SKYE

The sound of people chattering outside her house was the perfect alarm on an early Saturday morning. Needless to say, Skye wasn't pleased. Rubbing her eyes groggily, she peered out of the window to see what the commotion was about, only to see a group of women downstairs gathered outside her neighbour's house.

From the second floor, Skye could vaguely hear what the ladies were discussing. It certainly helped that they were such loud talkers, especially when they were too engrossed in their conversation to remember that it was only seven in the morning. As they donned activewear with hair neatly tied up in a ponytail or a loose bun, they looked to be the group of ladies who enjoyed brisk walking around the neighbourhood in the mornings.

"That must be the president's son. Maybe a secret one! He's so secretive."

"He could be a celebrity!"

"Hey, why would a celebrity live here?"

"Why not? What's wrong with our little neighbourhood?"

"Nothing. It's perfect. I just don't think anyone rich and famous would live here."

"That's why they'd be here, where people least expect them to be!"

Skye raised an eyebrow. Why would they suddenly start wondering about the identity of the new guy next door? She had had days of peaceful and quiet mornings, so why would they suddenly gather outside and fill the early morning air with their talking?

Changing out of her pyjamas and into more presentable attire, Skye dashed down the stairs and through the front door to join the gossip. As a victim of their chatter, she surely didn't want to contribute to the neighbourhood's unwanted alarm. "What happened? What's the buzz?" she asked in a normal speaking volume, hoping to get the others to subconsciously quiet down.

"The guy just left his house in a car," Flora replied. She waved her hands in the air to form an imaginary rainbow in front of her face. "with tinted windows!"

"We were walking through this street when we saw him leave!" Kelly chirped. "We found it strange because no one uses tinted windows. Not here, at least. Why is he so secretive?"

Skye scratched her head. "Maybe he doesn't like people looking at him when he's driving," she suggested. Of course, she also found it strange. As far as she knew, the only people who used cars with tinted windows were celebrities or the incredibly wealthy for the sake of their safety, particularly from the paparazzi. Their cars could even be bulletproof!

Penny shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll never know. Come on, ladies! We have to move!" She clapped twice and led the way to continue their daily brisk walking. As quickly as they had arrived to wake her up, they disappeared.

With that, Skye headed back into her house. Her new neighbour had moved in a few days ago. However, during the renovation of the house, the ones who visited to check on the progress were an elderly couple. Where did this young man come from? Could he be their grandson? But where were the elderly couple? She remembered welcoming them to their town, and they had thanked her, so she was certain they were her new neighbours.

Skye prepared a cup of coffee with the machine and opened her laptop to work on her next bestseller. At the age of seventeen, she published her debut romance novel. She hadn't expected it to become popular in a short span of time, earning her a decent income and the motivation to make writing her full-time job. Ten years into her career, Skye Rowland had six published books to her name, all of which were romances. As a romantic, she loved writing stories of two people finding love despite never being in a relationship herself. Reading was her secondary experience in love.

The only problem was that after publishing her previous book two months ago, Skye had no idea what to write. Her books typically took inspiration from her surroundings, but due to finishing her studies and not being a part of the workforce, Skye was constantly alone. The only people she interacted with were her neighbours who were either old, happily married or too young for love.

"What kind of book would I want to read right now?" she asked herself. An avid reader since she could read, Skye had read many books ranging in different genres. As she grew older, she leaned towards reading romance novels. As a person who had been single all her life, they were her daily dose of romance, filling her heart with warmth. At times, she wondered when she would ever get her own male lead, but she wouldn't want to date for the sake of being in a relationship. She wanted her love story to be special, just like the books she read and wrote.

Skye looked through the list of romance tropes that she had tagged on the books she had read. Grumpy-sunshine, opposites attract, enemies to lovers, small town... There were so many tropes that she enjoyed reading. However, writing was another story. She wanted to write to create life, not just for the sake of writing. She didn't want her books to only be about the tropes used.

Tapping a finger on her keyboard repeatedly, she tried to will an idea to her head, only to be met with blank space.

The sound of a car pulling up along the driveway travelled to Skye's ears. Out of curiosity, she peeked out of the window, only to see that it was the car with tinted windows. She watched as the car disappeared into the garage. Sighing, she wondered if she would ever get to meet her neighbour. In this town, everyone knew each other and treated each other like family. It was rare for one to be closed off from the rest as this new neighbour did. Perhaps he was from the city, where people typically minded their own business. With a smile playing on her lips, Skye had a new idea for a novel.

