Jeremy didn’t seem so open about the situation that he had with his team, and I wasn’t willing to let it slide by taking his words at face value. “To be honest, working with Richard is much harder than I first thought…” I confessed while thinking that telling him about my situation first might be the right way to get him to open up to me more. “Really? I’ve worked with him before but not that closely. He’s famous for being like that but I didn’t think that it would be that bad,” Jeremy said as his brows drew together in a look of concern. “Yeah. Oh, but don’t worry about me too much, I’m working hard and I’m managing to hang in there somehow,” I said as I tried to reassure him.The doubtful look that he gave me told me that my words didn’t quite sound credible. For a moment, I wondered if it was a mistake to bring this up. Maybe I was causing my dear colleague more worry even though I wanted to hear more about the problems that he was facing. “Is that so? I’m sure that he doesn’t
Ace would quit his job and disappear from the company and my life. I wouldn’t see him anymore and everything would be chaotic for everyone. There would be a sudden change in management and then there’s also that matter to do with the merger. In reality, the only big change that impacted my life seemed to be my new staffing with Richard and the new team members that I had to work with. The other change was that Ace and I got even busier, and it wasn’t uncommon for the two of us to be spending time late in the office together. I had no idea whether I should count myself as lucky that the changes that I had feared did not come too suddenly or drastically or if I should fear the fact that the inevitable was just being dragged on. When I tried to think about it realistically, it did make sense that Ace wouldn’t just up and disappear while leaving the company and all his employees behind. Also, it wasn’t completely feasible for such a huge merger to be finalized in a matter of days. I was
Because Ace had asked me to wait for him at his place, I decided to order in a simple dinner. It was when I had finished eating that I realized that Ace did not mention when he would be back and that was probably because he didn’t know. The dining room was quiet, and it felt quite lonely to be eating alone. I wondered what Ace was up to and I hoped that everything was going well on his end. Not knowing what to do, I pulled out my laptop and decided to do some work to pass the time. It was ironic how my date night with Ace turned out to be a working session, but I thought that it would be better to get some work done than to just sit around and worry. After a few hours of working, I realized that it had gotten quite late and there were still no signs of Ace. I hoped that he had a chance to eat something for dinner. I stared at the entrance of the place as I started to worry about him. Debating with myself just made me feel even more hesitant about giving him a call so I just reached
Ace paused and since Elizabeth did not say anything to show that she minded Ace letting me in on what happened early in the evening, I decided to ask Ace for more details. “Her marriage? Did something…happen?” I asked while feeling quite afraid that I would choose the wrong word.It indeed felt like a sensitive topic, and I wondered what her father had to say about their marriage now that they were already married. I was sure that Chairman Chase did not find Kyle an impressive man fitting for the role of his daughter’s husband, but they were already married. Kyle had not gotten in touch with me for a while now and I was glad to have peace and quiet at that end. I had thought that things must have been progressing smoothly for Kyle and Elizabeth but that didn’t seem to be the case, at least, as far as her father was concerned. “As you’re already aware of, the chairman isn’t fond of Kyle as his son-in-law. Oh, and the two of them are not legally married on paper. Anyways, her father w
Ace nodded solemnly without saying anything. An uncomfortable moment of silence filled the room like a void that refused to disappear. What made me the most uncomfortable was the fact that Elizabeth had not said anything at all since taking her seat. “Umm…have you two had dinner? Should I order something nice or maybe make some coffee or tea?” I offered as I tried to play the good host. The truth was, I wanted to get away for a while to give Elizabeth some personal space and myself some time to think things over. The tension in the air was too high for me to take. “Some coffee might be good. I’m not hungry and Elizabeth’s clearly not in the mood to eat,” Ace replied for both Elizabeth and himself. …When I returned with coffee for the three of us, Elizabeth was still staring absentmindedly into space. Ace was seated at the exact same spot, and it seemed like the two of them had not spoken to each other since I got up and left to prepare us all some coffee. Unlike me, Ace didn’t se
The story she was telling was finally taking a turn and it was for the worse instead of the better. The regretful look on her face told me that nothing played out as she had planned or anticipated. “That day things really got out of hand, and I guess I was very emotional when he told me that he would disown me if I didn’t break up with Kyle. I mean, after all that I did for him and all that I had to take from him, how could he say something like that to me?” she said before her voice started to crack up with emotion.The look that she had on her face told me just how ridiculous she thought her father’s suggestion was. I had no idea what Elizabeth had to go through to live up to her father’s expectations, but I could guess that she probably had been working hard to please him all her life. Elizabeth quickly took a deep breath, and her face became composed again. When she spoke once more, her voice was steady. “Then a stupid idea flashed into my mind that if Ace could pull that deal o
The least that I could do for her at the time was to offer to host her for the night, although, to be more correct, Ace would be hosting her since it was his place and not mine. “Rina, why don’t you take Elizabeth to her room and help her settle in a little? Elizabeth, you should shower and go to bed early. You can figure things out tomorrow,” Ace suggested. Elizabeth seemed lost in her own thoughts again and only responded with a small nod of her head. I quickly got up from the sofa to lead the way to one of the guests’ bedrooms. Without a word, Elizabeth got up and followed me while looking very absent-minded. …“She’s taking a shower, then I guess she’ll go straight to bed. It is quite late…” I reported dutifully to Ace when I returned to the living room.Ace was still sitting on the sofa, and he looked so tired that my heart ached for him. As he had instructed, I took Elizabeth to one of the guest bedrooms that hadn’t been used for a while. Big thanks to the housekeeper for kee
“Like I said, you don’t have to bother picking me up. I’ll go to the office, so if you want to see me, you can see me there,” she said before rolling her eyes in apparent annoyance. I figured by that time that the poor soul on the other end of the line was no other than her husband, Kyle. Of course, I did not sympathize with him and the treatment that he was receiving from his wife. Elizabeth said a few more words before she hung up the phone. “Good morning,” Ace greeted her casually.“Good morning to you too,” she replied while still staring at her phone screen. “Good morning,” I chimed in. “Guess you’re heading back to work?” Ace asked.“Yes, where else would I go? The company doesn’t run itself, unfortunately…” she said before she flashed us a smile. The gloom and doom Elizabeth from last night was completely gone and the confident Elizabeth was back. At first, I disliked this version of her so much but after seeing her in the state that she was in last night, I had to say tha