Although I couldn’t see him, I could imagine Kyle squirming and suffering endlessly through that. While I wouldn’t call myself a sadist, it did amuse me to see him suffer. Unfortunately for him, there seemed to be a very dark spot in my heart, and I must have been a mean person. I could have easily told him something to reassure him, but I didn’t feel the slightest urge to say anything that would ease his pain or worries. “I don’t know anything. Maybe, just like you, I’m just Ace’s plaything. So, he doesn’t tell me much. If you want to know anything, you should just ask your wife...or you can simply just watch the news,” I replied lightly. “Rina…” he growled, and I could feel his anger.A part of me wished that I could see his face at that moment. Even though I knew that I had nothing to gain from his apparent suffering apart from my own satisfaction, I still couldn’t find it in me to help him. “My name is Karina,” I replied coldly. I did wonder what else he had to say to me, but
“I’m sorry that this happened, and you have to worry so much,” Ace apologized softly.His hand moved to stroke my hair while I listened to his steady heartbeat. The regular rhythm of his hand stroking my hair and the sureness of his presence helped to calm me down. “It’s not your fault so why are you apologizing?” I asked as I hugged him a little tighter to me. “We should have been more careful, Elizabeth and I…” he replied calmly. “The photos were of that night when you two came back together, right?” I asked. “That’s right but then there are many others as well. Of course, all of them taken out of context…” Ace said before letting out a sigh that sounded so regretful. I agreed that when taken out of context the photos of them together made them look like the perfect couple. Given the history that they were engaged before, I could understand that people would have biased view when seeing those photos. Photos of them sitting together or just walking side-by-side could be misinter
“She’s not the type to just sit down silently and take it so I’m sure that she’s demanding for the truth from her father as we speak,” he said before letting out a long sigh. “It’s just so hard for me to believe that he would go this far. It’s just crazy…” I complained outrightly. “It may seem so to you but it’s not unusual to get the press and the public involved to apply pressure,” Ace stated like it was completely normal. “But…why would he do that to his own daughter? It’s not going to help with anything, will it?” I asked as I failed to connect the dots together. “He’s probably doing this as a way to pressure Elizabeth to dissolve her marriage…” Ace surmised simply. It can’t be…I hadn’t realized that I had been chewing down hard on my lower lip until a wave of pain shot through my senses. The truth was just too sad for me to accept. I didn’t care about Kyle, but I thought that it was too harsh for Elizabeth to be placed in a situation like that. When I first heard of their p
“I think at his age, he’s more worried about the long-term future of his daughter. He might not be taking such a kind approach but I’m sure that he’s doing what he thinks is best for his daughter,” Ace explained calmly. “I don’t know about that…” I mumbled because I couldn’t quite agree with Ace on that point. I honestly did not like the fact that he seemed to be defending Chairman Chase even if there may be some truth behind his words. My body seemed to be boiling with anger and I knew that most of it was from the fact that Ace was dragged into this as well. The merger was one thing and the issue with Elizabeth was bad enough; however, what probably bothered me the most was seeing people get the wrong idea about my own boyfriend. No matter how hard I tried, I could never fall in love with the idea of people misunderstanding that my boyfriend was in a relationship with someone else. The fact that it wasn’t true did not make the matter easier to swallow. To make matters worse, while
“Well, let me ask her…” Ace said before removing his phone from the side of his face. I kept staring at his face and then he turned to face me directly. My heartbeat sped up as I wondered what Elizabeth had just told Ace because it seemed to concern me. “Rina, Elizabeth wants to meet but it’s very late now, so she’s asking if you’re free tomorrow…” Ace informed me. “She wants to meet me too?” I asked without hiding my surprise. It made sense for her to meet up with Ace, but I didn’t quite understand why she wanted me to join them. The merger and her issues with her father did not directly involve me like it did with Ace. “Apparently so…” Ace replied with a small shrug of his shoulders.Although Ace did not look confused, I could tell that he didn’t quite know why Elizabeth would want me to join their meeting. It would be too extreme to say that I had a bad feeling about it at the time. “Is it fine for me to come along?” I asked.“She’s the one inviting you so it should be fine,
The entire vibe about her seemed to change and I thought that she fit very well into the casual and homey atmosphere of the house. “Thanks for inviting us…” I replied before smiling her way. “Do you want to look around the garden first?” she suggested with a smile.I was tempted to say yes to her random invitation but one look at Ace told me to hold my tongue. Despite the bright and cheerful atmosphere that Elizabeth wanted to present, the situation probably didn’t leave us with much time to pay attention to her well-tended garden. “Let’s go inside where we can talk,” Ace replied in my place. “You’re just killing the mood, Ace…” Elizabeth said jokingly. Despite her initial enthusiasm, Elizabeth did not push the matter any further as she turned and led the way into the house. Unlike the modest exterior of the house, the inside of the house was decorated quite luxuriously. I assumed that her grandparents used to live here and there was no reason why the place wouldn’t be decorated
“You know, I really did think about doing exactly that…” Elizabeth said before smiling our way. My mouth immediately fell open and I was speechless at how easy-going she sounded. I had thought that the matter was a grave one, and based on the devastated state that she was in the last time that she came over to Ace’s place, I thought that she must be having such a hard time deciding between her career advancement and the preservation of her love life. Apparently, that didn’t seem to be the case. What happened since that day to cause such a change in her, I had no idea and couldn’t even begin to imagine.Ace also seemed surprised at her reaction. After telling her so many times for her to break up with Kyle, it seemed like he was getting something akin to a positive response for the first time. I wished silently in my mind that she would explain to us what was going on and how she managed to reach that conclusion. “Have you decided or are you just playing around? Care to explain?” Ace
“I don’t know if you agree with me or not, but I feel like my father is playing games with us. Even if I break up with Kyle, I don’t think that he will support the merger. Instead, he’ll start to demand more from us. The more desperate he feels that we are, the more bargaining power he’s going to think that he has. That’s the type of person that he is,” Elizabeth explained.It was difficult for me to listen to Elizabeth speak about her father that way. I didn’t even want to imagine what their relationship was like. Everything just sounded like business and very transactional without any feelings at all in the mix. Unlike me, Ace didn’t act at all surprised. “Even if what you’re saying is true, you could always start by pleasing him by dumping your husband first. What do you think?” Ace suggested coldly. “I could do that, but do you think that it’ll honestly be enough?” Elizabeth asked rhetorically. “This is his only demand,” Ace pointed out.“For now…” Elizabeth shot back with wide