253 The Promise We Made

“About my promise to marry you?” Ace asked as if in pure disbelief.

I just nodded my head at him as I kept my eyes cast downwards. It felt quite embarrassing now that I had voiced my worries out loud. I had no idea why he seemed so shocked at what I had just told him. Wasn’t it supposed to be logical for me to think that way? After all, he did link our marriage pretty much to the success of the company’s expansion.

“I think I’m starting to understand the cause of all of this misunderstanding now. Listen, Rina..” Ace said as his hands reached out to grab my shoulders tightly.

I looked up into his hazel brown eyes as Ace took in a deep breath before slowly letting it out.

“You’ve got it all wrong, Rina..” he said in dismay as he shook his head slowly from side to side.

“I’m sorry..but I don’t really understand..” I murmured.

His suddenly depressed reaction tugged at my heart and a sense of guilt quickly welled up in my chest and made me feel empty inside. I didn’t like to see Ace that way and it felt even worst when I knew that I was the reason why he was making such a face.

“It’s exactly like what I told my dad. It’s true that I’m quitting my job but that doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on growing the company or on marrying you,” Ace explained calmly after he had somewhat composed himself.

He looked tired and all the times that I caught him working late into the night at the office or even back at his place came back to me. Even though Ace said that he didn’t really like his job, I had to admit that he took it seriously and worked probably harder than anyone. With the many things that had been going on, I guess I must have forgotten about that or overlooked it completely.

.....

“How are you going to grow the company if you don’t even work here anymore?” I asked what was on my mind.

I didn’t even want to imagine because I couldn’t imagine what the company would be like with Ace gone. Ever since I started working, Ace had always been the CEO of the company. In fact, he took over as the CEO right around the same time that I joined the company. I didn’t know what it would be like without having Ace around to lead the business.

“I don’t need to be the CEO to grow the company, Rina. I’ll talk to my father tomorrow and he’s going to have to go along with it to keep his end of the bargain. He did promise that he’ll let me do things my way..” Ace said sternly.

“Is your plan a secret from me as well?” I asked as I pleaded to him with my eyes.

“For now..” he replied before he grinned regretfully at me.

historical

I hate secrets.

“Come on. We’re supposed to take a bath together so don’t just stand there and talk..” he teased me before his hand reached for mine and led me to the bath.

I followed him without any hesitation because I had decided to let him do what he wanted to make sure that he was in a decently good mood. That was probably the only way that I could keep this conversation going and the only way that I’ll get any more answers out of him. Ace turned on the tap while I seated myself on the edge of the tub while we both waited for warm water to fill it up.

My mind wandered back to his reply to my question. At least, that meant that I’ll find out about his plans one day. I had no idea why Ace had to keep it a secret from me; however, I was too relief upon hearing that he had not given up on his plan to marry me and that we still had a future together as far as he was concerned. I knew that I had to pick my battles wisely and that I couldn’t have everything that I wanted in life. I shouldn’t be too greedy and because of that, I was more than satisfied with some of the answers that he had given me.

Although I had completely no clue of how Ace was going to achieve his goals that would lead to our future together, I was happy enough that he still wanted to work towards it. Now if only I can trust in him and wait and see..

“Are you going to talk to your father tomorrow about it? I think he’s very mad..” I said in a small voice.

“I don’t want to, but I know that he’ll come to me. I wouldn’t be surprised if we wake up tomorrow morning to the sound of him knocking on the door..” Ace said with a smile.

I wasn’t sure whether he was joking of if he was being serious, but I decided not to ask. There was something else that I wanted to ask instead.

“Are you planning to tell the chairman your plan tomorrow? You know, your plan on how to grow the company even when you’re no longer around as CEO..” I asked as my eyes searched his face.

Ace didn’t seem bothered at all by my question, but he did seem thoughtful for a moment. I wondered what he was pondering in his mind while I waited for him to reply to my question.

“Why don’t we get in?” he said invitingly.

That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear from him, but I decided to comply with his suggestion and lowered myself down into a sitting position in the tub.

“Make some space for me too..” Ace murmured quite seductively.

The bathtub wasn’t big to begin with and as always, we had to squeeze. Ace was also a big man and that made it even more challenging but at the same time, that also made it kind of fun.

–To be continued..