Chapter 7
KIARA
“And this is the swimming pool . . . as you can see,” I said, watching Ethan’s eyes light up when he noticed the pool and the bleachers.
It was the next day after our dinner and Ethan had agreed to join the parents’ meeting in the school, because somehow in the span of a few hours, he could be the school’s interim swim coach.
He had picked me up after lunch. Jake still hadn’t called.
I had sent him a voicemail in the morning, but he hadn’t replied.
Ethan walked around the empty swim hall, his hands in his pockets. “It reminds me of our school,” he whispered to himself, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Yes, it does,” I said and walked toward the side to show him the locker room and the small office, keeping far away from the pool, because if I tripped in these heels, I was sure I was going to ruin my beige dress which I had chosen just for the parents’ meeting.
“These are the male and female locker rooms. Mr. Davis said you can take over this office for the time being.”
The office was small, but it had a desk, shelf, and in the storage room behind it, all the necessities for swimming.
“It’s small, but you don’t have to use this if you don’t want to. You can come over to mine whenever you want,” I said, turning around.
A small gasp escaped my lips when I saw how close Ethan was standing.
I swallowed the lump in my throat when I noticed his familiar cologne.
The mild musky scent with cinnamon and something woodsy.
When I trailed my eyes over his black shirt, which was stretched across his broad shoulders, I found his dark eyes pinned on me.
It took my breath away. I forced my legs to stand and not tremble when he stared at me like that.
He took a step closer to me, my chest brushing with his shirt, and stepped around me to look around the tiny room. I released the breath I was holding and fixed my dress, noticing how big Ethan looked in the office.
I tucked my hair behind my ear when he surveyed the desk and smiled at me, “It’s perfect. Thank you, Kiara.”
I returned his smile, my heart beating faster than before. “You don’t have to thank me for it, Ethan.” I glanced at my wristwatch. “It’s time for the parent-teacher meeting. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I can ever be.”
All the kids were seated beside their parents while Ethan and I stood beside each other behind the table of the classroom.
Every teacher had to explain the syllabus regarding their subject.
I had just finished explaining my syllabus for this semester and also told the parents how they could help their kids with their academics without pressuring them into studying more.
“Any questions?” I asked, trying to ignore the way Ethan was looking at me from his side. Throughout the whole thing, I had felt his heavy gaze on me, warming my skin, but I had tried my best to stay professional and not let him affect me.
But I was failing badly. If I could, I would tie my hair in a bun and fan myself with something, because I was turning into mush.
Why is he affecting me so much?
One mother raised her hand and wriggled her eyebrows at Ethan with a dirty smile. “Who is that fine man?”
Ethan offered a smile. “Hello, I am Ethan Kane and I will volunteer here as a swim coach for a couple of months.”
One of the women said, “Oh, is it only for our kids or can we join too? I need some lessons in correcting my positions.”
I bit my lip and looked at Anya who wriggled her eyebrows at me.
Even though my cheeks were flushed, I couldn’t deny that Ethan was handsome and reeked of raw masculinity that could make any woman into a puddle if he just looked at her.
The mothers of the kids had always been playful flirts with all the male teachers, so Ethan was not an exception.
I knew this would happen. Even Anya had warned me to protect Ethan.
Now’s the time to play my role.
I announced, “Oh, look, it’s time for the one-on-one meetings, why don’t you guys come to my office?”
The kids and the adults immediately started talking among themselves while I took my files and looked at Ethan who was surveying me.
“Come with me.”
He smirked, “I thought you wanted me to stay here and look after—”
With a firm voice, I said, “I need your assistance.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Assistance, you say?”
Rolling my eyes at him, I walked to my teacher’s office, which was similar to the coach’s office but still had a bigger space. It was beside my classroom, and if I wasn’t teaching, I was in my office most of the time.
One parent after another, I talked to them about their kids and made sure both the parent and the student left the office with a smile on their lips.
Ethan sat beside me and answered parents’ questions about how they could help their kids reach Olympic trials.
I watched him explain all of it and was proud of him when he heartily talked to them.
When Anya and Andrew came, I tried my best to be professional even though we live together.
We couldn’t help it and discussed what we should have for dinner.