The first step to writing a story for Skye was planning. She pulled out a document and started writing her ideas. Her next bestseller was going to be a story about a city boy and a suburban girl. For whatever reason that she had yet to figure out, the boy had moved to the house next to the girl.

After she was done, she closed her laptop and picked up a book from her shelf to read. Both a reader and a writer, Skye was the epitome of a bookish person, and she was proud of it. She even had book blogs and social media accounts to boast her love for books. With a turn of a page, she started reading, entering a whole new world.

***

Skye had made the grave mistake of drinking tea a few hours before bedtime. She had forgotten that tea contained caffeine as well. No matter how hard tried to fall asleep, she couldn't. Her mind was wide awake. Heaving a deep sigh, she rubbed her face with her hands. After tossing and turning in bed for an hour, she figured that she wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, so she decided to sit at her desk and work on her novel.

With a lamp illuminating the desk area, Skye had her ceiling lights off. She typed away, creating her first draft, detailing the scene of a new neighbour moving into the town where the female lead lived. She was curious about him, but he was aloof and kept to himself all the time. When she first heard that she was going to have a new neighbour, she had looked forward to meeting him, only to be left disappointed when she never even got to see his face.

She paused. What could be the reason for his mystery neighbour's behaviour? Why would a person move to a new place, only to close themselves off? She tapped her finger on her laptop repeatedly, wondering.

Trauma?

That word appeared in Skye's head. Her lips pursed upon that thought. What if her real-life neighbour had been hurt so badly that he couldn't bear to face people? That must've been why he had moved to this small town instead of a luxury apartment in a bustling city. His car had looked expensive, so he certainly could afford to live in a city. For him to choose to live here, it must've been really bad.

All of a sudden, she felt bad for him. The day he moved to his house, the whole town gathered around his house with gifts, hoping to give their new neighbour a warm welcome, only to be met with an icy wall. How had he felt that day?

Closing her laptop, Skye pushed her chair backwards as she stood up, hoping to catch some fresh air. Sitting on her porch, she looked up at the sky, barely able to see stars due to light pollution. However, the moon shone bright as usual. Well, the moon didn't shine, per se. It reflected light from the sun. Regardless, it was the brightest celestial object in the night sky. And it was beautiful. That night, the moon wore a pretty dainty crescent.

Just then, Skye heard the rustling of the bush. She turned in the direction of the gentle sound and saw one of the community cats that resided in the neighbouring house after her old neighbour moved and left the property empty. Smiling, she stood up and walked towards the cat, bending down to pet it. "Hello, Snowy," she murmured towards the cat that was named after its white fur.

A few years ago, her neighbours had moved back to their home country to take care of their ailing parents, leaving behind their cats because their parents were allergic to them. Their daughter Rose loved Snow White, so she named their cats Snowy and Ebony after the iconic traits of the princess, "Lips red as the rose, hair black as ebony, skin white as snow." She loved that her favourite Disney movie had a line that had all three of their names in it.

When Rose and her parents had to migrate, it broke her heart to have to leave her beloved cats behind. Skye had promised to take care of the cats and sent her regular pictures and updates on them. The other neighbours also pitched in on cat accessories. Eventually, Snowy and Ebony became their community cats.

The two cats continued to live at their old house as if they owned it. They still ran around in their yard and sat on the porch even though the front door and windows were locked. That was the way they liked it. It was their kingdom.

When the house had undergone renovation after it was sold to whom she had thought was an elderly couple but turned out to be an anti-social young man, Skye took the cats in and told the couple their names. They had been keen to take in the cats, being lonely and all. Now, she wondered what happened to the elderly couple.

"Where's Ebony?" Skye asked in a whisper even though talking in regular volume wouldn't have woken her neighbours up. The silence of the night compelled her to be as silent as possible. It was like being at the library, hoping not to disturb other users.

The white cat moved swiftly toward its yard, and Skye's gaze followed it.

"Snowy, what are you doing here?" she suddenly heard a male voice above her. It sounded like he was getting closer. Looking up, Skye saw that the mysterious man was holding a black cat with bright blue eyes. Her eyes trailed upwards and met with the man's face. It was her mysterious neighbour, except he was unmasked with his sunglasses off. And she recognised him at that instant:

Aidan Moore, the biggest and brightest star in Hollywood.

Before Skye could scream in excitement and surprise out of instinct, the man pounced onto her and covered her mouth, effectively silencing her.

***

A/N:

So... that's my progress :)