BORN AGAIN

Chapter 3 : My neighbor

I am lying in bed, daydreaming of her long wavy dark hair sliding from left to right over her sparkling and bare back. She delicately sits on the Alphonse meridian and spontaneously rubs her eyes. My failing. She pretends to look at her left side and catches me up gazing at her from behind. My flower. I too pretend not to be awake and remain motionless. She ignores me on purpose, frivolous girl. It is 4:00 am and the moonlights still highlights her dark eyelashes and targets her beauty as if it was a threat for humanity. Barefooted, she caresses the soft slipcover as she moves and astonishingly the braces of her white silken robe slips down her shoulders. It was breathtaking to be the witness of such an expected incident. As a self-indulgent man, I stick it out not to stand up and to help her out with that cute incident, I specify. She gives me a faint glimmer of hope for about 10 seconds, as I am expecting from her to ask me for some help. However, she gallantly does it on her own.

'My bad...' she whispers.

I urge myself to sit on the bed, breathless of such a behavior, I stand up. She mischievously folds her arms and winks at me. The moon is speechless. I am speechless. I still gaze at her. I still feel attracted to her. No, I do not love Eva to distraction. I will never. I do not allow myself to think any differently with a woman, especially with this woman.

'Adam, come closer.' she merely says.

'Closer.' I instinctively repeat.

The way she seduces me, makes me powerless and in a sorry plight. A woman never let her footprint in my apartment or dared to kiss me good night. Only my mother had the legal right to stroke my blond hair. Only my mother had the ability to make me a man of obedience. Only her was in my heart. I half-heartedly bridge the gap between both of us and come closer to the woman I wished to be my wife. My shadow follows me as long as I am slowly walking through the apartment. It aches. The deck floor seems to burn and I feel sorry for my feet. Face to face, I go on my knees but she interrupts me.

'Allow me to stand on tiptoe to kiss you.' Eva planned it since the beginning.

Hand in hand, I covet her lips. She holds me around the waist, stands on her tiptoe, beams with joy and begs me to close my eyes. I diligently obey and she kisses me while the radiant and jealous moon leaves the sky for the sun to come back.

Dring, dring, dring... It is over. I wish the clock was merciful enough but he betrayed me once again and stoled my dream. The mirrors are still covered by cotton sheets. The door is double-locked as well as my cellphone. It is high time I stopped waiting from her to trespass the door of my bedroom.
It is 7 am and I have a morning routine workout to practice on Trainsweateat website. Tini and Sissy have posted a new video entitled : Booty on fire. 30 seconds of jump lunch, 45 seconds of way mountain climber, 1 minute of burpee and 2 minutes of lay-down and push up. The perfect recipe for a reshaped and energized body. All of a sudden, the bell rings. I walk closer to the doorstep and stare at my neighbor through the spyhole.

'Her...' I mutter.

She is elegantly mashing the air in front of the door, holding a scarlet letter in her filthy hands. I resign to let her in.

'Hum hum...'
'Adam, what happened to you ? You're ugly !'
'Nice to see you again, MISS Wintour.'
'Do not emphasize on Miss.'

She enters into the living-room, loathing at the odor and atmosphere.

'It smells of rats !' She dares commenting on my way of living.
'What do you want ?'
'I am here for a week. Did you know I was living in the 3rd floor ?'
'Obvious ... It is hard not to see the paparazzis monitoring at you.'
'Oh, they butchered your little pretty face. What a mess...'
'Please, rejoice !'
'I could use you as the one-eyed model. What do you think ? They did not miss your aegean left-eye !'
'See ?'
'Let me correct your question : Do you see ?'
'Not that well ! Happy ?'
'You're powerless... Here's a letter signed by Eva.'

She opens up the bloody letter with her long white and gold abstract combo nails, takes out the paper-sheet and drops it. I lean down and firmly grasp it in my palm.

It is written :

The perfume of idolatry
Smelt of slavery,
The god of my desire
Vanished !

Where are you my Adam
In our garden of Eden ?
Where are your eyes
I longed to dive into ?

I miss you.
But I would never recognize you
You, who is no more you.

I will not confess I LOVE YOU
Because I see no more of you.
Adam, good bye to you.

'Is Eva a cold-hearted bitch ?' enthusiastically asks Ann Wintour while taking back the letter to have a hint of my misery.

'She...' I morosely sigh, containing the agony inside of my heart.

'Enough is enough ! Look at me ! Don't you want your money, popularity, glory back ?'

'And if I say yes, how would you repair that face ? How would you give me back my left-eye sight ? Give me the answer right now or shut up !' I shouted so loudly that even the pigeons fled from the sill.

'The surgeon did a good job, right ? He was paid, wasn't he ?'

'He was paid by you ! Tell me, witch !'

'You're not on my list.' She hesitated for a second. 'It does not matter who premeditated your failing.'

'Come on ! We are all in the same industry.'

'You're not one of us, not yet. That is why you were targeted.'

'Let me be one of you, then.'

She smirks, smirks.

'Well, prepare your luggage. Our fly is at 4pm. Our destination is Los Angeles.