Page 47 of Unfolding Kiara

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.”

---