When Ace walked up on that stage, I never dreamt that he would give a speech that would mark his retirement from his role. Even though I knew that it was coming, I never imagined that he would end things so abruptly and publicly like this. I wondered if the Chairman knew in advance about Ace’s announcement and then I highly doubted it. This long-awaited victory undoubtedly brought me great joy; however, it would be inaccurate to say that we didn’t see this coming. Even though I wasn’t as confident as Ace and the other members on the team were, there were many things that led us to believe that we were most likely to win the competition. Ace was probably quite certain of it and Julianna clearly felt the same way. Jeremy, being captivated by numbers and statistics, was also very well convinced. The amount of donations that we received to back the cause was a very impressive amount. The donation amount alone put us in first place, leading the competitor in second place by miles. That c
“You did it, Karina!” she yelled so that her voice would reach me.I quicky made my way over to where she was standing with a few of my other colleagues from my old department. It felt like a lifetime ago when Ace showed me the recommendation letter that she wrote to him regarding my transfer. Although it may not have been the start of my relationship with Ace, I was certain that the letter that she had written to him was one of the things that brought Ace and me together. She probably had no idea how much impact that letter would have on my life even beyond my professional career. “Thank you! Thank you for all that you’ve done for me. Thank you for all the opportunities and guidance that you’ve given me throughout the years,” I thanked her wholeheartedly as I felt tears welling up in my eyes. “You did well. I knew that you could do it. Congratulations!” she replied with a few nods of her head.She looked like a proud parent, and I was so thrilled that I could make her feel that way
The biggest problem wasn’t finding him but figuring out why he had suddenly disappeared. The twisted sick feeling that I felt deep in my gut told me that something unpleasant was about to happen to us. After all that we’ve been through, I hated it whenever I felt insecure, but insecurity was probably the most accurate term to describe the mixed and very messy emotions that filled my heart before bringing tears to my eyes.Where did he go and why did it have to be now of all times?I stared at my phone screen as I prayed that he would just give me a call back. My hands trembled and felt very cold as I sat on the sofa in Ace’s living room all alone. The place had never felt so empty and void of life before. Anger welled up inside of me and I let out a loud growl of frustration that no one else heard apart from myself. Ace promised to tell me everything and let me know what was going on after the competition was over. Now that the time had arrived, he just somehow disappeared, and I have
My hand flew to cover my mouth as I jumped up from the sofa in my extreme shock. My phone continued vibrating as I gripped it tightly in my hands. For a moment, I was too stunned to know what to do. I cleared my throat as my eyes kept on staring at my phone screen in disbelief.It felt like the rain clouds in the sky had finally parted after the havoc of a rainstorm and suddenly there was soft warm orange ray of lights shining down on me like a spotlight of blessing from above. Ace was calling me!“Ace! Where are you?!” I shouted into the phone so loudly that I was shocked at my more-than-little outburst. “Rina, where are you right now?” Ace asked with clear urgency in his voice.“I-I’m at your place. I’ve been waiting for you. I tried calling you so many times, but I couldn’t reach you…” I replied as my voice shook with emotion. “Calm down. Just wait there for a bit. I’ll pick you up in less than an hour,” he told me and this time his tone was back to its normal calm and reassurin
He let go of me and put just enough distance between us so that he could peer into my face as if to inspect the damage that I had sustained. I wanted to yell at him to let him know that this was all because of him and how he vanished right after getting down from the stage during the award ceremony. A lump formed in my throat but no matter what I wanted, I couldn’t say anything mean to him. “I thought that you were gone…” I confessed softly and shyly. “Gone? What do you mean by that?” he asked with a blank look on his face like he truly didn’t know what I was referring to. “You just disappeared without telling me anything and I couldn’t get in touch with you no matter how hard I tried. I also didn’t know where you were…” I said accusingly. “Were you scared that I would leave you?” Ace asked needlessly. I despised myself for acting so childish and helpless and that emotion channeled itself into my irritation and anger toward Ace. He whispered my name tenderly as he reached a hand
What was supposed to be a soft and sweet kiss to mend the temporary strain in our relationship quickly turned into something much more. His hands moved along my back, stroking it up and down while his tongue danced around inside my mouth. I ground my tongue against his as my desire for him quickly mounted. My lower abdomen felt tight as desire welled up in between my legs in a pleasurable and greedy ache. I kissed him back with passion as his hands slid down my back to stroke my waist. Ace changed the angle of our kiss over and over until my body felt so hot. It felt like I was ready to melt in his arms as I continued moaning into our deep kisses. His manly hands stroked my waist before sliding even slower to cup my buttocks. My pussy clenched and I realized that I had already gotten so wet down there as my body reacted so strongly to his seductive kisses and caresses. “Rina…” Ace called my name softly.“Yes?” I replied seductively. I parted swollen lips as I panted a little while
“This is one of my family’s estates. It currently belongs to my father after it’s been passed down in the family,” Ace explained as if he could read my mind. “Oh…” I murmured as my eyes canned the mansion up and down. “As much as I would like to say that you’re welcomed, my father isn’t going to like seeing us,” Ace said before he chuckled like he couldn’t care less. “The Chairman is in there?” I asked without any excitement. Ace nodded his head before he offered me a smile that was supposed to heal my bleeding heart. It seemed like I wasn’t overreacting at all in the car when I considered that it may be possible that we would be meeting his father. I felt my heart sink and I hesitated to get out of the car. Ace got out and walked over to my side of the car before yanking the door open. “Come on. You’ll have to get out sooner or later so we might as well get this over and done with,” Ace said with a small laugh.He was clearly enjoying my reactions while I wasn’t enjoying anythin
“Aren’t you going to take that? It could be important…” Ace said with a careless shrug. “Can anything be more important than what we’re going to discuss?” his father snapped. “Up to you…” Ace muttered like he couldn’t care less. After shooting a glare at Ace, the Chairman sighed and stood up from his seat. With his phone in his hand, he exited the room to have a private conversation with the caller. I let out a long sigh when the door closed behind him, and I was left alone with Ace in the room. “Well, I guess the real conversation can’t start until everyone is in the room…” Ace said before leaning back leisurely on the sofa.“More people will be joining us?” I asked with widened eyes. “Actually, you’re the last of us to arrive because there were things that I had to get sorted out first,” Ace replied.I narrowed my eyes at him as my mind raced to understand what was going on. Someone else was supposed to join us. I was biting down on my lip without realizing it as I tried to fig