227 Lies and Inquiries

“That’s ok. I completely understand that it couldn’t be helped. I hope everything is fine now at work...” I replied before I tried my best to smile at him.

“It’s all good now...” he replied.

historical

After waiting a few seconds, I realized that he wasn’t going to tell me anything about what had happened at work. I bit on the inside of my lower lip as I tried to tell myself that it didn’t concern me, and it must have been confidential.

“Thank you...for the flowers,” I thanked him.

“No worries. It is already kind of late, but I thought we could spend whatever time that there is left together before Monday arrives...” he said a little teasingly.

“What a wonderful idea...” I replied.

Ace sat down on my bed and patted the spot next to him invitingly. I took in a deep breath and sat down next to him on the bed. It seemed like Ace had something to say and I couldn’t wait to hear what it was.

“A party is coming up that I need to attend this coming weekend and I need you to be there with me. I’ll send you more details later about it tomorrow when we are at work,” Ace said a little sternly.

Suddenly, he seemed very serious. When he mentioned that he wanted to spend the little time that was left of our weekend together with me, I didn’t imagine that he wanted to spend the time talking about work. It was clear from his serious tone that the party that he was referring to wasn’t going to be a leisurely one that he attended for the sake of entertainment or joy.

.....

“I see. Sure, I’ll make note of all the details when you send it over,” I replied as I tried not to let my disappointment show.

Inside, I hoped that Ace didn’t come all the way over here just to discuss this upcoming work party with me no matter how important it may be. Our conversation died just as suddenly as it had started, and I found myself struggling to deal with the tension that had formed in the air between us.

“Ace...” I called his name softly.

“What is it?” he asked curiously.

I wanted to slap my own face. Despite all the efforts that I had put into finding the words to ask him about his relationship with Elizabeth, I couldn’t find the words. Ace gave me a curious look as his hazel eyes stared down into my face. My throat suddenly felt very dry, and my mind became blank.

“Rina?” he called my name softly and questioningly.

“Oh...umm...I was just wondering if you were at the office this entire time?” I asked.

“Yeah. Clearing up the mess took much longer than I thought,” he replied smoothly.

Unless I saw his ghost driving his car out of the company’s parking lot, then Ace was definitely lying to me. A painful lump formed in my throat as a sinking feeling developed in my chest. I could feel his eyes on my face, and I forced myself to smile a little at him.

“Must have been tough. I hope everything is all right now...” I managed to reply as I tried my best to sound natural and undisturbed.

“It’s fine now,” he replied casually.

“Right...” I murmured before trailing off.

I had no idea why Ace just lied to me. He wasn’t at the office at all and even if he was, it wasn’t for long. Soon after entering the office, he drove off with Elizabeth in his car to go to that hotel together.

Why did he just lie to me?

My gaze dropped down to my lap where my hands were clenched together tightly as my anxiety and stress started to take over me. If he lied to me about being in the office, then he was probably lying about the emergency at work too. That call from Elizabeth that he received while we were on our trip this morning probably had nothing to do with business either.

“Rina...” he called my name suddenly.

“Yes?” I managed to reply amidst the burning pain in my chest.

“You’ve worked quite a few years at the company now. How do you feel? Do you still feel as inspired as you were before joining the company?” he asked as his eyes narrowed at me.

His sudden and random questions truly caught me off guard. I had no idea why Ace was asking me these things all of a sudden and it didn’t seem to have any connection to what we were talking about before.

“Umm...I guess I am still inspired, and I like the work and working at the company...” I replied truthfully.

“Is the work that you’re doing now or have been doing what you had expected?” Ace asked.

“I guess. I mean, when I was younger, I was inspired to join this company and I roughly knew what the job would entail so I wasn’t surprised or anything...” I replied while I still wondered why Ace was asking me this.

“I see. Does the nature of the commercials that we make match with what you wanted to design and produce?” he asked as he cocked his head to the side and watched me in wonder.

I sometimes wonder about that myself. It was true that I liked the work that I was doing, and it was fun and challenging. My teammates are amazingly talented and motivated people who want to excel at everything that they do. The company provided me with countless opportunities for me to grow and develop my professional career. However, I wasn’t sure if all the projects that I had worked on really matched with what I had in mind.

“I...I really enjoy the work and everything. I’m also proud of all the commercials that I’ve worked on so far and I’ve learned so much from them. However, I’m not so sure if the nature matches with what I had in mind originally or not...” I replied as I struggled to explain my thoughts.

“I see...” he murmured.

–To be continued...