My First Kiss

Chapter 3: The Other Side of the Story

Jake felt like a jerk after accidentally hitting the woman in the airport on his way to his flight. To make things worse, the woman happens to be Amelia Wilson.

Amelia Wilson. She literally looked like an angel the first time he saw her at school. She was wearing a black crop top and jeans, with a small backpack and a book on hand. 

There were many cute girls in school back then and each one of them had their eyes on him. However, Amelia was different. She looked naive but independent. Amelia looked gentle, but with a hint of fierceness if you’ll take time to look deeply into her eyes. For once in his life, he doubted himself on whether he could have her.

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Jake Murphy, the bastard son, the bad boy on campus, Mt. Untouchable. He had a bad reputation at school that girls around him find adorable. He can literally get away with murder with his current status.

His status. After being raised by her mom for 15 years, without a father in the picture, he was surprised and caught off guard one afternoon when his father picked him up in his high school.

The face was quite familiar. The man is Robert Wilshire. He frequently sees the man in the business section of the daily paper that her mom reads. He was a famous real estate developer, socialist, and philanthropist who belonged to the most famous families in Los Angeles. He owned several schools in different states in the country.

His wife and son died a few years back, from a freak accident. His wife Jane picked Josh, the couple's son from school, and was on their way to the park. Out of nowhere, a thick fog appeared and made it difficult for Jane to drive to their destination. They were found in a ditch, dead after the car fell off from the road and exploded.

It was a tragic story. They were a lovely family. Josh was a genius and has always been loved by the public. Jane was even more dashing. She was the perfect wife. She graced social gatherings and worked for several charities and nonprofit organizations in America as well as in less fortunate areas in Africa.

It was the day after his 15th birthday. He was asked by his teacher to go to the principal’s office during his first subject after the lunch break. Confused, he went there and was surprised to see his mom and Robert, talking with the school director.

“There he is,” Director Adams stood up pointing at him standing at the door. “Jake, your mom is here and I think she needs to talk to you about something. I will step out for a few minutes so you three can have some privacy.” Director Adams continued while grabbing his jacket from his seat.

All went silent when Director Adams left and closed the door.

“Jake. This is your father, Robert Wilshire.” Her mom finally spoke.

Jake felt a stinging pain in his chest.  It felt like someone had just punched him on there. He was lost for words and was just staring at his mom. He did not notice the tears that were starting to fall from his cheeks.

“As much as I would like to bring you home and talk about this in a more private setting,” her mom continued. “It is not ideal for Robert to be seen in places like..”

“Places like what? Like the slums?” Jake managed to find his voice.

“Jake,” her mom calmly replied. “Please understand, Robert has a reputation to protect....”

“A bad reputation to hide,” he sarcastically replied.

“I am sorry Jake.” Robert, in his deep voice, finally joined in the conversation. “I would explain the situation as straightforward as I can.”

“Explain what?” Jake once again interrupted.

“Please try to understand that I never knew that you existed. Your mom never mentioned you. I just saw her name in one of the books that I was reading and read about you. She never told me anything about you. If I only knew..”

“If you knew then you wouldn’t have that perfect little family of yours,” Jake cut him off.

“That is enough Jake,” her mother almost shouted at him. “You are very out of line.”

He gave the two of them a piercing look before he got up and dashed outside the Director’s office.

---

Jake’s thoughts went back to the present as he arrived at his hotel. His father has a nice home just outside Los Angeles but he preferred to stay in the hotel just to enjoy the liberty of not being around with too many people serving and looking after his every need.

He wanted alone time for himself, especially now that he had a lot of thinking to do. 

He was already expecting to see Amelia here in Los Angeles. He was the “silent partner” of Blooming Rose, one of the upcoming hotel chains in America. His joint venture with his friend Nathan Fields started out as a small Bed & Breakfast business that eventually evolved into a full-blown hospitality venture. 

Nathan was about to meet Amelia in a few days. Amelia is currently the CEO and owner of Ayana Designs, an interior design company that has been gracing a lot of home and style magazines in  Beverly Hills. She is scheduled to pitch in her presentation for the proposed design that her company did for Blooming Rose. If approved, her company would be the exclusive design and interior of over 50 hotels that are slated to open in different key cities in America for the next two years.

Jake didn’t initially know about Amelia being the CEO of Ayana Designs. He only received an introductory copy of the presentation just a few days ago where he noticed the familiar name.

With the help of the internet, he managed to track Amelia’s life for the past decade. She became a successful interior designer just a few years after graduation and managed to build a company on her own.

He was happy to discover all the successes that came into Amelia’s way. The naive sweet girl was indeed fierce and strong inside and eventually bloomed into a powerful independent woman.

He was supposed to attend the presentation together with Nathan. However, after discovering Amelia’s involvement with the project, he decided to have Nathan handle the deal on his own. He did enough damage to the girl back when they were still young. He did not want to put Amelia in a compromising situation, especially with this big project that is most likely a done deal with her company.

However, he was caught by surprise to see her in the airport, bumping into her in the most awkward situation possible only to discover that they were bound to sit for hours side by side on his flight to Los Angeles.

He tried to keep a safe distance. He pretended to be busy with something with his computer up until he noticed that Amelia was already sleeping soundly in the seat beside him. He spent the whole flight looking at her, reliving the treasured moments that they had back when they were teenagers.

However, he couldn’t help himself and suddenly transformed into a chatterbox when they were about to leave the plane. He just felt that he needed to talk to her longer, to see her again, to be with her again, or just sit beside her again.

He was just about to step out of his car when he saw Amelia coming out of a cab parked a few cars away from him. The driver helped her unload her bags and he silently spied on her as he entered the hotel. 

“Things are getting more interesting,” he muttered to himself.