My Mr. Perfect, Imperfect

Chapter 20: First Kiss

"Find out who that woman is." Walter told his son.

"Yes, Dad." Ace replied him respectfully.

"Make sure you pay close attention to see if she's connected to the chairman in any way." Walter added.

"Sure, dad." Ace replied with his head, bowed to the ground the way a responsible son would.

"Just what kind of plan is that old geezer hatching this time?" Walter hissed as he walked back into his office.

Mr. and Mrs. Damien, hardly spend time at home. What they do is work, work and work, but they aren't successful with it. All they wanted was Jade's downfall so, probably, he wouldn't take over BB Company. BB Company is what everyone wants for themselves and the power lies with and within the chairman. Only the chairman.

Ace cast a brief look at his dad as he felt so disappointed.

"Do you not care in anything else, dad?" He smuggled with a little smile, but his dad walked away with deaf ears.

As a child, Ace had been taught and brought up by his parents to always compete with Jade, to be better off. But deep inside him was something different. Something no one could figure out. Even Ace himself.

***

"So who's Fire? Is it you?" Excitement laced Jade's eyes as he asked.

"Wow! You're annoyingly stubborn, Jade! Won't you forget about that?" She jeered at him.

"Fine, yes. I'm Fire. Everyone at home calls me that. But that's not what is important now."

"Fire? Why is it Fire, though? Is it because you were naughty as a child or you because you easily get pissed off? Fire, huh? The nickname suits you." he mimicked.

"Why wouldn't it? It was coined from my original name, Sapphire. And please, that wasn't made for you to use though." She warned.

"Fire. When a man and a woman are dating, they call each other with beautiful nicknames. Can I call you Fire?" Jade mocked at Sapphire as she stared at him speechlessly.

"Are you really going to say that?" She wailed. "You're making my skin crawl, is it because you're super old?"

Jade took a gander look at Sapphire. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Did you just call me super old? 32 isn't super old, you know? What kind of bullshit is this?!" He widened his eyes as he corrected her.

"I'm still in the midst of enjoying my youth, you know."

"Oh, sure. Whatever you say. Geez!" Sapphire covered up. "But you've started speaking so informal to me." She reminded him.

"I'm nine whole years older than you. So I'm super old, you see." Jade scoffed and smirked at her.

The weather was cold and misty. Going outside, they noticed that it was rainy.

"It's a sudden downpour. It'll be over soon." Jade muttered, looking at the dark, night sky clouded above them like a canopy.

"And how do you know that?" She asked out of curiosity.

He looked at Sapphire with a smile. "Because I've experienced them a lot. When I was in my teens and my twenties. And now, I'm in my thirties..."

Saying this, Jade got lost in staring at the shimmer in her eyes. She suddenly looked so changed and different, from the first time he'd met her. It's barely two weeks now, and he's fond of her already. Sapphire's crystal blue eyes were fixed on his as well. She felt tears, pricking in her eyes as they made a magical eye contact. Sapphire looked away almost immediately, scared of what might happen next. It was cold, but her hands suddenly felt sweaty and her heart, heated.

"Umm... Let's go." Jade grabbed her into his arms as they ran towards his car under the rain. She pushed him away but he held her still.

"Oh my, it's freezing!" Sapphire chuckled as they ran towards his car.

After tighten up his seatbelt, Jade hit the road with his white Benz. Looking at his wristwatch, he saw that it was 11:59 p.m already. It's so late, the road was kinda empty but Jade took Sapphire home.

"Park here, it's enough!" She ordered him.

"I know. I'm not going to drop you off right in front of your house." He replied to her and stopped the car.

"That reminds me!" She muttered and checked her handbag. Sapphire brought out the two keyholders from earlier.

She looked at both of them and pondered on which one to take.

Sapphire loves pink so she held the pink one to herself and handed the blue keyholder over to Jade.

"Take this." She gave it to him, and he collected it, staring at the teddy like a child.

"I don't really want to give it to you, but..."

"You bought this for me?" He asked.

"It wasn't that expensive. But that was the first documentary I've ever watched." She smiled.

Jade glanced at her own pink keyholder and collected it. He gave her the blue one.

"These look like a couple keychains. So, why would you keep the one with your initials? It's meaningful if you have the other person's initials." He looked at her and smiled. "We're dating after all."

"No! I bought this for myself!"

"I paid for them, remember? Stop acting like you're the real owner! So in reality, this was actually a gift from me to you!" He hissed.

Sapphire rolled her eyes at him annoyingly and sluggishly, she threw the blue keychain into her bag.

"What are you doing? Aren't you getting out?"

