Chapter 6
KIARA
Ethan was right, there were gulab jamuns for dessert after dinner.
Jake invited him to sit with us when the dinner was announced, but he let us know that something urgent came up and he had to leave.
Jake brushed it off, but I had spent eighteen years of my life with Ethan.
I knew he was lying. He left because he didn’t want to create anymore tension between us, especially as I was engaged to Jake.
“Hey, you have been thinking a lot.” Jake’s words snapped me out of my stream of thoughts, and I turned to him as he drove the car. “You okay, sweetheart?”
We were going back to his house for the night, and my gut tightened into a ball and I didn’t know why. He entwined his hand with mine and kissed my knuckles.
I smiled at him, squeezing his warm hand and adoring the ring on his finger. “I am more than okay. But I never thought I would see Ethan there.”
Jake held my hand as we walked into his cozy house. Pictures of us smiling at each other framed in the bookshelf we had cleared last week, because I was going to move in with him soon, and he wanted to offer me as much space for books as he could.
“If you want to talk, I am here to listen, Kiara,” he whispered, kissing my neck.
I took a deep breath and turned around. His blue eyes were dark under the dim lights of his house. I tipped on my toes and pecked his lips. “I am going to go take a shower.”
Upstairs, in the master bedroom ensuite, I had kept the door open for him to join me if he wanted to, but he hadn’t. In a way, I was thankful that he didn’t. I needed some time to think.
I met Ethan tonight. Ethan Kane. The boy I loved, who had grown into a mature, handsome man. I closed my eyes, trying to keep my emotions at bay. I had left him. He wasn’t mad at me, he was disappointed, but now he had come to terms with it.
Shaking my head, I changed into one of Jake’s t-shirts and let my wet hair down. I needed to stop thinking about him. Yes, we had a history together, but I was engaged to Jake. I am getting married to him next month, I need to focus on that.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, Jake was still in his suit, removing the cufflinks and talking to someone on the phone.
I smiled at him and he smiled back mouthing ‘I love you,’ which made me giggle.
He went back to answering the person on the phone while I hung up the dress that I had worn tonight in his closet, now, our closet space as he had helped me clear it up last week.
Only my dress, a box of tampons and a few pairs of underwear were here.
I would move my things from the apartment next week so that Anya and Andrew would have plenty of time to shift into their new home, and I wanted to help them as well after the wedding.
I was reading a fantasy romance with only the lamp on when Jake stepped out of the bathroom smelling clean and manly with a musky scent.
I wasn’t surprised when he gathered me in his lap and kissed me.
Cupping his cheeks, I kissed him back. I wanted to cherish his gentle touch on my thighs, his warm breath on my neck when he tasted my skin, but I couldn’t.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I pulled away from him. “Babe, can we not?”
He looked at me for a while, surprised by what I had just said. He kissed my forehead and placed me down on the bed, “It’s about seeing Ethan today, isn’t it?”
“I am sorry, but I am overwhelmed right now.”
“Don’t apologize for it, love,” he massaged my skin, holding me close. “Tell me, why are you overwhelmed?”
I thought about it. I was overwhelmed because I didn’t expect to feel those emotions rush in as soon as I laid my eyes on him.
I was overwhelmed because he knew everything about me, my secrets, read it and didn’t run away when he saw me.
I was overwhelmed because I wanted him to be angry at me and push me away, but he didn’t.
I was overwhelmed because he had accepted and understood my decision to leave him and told me that it made me into a better person.
I was overwhelmed because he missed me. I was overwhelmed because I had missed him more.
Instead, I replied, “We were best friends before it grew into something more.” I paused before whispering, “We lost our virginity to each other.”
“Ah, so you were high school sweethearts?”
“You could say that.”
Jake’s lips curled. I leaned closer, “What? Why are you smiling like that?”
He turned to me, still smiling, but now that smile turned into a sad smile as he tucked my hair behind my ear. “I lost my virginity to my high school sweetheart, too. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out. We both wanted different things.”
Huh, he never told me that before. But again, I hadn’t told him about my first time with Ethan.
I grinned at him, “You wanted to be a basketball champion.”
“Damn, right,” he stopped smiling and cupped my cheek. “Look where I am now.”
