Chapter 61- NEIGHBOR

"I hope that you are well, Leonardo" Leonardo irritably shut his briefcase as he knew just who it was that was behind him, without having to turn around.

Leonardo knew that it was none other than Rhea of course, who else would it because it was only she who was able to irritate him without doing much other than just speaking to him.

'What is it that you want or do I owe you something?" he asked Rhea, without turning around and giving her the attention that she so desperately craved.

Even as he had his back turned to her Leonardo could still hear the clicking of her heels onto the hard classroom titled floor and walking towards him.

Even though Rhea stopped mare inches from him, Leonardo could still feel her presence behind him and her presence irritated him to the core.

Leonardo had wanted nothing more than to go back home to his wife, sit with her and speak about the day but, right now he was here in this classroom conversing with his worst enemy, Rhea.

'So I heard you moved out, did you think you were going get away from me?" she asked him in a mighty seductive tone and even without seeing her face, Leonardo could tell that she was smiling, a smile that did nothing but add to Leonardo's unease.

'Forgive me, I was not aware that I had to tell you whether I moved a not?" He responded to Rhea in the most sarcastic manner possible. He tried once more to gather his belongings into his suitcase, this time in a rush, that way he would rid himself of being within close proximity of Rhea as she still stood there.

Without his permission, Rhea placed her hand onto Leonardo's back, tracing the lining of his spine, a move that just simply irritated Leonardo to the core. Without any warning, Leonardo turned around, slapped her hand away and looking at Rhea's in her eyes nothing but anger and daggers glaring at her.

To Leonardo's surprise, Rhea was smiling as though she liked it when he treated her like that. He breathe out a sigh of relief, trying to calm himself, the last thing Leonardo wanted was to lose his temper in his classroom.

'Do you enjoy torturing me like this, that's all I want to know?" He asked, seemingly irritated by Rhea's inability to understand his displeasure with her presence. Not to his surprise, Rhea smiled at him like a hungry wolf, waiting to devour to devour its meal

'I must say, I hate it when you treat me like this, however it gives me the opportunity to talk to you and that I love" She responded to him, not one ounce of self- respect lingering in her voice.

Her admission had not come as a surprise to Leonardo who was used to this behavior coming from her. Even as they were children Rhea would always spill such stunts and even as he looked at her in the eyes, all Leonardo could see was a hungry woman who would lower herself just to keep a man who had no feelings for her.

'And I guess this is all just a joke to you? Following me wherever I go, stalking me typically but that is how you do things right? What was it that you always said? You get what you want whenever you want am I not right?" He asked her. Leonardo watch her whip out the pen, place it into her mouth and lightly she bite it.

Unimpressed by her actions, Leonardo crossed his hands over his chest and lightly tapped his feet onto the marbled titled floors.

'I'm sorry Rhea but am I supposed to be— what is it? Amused?" He asked her uninterested in her childish antics.

Even though Leonardo's words had caused her some pain, she quickly waved it off and covered it with a smile, knowing that she had him just where she wanted him. Watching get mad at her aroused a sexual desire in her like no other man had ever done to her.

'No, I'm not expecting to fall for me but I just have a question for you and I think it will be fair that you answer me honestly"

'I don't mean to be rude Rhea but what makes you think that you can ask me anything or that I have an obligation to answer to any question you ask of me?"

'Answer me this and I might even leave you and your wife alone" She responded. Leonardo looked down onto the floor and smile at himself and then look back at her and smile in her face.

'Shoot your shot" he told her, hoping that she would keep to her words and get right to the point.

'What is it that she has that I do not have? Rhea asked. Her smile replaced with sadness and her tone filled with sorrow to the point where Leonardo almost pitied her.

Without saying her name, Leonardo was well aware that Rhea was speaking of none other than his wife. Her question had surprised him though, Leonardo would never had pictured Rhea to be jealous of someone as plain as his wife.

Leonardo removed his hands from his chest, stood up straight and looked at the woman in front of him, staring at her with his eyebrows raised, questionably.

'So if I answer you this, you would leave my wife and I alone? Is that what you're saying?"

'I believe I said I might leave you and your wife alone, it is not a promise" Rhea responded proudly. Once more her entitled attitude reaching out.