"It's the first day I'm entering your car, and you're already acting rude? Don't provoke me!" She warned.

"If you don't want me to do all those couple stuffs with you. Can I rest in your room for a while and stretch my body a bit before going home?" Jade asked in an innocent voice.

"Oh, geez! I'm getting out, okay?! Stretch your back? As if!" She clamoured.

Jade tried not to laugh out loud. She sounded so funny the way she said it.

"Well, thanks for today. Half of today, actually." She told him.

"Half?" He raised an eyebrow.

"It's because of my love for Gabby. Else, I wouldn't have worried about you forcing me to watch that super boring, space documentary, or you threatening me?"

"That was my promise to you, wasn't it?"

"Well, that might be true but thanks to your grandfather. Everything turned out just fine. I may not know what he looks like but please, thank him for me." She muttered as she unbuckled the seatbelt.

Jade grabbed her hand firmly.

"You really don't know him? You mean, you don't know my grandpa, the chairman? I'd like it if you revealed the truth to me now."

"Have people ever lied to you your whole life? We're you born being so doubtful of others or were you emotionally damaged as a child? I'm suspecting that it's the later, for sure."

"Emotionally damaged?" He frowned.

"Geez!" Sapphire sighed as she opened the door. Jade eyed her as she jumped out of his car.

She knocked on the glass, signalling him to wind down, and he did.

There was a bright smile on her face. Probably in between the fake and the scary one.

"See you next week Mr. CEO. Get home safely." She leaned closer, like a good girlfriend that she isn't. "Again, don't waste energy on coming up with fantastical assumptions. Just get some sleep. You're super old after all. Bye now." She waved at him and walked away.

Jade watched as she walked into the darkness, then he drove away.

After a while, he stared at the pink teddy keyholder by his side. He looked at it closely as a smile spread across his lips. He looked so happy, but the smile only lasted for a minute.

'Everything about that girl is so funny. Awkwardly funny, actually.' he thought.

Just then, his eyes caught up with some keys hanged to it.

On the other side of the boat, Sapphire reached home and deepened her hands into her bag to take out the keys. Just then, she found out that she's with the blue keyholder, and she'd fixed her keys on the pink one.

"Oh no! I left something behind again! Damn it, Fire! Ughh!" She cried and rushed outside, maybe she would still find Jade.

The road looked so silent and empty.

"Umm... What should I do? Should I call him or not?" She asked herself, confusedly.

'No! He'll definitely say he wants to stretch his back again.' she thought.

Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps and key clinging. Sapphire turned back immediately as she caught Jade walking towards her with the keys in his hand.

"Lost but found." He smiled.

She smiled and walked to him with a sign of relief on her face.

"I think you'd left! Thank you so much for coming back." She tried to collect it, but he hid it as his back.

"Like seriously, you think I'm going to leave now?" He asked. "It's not like I lack common sense. Well, we're moving a bit fast since this was our first date and all. But if that's what Fire wants, then..." Jade wrapped his arms around her waist. Sapphire pulled away instantly.

"Whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" She frowned at him, feeling flushed.

"Didn't you do this on purpose? Huh? I know you're trying to seduce me. You did all these, it won't be proper for me to ignore your efforts." He placed his hands on her body again, but she flinched.

"What are you even talking about? Who's seducing who? It was an honest mistake, okay? Perhaps, you changed the keys." She explained. "Give me my keys, I'm so tired and dizzy. I need to sleep."

"Come and get your keys from me." He joked and raised his hand up. Knowing fully well that she won't be able to reach his height.

Sapphire jumped over and over again, trying to read for her keys, but she couldn't. Jade was about 10 inches taller than her. She managed to grab his shoulder and jump but mistakenly, their lips touched. It felt like a dream when Sapphire widened her eyes out of shock and fear. Again, she fixed her eyes on his as he stared at her pink, full lips. It looked so soft and moist that he really wanted to taste it.

Then, Jade scooted over to her, his Coconut-brown eyes filled with a smoldering passion as he came closer and closer, until he was less than an inch away from her. Sapphire’s heart was thumping hard, and her soft, freckled cheeks were a fiery shade of red. Jade placed his strong hands gently on her small shoulders, and lowered his face to hers. His forehead touching hers, he brought his lips to hers, and he kissed her gently, pressing his mouth to hers, giving her a short but fast, gentle kiss. Sapphire's heart started throbbing so loud until she could feel it no more. As if it was now in her stomach, it gave a rubbing sound.

Although, Sapphire tried to conceal it, but failed aimlessly. A crooked smile spread across Jade's lips as he heard the pumping sound of her heartbeat. And the shock in her glittering blue eyes.