Chap-4*The Girl Next Door*

 "Did I frighten you?" I saw a beautiful girl, wearing a floral knee-length dress with her hair tied behind her head loosely, smiling at me. Her smile was very generous and, along with her, was a little girl with the same gorgeous features.

"Oh no, I didn’t know someone was hearing me argue with the clouds," I joked to ease her up.

"Hi, I’m Olivia Wytt and this is my little sister, Vivian Wytt." Olivia pulled out her hand for a nice handshake. I followed her action.

It was nice meeting new people and probably running away from my horrible past. I made some grave decisions in my past that landed me in a tough spot. No wonder I have no friends from my past.

"I’m not a kid. I’m turning fourteen this year. And you are just twenty-one." The little girl was a bit snobby, but in a very cute way. Olivia gave her a smile and looked at me next.

"I’m Phoenix. I just moved here two weeks ago." I shyly brushed my hair behind my ear and watched them give me another sweet smile.

"If I’m not wrong, you are Mr. Derrell’s daughter, right?" Vivian asked, stealing eyes from her sister. "Your father had left you and had been living with his other daughter. Did you forgive him?" She spoke in one breath, and soon I found my smile fading away.

That little girl was way more straightforward than I expected her to be.

"Vivian, stop! What have I told you about not sticking your nose in other people’s matters?" Olivia scolded him, but by that time, the damage was already done.

It was no secret that my father left us for Mia. It was even crazier that he demanded he should get a part of her wealth after proving his intentions to be clean when marrying my mother.

"It’s okay, Olivia. Just tell me, how do you guys know me?" I faked a smile and diverted the topic to avoid the awkwardness between us. Seriously, walking with them made me forget how bad the weather was.

"Come on! Everyone has been talking about your beautiful radioactive eyes. The whole town has seen them." Olivia replied, shocking me because I thought nobody even noticed my existence.

"Radioactive?" I laughed a little, not getting the compliment.

"They say your eyes are so beautiful that if they look at them for too long, they will go blind," she dramatically explained the comment to me.

I never noticed that much. I have sterling gray eyes and black long hair. I get compliments on the shades of blue that my eyes form sometimes, but I didn’t pay attention to any of that.

"Oh wow, we never know our importance." I rolled my eyes because I wasn’t really a fan of myself.

It was just that my past made me hate myself. Before she could say anything else, tires screeched behind us and interrupt us, making the three of us turn around to notice the arrival of the devil himself.

"Mr. Mayor?" Olivia whispered. I, too, recognized his car. I wondered if we had broken a rule or something, as this whole town was all about rules. Since I wasn’t a big fan of him, I decided to stay behind when Olivia and Vivian matched towards the car. Slowly and elegantly, Mr. Mayor walked out of the car. With a jerk to his shoulders, he wore off his glasses. His eyes were something one could stare at for a lifetime. They were beautiful. I couldn’t guess the color of his eyes since I was standing afar and his eyes were pretty light and unique.

They seemed to radiate a mixture of green, blue, and gray colors. A very extraordinary hue, to be honest.

"Hey, Olivia!" I heard him calling her name. The blush on her cheeks was weird. I wondered how she was able to stand so close to him while his eyes were digging holes through her soul. I could feel the intensity of his stare from a distance. How could she not?

"Little Angel." His husky voice hit my ears. He bent down to caress Vivian’s cheeks and offer her a piece of chocolate. So basically, he was all prepared for this encounter.

"Mayor Xavier Charming, this is so kind of you." Strangely, Olivia used his name with a deep stare between them.

"Dear Olivia, where are you going in this storm?" His voice was soft, filled with love. She sweetly hugged herself and slowly stepped away from him as he came closer to her.

"I h---ad to b---uy some se---eds." She blushed, stammering many times in that one single sentence. I could see he was enjoying her shyness.

I noticed he didn’t even look around. Was I jealous that he didn’t acknowledge my presence? No way!

He was undoubtedly handsome, and I was used to getting compliments, but that didn’t mean his ignorance would bother me.

"You should have given my driver a call. You know you don’t need to do any work. Look what I’ve got for your family." He said with love dripping off his voice. The driver came forward and showed her the stuff he had bought for her. "I told you, you don’t need to work." He said while looking intensely at her and repeating it once again while slowly brushing his finger on the back of her hands.

"Thank you so much. That’s very kind of you," she answered, shivering visibly.

"I’ll head back to my office now," he gave her only a slight nod and then turned around to slip into the car once again. It was the weirdest encounter. I could have sworn if he stayed behind for another few minutes, Olivia would have gotten an orgasm.

"Umm, I’m not judging." I laughed when she approached me. She was literally blushing, her cheeks exploding.

"It’s nothing." She shyly looked away and bit her lip.

"Oli, is the old driver taking food to our home? I can’t wait to get home and enjoy the treats. You know Phoenix, Mr. Mayor has been very sweet to us lately." Vivian cheered, walking ahead of us.

"Viv, sh!" Olivia shushed her and gave me an embarrassing look.

"It’s okay. You know what I think?" I voiced, halting next to my place, "I think you two make a sweet couple." I complimented her, making her blush more. It was strange that she was living right next to us. Her father and mother had a farm behind their home. They all worked there and provided Mr. Mayor with dairy food and other supplies.

"Stop, not you too," she giggled, biting her bottom lip.

"You seem to be pretty close to him," I awkwardly started the conversation about him once again.

"Sort of," she answered.

"Didn’t it bother you that Felicity made such a--- huge claim over his character?" I asked, and she halted in her steps. She didn’t look phased out.

"Because I know she is lying. That day in his office, I was there for some work. Felicity is not what you think she is. I suggest you don’t listen to others and form an opinion of Mr. Mayor. He is unlike anybody else." She smiled confidently, but didn’t look very happy with me for bringing up that question again.

"I’ll see you around again," she said, holding her sister’s hand and departing for her house.

I rushed back to my place to get a shower. Damn! I had all the dust stuck in my hair. On my way upstairs, I heard giggles coming from Zoe’s room, which was the room before mine.

The sounds were weird; I couldn’t help but to check up on her.

It wasn’t long before I acknowledged what she was doing in there.

I slammed the door open angrily, and she quickly covered herself in sheets, looking at me while fear and shock took over her whole body. So, that was the reason Derrell had been accusing Mia of. But it wasn’t her fault, too. Mia was at a neighbor’s house while her daughter was doing nothing but planning their character assassination in public, just like the couple before.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Zoe?" I yelled, fastening my pace in her direction.