XY XX

NIGHTMARE

The mirror didn't reply, but her tired traits showed its reality. Xenia moved to her living room, turned on the TV, and went into her Deezer playlist. Whitney Houston-I wanna dance with somebody hummed in all the apartment.

There was nothing better than Whitney to lift her spirits. Xenia's passion for old tracks came from her mother, who would chill with her three daughters on good days when one of her one-night stands wasn't around. They would dance and sing like crazy.

While undoing her cornrows for a co-wash and remembering her childhood, Xenia thought it wasn't all that bad. In the full dance routine, the woman didn't even notice her phone vibrating on the coffee table.

It was only three missed called after that, Xenia picked up the phone.

"Niki, what does she want," Xenia mumbled while dialing to call back.

"XENIA, WHERE WERE YOU?"

"Niki, why are you yelling? You are blowing my ears away."

Xenia was convinced Niki called to lecture her about her altercation with Gregory; she wasn't even close.

"Where are you? Where's Sia?

"She's at my mom's; I figure you want to scold.-"

"Whatever you do, don't open your door."

"What are you blabbering about, Niki?"

"Xenia, don't open your door, okay. What do I hear? Is that music?"

"Yeah, Niki, why? What's going on?"

With the silence, Xenia heard the doorbell.

"Wait a minute, Niki, the doorbell just rang."

"XENIA NO," the coordinator yelled in the metro making all heads turn.

Too late, Xenia opened the door and slammed it shut right away on the person's face.

The woman saw herself screaming so loud virtually that her afro stood up higher than Kid and Play's high-top haircut.

Thank goodness it was her imagination, but the ringing doorbell wasn't.

"Niki, it's a nightmare. I think I'm asleep because Gregory is standing at my door. Tell me it's the fruit of my wacky imagination," Xenia whispered.

"No, dear, if you saw Gregory, it means he is there. I got a mail from Charles asking me to create his codes. It's serious Xenia, Gregory is your new neighbor.

At that moment, the cringy music which played in the 70s thrillers when a life-threatening revelation occurred played in the woman's mind.

"Xenia, Xenia, are you there."

"I'm dying, Niki; I'm going to lose my job. He already called me a thief earlier on."

"No, you won't; you were the best in drama class. Play it like you usually do. Be slick and swaggy like you know how."

"Niki, you are a real thug."

Nikki giggled, "I'll take it as a compliment."

Xenia took a deep breath and went back to her door; she held her phone on her hyperventilating chest and opened the door.

"Oh, Xenia, it's a surprise to see you here. I didn't recognize you with the hair, I mean," Gregory said, pointing towards her hair as if he wanted to touch it.

His remark made Xenia unconsciously touch her combed-out hair, which was in a huge afro.

"This is mine; the other was a lace wig. Ask Beyoncé or Naomi; they'll tell you all about it," Xenia justified while wondering why she felt the need to do so.

Gregory harbored his flat and expressionless face, which for once comforted Xenia.

"I thought a certain Anya Fernster rented this apartment," Gregory said.

His gaze shifted behind Xenia's back, who moved, in consequence, pulling the door shut behind her.

Gregory brought his gaze back to her. The man's eyes seemed to bore into Xenia's like Ka, the snake in The Jungle Book, as though he wanted to hypothesize and wring the truth out of her. Xenia knew she had to give swift and efficient answers.

"Anya has gone out."

Gregory looked at her from head to toe, "staying over?" he said, eyes locked on her Winnie the Pooh slippers her sister got her for Christmas.

"Eh, yeah, can I help you with something, Gregory?"

Xenia tried her best to display the perfect poker face despite the drops of sweat, which coated her skin, making her glow.

"Ah, yeah, I can't enter. I did the code, and everything still the door isn't opening."

Xenia dodged him and stepped across the hall to his door.

"What's the code?"

"2688095"

Xenia tapped, and the door opened.

"You have to press the hash key before entering the digits and star when you finish."

"Thank you; I'm still stunned to see you here."

Xenia knew Gregory was digging for information.

"Anya and I are close; I'm here a lot."

What a lie; she and Anya barely spoke.

The IT senior employee moved in with her boyfriend nine months after Xenia started working at Astoria.

Anya wanted to keep the apartment as a backup plan in case she broke up with her boyfriend. However, Anya didn't want to pay two rents. So Niki set it up. Xenia would live there and wire the rent to Anya's account, who would pay.

At first, Xenia wasn't in for it, but all the apartments she visited asked her three months' rent in advance as a warranty, one month's rent, and a guarantor, which she didn't have.

Desperate to leave her mother's couch, she accepted the offer. The plan was bulletproof, but today the bullet pierced its first hole, and all was leaking.

"Oh, in case you want to knock again, the TV and the laptop work with the same codes. The computer automatically connects you to Artiss, so I advise you to create a private session. Also, turn the camera off. Many do video calls, and you don't want the world to see you in your Adam's attire."

"Thank you for the information; I guess we'll be leaving together tomorrow. Oh, by the way, Xenia, you didn't shut the door on my face earlier on purpose by any chance?" Gregory said with the expressionless passivity, which was his.

Shit.

"No, of course not, Gregory, I wouldn't dare. Did I really do such a thing?"

"Good, then see you tomorrow."

Gregory entered his apartment, closing the door on the day's chapter.

Xenia regained hers thinking the man just opened a book of nightmares.