“Sometimes, I just wish that he would be a little more encouraging…” Julianna hissed a complaint. I laughed a little at her as she rolled her eyes. Ace did not respond and the team went back to work. Jeremy made some comments and suggestions here and there while I made some suggestions of my own. I looked forward to seeing how things will turn out tomorrow. Hopefully, things will turn around for the better and we would see some outstanding results. Now that I felt a little at ease that there would be some kind of progress, I felt less guilty about going out to dinner with Ace. It wasn’t like we could help with any of the work even if we stayed later in the office. I let out a sigh when I realized that Ace was right again when he told me that we should simply leave things in Julianna’s capable hands. It was clear to me that she knew what she was doing and if things didn’t quite go as planned, I was sure that Ace would step in to help her fix it. After a few more hours of working, the
“We’re here,” Ace announced after he had parked the car.I watched as he got out before opening the car door to get out myself. Ace was by my side when I stepped out of the car, and he readily offered me his hand for support. I wasn’t wearing particularly high heels, so it wasn’t much of an issue getting out of the car; however, I took his hand without hesitation. To my surprise, the place that Ace had chosen didn’t seem like such a private or hidden place at all. Unlike the other restaurants that he took me to on our secret dates, I found myself standing in front of a very tall hotel building. “Is the restaurant in there?” I asked to confirm my understanding of the situation. “Yup. This way…” Ace replied as he tugged on my hand for me to follow after him. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I followed Ace into the lobby of the very luxurious-looking hotel but I got the feeling that something private wasn’t something that Ace had in mind for our dinner tonight. We were greeted by a m
It became evident that Kyle had been trying to get in touch with me to tell me about this unexpected dinner of ours. “Was the traffic bad?” Ace asked to make conversation. “It’s the usual. Should we order to get it out of the way?” Elizabeth suggested. She waved her hand elegantly and the manager quickly provided two more menus for Elizabeth and Kyle before he stood and waited patiently for us to place our orders. I had completely lost interest in the food options available by that time and it didn’t matter that Ace had mentioned that the food here was good and that it would suit my liking. Whatever appetite that I had died a quick death and all I could focus on was trying to come up with a plausible reason as to why Elizabeth was joining us on our dinner date. “What would you like to have, Rina?” Ace asked as he turned to look at me. “Umm…can you just order for me?” I replied without even glancing down at the menu in my hand. “Sure…” Ace replied casually before talking to the m
A nagging feeling at the back of my mind told me that somehow, she was going to be a part of my life. I hated the restless feeling that bubbled up inside of me and the shiver than ran up my spine just at the thought. Elizabeth didn’t seem like someone that I could get along with no matter how she was supposed to be so good at her job. “I see. Is that why you agreed to let me join your little date today?” Elizabeth asked teasingly.Watching Elizabeth laugh so brightly only added to my doom and gloom. Kyle had a very awkward look on his face like he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react as well. As for me, I wanted to strangle Kyle just so that I could take out my anger on someone in that moment. If he was with Elizabeth, how come he didn’t talk her out of coming here? I told myself to calm down and to try to make the most of the situation in front of me. Perhaps it was the perfect opportunity for me to finally learn something about what was really going on between Ace and Elizabe
Ace wasn’t supposed to be dumb, so I had no idea why he thought that it would be fine to let Elizabeth join use for dinner. “It’s just too bad that you have to find out along with everyone else,” Elizabeth said before grinning at me.Her attempt to show her fake care and concern for me made me feel sick inside. Thinking back on how we first met and all the things that had happened between me and her directly and indirectly, I couldn’t see how she could hate me as much as she did. I felt like I was always the one on the receiving end of all the shitty things that had happened. Perhaps she hated me because Kyle chose to cheat on her with me. That was the only thing that I could think of; however, that felt like it happened a long time ago. So long that it didn’t even feel like something that happened in this lifetime. I had long moved on from that, and since I’ve started dating Ace, not once did I think of Kyle and the relationship that we shared. He was just history and nothing more.
“Call it whatever you will, but you basically ran away from home. Without going into the details, Ace and his father doesn’t have a very friendly relationship. You probably already know at least that much, right?” Elizabeth asked before she paused.“Yes, I do…” I replied while telling myself to be patient and to ignore her rudeness. It was all for a chance to learn something new about Ace. Ace didn’t seem to perfectly agree with Elizabeth’s version of the story but at least he didn’t stop her from continuing. “The time I’m referring to is that period when Ace quit his job at his father’s company and went off to start his own thing. That was a pretty bold and extreme move at the time. Obviously, Ace’s father was absolutely against it, but Ace also obviously didn’t care. He just disappeared so I always refer to that period as Ace running away from home,” Elizabeth said before she laughed. “I see…” I murmured before I waited for her to continue. “People thought that he disappeared fr
“What about you, Karina?” Elizabeth asked as she turned her attention to me. “What…about me?” I asked blankly. “Does Ace’s father like you? He knows that you two are dating, right?” Elizabeth asked bluntly. To be fair, I didn’t think that the Chairman didn’t like me as a person. After all, he clearly hasn’t known me long enough to form any kind of opinion about me. However, there were many reasons related to my social standing, the fact that I lacked many qualities especially when it came to wealth and business assets and all these lacking qualities made him disapprove our my relationship with Ace. That on top of the fact that we were not supposed to be dating because he is my boss. In the end, it might not be entirely wrong to say that the Chairman does not like me. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks of Rina. I like her well enough and that is all that matters,” Ace replied before I could come up with something to say. “Wow. Such bold words…” Elizabeth said in clear amusement as
I didn’t even bother to reply to him as I tried to control the anger rapidly growing in my chest. To my slight disappointment, my mood had not improved at all even when we arrived back at his place. There were so many things going on at work and I also knew that it probably wasn’t the right time for me to confront Ace about the disaster that unfolded at dinner; however, I felt like my entire chest might burst if I continued to keep it in. Just when I made the decision to talk to Ace about it and to tell him honestly how I felt, Ace’s phone started ringing. It was quite late in the evening, and I had no idea who could be calling. Before I knew it, I had started wishing that the one on the other end of the land wasn’t Elizabeth. Ace took our his phone and answered the call in one swift motion. The stern look on his face told me that the call wasn’t from Elizabeth or anyone looking for small talk in the evening to pass the time. “Tell me about it…” Ace said in a serious tone.Without l