Chapter 100 Housewarming
Verena
“Did you tell Mr. Daxton, you’re coming with me to my boyfriend’s housewarming?”
I did a simple nod of my head. “Yeah. I texted but he hasn’t responded yet. We should leave now,”
Emily recently got into a relationship with someone she met on a blind date and surprisingly, he bought a house in the same neighborhood where I lived with Daxton. Since we were in the same area, Emily thought it was the perfect opportunity for me to meet her man so I was forced to tag along.
As we both walked on the curb, heels clicking on it, I said. “Does he know that I’m coming?”
She peeked into the bag where the potted plant was. “Sure. He’s been waiting to meet you too. I think you two will get along,”
We took a few turns here and there, curved corners until we were stopped in front of a modern two-story house, golden lights brightening the surroundings.
With the expensive cars that lined the entrance, it suddenly hit me that this wasn’t a small gathering as I had thought.
“Do you think he would like my gift,” I could see the anxiety in Emily’s eyes as she glanced into the bag with uncertainty in her eyes.
I smiled, hand resting on her shoulder. “Come on. He is your man and he will surely like whatever you give to him,”
She shook her head. “My emotions are going all over the place. I read a post online about how a man broke up with his girlfriend because of her gift choice. She gave him Pirarucu boots,”
I should be encouraging my friend, but instead, I couldn’t help the bouts of laughter that escaped me. If someone gave me Pirarucu boots as a gift, I would break up with them too.
Emily frowned. “Verena, it isn’t funny,”
I covered my mouth with my hand, stifling my laugh. “If he breaks up with you over a gift, it just means that he isn’t right for you,”
“I want him to be right for me,” she pouted while I walked her to the door, ringing the doorbell.
“Don’t worry, things will go well and if it doesn't, it is his loss,”
She chuckled.
The door opened and we were welcomed by a swarm of noises and the house was devastatingly beautiful. I gasped at the artworks that were hung on the wall—completely stunned.
This place could be mistaken for an Art Gallery.
I removed my phone from the bag swung over my shoulders, ready to take a picture of one of the portraits that particularly caught my interest when Emily’s voice freezes me in place.
“Isn’t that your douchebag ex-husband, Kian Cooper?” She swung her head to me while I raised a brow, craning my neck to follow her line of sight when I saw Kian, sitting on an armchair—laughing.
I had hardly processed what was going on when someone suddenly pulled Emily into a hug. And that someone? Kian’s secretary, Jaden.
My brain stopped working for a second.
Jaden’s black eyes slashed to mine, a flicker of surprise in them. “Verena?”
That was when Emily pulled back while I blinked, still trying to figure out what the fuck was happening.
Emily spun. “You know her?”
Jaden’s hands wrapped around Emily’s waist as he drew her closer to him. “Yes. She is my boss’s ex-wife,”
Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. “By your boss. You mean, Kian?”
Was she kidding me? How could she not know where he was working?
Kian’s voice echoed in my ears. “Did someone mention my name?”
Jaden and Emily turned to him and Kian pointed at Emily, his brows knitting. “You look familiar. I think I’ve met you before. You are—”
That was when his eyes cut to mine as he froze and stopped swirling the drink in his hand.
Kian’s eyes bled into a lighter shade. “Verena,” he called softly, like he enjoyed tasting my name’s syllables.
Something definitely wasn’t adding up with this situation.
“Wow, what a coincidence. I had no idea you and Emily were friends,” Jaden let out a breathy laugh and ushered us inside with Emily constantly throwing apologetic looks at me.
I knew she was sorry. If she knew that Jaden was Kian’s employee, and there were chances of him being here, she wouldn’t have brought me here.
I sat on the couch, wine in one hand as my eyes coasted over to Jaden and Emily as he cupped her face and kissed her softly.
The more I stared at them, the more my heartstrings weirdly tugged at me because the last time I checked, wasn't Jaden engaged to his high-school lover?
Or had they broken up?
