Up in the Clouds

2. Hedonist.

Isla.

Isla stepped out in the balcony of her apartment. With a book in her hand and tea in other, carefully she sat down on the garden chair. The cold seat made her jump involuntary. It was colder than she was expecting. The breeze was refreshing but still caused goosebumps on her skin. She wrapped her shawl closely and decided to sit on swing instead.

It was a white swing that matched the rest of the furniture of balcony. The swing was designed such that it looked like one of those nests tailor birds make for themselves. The crisscross wire all around the seat gave her a certain sense of safety. True, there was no physical safety, but she always felt safe there. She felt could hide her thoughts from the world when she sat on it. She loved it for the same reason and often read there.

She opened her book and the bookmark popped out from page 345. She was a fast reader and had finished around half of the book when she had started it the previous day. She loved reading, that was obvious. Anyone who saw her always refered to her as a voracious reader. Her love for books developed the day when she first realised their power of transporting her to another place, away from realities of life and into a beautiful world based solely on her imagination.

She also had a small notebook that she used hide under the mattress. It contains the stories she writes. Nobody knows about them, not even her husband who is sleeping very peacefully over the same mattress. Most of those stories come from another land of imagination where the she is the heroine of her own life.

She always laughs at the thought, heroine of her own life. It's funny how something so obvious is what she actually longed to be. Heroine of her own life.

Remembering the phrase again, she quickly pushes the associated thoughts away and focuses back on the chapter.

As she began reading again, she begins feeling uneasy. She looked up and saw him again. The guy from opposite building. She looked at him, he was staring at her again.

She wondered if she should go back inside or call her husband but she remembered this is the only time she can actually enjoy the mornings in peace. Once her husband will wake up, her usual routine will start. Mornings were the only time when she didn't have to worry about ironing clothes, making coffee or preparing hot meals for her husband. This was the only time when she could actually enjoy her time without getting concerned about the household chores.

She looked up again and he was sitting in his balcony looking at his phone. Shirtless as always, she wondered if he could feel the chill in the air or if it was she who was crazy enough to wear a shawl.

His dark hair looked like a bird's nest. She always wondered if they were black or darkest shade of brown. He looked lean and toned from the distance she observed him. Behind him, she could see his clothes lying on the floor and she casually wondered if the girl he came in with last night was still there.

She had noticed him last night with a girl. A man like him won't go unnoticed to his neighbors, especially if that neighbor had as much free as she did. She had seen him enough to know that the girl he had brought in wouldn't stay until the afternoon. But she was surprised to not find her in the morning, unlike the other girls who have come with him. Most of the times, he would leave them with kiss and breakfast. But she never saw the same girls twice.

He lacked a name in her mind and so she often refered to him as the hedonist. She had noticed big lights in his living room, the kind photographers have and there were several posters of different colours around to confirm her suspicions of him being one.

He looked pretty young to be very successful but the apartment he was staying in said a different story. She knew the building in front of her was home to a lot of the city's elite and a owning a apartment in that building meant that the person was pretty well off.

She did wonder if she was a stalker on some days, for the amount of time she spent wondering about him, assuming about his lifestyle was definitely no where close to healthy. But she couldn't help it. She didn't have much to do all day. She was a house wife and like all others, once her husband went to work, and her house chores finished, she didn't have anything left to do.

She did to notice other people too, some of her building, some of the apartments across the road, but none as much as him. Maybe because of how he lived or maybe because he was the only person in that building close to her age or maybe because of sheer attraction.

He was attractive and she had to accept it.
Or maybe because he was the only one who showed interest towards her.

Maybe she was delusional or crazy to be thinking all those things but after being married for almost two years, she knew she missed being looked at like that by another person.

She looked at him again, and he glanced her way too. Hedonist. She shook her head.

Suddenly she felt her swing move and turn away in speed. She screamed, not being able to understand what was happening. Two strong arms stopped it and she saw her husband standing in front.

"Good morning darling." He smiled at her.

"Oh, babe you scared me." She said, still trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry love, I was just trying to surprise you." He bent down and kissed her cheek. "Slept well?"

"Yes, thank you. what about you? You are up early today. I was just coming inside to make you a cup of coffee. Let's get inside, let me get you your coffee." She picked her tea and book as she stood up.

"I would like to have my coffee, but later." He kissed her lips before scooping her in his arms. "First, I would like to have something else." And he walked inside, carrying her to the bed.

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Hello everyone,
How are you all doing? So here are the new chapters from my new story, up in the clouds.

Thank you for reading it. I hope you all are enjoying the first two chapters. New chapters coming up soon.

Don't forget to vote and share. Comment about your thoughts on the story so far. Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Love,
Alice.

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