My Bully, My Neighbour

Chapter 1 (Edited)

I was very comfortable in bed. I wished I could stay there forever, but obviously not. A knock on my door disturbed my slumber. "Madam, it's Clare. You need to wake up." Clare, my help, said. "Five more minutes!" I grumbled. "I'm sorry madam. Your father had asked for you. He wants to discuss your flight details again." Clare said to me and I sighed. "Come in then." I said. Clare let herself into my room and opened the curtains. I squinted against the morning light, trying not to hiss at it. "What should I keep outside today?" Clare asked me as she began to clear the pile of clothes I had left at the foot of my bed last night. "Just something comfortable." I yawned and rubbed my eyes. "Very well. The water is running. Your father is waiting in the dining room." Clare informed me and left the room.

I dragged my feet as I walked to the bathroom to brush and get ready. The shower helped me wake up and I walked outside in my bathrobe to see what Clare had kept for me to wear. It was a pink frock with a scoop neck and empire waist. The skirt was flowy and ended just above my knee. As I brushed my hair, I paused and looked at my reflection. I had inherited my mother's green eyes, which were so different from the brown eyes of the rest of my father's family. They were the only stand-out physical attribute I had gotten from my mother. I was like my father in every other aspect- brown hair, overall short in height, pale complexion.

Once I was ready I headed downstairs to the dining room and sat down opposite my dad. "Good morning papa." I said as Clare placed a plate of breakfast in front of me. "Good morning Aria. Are you excited?" Papa asked me and I smiled. "Of course I'm excited! I'm going to New York!" I grinned and papa held my hand. "I can't believe how quickly you've grown up, princess. It seems like just yesterday when you had a tantrum on your first day of school." Papa smiled and I blushed. He never failed to bring that up. "Yeah, how time flies huh?" I said and we both began breakfast.

After a help had collected our plates, papa wiped his mouth with his napkin and cleared his throat. "So Aria, you're flight is at three in the morning. So you need to be there by midnight, to complete formalities." Papa said and I nodded. "Papa, you don't have to come to see me off. I'll be fine on my own." I said. Papa tends to get very emotional. It would be weird if he broke down in the airport, even if it was at an odd time. "What nonsense! Of course I'm going to see my daughter off at the airport!" Papa scoffed. "Don't forget that you're meeting Mr.Rivera tomorrow for breakfast. You don't want to oversleep." I said. "No worries there! He's coming to meet us today. Also he's got his son with him. Good, yeah?" Papa asked.

"Did you shift it to today on purpose?" I asked in surprise. "Well, his son lives in New York too, so you could have a friend there." Papa said and I shot back, "I do have friends there!" "Someone who I know and I have met, Aria. It's for your safety and comfort." Papa reasoned and I let it go. Elena, another help, entered the room and said, "There is a Mr.Rivera here to meet you, sir?" "Yes, yes. Take them to the living room. We'll be right there." Papa said. We rose to leave, and for some reason, my chest felt really heavy. Like something really bad or something really good was about to happen. As we approached the living room, I put my thoughts aside and put on my smile.

We entered the living room and a man around my father's age stood up and walked towards us. Papa embraced him as an old friend and then he turned to me. "Hello, Aria. I'm Giorgio Rivera. Your father and I studied together!" He smiled and shook my hand rather over-enthusiastically. "Hi. My name is Aria. Like, Aar-yaa?" I said because he had pronounced my name like - Aa-ree-yaa. That just sounded weird. "My apologies. May I introduce my son, Leonardo Rivera? He too lives in New York and your father and I thought that it would be good to introduce you to each other. You know, for emergencies." Mr.Rivera said and Papa smiled.

The conversation continued but I had zoned out. I knew the boy who had stood up to greet my father. It was him.

A/N: Hi everyone! Welcome to the edited version of 'My Bully, My Neighbour'. If you are new to the story, I hope you will enjoy it. If you're re-reading it, welcome back and I hope you like it more than the previous version. I have tried my best to make the plot more fluid and more understandable. If you find any mistakes (like grammatical errors or a mistake with names) then please feel free to point them out. You'll help me make this a better read for everyone. Enjoy!

Lots of love-D :)