No. Something was definitely wrong. I just couldn’t place what it was. At the same time, I couldn’t help but notice how dissociated Jaden was and how poor Emily was constantly over him.
Like now, he had her in his arms and he was zoning out again and—
“Hey,” Kian’s voice touched my ears, grating on my nerves as I frowned and downed the rest of my wine.
“Don’t even think about talking to me,” I said, standing up to sit at the other couch by the window, and from where I sat—
Something made my chest squeeze. I could see Daxton and I’s house up close.
Kian was already sitting next to me. “Verena, I honestly didn’t expect to see you here,”
Me neither.
“What in the ‘do not talk to me’ do you not understand?” My grip tightened around the glass.
“I wanted to talk about that night that I called you and asked for something ridiculous. It wasn’t me. It was the alcohol speaking through me. I’m sorry, Verena,”
Kian and accountability? I huffed.
I finally stared him in the eye. “Maybe this is your cue to stop drinking because the next time you tell me such, I will find you and hit you on the face,”
A small smile pulled on his lips. “I think I will love that,”
I stared at him in disbelief, obviously done with this conversation. Twenty more minutes and I’ll leave.
My phone pinged with a message notification from Daxton. “A housewarming? Where in the neighborhood are you?”
I smiled, about to type a response when I noticed someone’s gaze on my phone. My fingers halted halfway as I glanced at Kian whose jaw tightened so hard a muscle twitched. Then, he glanced up at me and beamed at me with a smile.
“Do you want me to get you more wine?
No, thanks.
I dropped my chin into my palm. “Kian, I know my way to the wine cellar. Now please leave me alone,”
Kian nodded, stood to his feet, and stalked away. In less than a minute, he was back but this time, he was sitting with a woman. Jaden’s aunt?
She sat next to Kian while I tried to respond to Daxton only for my phone’s battery to die. No charger in sight too. Great.
I leaned back into the couch, thinking of crashing the kitchen and feasting on the desserts when I noticed the way Jaden’s aunt clasped her hand around Kian. The sad smile on Kian’s face too.
“I’m just glad that you’re okay, Mr. Kian. I kept worrying about you when I saw the news about how Miss Zita faked her pregnancy,”
Kian sighed. “It was one of the devastating periods of my life but I am trying to move past it. It just broke me because I really looked forward to having children again since I lost my first baby before she could even come to the world,” his voice cracked.
My heart dropped.
His first child. Our child.
I couldn’t help the sudden jolting of my heart as I remembered my baby for the first time in a while. With me in his arms while his hand rested on my stomach, we would argue about her names.
He wanted Lottie. I wanted Nora. We would laugh and fight about it until I slowly fell asleep.
The knot in my chest tightened.
After that devastating period of our lives where I had lost the baby forming inside of me and my womb, I lulled my brain into believing that something like that never happened. I had completely erased it from my memory although I seldom remembered it.
But this sharp reminder of what I had lost suddenly made me feel sick to my stomach.
One more minute here and the tears would fall.
I swallowed back the lump in my throat, putting my phone into my bag as I stood up. “I’m leaving, Emily,” I shouted.
Kian suddenly rushed to his feet. “You’re leaving. Did I do something…” then he stepped back and gasped. “Oh My God, you heard what I said?”
I shook my head, forcing a smile. “No. I heard nothing,” I said, trying to fight back the tears.
Emily walked over to me, touching my arm. “Verena, leaving so soon. Are you okay? Do you want me to call an Uber?”
Kian spoke before I could. “She didn’t come with a car? Do you want me to take you home?”
“No!” I said sharply—almost snapping at him. “I will take a bus,”
The last thing I wanted was for Kian to know where I lived and worse, in the same neighborhood as his secretary.
Emily quickly understood what I was trying to do and played along. “Do I walk you to the bus stop,”
“No, spend more time with Jaden but don't forget to show up to work early,” My head was all over the place.
The moment I stepped outside and released a long breath, I broke down in tears and cried all the way home.