“Yes. What were you talking to Elizabeth about?” I demanded to know.
Ace looked at me before he smiled innocently at him.
“Work…” he replied casually without giving me any more details.
I hated how he was treating the situation as if nothing had happened. If I didn’t walk in on them or if I hadn’t been there, how far would they have taken it?
My thoughts and imagination were driving me crazy. Before I realized it, I had already fully assumed that there was something between the two of them.
“What work?” I asked as I stared boldly up into his face.
Ace looked at me with some surprise before his eyes narrowed at me.
“I can’t tell you that,” he replied calmly.
“What? You can’t tell me what ‘work’ you were discussing with her about?” I asked in pure disbelief.
It was just so ridiculous. Ace surely has to know that the more he evaded my questions, the more suspicious everything becomes. Why can’t he just come out and explain it directly to me?
If he would just do that, then perhaps I could find it in me to trust him and what he was saying. However, Ace still acted like nothing was wrong and he didn’t need to explain anything to me to ease my curiosity and anxiousness.
“That’s right. It’s not something that concerns you,” he replied dismissively.
Nothing that concerns me…
My mouth hung open in shock at how cold Ace sounded. How can he say something like that to me?
I tried to suppress my suspicion, but it was no use. The pain and tightness in my chest made tears sting the back of my eyes. On top of all the insecurities that I felt at seeing the two of them together, disappointment flooded me. I worked so hard and tried my best just to get off work earlier than usual today. All of that was so that I could spend some time with Ace. I never expected to witness something like that. I stood there glued to the spot at a loss of what to do and what to say.
If I asked him more questions, he would undoubtedly get mad at me. I wanted answers but I didn’t want to argue or get into a fight with Ace.
What should I do?
“Why did you get off work so early today? Is everything done already?” Ace asked and I knew that he was referring to Project Alpha.
It seemed like all we ever talked about nowadays was work and we didn’t even have that much time to spend together to start with. Elizabeth was gone now but Ace didn’t make a move to get out of his office and neither did he invite me out.
“It’s not done yet,” I replied honestly in a small voice.
“Good luck. I’m expecting great things from you…” Ace said as he walked past me.
I watched his broad back as he made his way back into his personal office and then the door closed behind him. Just like that, Ace was gone, and I was left confused and all alone to struggle with my raging emotions.
So much for working hard and so much for trying to keep our relationship together.
…
Without knowing what else I could do in that situation, I decided to silently leave the office. It had been a long while since I got off work as early as this so even if I didn’t get to spend time with Ace, I decided that I might as well make the best out of it. Ace had retreated into his office and that was a clear sign that he either needed to work or he no longer wanted to answer to my inconvenient questions.
I heaved a loud sigh before stepping out of the elevator and into the lobby of the office building. Although I had some time left, I didn’t know where I wanted to go. All my plans of spending time with Ace or going out with him for dinner just flew out the window. It would be too sad for me to head straight back to my apartment because there wasn’t anything for me to do there.
Maybe I should go out shopping at a mall somewhere just to relax a little and kill some time that I now had on my hands.
“Good for you to drop by Kyle…”
A man’s voice caught my attention as I walked through the lobby of the company. At first, I didn’t pay any attention to it as I headed straight for the exit. However, a slight tap on my shoulder made me whirl around instinctively.
I should have known that it was too much of a coincidence for me to hear his name called out like that.
Kyle stood in front of me with a grin on his face and I found myself staring right into his overly familiar eyes. Although it felt like centuries had passed by since I last met him with the many horrendous things that had occurred because of his selfish and traitorous actions, Kyle looked just the same as he had always looked as if nothing between us has changed at all.
First, his dear wife appeared suddenly in my boyfriend’s office and now he was here standing right in front of me. Something told me that there was nothing coincidental about his appearance here at Jesse’s and Kay’s.
He’s here to see me. The real question was, why?
“Rina…” he called my name casually as if he was my boyfriend picking me up from work at the end of the day.
“If you’re here to visit your friends, you don’t need to waste your time with me,” I replied coldly before immediately turning around to face the exit once more.
“Wait…Rina…” Kyle said.
He grabbed me and then pulled on my arm so that I had to turn around to face him. Our troublesome encounter was quickly attracting the unwanted attention of the people passing by.
--To be continued…
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Love Slave to My Devil CEO Boss 18+