the doorbell to Reina's unit as he opened his door. But then his half-brother also left after a short while. So he fully opened her door to go to Reina's unit. He rang the doorbell.

Reina saw Kian as he rang the doorbell and so she opened it.

He was surprised when she pulled him into her residence right away and closed the door.

Then she asked him, "Did you see a guy just leaving?"

He said, "Yeah. Why did you not open the door for him?"

She freely said, "I just met him tonight. My Dad and his Dad seem to want to match us. I don't like him at all. So I just make an excuse that I have no time for dating him because I am busy with my work. Anyway, I am indeed busy with work."

He asked out of curiosity, "I don't mean to pry. But why don't you like him?"

She said, "I just don't. You may call it woman's instinct. I don't feel at ease with him. I don't even know why he knows my address and he decided to ring my doorbell so late in the evening," and then recalled the photo, "Anyway, let's go to the balcony. I left my camera there."

They walked towards the balcony. He noticed her place to have a minimalist interior design with neutral colors and just some pop up colors. It was also very clean and orderly. Then he also saw a white wicker pet bed.

So he asked, "Do you have a pet?"

She affirmed, "Yeah, I do. But it is still in my Mom's family home with my cousin. I will fetch it tomorrow."

They already reached her balcony. She showed him the photo.

His comment was, "It looks very nice. I didn't know my profile looks good," and then he asked her, "Will you be showing it to your exhibit if the concept is chosen?"

Her answer was, "Yes, if it will just be okay with you?"

He said, "Well, it is an honor to be the subject of your photo," and then asked, "Will all your photos for the exhibit be for sale?"

Her answer was, "Yeah," and then she asked, "Why are you asking?"

He said, "I want a printed copy of it whether it is shown or not in your photo exhibit."

Her answer, "I have my own printing lab. Do you want it in color or in black or white? What size do you prefer?"

His answer was, "The largest possible."

She answered, "The full resolution print is 40 inches x 60 inches considering its pixel dimension.”

He said, "Yeah, that will be an ideal size I think for the wall in my new office," and then added, "But as for the color, I need to see first which one will look better."

She said, "You may come to the printing lab in my studio anytime convenient with you. You can also choose what frame to use, our framing expert will show you all the possible options. You got my business card anyway. Just call one of those numbers and set an appointment. I can forward the digital image to the printing lab as soon as this evening once I uploaded the photos on my laptop."

He then replied with, "I will still have to check on my schedule. I will let you know once I can already make an appointment," and then he asked, "Do you mind if we exchange our personal numbers?"

She answered, "I don't mind," So she handed him her smartphone after unlocking her screen, pressing the call icon and setting it to keypad.

He typed in his personal contact number and then pressed the call icon to ring his number. As his smartphone vibrated, he already ended the call, and then said, "Thanks," and then also added, "Anyway, I also want to hire you long term as a professional photographer for all the travel shows that I would be producing and some other business endeavors. We will need promotional photos for such in large format. Will you be able to squeeze it in to your busy schedule?"

She said, "Yeah. I cannot say no to the big opportunity.”

He added further, "Some could be in locations. I have this new reality-adventure show called ‘Extreme Race’ which is some sort of the combination of Survivor, Amazing Race, and other extreme sports shows. The online application for casting will be open by Monday. The teasers of our other shows will already be shown on the test broadcast of VTN, our pay TV channel starting Monday."

She acknowledged, "My assistant had the list of my existing photo shoot commitments. We can then discuss the schedule for the jobs you want me to do as soon as I have the copy."

He answered, "Okay," and he saw her yawned a little trying to suppress it, "We can then discuss the details of the terms of the work agreement some other time. I will not bother with you with it tonight. You're tired and I am also tired. I will go ahead now. Good night."

She smiled and said, "Yeah, good night."

But honestly, he was feeling the urge to kiss her perfect pouty lips. She was just so alluring. Her beauty was so natural. She was not wearing any makeup even when they got seated on the plane together. She only applied a colorless lip balm every now and then on her chapped lips.

In his mind – It has been a while since I got attracted to a lady. For a while I thought that we will never meet again. But here she is, just living next door to me. But then her father is trying to match her with my half-brother. I will be busy with my newest reality-adventure show. Good thing, she agreed to work with me. We will have more time to interact. I like her. I just feel so at ease talking with her. I have never felt this feeling even with Valerie. She has this very vibrant personality. And we both like to travel. I like her. I really do. But she is always on the go like me. Well, a friendship with her will be ab breath of fresh air. We are neighbors anyway. But why do I have this strong s****l desire for her. I didn’t even feel this much with Valerie before. This is not good! I need to be a perfect gentleman around her. I need to know her much better first. Then perhaps I can act on this strong physical attraction that I have for her. I might as well pursue her. Even if I am partial about getting married because of what happened to me and Valerie, I have to reconsider it at some point. I am already 35 years old. But I should not rush about dating again. So for now, I will just try to get to know her much better.

