HER NIKOLAI (Her Volkovs Book 1)

Chapter 2.

Belle's POV

Nothing feels like living alone and free! The thought that I can do whatever I want to do without seeking my father's approval every time, makes me the happiest.

My father is as stiff as a dead owl while my Ma is quite the opposite. My mother is very sweet, delicate and affectionate. She can always influence my pa. One caress from her, you can be sure as hell that the old man will fold. This is mainly the reason why I was able to break free and live here. It took some time and maybe tirades of convincing and caressing from my mother for my Pa to let go of her only child but eventually, Pa gave in. And so here I am, living the dream. Freedom!

Don't get me wrong, I love my parents. I would never be who I am today without them. It's just that this time I want to do things on my own. I want to make mistakes without the fear of my father's overbearing heart of steel. I want to meet people. I want to share the overflowing love in my heart. Life is too short to be enclosed in the protective shell that they made for me.

I turned on the music player and pumped up the volume.

Everything is wonderful

Everything is great

Free as a bird

Singing outside my window pane

Gotta fresh new start

It's a brand new day

And I got lots of love to give away

Hmmmm seems fitting. I breathed in and out.

I cringe every time I remember what happened yesterday. It was so embarrassing. My gosh! Thank goodness all these cleaning up and unpacking will keep me occupied.

I collected my hair into a messy bun. I'm wearing short shorts and a white crop top with the British flag printed in front.

I grabbed a sandwich leftover from my bag, took a bite and started to move some stuff. The basement apartment is spacious. It has two bedrooms facing each other, one is bigger than the other. I'm gonna be sleeping in the bigger room. It has a bathroom and a study table on the left side of the double sized bed. The kitchen is on the right side a few steps away from the main door and the living room is right across the kitchen. The couch is all worn out and I think its time for it to retire. Down the hall are the wash area and another bathroom.

I finished unpacking and cleaning the whole apartment at about 5 pm. I'm already famished so I quickly dialed pizza. It is not to arrive until thirty minutes so I still have time to dispose of the garbage. I'm carrying two garbage bags and dumped them into the dumpster right across the street.

"Damn girl! You fine!" Someone called from not too far.

The voice was from a teenage boy. He's wearing a baseball cap, baggy pants, and a shirt. He's with five other boys with the same "swagger". One of them is holding a baseball bat. The other one has a glove on while holding the ball in his other hand. They are sitting on the front stairs of the next door neighbor.

"Sup girl?" Said the one in the middle.

I leaned closer to the one who seems to be the leader of the pack. "Whats your name kid?"

"Matty, and I'm not a kid! I can prove that to you muh." The other boys chuckled.

"So you boys play baseball huh.."

"Yeah a little... Do you want us to teach you how to play ball bae?" Matty replied all too arrogantly then giving the other boy a hi-five.

I hissed at them and acted arrogantly as well. "I bet you 50 bucks, I can beat your ass to the curve."