22 Kleenex

The launch was in full swing and so far it was going quite well. The venue was packed to maximum capacity and the whose who of show business were swarming all over the place. The tickets that were pegged at $10 000 each were sold out within a week. The press was invited obviously and they took advantage of the opportunity. I had just been interviewed and fortunately Kyle's name was not brought up during the interview.

Kyle was about to grace the stage again in a few minutes and so far the crowd's response was pretty good. We would unveil the fragrance after his last song for the night. We organised gift bags to be distributed during the after party.Rita and our PR teams were the hosts of the event so James was stuck with me tonight. We didn't get a chance to watch most of the show because we were up and down all night. Checking up with stylists and models, talking to the press, being summoned to do damage control, making small talk with invited guests and so on. We finally sat down as Rita sashayed onto the stage looking like a million bucks-well she was worth a lot more.

"Ladies and gentleman, without further ado our last performance for the night but certainly not the least-is from non other than-the multi-talented. The sexy, multi-platinum artist and producer.His Royal Hotness-Kyyle Kinleyyy!" She waved her arm, and took a bow as Kyle walked onto the stage and sat by the piano.

He was all-suited up but I think he forgot towear a shirt or something.His perfect abs glistened in the spotlight as he positioned himself. Everything about him screamed sexy. The women in the audience were openly ogling him and screaming out his name.

The lights were dimmedexcept the spotlight that focused on Kyle and his white piano.When he started to singI got goosebumps instantly and like every girl in the room it felt like he was singing only to me. He was belting out the song that we sang together when we were still in Capetown. It seemed like such a long time ago and memories flooded my mind, I started to cry without realizing it.James pulled me towards him and handed me a Kleenex. I rested my head on his shoulder and tried to gain my composure.

Suddenly Kyle stopped playing, he stood up abruptly and started walking purposefully down the stairs. He signaled for some one to bring him a mic and started looking around the audience until he spotted me at the back.

"Sorry for stopping so abruptly but- I kinda co-wrote this song with someone very special and I only found out she could like really sing the night we did it together somewhere in Capetown," he laughed lightly and the crowd joined him.He walked down the aisle, halted in front of me and held out his hand to me.

"Maya, I know you don't usually like the spotlight but can you just indulge me this once? Just for tonight?" he asked his hand still outstretched towards me. He pleaded silently with his eyes.

James nodded at me and gently nudged me forward. My stomach was in knots but I managed to smile at Kyle as I took his hand and walked towards the stage as the audience applauded.

Kyle helped me up the steps as I held up the train of my gold dress with my other hand. We sat by the piano and he leaned towards me and kissed my cheek.

"You look beautiful babe and thanks for doing this," he whispered into my ear, "Ready?"he asked as we placed our hands on the keys.

I would never be ready but I nodded and we started playing our song. I was so nervous but by some miracle I managed to keep my voice steady.It's like Kyle and I were the only ones in the room.We sang the song to each other in perfect harmony, meaning every word. When the song ended our eyes locked, then he drew me into his armsand brushed his lips over mine. Then pulled me up with him aswe took a bow.

The crowd went wild and some people were dabbing at their eyes. Guess it was a moving performance if it caused them to cry, I mean I was crying earlier.I was stunned cos we got a standing ovation and it took a while for the applause to die down.We walked to the middle of the stage and we took a bow again and the applause continued.I was about to walk of the stage when the some people in the crowd started shouting "Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!"

Kyle didn't need to be asked again he grabbed me and dipped my body low as he pressed our lips together with a lingering kiss. If the crowd went crazy before they went ape this time. Kyle kissed me until I was breathless and he pulled me back up. He winked at me and turned to smile at the crowd and announced:

"Ladies and gentleman- please give it up for my one true love and the reason why I can't sleep at night-my number one inspiration- Ama-ya Walsh!" Kyle smiled as I walked off the stage with a final wave.

I walked straight to my dressing room to try and pull myself together and rehash what just happened. Did Kyle just do that for show or did we genuinely share a moment? I was really confused. There was a soft knock on the door and I opened it to see James standing outside.

"You're okay Maya?" He asked cautiously.

"Yeah-I'm okay," I replied, still holding the door.

"You need to come out now, they're about to do the unveiling," he said, tugging on my hand and dragging me out gently.

"So..did you like the surprise?" James asked.

"You knew he was going to ambush me?!" I stopped abruptly.

"Yeah-kinda..Well Kyle said he was going topull a stunt but I didn't know how orwhen," he chuckled softly, as he casually threw his arm over my shoulder.

"We will talk about this later," I hissed as we walked back to our seats.Kyle was already seated at our table and he pulled me onto his lap.

"Can we talk later?" he whispered in my ear. His breath caused my body to tingle.

"Yeah, sure," I smiled back. He lifted my hand to his lips and he kissed it. I put my arm round his neck and he held my other hand, while we watched the unveiling.

There were dancers prancing around a marble pillar was placed in the middle of the stage and was covered with a shimmery-blue cloth.. The lights were dimmed once again and the spotlight focused on Rita and two people from our PR department. They were animatedly describing the new fragrance and building momentum before they unveiled it. They had started a slide show describing the essence behind the fragrance. Then there was a very riveting advert that grabbed everyone's attention. It showed Kyle in all his glory-singing, surfing, laughing. Basically it was just Kyle being Kyle. I noticed close to the end, they managed to slip in a pic of me and Kyle sitting on the beach as we watched the sunset. He was probably behind that.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This is the moment we have all been waiting for.. please allow me to introduce the latest fragrance from the House of Maya-KYLE!" Rita and the team pulled off the sheet to revealan enlarged sample of the fragrance, encased in a glass box.It was packaged in a deep blue bottle and the neck was encrusted in silver.A swoon-worthy ,smoking-hot poster of a topless Kyle, with rivulets of water cascading all over him from his hair right down to his taut torso, popped up on the screen.

Kyle stood up and pulled me up with him. "It's our time to shine babe," Kyle winked and kissed me on the cheek.

As we made our way back to the stage the crowd stood up and applauded once again. Whistling and cheering us on as we walked towards the stage. Kyle held onto my hand as we gave the vote of thanks.

"Good evening everyone. We just wanted to say thank you all-so much- for your overwhelming support. Not only tonight but over the years. We are so humbled and honored that you came out tonight.Thank you so much."More applause. I handed over the mic to Kyle.

"This album has been quite a journey-on a long rocky road,"he laughs, "As some of you may know..I worked on this album while I was lying on a hospital bed after I had woken up from a coma," the crowd gasped, "I'm grateful for the gift of life and I'm grateful to all of you but most of all I'm grateful for this amazing woman standing here-right next to me. She is beautiful both on the inside and the outside. I don't know what I did to deserve her but I'm not complaining " he laughed along with the audience andturned to face me with a serious look on his face.

"Maya, I know I may not show it but-I appreciate you so, so much babe-and I'm glad we ran into each other in the most unexpected place," He smiles, "Babe, you kept me going through a very dark period in my life, when I was about to give up and everyone had lost hope that I'd ever see the sun again. You saw me at my worst at my lowest-but you never left my side..and for that I am eternally grateful to you. I love you babe," he said as he put his hands round my waist and kissed my forehead.

"And I Iove you too babe," My arms automatically went round his neck and with tears in my eyes, we kissed again. There were very few dry eyes in the audience by this time, everyone ahhed and awwed at Kyle's touching speech. A teary Rita and Andrew chose that precise moment to come back on stageto come and give the final vote of thanks and we quickly made our exit.