Just One Kiss

Chapter 15

China began pacing around her house, the one which she shared with the man that she had planned to spend the rest of her life with, and no longer felt at home. Everybody had seen the tabloids.

Exclusive: Billionaire With A New Beau? FlorenTech Founder Caught Kissing Mysterious Woman.

Her phone had not stopped going off with Duke and Daisy messaging her dozens of times to ask for the dirt. Thankfully, her face was hidden in the photo, so nobody could place that it was her. She made her way through the house to the guest bedroom, which her and Charles had instantly fallen in love with when viewing the house for the first time. They planned for that room to be for their child when the time came.

She walked down the hallways, viewing the rows and rows of various trophies and awards they she both won over their careers that decorated the plain white walls. They all felt like a stepping stone to where China stood, but she no longer found them to shine like they used to.  At the end of the hallway in a glass casing was Charles rugby jersey, which had been signed by his teammates at their last circuit before his retirement.

She remember that day, where his team lifted him in cheers, causing the crowd to echo his name over and over as a tears rolled down his cheeks, saying goodbye to the sport that he loved. Once the boys put him down, he ran to China, who had been standing on the side, jumping and cheering his name as she wore his green and yellow team jacket. Kissing her, he whispered in her ear over the roar of the crowd " It's time to begin the rest of our lives".

She had been so excited in that moment, so in love. Now as she looked back on it, it didn't seem all that exciting anymore. She sighed and she turned back, grabbing her keys from the front door and leaving to meet with Daisy for a drink.

After a few shots and a quick catch up between the girls, who had been joined by Duke and Marjorie, the conversation inevitably moved to the hunky billionaire, which China had been dreading. She stayed mute as Duke recounted his time with Nicolas to the rest of the table.

As he spoke, tears began to blur China's vision.

"Are you okay" Daisy asked, putting her hand on top of China's with a concerned look on her face. "Why are you crying?"

After a small sob and a quick breathe, she finally mumbled and said "it was meant to be just a kiss."

"What the hell are you talking about? What's going on" Daisy asked, the other two at the table now turned to her with mirrored looks of concern.

"It's me, in the exclusive. That's me." The table went mute, the only sound being the bar around them.

The looks on their faces were identical as it sentence slowly began to sink in. Their expressions went from confusion to understanding to their mouths dropping open,  gasping in understanding and shock.

"Oh boy" Duke sighed.

"You kissed him" Daisy asked. China nodded, downing the rest of her wine.

"How did I not see this coming" Duke asked himself, still in disbelief.

"When did it start" Marjorie asked.

"In Indiana."

"Indiana?" all their jaws dropped lower, if that seemed possible. She began to relayed to them her story with Nico from the beginning to the end, from the first encounter at the gala to the kiss goodbye in the lobby of the hotel in Barcelona. 

"Again, how did I miss all of this" Duke exclaimed once she had finished.

"Firstly" Daisy said after a moment and a deep breath, "I need a cigarette." She called the waiter and ordered a pack as she finished the rest of her cocktail.