I held his hand and snuggled closer to him. “You are one of the world’s best models and one of the sweetest men I know, Jake O’Neal.” Peering into his eyes, I kissed his cheek with a small smile, “I am proud to be getting married to you.”
He stayed silent for a while, watching me with his dark eyes before pulling me closer to his side.
“I love you,” he whispered, kissing my head.
“I love you, too.”
“What? More books?” Jake asked, shocked when I lifted the duvet and the cover of my bed and pulled out the boxes of my books which I had kept underneath the bed because I had no space to keep them.
“How many more are there? Should I check the attic?”
I snorted, opening up the box. “We don’t have an attic in the apartment, Jake. Come on, help me with them. You promised you would.”
He huffed and sat beside me on the floor. “I was thinking more of finding your old pictures, diaries, and even lingerie.”
His look was heated when he whispered the last word, making me shiver.
“I already packed most of them except my lingerie and books,” I replied and awed at the old Harry Potter book set my mom had bought me on my birthday.
It was old but still held so many memories.
Memories of me and Ethan sprawled on my bed or my bedroom floor reading books together, guessing each other’s Hogwarts house.
It was Friday afternoon. As the classes were over before noon, I had called Jake over to help me pack all my stuff for the move. Anya would have helped, but she was in her office and had called in to make sure Jake and Andrew were behaving.
“Is that Harry Potter?!” Andrew exclaimed, rushing into my room and leaning down to see the books with his big brown eyes.
I grinned at him and let him see the books. “My mom gifted it to me when I was ten.”
He grinned at me, “No way! My mom gifted it to me too. I love Ron Weasley!”
Our book fangirling came to a stop when my cell phone started ringing. As I was on the floor, Jake passed it to me from the dresser. Not before seeing the name flashing on the screen and raising his brows at me. I saw the name and my heart came to a halt.
I picked it up, “Hello?”
“Hey, Bella, what are you doing right now?”
My cheeks burned under Jake’s eyes as I replied, “Oh, um, I am packing my things and books with Jake. I have to move into his house next week.”
Ethan didn’t reply for a second, and I heard a shuffling on his side. He finally said, “Oh, that’s good. I called you to meet up with you. We can do this later if you’re busy.”
I almost forgot about this. Okay, I am lying.
I didn’t forget about this. We had been texting each other since that gala, and even Jake was happy that we both were getting back on speaking terms. Jake presented the idea of meeting up with Ethan and catching up with him, so we had been planning to meet up even though I turned into a nervous wreck whenever I saw a text from Ethan.
This was the first time he called me.
I looked at Jake who was smiling at me with a raised brow and he mouthed at me, ‘Call him over.’ I stared at my fiancé and back at the phone in my hand.
Taking a deep breath, I pressed it back to my ear and said, “I-if you don’t mind, why don’t you come over?”
God, I sounded like a nervous teenager asking her crush to hang out at her place when her parents were away.
I held my breath and waited for Ethan to reply.
“To your apartment?”
Even he was confused by my offer.
“Yes, if you want.”
I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “Text me the address, I will be there in half an hour.”
I sent him the address and exhaled a deep breath after keeping my phone aside. I waved off Jake’s grin. “Stop smiling like that.” I paused and narrowed my eyes at him. “Why do you want me to get along with him so bad?”
Jake came closer and pinched my cheeks until I batted his hands away. “Because I know he is important to you, and I know he is a good man despite what the media says. I would like you to have him as your friend because our wedding is next month, and I have already invited him.”
I knew that, we had already talked about it.
I also knew how many tabloids turned him into a person he was not.
Yes, he had a wonderful taste in dating a new woman every month, but that didn’t mean he was a heartless player.
Not once had I read an article that his relationships were bitter with any of the women he dated.
Paparazzi only shared what they wanted with their audience to feel about him.
He had a bad rep as he had punched one of the famous reporters, Richard something.
But I knew he wouldn’t just go around punching reporters for no reason.
Ethan arrived at the apartment sooner than expected, and it was Andrew who opened the door, exclaiming, “Hey, Kiara! An Olympic Swimmer is at our door. And he is asking for you.”
“Andrew, let him in! He is my friend.”