A Girl Next Door

Now

"Secrets I have held in my heart
Are harder to hide then I thought"
-Arctic Monkeys

It has been a week since I saw My Miracle. I have kept getting some dreams about her since my childhood. I didn't know what to do. Whom to ask?

One person whom I can ask about my childhood and Loxley are Nick. But I didn't want to talk to him.

As I was working on this new work that was assigned two days ago, I got a video call from Jess. She never calls me unless it's important. I took a deep breath before picking up the call.

When the call connected, I saw Jess in her office. I can see the tiredness in her eyes.

"Jess... Are you OK?" I asked, looking at her through the screen.

"I didn't expect you to attend this call," Jess said, a sigh heavily. "Are you busy? Can we talk?" she asked.

"Yes, we can" I replied as I studied her face. She looks like she's having a hangover.

"Do you know who Hensley is?" she asked curiously.

"Hensley? I don't know?". "Why?". But I do remember hearing this name somewhere, but I didn't know where I heard that name.

Jess stood silent for a minute and let out a deep breath and said, "Hensley is your brother's first love."

Now I get it, whenever Nick and I meet on Mother's Memorial Day, I go to a bar to get drunk. Sometimes we talk about our lives. That's when he mentioned this name. Hensley. Now I get it who that person is.

"Oh OK. Is there any problem?". I didn't know what to say or what to ask.

"Do you remember her? Or ever meet her?"

"No... But I remember Nick mentioning her". It's true.

"OK" she sighed," 'Hensley' is Loxley's Sister."

"What?" I was shocked. What?

"Yes. They used to live next door to our house. The-" I cut her "I know."

"What? How do you know?", she asked, frowning her brows.

"Yeah. Loxley told me last week" I told her.

"So, you know everything and you didn't tell me?"

Oh! No. I can see how upset she looks.

"I just know she's my neighbor, that is all."

"Are you sure? You don't know other than that?". She asked.

"Yeah??"

"OK, let me tell you everything I know, "she sighed. Now she is no longer angry, because she knows this is how I am.

"As I told you, Hensley is your brother's first love and Loxley is Hensley's sister. And there might be a problem between both our families. That's why your brother had to break up with her. I knew about this before my marriage with your brother. He told me everything. But I don't know how to say this.... Hensley died 5 years ago. Which is what he never told me."

"What?". I was shocked for the second time.

"Nicholas told me it was a fire accident."

"Oh no."

"When I ask Nicholas about Loxley, during a weekend party he says he doesn't know anything about Loxley, and he just told me about Hensley. What is most important is to make me never tell anything about this to anyone. I have been trying to figure out why. But he made me get it in only three words."