Once again, she invited Ethan as we were going out, and even Jake would join us.
Ethan wasn’t sure, but he promised he would let us know as soon as possible.
Only Ben was left, and his mom had called to say that they were going to be a little late, so I didn’t mind.
But I did mind when my office looked smaller than before with Ethan sitting beside me, his knees brushing with my bare legs whenever I tried to shift.
Not to mention, even sitting down, he looked tall and muscular enough to make the room look smaller.
“Hey, Kiara.”
My eyes snapped at Jake’s when he entered the office, looking between me and Ethan.
I stood up. “Jake, what are you doing here? Where have you been?” I closed my eyes and cleared my throat, “We need to talk later, today is the parent-teacher meeting.”
He stepped closer to the desk and said, “I know. I need to talk to you.” He surveyed my face, and before he could speak again, Ben rushed inside the room with a big grin on his face.
“Hello, Ms. Kiara!”
I smiled at Ben, his blue eyes sparking with delight when he saw me.
“Look, meet my daddy! Daddy, this is my favorite teacher, Ms. Kiara. Ms. Kiara, this my daddy!” Ben exclaimed, his hand holding Jake’s as he made the introduction.
I looked between Jake and Ben and Stacy, Ben’s mom, when she entered and looked at all of us.
I shook my head to clear my brain, “Jake . . . I—what did he just say?”
Jake took a deep breath, “I needed to talk to you about this. Ben is . . . my son.”
“Huh.”
My eyes were wide as I stared between my fiancé and my student.
I didn’t notice before, but looking at them side by side, they both had the striking sapphire blue eyes and I knew Ben would grow up to be as good looking as Jake.
The only difference was Ben’s hair, which was golden instead of Jake’s black curls.
“So you have a son and didn’t think it was important to tell me before . . .” I stopped, took a deep breath even though my whole body was knotted in nerves and all I wanted to do was get out of there.
I knew Stacy was Ben’s mom, so Jake and Stacy must have been together. Or they were together, judging by the way they stared at each other and back at me. I hated it. The way Jake made me feel in front of my student and Ethan.
“I am so sorry, Kiara, but we need to talk—”
I sat down, glaring at him. “Later. This is a parent-teacher meeting, and as a parent you should know that we are here to talk about Ben. Love, why don’t you sit down with your parents?” I said, addressing Ben as he seemed confused, looking between me and Jake, his father.
For the next few minutes, I tried my best to ignore Jake’s presence and acted as if he didn’t exist. I talked to Stacy and Ben, trying to remain calm because Ben didn’t know what was happening.
When Ethan made his introduction, it was curt and short, his voice clipped.
Judging by the clench in his jaw, I knew he was angry.
Did he know that Jake had a son? I clenched my hand in my lap. No, if he had, he would have told me as soon as possible. He didn’t know.
After finishing up, I gathered the papers on my desk aimlessly and let them know that the meeting had ended.
I was ready to get out of there. My skin was itching, and I wanted to do something instead of sitting there and realize that even though I was engaged to him, he didn’t have the need to explain to me about Ben.
We were getting married in a month, for God’s sake.
“Kiara, we need to talk.”
I gave him a saccharine smile, “It’s a bit late, don’t you think?”
Stacy had told Ben to go hang out with Andrew, who was still in the classroom. That meant Anya had sensed trouble when she saw Jake here and was waiting for me to finish up.
Jake’s pleading eyes met mine. “Sweetheart, please, let me explain.”
I flinched at his words and looked at my desk. “You have a son, Jake. That you forgot to mention when you slipped this ring on my finger!”
I pulled the diamond ring off and grabbing his palm, I handed it to him. “You can keep it.”
Taking my purse, I was ready to get out of there, ignoring Jake’s shocked face when Stacy stopped me.
“I know what he did was terrible, but we were together a long time ago. We didn’t know we had conceived, and we had already broken up,” Stacy said.
Her eyes were filled with sadness as she looked at me as if she understood my pain.
“He had moved to New York and was working on his career, so I didn’t tell him.
H-he found out when Ben was a year old.”
“Ben loves his father because from what I know, he talks about him every time he comes back home from his business trip,” I shook my head. “I should have known. You are either always late or miss our dates because you were with Ben.”