'Wait, so you are saying is that I should tell you why I choose my wife over you and you might just stay away from us? That does not sound like a good deal" Leonardo responded, not one bit pleased with Rhea's demands.

'Then maybe you can answer me for old times' sake"

'Ok, that sounds right about fair. I love my wife because she's simply not you" Leonardo's response left Rhea with more questions than answers as she could not decipher what he trying to say to her. Rhea was too stunned to speak so much that her lips quivered as she tried to find the right words.

'I do not understand what you're trying to say to me, please elaborate"

'You see, the reason why I love my wife is that she simply is not you" Leonardo told her, holding in the rest of his words, savoring the final blow to Rhea's pride.

'Meaning?"

'You see my wife is unlike any other woman, for one, she's unlike you. She is not sneaky, she's not manipulative as you are, she does not tell tall tales and she does not be remove everyone who she deems as a threat to get what she wants" Leonardo responded to Rhea, his tone of voice less than kind as his words were. Everything in him screamed hate, he wanted Rhea to know just how much her presences irked him.

Inwardly hurt by Leonardo's words, Rhea tried her best not to show it, instead she did what she always did best and she smiled, shoving it off hoping that it will ease the pain in her heart.

'I am not as bad as you make me out to be" Rhea tried defending herself. Rolling his eyes at her, Leonardo walked towards his window, throwing his hands up in the air in disbelief at how conniving Rhea could be.

'When we were growing up together, I noticed how evil scheming and conniving you could, so please don't tell me otherwise"

'I used to be your friend!" Rhea yelled out, so loud that her voice echoed in the empty classroom and tears filled her eyes, finally she had let her true self out but it was too late to take back her actions.

'Please don't try to manipulate me Rhea, we've been past this we've been through this, you still are not the woman for me. You were in love with my friend remember?"

'That was a mistake! It only happened once and I thought we were kids when that happened, can't you just get over it?" She argued but still that was not enough for Leonardo as he knew the kind of woman she was. Rhea was the kind of woman that almost broke up the friendship with Ricardo many years ago.

'I think it's best that you just leave, I have to get home to my wife as it is, I'm already late" Leonardo grabbed his bag, trying to move past her but Rhea stopped him just as he was about to walk out of his classroom door.

'I am not as bad as you try to make me out to be" Rhea pleaded with him. Once more, her seductive smile was on full display, turning it on when she wanted to get her way. Leonardo leaned closer into Rhea's ear knowing just what he was about to say might just hurt her.

'No matter what you say, my wife will always be better than you. She is kind hearted she's precious to me and she's honest" Leonardo repeated his previous answer to her.

'I don't care what you say about her, no one can fully be innocent, no one can fully be nice" Rhea responded with venom in her voice.

'Well if you say that but I do know that my wife is all of that that and she is pure" Leonardo answered Rhea.

'If you say so but what I do know is that we all have skeletons in our closets" Rhea's words almost come as a warning to him and Leonardo was sure to check her on that, looking into her eyes, his eyes burned into her eyes knowing that he might just hurt her if she pushed her luck.

'I hope that you're not threatening me, because I do not take lightly to threats being made" Leonardo informed her with a slight edge to his voice as he warned her.

With a smile on her face Rhea lifted her hands up in as a sign of surrender. 'Oh no! Not me. I would never step on the toes of the Great and Powerful Leonardo rule Romano" Mocking him for the fact that he came from a rich family.

'Whatever it is that you know about me, I suggest it best that you keep it to yourself because the last thing I would want is for you to find out that I have a bad side to me that you do not want to mess with" Leonardo warned. If there was any confusion that Leonardo's words was a threat, his words now had confirmed it that he was in no way a coward.

The smile on Rhea's face disappeared and he liked it just like that. The last thing he wanted was for her to think that he was a push over and he would never allow her to use his wife as a weapon against him

'Ok Leonardo but I have a surprise for you—" Leonardo cut her off by lifting his own hand and placing it onto his lips as for her to keep quiet. Just like that he walked past her, pushing her out of the way and exiting the classroom. Now Rhea was left alone in an empty classroom by herself, slightly irritated that Leonardo will treat her as though she was nothing.

She paced around the interior of his classroom and sat onto his desk and pouted her lips as though she was saddened by his departure.

'Oh boy and here I was about to tell you my biggest surprise. Well, I guess you just have to find out later" she spoke to herself.