On the other hand, her thoughts were – Gosh! Why am I feeling so drawn towards him? Why did I give him my personal contact number anyway? Did I appear eager? Is he interested in me? Gosh! I think I am having a crush on him! Why does he have to be so hot?! Will it just be fine if I pursue him? Or should I wait for him to pursue me? Gosh! What am I thinking? Slow down, Reina! Just take one step at a time. Just go with the flow. You also need to focus on your work for now. So just be thankful you will have a chance to work with him. Yeah, that is what I should do. I don't need any distraction. Well, he is not a distraction but more of as my inspiration. When I have a chance to take more photos of him when we already work together then that will be great. I already feel comfortable around him. So I should just stay within such bounds. I should not overthink and expect so much from him. I will just be disappointed if he is only just interested in me because of work. So I should just focus on that. He is a very successful man and he got lots of female admirers. That lady who seemed to have been referred by him as her chief-of staff or best friend is also very pretty. He is surely surrounded by even more pretty ladies. So I just need to stay as I am. If he will like me the way I am romantically speaking then that will be great. If not then at least I will be able to spend time with him doing the job that I like. Gosh! I need to slow down! I don’t even want to get married anymore when Arthur broke up with me. I don’t want to get hurt again. But it does not mean that I cannot have some fun. Although s*x with Arthur had not been often because I travel a lot. Gosh! I am even thinking of having s*x with him! Stop, Reina!

And we are neighbors. How will I be able to handle this giddy feeling I have whenever I see him? I have never even felt this strong s****l desire when I was still with Arthur. We are neighbors. We will see each other often so I need to just stay cool. So I just need to interact with him in a friendly manner. But will I ever do to that? I should try. We will also be working together on a long term basis. His job offer is by far the biggest offer I have received. I am looking forward working with him. This will be a chance to know him much better. There is no need to rush about dating another man yet. I am quite busy anyway. But I want to know him better. I like him. But I liked Arthur back then too but he just broke my heart. Should I trust my judgment again? Well, Kian is not even pursuing me. So I must stop all this illusions. If I ever have to enter in another relationship then it should be a serious one. I cannot afford another heartache. I have spent nine years with Arthur believing that we will end up together. But I was so wrong. I just wasted my youth and innocence on him.

Meanwhile, Robin had seen it when another man had rang the doorbell at Reina's residence. He also saw it when she quickly pulled the man by his harm and then shut the door

His thoughts were – Does she already have a boyfriend? Then why is her father still trying to match us? Her father said that she and her boyfriend already broke up last December. Well, perhaps her father did not know that she already has a new boyfriend. Could that man really be her boyfriend? They just seem to live in the same building coz he just happened to appear when I suddenly turned my back when I was already near the elevator. The guy looks familiar. But I wasn't able to see his face very clearly, only his profile. She allowed him in inside her residence. I can understand why she did not allow me. We just met and it is also getting late, plus she lives alone. But then she allowed that guy in. They could really be in a relationship. But then she just moved in very recently. She was also out of the country for two weeks. She will be an ideal ambassador for our company. She travels a lot. She will definitely a great asset to our company should she agree being my wife. She takes excellent photos. But it is too difficult to have a job agreement with her. She is very choosy with the people she worked for. If not for her father, our family portrait would have not even squeezed in to her schedule. According to her father, she is busy preparing for her photo exhibit this coming December. I really like her a lot. She is so pretty. She doesn't even have to wear make-up in order to look good. Her skin is glowing. She has a fair complexion. Her brown eyes are so beautiful complimented by her long eyelashes. Her lips had that perfect pout wanting me to kiss her. She might not be very tall in 5 feet 6 inches coz I am 6 feet 3 inches tall. But I don't mind. She also doesn't have that perfect supermodel body but her athletic body looks adequate. Although, she would look much attractive if she has rich bosom. But then if she already has a boyfriend, then my chances to win her over is slim. She is so career-oriented. How can I lessen such so she will be more family-oriented? I should win her over at all costs. She is now a world renowned photographer. She might not have a celebrity status yet but I can capitalize on that once she is already my wife. Anyway, I have her father’s vote of confidence. I just need to pursue her on my own terms. I won't back down.